Williamstown

Also known as:
The Six Fingers
Nearest town:
Hacketstown (6km ENE)
OS reference:
S913798
OS sheet:
61
Latitude:
52° 51' 41.15 N
Longitude:
6° 38' 39.37 W
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Williamstown

ryaner
ryaner Jan 2, 2022

A rival for the more widely known Ardristan, it’s in a relatively isolated spot on the road to nowhere special. You could take it in after a visit to Haroldstwon, 2.5 kilometres to the south-west. It’s not visible from the small road but I accessed it from the west, having fortuitously met the owner who was relaxed about me jumping the gate and having a look.

The base of the stone is quite stout, tapering up to over 2 metres tall and with six grooves. All of the views around the stone are blocked by trees and shrubs so it’s hard to tell if there’s any alignment. Williamstown fits neatly into the group of North Carlow grooved stones.

Folklore

Williamstown
Standing Stone / Menhir
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Nov 29, 2012

Williamstown.

On the farm of Mr. Watchorn in this townland there is a very fine stone with rounded corners. It is marked ‘Gallan’ on the Ordnance map. Its height is six feet six inches and its greatest girth is thirteen feet two inches. There are two groovings on the west face, one very large on on the south, and three on the east. The large grooving on the south is two feet six inches long, and one foot wide at the top. The others vary in length from two feet six inches to one foot eight inches.

Locally this stone is called ‘the six Fingers.’ There is a tradition that it was thrown there by Finn Mac Cumhail from the top of Eagle Hill, Hacketstown.

Another tradition states that it rolls down occasionally to get a drink at the River Derreen, which flows close by. The same story is told by John McCall in his History of Clonmore about Killahookaun Big Stone, a large natural boulder of granite on the county boundary on Killalongford Hill.

From ‘A group of grooved standing stones in North Carlow’ by E O’Toole and G F Mitchell, in The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, v9 no2 (Jun 30th 1939).

Sites within 20km of Williamstown

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