Ireland’s only quartz standing stone

The Glencullen Standing Stone can be found on the golf course facing Johnny Fox’s Pub in Glencullen. Standing stones are notoriously difficult to date but a type of ‘beaker’ pottery was found buried under this that can be dated to 1700BC. The stone is locally known as ‘Queen Mabh’ and stands just over 5 feet tall. Its composition is quartz which was a stone thought to have magical properties. These stones were erected over thousands of years and were part of a larger megalithic culture that flourished throughout Europe and beyond. It is believed that this was just one of a pair and a local myth reports that members of a Viking clan played ‘rings’ with them as a game. Its color appears to change at sunset and sunrise to refraction in the quartz. Over 10,000 standing stones have been recorded in Ireland and they have been used for boundary markers, burial chambers, ancient ceremonies, and scratching stones for animals.