The one at Spital, in north County Cork, takes a different approach entirely. It sits in wet, level ground, a modest upright stone just one metre high, rectangular in plan and tapering slightly towards its top. Its long axis runs northeast to southwest, an alignment that may be deliberate, though what purpose it once served, whether marking a boundary, a burial, a route, or something else entirely, remains an open question.

The stone measures roughly 36 centimetres by 20 centimetres at its base, which makes it a comparatively slight presence in the physical sense. What it lacks in scale it compensates for in quiet persistence. Standing stones of this kind were erected throughout prehistoric Ireland, and their dates range widely, from the Neolithic period through to the early medieval era. Without excavation, it is rarely possible to assign a firm date to any individual example. This one is no exception. Its waterlogged setting is worth noting: low-lying ground was not always considered inhospitable by earlier peoples, and wetlands in particular carried significant ritual and practical significance in prehistoric Ireland.