Guide to Waterford Monuments

Stone Rows

Stone Rows/Pairs are thought to belong to the same Megalithic tradition as Stone Circles and most have been dated to the Bronze Age.

Under this monument category, the Waterford Archaeological Inventory of 1999 listed 17 examples in the county which are thought to be authentic or ‘possible’ such monuments.

A Stone Pair is usually defined by just two standing stones aligned such as those at

Ballinadysert and Crough while a  Stone Row would normally be made up of three or more stones like the Rathmaiden Stone Row which contains five stones.

The exact function of these Pairs/Rows is unknown and similar to the solitary Standing Stone (monolith), they may have had a commemorative or ritual role to play or have even had solar and lunar alignments. Other theories include that in the case of Stone Pairs, the differing profiles of stones usually found at these sites represent the male and female form.

The examples in County Waterford differ from those found in Cork and Kerry in that the stones are more widely spaced and that the long axis is usually perpendicular to the alignment formed by the stones. It is also worth noting that most of these monuments are found in an area west of the Comeragh mountains.

Some have been incorporated into banks and field boundaries which in cases as such, gives rise to the question – were they perhaps originally part of a stone circle that had been uplifted and re located in a different form?

The locations of these monuments can vary greatly from low lying pastures such as Knockboy to high elevated mountain ridges like Knockanafrin (pictured above).

Whatever role they had in prehistoric times, these mysterious alignments are almost every bit as intriguing as their close relative - the Stone Circle.

Three stone row at Knockboy