Ballywiheen/Baile Uí Bhaoithín

Standing stone

One of my favourite townlands on the Dingle peninsula is Ballywiheen, it is littered with a vast array of ancient sites, including megalithic monuments, standing stones, ringforts, ogham stones, Early Christian and medieval church sites, this townland has them all. I was full of excitement as we wandered up the boreen that leads to Tobermalogga/Tobar na Molaige, José had told me about the amazing cross-slab, that was the focal point of the holy well. Boreen comes from the irish word bóithrín meaning little road, a bóthar was a cow track, bó means cow. We had decided to visit the standing stone at the top of the track before visiting the well. Our view of the landscape was blocked on both sides by a hedgerow that lined the boreen, but we kept our eyes fixed firmly on the ground, as there was plenty of evidence that the cow-track was still in use. Suddenly I noticed the standing stone, WOW! what a simply stunning backdrop. From the monolith I was looking across to Mount Brandon and some of Kerry's finest Early Christian sites, Kilmalkedar, Gallarus, Reasc and Lateevemore all lay in front of me, incredible.

The 2.38 metre high standing stone is currently being repurposed as a gatepost. It's not the only monolith to be used in this manner. The roughly rectangular stone is 1.4 metres wide at the base and it's rounded top tapers to a point at the SSW. It is completley covered in lichen, that lends the stone perfectly to the landscape.