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St. Patrick's Rock, Cloneybrien, Portroe


Back in 2014 when I first came across the Rock Art at Lisheentyrone I thought it would be easy to find more. I surveyed the old 1840s OS maps online around the Portroe area and came across a feature called out as St. Patrick's Rock which I had never heard of up to that point.

When I clicked into the description of it on Archaeology.ie it was described as "natural depressions on surface of boulder known locally as the footprint of a greyhound".

I immediately thought this has to be unrecognised rock-art and visited as soon as I could. I was particularly optimistic as this rock is on the slope of a prehistoric hill-fort and there were two other unusual prehistoric features in the area (Graves of the Leinstermen & The Capstone of the King of Leinster).

Unfortunately as you can see from the photos the depression does indeed seem to be natural. There is also some recent graffiti on the rock.





Since then I found this bit of folklore on the rock.

From the Irish Tourism Association's Survey of Portroe (available to download here).

"Stone Laghtea Hill
It is said they were made by St. Patrick's mule & hound on the occasion on which he rested at the well in Cloneybrien.
On Commonage"

Its a stone I viewed in very strong light at the time and one I wouldn't mind another look at some time even just to see the modern graffiti on it.

Comments

  1. stonepeg112 August 2016 at 19:38

    My Minogues were living in Clonybrien at the time of the
    hearth Money Rolls of the 1660s. By the 1800s they were a few hundred yards over in Killoran. Know wonder we've been living in the same parish in Vermont since the 1850s. Minogue is Irish for Inertia ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Derek Ryan12 August 2016 at 23:12

    Nothing wrong with staying where you are if its the right place right!

    ReplyDelete

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