There are many possibilities here.

One friend suggested a more mundane reason. Many of the stones were originally simple boundary markers. Maybe the local 'lore' was if you want to cross my land you have to move my stone!

I prefer to think of more mystical reasons. The stone definitely has a presence and the megalithic activity in the area is huge. There are 6 wedge tombs within four kms of it. I think the stone is *very* old and not just some celtic jobbie.

The other amazing thing is that the quartz in the wicklow moutains all seems to be concentrated some 25km away! It may have originally been a glacial eratic, but I think it was moved here by man(just like the two not quite so huge rocks at Castleruddery stone circle on the opposite side of the Wicklow mountains). This has just made me think of something else that I will add to the "Underwater lost Kingdoms" thread where it belongs.

There are not many standing stones in the area. There is one just 800m away by a ring barrow, but that is about it really. There are two possible christianised stones about 3km away, but a lot of stones/tombs in Ireland were blasted to use in road building.

I don't actually know if there is an undergound water course nearby, but I intend to find out now.