The Tipperary Antiquarian

I came across this reference in an Irish Tourism Association survey of Templederry in Co. Tipperary. In the 1940s the Irish government sent surveyors around examining the tourist potential of (I presume) the whole country. They often looked at the local antiquities and I've been finding the reports really interesting. They occasionally talk about some features that aren't in the local inventory. The below picture shows "markings" on a tall standing stone an d when I saw them I thought they had the potential to be some kind of rock art.  The stone in question is described in archaeology.ie as follows "A triangular-shaped stone (H 2m; dims. 1.35m x 0.33m) of limestone composition, aligned on an E-W axis and tapering up to a point from E to W. There is some modern graffiti incised on stone, including initials RC and RM. No packing-stones evident though grassy tufts are growing at the base of the N side." I didn't spot the initials on the st...

By Bruce McAdam from Reykjavik, Iceland - Wickerman, Archaeolink 2008, CC BY-SA 2.0, I did a bit of a search for folklore about St. Johns Eve from around Tipperary. In many places in the west of Ireland the night is still celebrated with bonfires but it doesn't seem to have survived in Tipperary. I found ones from Clash near Toomevara, Curraghpoor near Tipp Town and Toor near Newport. So it shows a reasonable spread around the county. The one from Toor is my favourite "The custom of lighting bone-fires on St John's Eve still prevails but many of the attendant ceremonies such as throwing in a bone, etc. have fallen into disuse. At the present time people usually light a bush in the corner of each field. The doing of this is supposed to bring good luck. Long ago people made a fire of turf on the roadside and they threw a bone into it and then danced around it." http://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4922161/4857215/5016281 From Curraghpoor "St John's ...

You might wonder what the legend of the Lough Derg "Monster" has to do with a blog about archaeology and heritage. However I think the stories appearance in the Irish Folklore Commissions schools manuscripts qualifies it. It means the story of a monster in Lough Derg dates to at least the 1930s.  Reading through them I found this story about the Lough Derg Monster from a school in Ennis. "Long ago in the time of the Fianna a huge monster lived in Lough Derg. He had caused great havoc in in the neighbourhood and no one could approach the lake except when he was asleep. He had also eaten about thirty people. When Fionn heard this he made up his mind to kill the monster. He then got the Fianna ready and set out in the direction of Lough Derg. When they arrived the monster began to splash the water until they were all drenched. They then waited until he was asleep and they went to the Lough again. They made no noise this time. They were not there when be began to y...

Some exciting news with the adding of a previously unrecorded bullaun stone to the Sites & Monuments Record. I recently met local Nenagh man Tom White for a quick archaeology tour in North Tipp. Tom has a great interest in history and archaeology in the area (and further afield). However I think his real love is woodcraft and survivalism making use of the natural world around him to provide wild food, shelter, fire and water. He runs a great facebook page here . (Give his page a like, it is worth following for the great tips he gives). As such he is often out and about visiting various archaeological sites, walking the hills and has a great interest in ring-forts. We visited a couple of interesting megalithic and natural sites around North Tipp and had a good chat about the local archaeological sites in general. We got to discussing "cursing stones" and he mentioned that there was one that he visited regularly nea...

One very interesting feature of this church is what is known as a "Piscina" or sometimes described as a "Sacrarium". I'll be honest and say that before researching this blog piece I actually thought a Piscina was just another name for a holy water font. It is similar in that it is small bowl like feature. However unlike a holy water font this bowl actually has a hole in the bottom with some kind of pipe or outlet to the outside of the church. In it is poured the left over water from Mass and Martin Power (in his book on the local history of the area "Dear Land, Native Place") uses a quote to describe this practice as "What came from the earth, returns to the earth". Wikipedia  has some further information on Piscinas / Sacrariums and interestingly it states that in the Anglican tradition they are more commonly known as Piscinas while in the Roman Catholic tradition Sacrariums. Technically the Piscina is the bowl part...