Standing stone, Derreenfinlehid, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Stone Monuments
On the steep southern slopes of Boughil mountain in Co. Kerry, a block of stone rises out of the bog at a height of 1.38 metres, its trapezoidal base oriented roughly northeast to southwest.
It is not especially tall, not ornately carved, and not easy to reach, yet whoever raised it chose the location with some deliberateness: the stone looks out over Kenmare Bay, commanding a view that would have been just as legible to a Bronze Age passer-by as it is today.
The stone's older name offers a small piece of texture. Recorded in the Ordnance Survey Name Books as 'Buachaill Finnleithid', it translates loosely as the boy or lad of Finnleithid, attaching a personal or legendary name to what might otherwise seem a purely functional marker. Standing stones of this kind are a recurring feature of the Iveragh Peninsula, where they appear on hillsides, near field boundaries, and in bogland that has since swallowed much of the surrounding archaeology. Beneath the accumulated peat at the base of this stone, packing stones are still visible, the deliberate wedging material used to stabilise the upright when it was first set in place, a detail that confirms it was erected rather than simply left by geological chance. Its dimensions, roughly a metre across at the base and half a metre in depth, give it a squat, purposeful solidity rather than the slender elegance of some taller examples elsewhere in Kerry.