Wakeman's handbook of Irish antiquities

by W. F. Wakeman

Many theories have been advanced with respect to their origin. They are variously supposed to have been idol-stones, to have been erected as landmarks, and as monumental stones recording the scene of a battle, or the spot upon which a warrior had fallen. The name ‘cat-stone,’ by which some examples are known in Scotland, would well warrant such an idea, the word ‘cath’ in the Gaelic language signifying a battle. At either end of the historic ford over the river Erne, at Ballyshannon, may be seen two remarkable examples​—​to that on the northern side other stones would seem to lead. This is a significant fact in favour of the landmark theory. At the same time, we learn from the later writers of the life and labours of St. Patrick in Ireland, that he found the people worshipping certain idols in the form of stone pillars, some of which he caused to be overthrown, while upon one purposely left standing he inscribed the name of Jesus. There can be little doubt that the saint and his immediate followers, in their horror of all that was idolatrous, destroyed a large number of the pillar-stones which had been venerated and worshipped in pagan Ireland; but, nevertheless, a considerable number still remain. These, in some instances, would seem to have been consecrated to the Faith, and from having been idols were transformed into memorials of the triumph of Christianity. We are not without satisfactory evidence of such adaptation having been effected. Several, and apparently the oldest, lithic monuments may be observed rudely punched, not carved, with the figure of a primitive cross, accompanied by one or other of the inscriptions DNI, DNO, or DOM. Todd, in his Life of St. Patrick, has, we believe, conclusively shown the generally received idea of the sudden, and, it may be said, miraculous conversion of Ireland in the days of the saint, and in those of his immediate successors, to be wholly erroneous. Pagan practices and beliefs long remained, and to-day many myths, legends, and superstitions attest, as dying remnants, how deeply rooted were the ‘elder faiths.’

The Pillar-stone is the simplest form of all memorials; it is found in other countries in connection with ancient burial mounds or barrows. Such memorials to a departed hero, chief, or monarch were not confined to savage peoples, for the custom has descended through all stages of civilization, and the commemorative use of the pillar-stone is frequent in biblical history. Ancient Egypt furnishes notable examples of monoliths such as Cleopatra’s Needle; while the metropolis of Ireland, not to mention other cities, exhibits stupendous pillar monuments showing the ‘hero-worship’ of our forefathers, to the dead leaders Wellington and Nelson.

In several parts of the country the gallaun is still considered by many of the people to be something weird, and, ‘to be let alone.’ The late E. A. Conwell, in his work on the supposed tomb of Ollamh Fodhla, points out that, about two miles north-west of Oldcastle, there is a townland called Fearan-na-gcloch (from fearan, land, and cloch, a stone), so called from two remarkable stone flags, still to be seen standing in it, popularly called Clocha labartha, the ‘Speaking stones’: and the green pasture-field in which they are situated is called Pairc-na-gclochalabartha, the ‘Field of the speaking stones.’

‘There can be little doubt,’ he proceeds, ‘the pagan rites of incantation and divination had been practised at these stones, as their very name, so curiously handed down to us, imports; for, in the traditions of the neighbourhood, it is even yet current that they have been consulted in cases where either man or beast was supposed to have been “overlooked”; that they were infallibly effective in curing the consequences of the “evil eye”; and that they were deemed to be unerring in naming the individual through whom these evil consequences came. Even up to a period not very remote, when anything happened to be lost or stolen, these stones were invariably consulted; and in cases where cattle, &c., had strayed away, the directions they gave for finding them were considered as certain to lead to the desired result. There was one peremptory inhibition, however, to be scrupulously observed in consulting these stones, viz. that they were never to be asked to give the same information a second time, as they, under no circumstances whatever, would repeat an answer.’ These conditions having, about seventy or eighty years ago, been violated by an ignorant inquirer who came from a distance, the ‘speaking stones’ became dumb, and have so remained ever since. There were originally four of these stones: of the two that remain, the larger may be described as consisting of a thin slab of laminated sandy grit. Its dimensions are as follows: total height above ground, very nearly 7 feet; extreme breadth, 5 feet 8 inches; breadth near summit, 3 feet 6 inches; average thickness, about 8 inches. In no part does it exhibit the mark of a chisel or hammer. The height of the second remaining stone, above the present level of the ground, is 6 feet 4 inches; it is in breadth, at base, 3 feet 4 inches, and near the top 1 foot more; thickness at base, 14 inches. The material, unlike that found in the generality of such monuments, is blue limestone.

Pillar-stone at Tara.

Perhaps the most noted example of the pillar-stone, as found in Ireland, occurs on the celebrated Hill of Tara, Co. Meath. This interesting monument at present occupies a position in the centre of the Forradh, one of the principal earthworks still remaining on that memorable site. The stone formerly stood upon, or rather by the side of, a small mound lying within the enclosure of Rath-na-Riagh, and called Dumha-na-nGiall, or the ‘Mound of the hostages.’ In 1824 it was placed in its present position, to mark the grave of some men who were slain in 1798 in an encounter with the king’s troops. It was suggested by George Petrie that this pillar, or menhir, was no other than the celebrated Lia Fail, or ‘Stone of Destiny,’ upon which, during many ages, the monarchs of Ireland were crowned, and which, according to the early bardic accounts, ‘roared’ beneath them at their inauguration. The Coronation Stone at Westminster was generally supposed to have been removed from Ireland to Scotland, in the beginning of the sixth century, for the coronation of Fergus Mac Earc, a prince of the blood-royal of Ireland, there having been a prophecy that in whatever country this famous stone was preserved, a king of the Scotic race should reign. In the MSS. to which Petrie refers, one of which is probably of the tenth century, the stone is mentioned as still existing at Tara; and ‘it is,’ he writes, ‘an interesting fact, that a large obeliscal pillar-stone, in a prostrate position, occupied till a recent period the very situation on the hill pointed out as the place of the Lia Fail by the Irish writers of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries.’ After remarking upon the want of agreement between the Irish and Scottish accounts of the history of the Lia Fail, and on the questionable character of the evidence upon which the story of its removal from Ireland rests, he further observes: ‘That it is in the highest degree improbable, that, to gratify the desire of a colony, the Irish would have voluntarily parted with a monument so venerable for its antiquity, and deemed essential to the legitimate succession of their own kings.’ We cannot here enter into a discussion of this question, in which numerous conflicting traditions are involved. The removal of the Coronation Stone from Tara to Scotland is now generally admitted. The use of the present pillar-stone at Tara for the purpose of inauguration has not been established: its very shape is strongly presumptive against any such theory, as the custom usually was for the king or chief to stand upon the stone. That the monument is an original relic, raised for some memorial use, may reasonably be accepted.

Some of our finest and perhaps oldest pillar-stones bear cup-and-circle markings, similar to those found upon the face of undisturbed rocks in various parts of Ireland, Britain, the European Continent, and other parts of the world. A very remarkable example occurs at Muff, about five miles from Londonderry. This stone, which stood 8 ft. in height, and measured 4 ft. 6 ins. across at the base, by 2 ft. 6 ins. in thickness, was on one of its faces covered with cup-and-circle markings, some of which exhibited the central channels which appear on the rock sculptures in Kerry. This was examined by the late Rev. James Graves, who wrote: ‘Where the soil had covered the base, two of the cups, with their concentric circles, were very plain and unworn; but the water trickling from a hollow on the top of the stone, had injured some of those above. Excavations were made to a depth of four feet round its base, but no trace of interment, or relic of any kind, was discovered. Close to the stone was found a kind of bone earth, or soil mixed with minute fragments of bone, apparently not human, but from their minute and decomposed state identification was impossible.’[2]

Mr. G. H. Kinahan, in pages of the Journal here referred to, figures and describes a remarkable pillar-stone which he found near Kilmacrenan, Co. Donegal. In this instance four of the cups are so arranged that the channels extending from them form a perfect cross of the Roman character.[3] Here the likeness to the Christian symbol cannot be considered other than accidental. A device, almost precisely similar, is found upon a rude stone monument in Scotland; and we know that upon the bases of some of the cinerary urns, formed of baked clay, discovered in cists in Ireland, and found to contain calcined human bones, flint arrow-heads, and bone implements, a cruciform ornament may be noticed. This, at least as so placed, cannot be considered a Christian symbol.

Several pillar-stones yet in situ, and a great many others overthrown or removed, present Ogam inscriptions, a subject that will be found treated of in a subsequent chapter. Immediately near Kesh, a station on the railway line between Enniskillen and Bundoran, occur a cairn, an earthen sepulchral mound, and a pillar-stone of great size. The latter, upon its south-western angle, bore a legend in Ogam characters, which some years ago, when an expert from the south was expected to come and examine it, was, by a local worthy, whose intentions were no doubt laudable, so scraped, cleaned, and ‘improved,’ that little trace of the inscription remained.