School: Yellow Furze

Location:
Yellow Furze, Co. Meath
Teacher:
Síle, Bean Uí Leamhain
Browse
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0684, Page 307

Archival Reference

The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0684, Page 307

Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.

See copyright details.

Download

Open data

Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

  1. XML School: Yellow Furze
  2. XML Page 307
  3. XML (no title)

Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.

On this page

  1. (no title)

    In a field in Brownstown there lies a stone that connects us with the "Stone Age" of Ireland.

    In a field in Brownstown there lies a stone that connects us with the "Stone Age" of Ireland.
    It is a round-shaped stone, about 14 feet in length and 8 feet (roughly) in girth. There are a couple of Ogham characters on it, and there is an impression about an inch in depth in another part of it.
    There is a very ancient legend attached to this stone.

    It is said that a giant was once on the Hill of Tara and saw a cow going into the garden of his mother who lived in Slane. It seems he wished to hunt the cow out of the garden so he took up a stone with the intention of striking her with it, but through some mishap the stone slipped, and instead of falling in Slane, it only came as far as Brownstown. The impression is said to be made by the giant's finger.
    It was in a standing position near the centre of the field until a few years ago, when it fell, and was afterwards removed to the side of the bank, where it is still to be seen. Other theories go to say that it marked the burial-place of some person long ago, and others still say that it was Fíonn Mac Cumhaill's slate-pencil.
    There was a smaller stone in a field near Seneschalstown, but it was removed over 20 years ago by Colonel Brodigan to his place at Piltown.
    (continues on next page)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Language
    English