Clooney Stone Row, Co. Clare

Location – Located between Spancil Hill, made famous by the song of the same name, and the ominous sounding Hell River. It is near both Quin and Tulla. Strictly speaking it is located in the townland of Knockanora, but it is commonly known as Clooney stone row (Clooney is the barony) and who am I to argue? It is located in a field behind Clooney National School and on private land, so do seek out permission!

OS: R 420 802 (map 58)
GPS: R 42066 80236 (Accuracy – 0m)
Longitude: 8° 51' 37.55" W
Latitude: 52° 52' 11.85" N

Description and History – These are easily spotted from the road that runs in front of the school near the crest of a small hill. It is a nice little row comprised of three stones spaced evenly apart with the tallest being about 1.7m high and shortest 1.4m high. What is immediately striking is that all the stones have a distinctly different shape. One is triangular, one is square and other is quite slender. Surely this must have been a very deliberate choice by the community of people who erected these in the Bronze Age. The central stone still stands upright, but the outer two now lean to a side, one forward and one back. The row is aligned NE-SW.

There is some folklore attached to these stones that some monks were returning from a trip when they were robbed by three villains. The monks cursed the three robbers and they were turned into the three stones that form the row.

Difficulty – These are not that difficult to get to, but it does involve scaling a field gate and walking up a small hill. The main difficulty is that there are located behind a school, so I would recommend visiting during a weekend or out of term time.

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