But the particulars of this standing stone in Derreenanaryagh reward a closer look. Roughly triangular when viewed from the side, it has a more or less rectangular base measuring 1.42 metres by one metre, oriented northeast to southwest, and around that base a scatter of packing stones is still visible, the wedged material used by whoever erected it to keep the upright stable in the soft, poorly drained ground.

Standing stones of this kind are a widespread feature of the Irish prehistoric landscape, raised at various points between the Neolithic and the early medieval period, though their precise purposes remain genuinely uncertain. Some are thought to mark boundaries, burial sites, or routeways; others may have had ritual or astronomical functions. This particular example overlooks the Caragh river from a southeast-facing slope, a position that feels deliberate, whether or not we can now say why. It sits within a landscape, the Iveragh Peninsula, that has been systematically documented for its archaeological remains, and this stone was recorded as part of that broader survey work carried out on South Kerry.