Tullow, Co. Carlow
Niall of the Nine Hostages has been called the “Irish Genghis Khan” due to the number of his descendants. More than three million men around the world are likely to be the descendants of this prolific Irish king, and one out of every twelve Irishmen.
Athleague, Co. Roscommon
The glory of the Castlestrange Estate has long since turned to ruin. However one remnant of its opulence still remains: the prehistoric La Tène decorated stone.
Woodville, Co. Sligo
The use of this stone in folk remedies did not end at the beginning of the twentieth century. A woman living very close to the stone was interviewed by the Gardaí about what may have been this ritual practice in the mid-1990s.
Knockanoura, Co. Clare
These are, in legend, a band of robbers turned to stone. As Mary Harrison explains, there was something so powerful about these stones that her frightened horses would not come near them.
Doagh, Co. Antrim
A visitor to the Doagh Holestone might find the ground blanketed in flower petals, the remnants of a visit by newlyweds come to clasp hands through the hole. Their family and friends attend this modern rendition of a time-honored local practice, blissfully unmindful of earlier, more pagan activities at the site.
Ballyferriter, Co. Kerry
Near the town of Ballyferriter are two stone monuments vividly bringing into the landscape the stories of an enchanted cow whose milk was ever flowing. The Glas Gaibhnenn gave milk freely to all, until she was tricked by an evil woman.
Enniscrone, Co. Sligo
The stones on this seaside bluff in Co. Sligo were not, in legend, people accused of any transgression. Rather, it was just a family of seven innocent children, of whom only one escaped the metamorphosis to stone.
Knockbridge, Co. Louth
The tragic end of Cúchulainn, half-supernatural hero of the armies of Ulster, occurred at this tall standing stone. Mortally wounded, he bound himself to this pillar to keep his enemies at bay until the moment of his death.
Waterville, Co. Kerry
The Eighercua Stone Alignment looks west to Ballinskelligs Bay and the open ocean. The mound on which it sits was likely a ritual enclosure destroyed by road-builders more than a century ago, its meaning long forgotten.
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