We have perhaps lived beyond the age when legends referring to this class of monument were still generally current. The virtue of the Kilmalkedar stone was some fifty years ago equal in repute to that conceded to the Stennis example, and even, in some respects, superior; for, it was further firmly believed by many of the old inhabitants of Kerry, that persons afflicted with chronic rheumatism, ‘falling sickness,’ or some other ills, might, by passing three times round it (with faith, and by the offering of certain prayers), be restored to health. In the parish of Aghade, Co. Carlow, is a stone called Cloghafoyle, the ‘Stone of the hole.’ ‘It projects in a semi-recumbent position 7 feet 6 inches above ground, is 5 feet 8 inches in width, 1 foot 6 inches in its thickest part, and is pierced—nearly equally distant from the sides and top—with a round hole 11½ inches in diameter. Formerly children were passed through this aperture, either as a cure for, or a preventive against, the malady called rickets.’[7] A similar custom, as Colonel Wood-Martin points out, was observed at St. Madron’s well in Cornwall, Minchen Hampton in Gloucestershire, and Fyvie in Aberdeenshire.[8] A famous stone exists on Ardmore Strand, Co. Waterford, beneath which pilgrims on St. Declan’s day (22nd Dec.) crawled on completing their devotions.
The most celebrated holed-stone in the British Isles is doubtless that of Stennis, near Kirkwall in Orkney. It has been rendered famous in his tale of The Pirate, by Sir Walter Scott. Fergusson, in his Rude Stone Monuments, says—‘It is quite certain that the oath to Woden or Odin was sworn by persons joining their hands through the hole in this ringstone, and that an oath so taken, although by Christians, was deemed solemn and binding’ (page 255). This ceremony was held so very sacred that anyone breaking it was accounted infamous and a party to be shunned. In his Journey to the Orkney Islands (1781), Principal Gordon gives the following anecdote: ‘The young man was called before the session, and the elders were particularly severe. Being asked by the minister the cause of so much severity, they answered, “You do not know what a bad man this is; he has broken the promise of Odin,” and further explained that the contracting parties had joined hands through the hole in the stone.’ All this does not serve to indicate the original character of the Stennis monument. That it was at one time sacred to Odin, or Woden, and reverenced by pagan northmen and their successors, perhaps for many generations, and that even Christians used the stone on certain solemn occasions, is no doubt interesting. The Scandinavian occupiers of Orkney may have, as it were, adopted a pillar-stone which they found associated with old-world customs and memories, dedicated it to Odin, and sealed their oaths upon it.
Holed-stone at Tobernavean, Woodville, near Sligo.
Few who have paid even passing attention to the subject of Irish antiquities, recognising the fact that several holed-stones, bearing apertures of considerable size, and found in the immediate neighbourhood of remains universally acknowledged to belong to prehistoric days, will assume, we think, that the former do not partake of the same primeval character as cromlechs, stone circles, and cairns. Fergusson was mistaken in stating that there is no proof of a holed-stone being used in any Celtic cemetery for purposes similar to those practised at the Stennis example. Unquestionably some of the holed-stones are of doubtful character, inasmuch as they may be classified either as prehistoric, or belonging to an early period of Christianity. We may perhaps assign to one of the finest monuments of this class remaining in Ireland a degree of antiquity equal at least to that acknowledged to be possessed by the cromlechs, circles, and other megaliths of Carrowmore, immediately adjoining. Of this stone Colonel Wood-Martin, in Rude Stone Monuments in Sligo, gives the following description: ‘It marks the point of junction of the three parishes of the district formerly, and still by the country people, designated Cuil-Irra. This boundary mark is a thin limestone flag, set on edge; it is 9 feet in height and 10 feet in breadth above ground. The little stream which issues from Tobernavean, or Tobar-na-bhFian, the “Well of the warriors,” laves its base, which must be deeply buried in the earth. Toward the east side this flagstone is pierced by a squarish, or rather an oblong, perforation, 3 feet in length by 2 feet in breadth. From its mottled appearance this slab is popularly called Cloch-bhreac, or the “Speckled stone”; also Cloch-lia, or the “Gray stone”’ (page 99).
Another example, standing upwards of five feet in height above the level of the ground, with a round hole sufficiently large to admit the hand, may be seen upon an eminence in the immediate vicinity of Doagh, a village in the county of Antrim. In the same district, on a hill near Cushendall, a second fine holed-stone until lately existed. Probably one of the most curious monuments of the class under notice, in Ireland, formerly stood in the early Christian cemetery of Inniskeen, close to the cloictheach, or round tower, Co. Monaghan. This relic, which was of porphyry, had an aperture through it sufficiently large to admit the insertion of a full-sized human arm. In modern times it was the custom at Easter to fix in the stone a pole, up which the neighbouring young people used to climb for a prize. The stone is said to have been formerly used for superstitious purposes, but no particulars of the rites or customs once practised have been handed down.
Holed-stone at Mainister, Aran Mór.
The holed-stone of Castledermot is a very remarkable one, and the following particulars are from a description of it by Lord Walter FitzGerald: ‘It stands at the head of a modern grave in the south-east side of the churchyard, and is known locally as the “swearing-stone.” It is 3 feet long, 1 foot 2 inches wide, and 5½ inches thick. The hole is at the junction of the arms of a ringed cross, and measures 5 inches in diameter. The cross, which is much worn, was mistaken by Vallancey for Ogam scores, and his misrepresentation was copied by subsequent writers.’[9] It is probable that the holed-stones found in connection with church buildings date from ante-Christian times, and were consecrated by the emblem of the cross to the religious services of a people recently won to Christianity, but who still possessed some lingering reverence for the idols of their forefathers.
The holed-stone at Mainister on Aran Island stands 3½ feet above ground, and the hole is 2 inches wide. It is curiously incised with a double circle and ringed cross, the top of the latter ending in small spiral pattern. It is held in great reverence, and small articles of clothing of sick persons are drawn through the orifice in hope of their recovery.