While local tradition preserved knowledge of this ancient monument, it left no physical trace that surveyors could document when they created the second and third editions of the Ordnance Survey’s detailed 6-inch maps of Ireland. The stone’s absence from these meticulous Victorian-era surveys, which typically recorded even the smallest archaeological features, suggests it may have been removed or destroyed sometime in the 19th century, perhaps cleared by farmers expanding their agricultural operations or repurposed as building material during the rural improvements of that period.

The fleeting nature of this monument highlights a common challenge in Irish archaeology; many prehistoric sites have been lost to agricultural intensification, urban development, or simple neglect over the centuries. Standing stones like the one at Drummurphy were erected during the Bronze Age, roughly between 2500 and 500 BCE, and served various purposes from territorial markers to astronomical alignments, ritual sites, or memorials to the dead. Their solitary presence in the landscape made them particularly vulnerable to removal, especially in fertile flood plains where every acre counted for farming.

Today, the former location of the Drummurphy standing stone serves as a reminder that Ireland’s archaeological heritage extends beyond what we can see and touch. The Archaeological Survey of County Donegal, compiled in 1983, captured these ghost monuments through careful research of historical records, local folklore, and earlier maps, preserving knowledge of sites that might otherwise be completely forgotten. Even in their absence, these lost stones tell us stories about changing attitudes toward ancient monuments, the transformation of the Irish countryside, and the delicate balance between preservation and progress.