The Ordnance Survey’s 2nd edition 6-inch map, produced in the late 19th century, confidently marked this location as home to a ‘Standing Stone’, suggesting the monument was still visible or at least well-remembered by locals at that time. However, by the time the 3rd edition was published, cartographers had amended their notation to ‘Standing Stone (site of)’, indicating the stone had already disappeared or been destroyed.

Today, visitors to this coastal spot will find no trace of the prehistoric monument that once marked this place. The stone’s disappearance remains a mystery; it may have been broken up for building materials, toppled and buried, or simply eroded away over time. What we know of its existence comes primarily from historical maps and local memory, preserved in archaeological surveys like the comprehensive 1983 study of County Donegal’s field antiquities.

This lost monument would have been part of Ireland’s rich prehistoric landscape, likely erected during the Bronze Age between 2500 and 500 BCE. Standing stones served various purposes for ancient communities: territorial markers, astronomical alignments, burial monuments, or ritual sites. Though the Ardmore stone has vanished, its documented presence adds another piece to our understanding of how prehistoric peoples inhabited and marked the landscapes along the shores of Lough Foyle, leaving their mark on places that continue to be farmed and lived in thousands of years later.