By the author A recent post about a stone chair in Co. Limerick made be recall a visit to Fiddlers Rock at Glenafelly in Co. Offaly. I first read about this rock in John Feehan's book - The Landscape of Slieve Bloom. https://www.offalyhistory.com/shop/books/the-landscape-of-slieve-bloom There isn't a whole pile of folklore that I am aware of regarding it other than than its association with a fiddler. It is marked on coillte's map for the Glenafelly loop walk. https://www.coillte.ie/site/glenafelly/ Stone chairs like this can often be linked to Gaelic inauguration practices, some are natural stones that are used, some have been worked by man to become more chair-like. By the author It is described on archaeology.ie as follows "Large conglomerate glacial erratic almost rectangular in plan (H 1.3m; 1.7m x 0.6m) aligned NE/SW. Doubtful standing stone due to its location and shape and not marked on any editions of the OS 6-inch maps. According to Fe...
I started off this article with the idea to review the various Books of Survey and Distribution to see if there were any "stray" Ryan landowners out there. From the Book of Survey and Distribution for Kilkenny - dated to circa 1680 These records show who owned the land in a particular area circa the mid 1600s and who was to receive the same lands after they had been confiscated by Cromwell. I had a look at the Carlow version of this document but there were no Ryans included in it which was unusual considering this was supposed to be the original home of the Ryans, however it appears that the Gaelic Kavanaghs and Anglo-Normans such as the Bagnals had taken much of their land prior to the 1600s. I then went on to review the Kilkenny Books here - not expecting to find much in those either. Books of Survey and Distribution: County Kilkenny: Gowran Barony - Virtual Treasury I had reviewed all the books up to the last one - Gowran Barony. There I found a large nu...