Last week I visited the Turoe Stone in County Galway. With the pictures of the site in mind, I looked around (the site is located in a pet farm), but only found an OPW info board. After a while I realized a second sign before you enter the lawn, that states, that the stone is currently in a program to protect its surface.
This means a wood shed with 2 small windows, that looks like an arbour, is placed over the stone, no wonder that I didn't find it :-( . As Michail Gorbatschow said: 'Life punishes those who delay'.
Although I totally appreciate, that the protection of this treasure is very important or a must, I was very disappointed, as this site was on my wish list for a long time. The whole 'atmosphere' is lost and I ask myself, if there were no other (and better) possibilities, to protect the stone, while still making a visit a worthwhile trip.
There is a local tradition that this stone once occupied a site other than that on which it now stands. It was said that up to about eighty years ago it stood at a rath near by known as the rath Feerwore. Some years ago Patrick Lyons who had been employed by the late Mr Dolphin of Turoe for 40 years a herd pointed out the exact spot was about 10 yards to the west of the rath called Feerwore where the stone once stood. Excavations were made there and some animal remains together with a cist were found. The contents of the cist are supposed to have been human remains indicating cremation and the animal remains a funeral feast.
Does anyone know what's happened with the stone? Did it go to the museum? Did it come back again? Is it still in that bizarre shed? The poor thing deserves a bit of respect.
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