Amongst these scattered remnants, one particular stone may have once stood tall enough to earn its place on the first edition Ordnance Survey six-inch map, where it was marked simply as ‘Standing Stone’. Today, visitors to the site will find these weathered rocks resting on good agricultural land that slopes gently northward, their original arrangement lost to time.

The stones at Carricknamart represent just one small piece of Donegal’s rich archaeological tapestry, which spans from the Mesolithic period through to the 17th century. Standing stones like the one potentially documented here served various purposes for Ireland’s ancient inhabitants; they marked boundaries, commemorated events, or formed part of larger ritual landscapes. Though this particular monument may no longer stand upright, its presence was significant enough to merit inclusion in early cartographic surveys of the region.

The site’s documentation comes from the comprehensive Archaeological Survey of County Donegal, compiled by Brian Lacey and his team in 1983. This exhaustive catalogue has been instrumental in preserving knowledge of the county’s field antiquities, ensuring that even displaced or damaged monuments like the stones at Carricknamart remain part of the historical record. While the exact history and purpose of these particular stones may remain uncertain, they continue to serve as tangible links to the people who once shaped this landscape thousands of years ago.