Situated around 10kilometres south of Westport is the truly enigmatic standing stone at Lankill near the early ecclesiastical site of Toberbrendan. This stone is located on Tochar Phadraig or the ‘St Patricks Pilgrim Path’ that leads to Croagh Patrick, it has been described as both a cross pillar and a standing stone. In all likelihood it was a standing stone that was later Christianised but does still retain some of the earlier features such as concentric circles. The site is tricky to find and takes a bit of patience and good navigation but its striking beauty and power render it a trek worth making. The stone is around 2.5 metres in height and tapers from the bottom to its top, this tapering is further exacerbated as some of the upper section of the stone is broken on one side. The East face of the stone has a double circle enclosing a single line cross with extended terminals. Below this is a carving of four concentric circles. The West face of the stone is quite unusual and complex in its design. There are two circular motifs that are united by a V shaped arrangement of vertical lines. The upper portion of the design is an incised circle enclosing a cross with what appears to be concentric arcs in each quadrant that touch off the horizontal bar of the cross. There are a series of chevrons of unequal size on this side of the cross. The markings can be hard to make out but what is certain is that this stone radiates an energy that made it hard to leave on the day. I do note from the National Monuments Services Historic Monument Viewer maps that there is a holy well and a mound within 50 metres of the stone, also there was once an early monastery very close to the standing stone and this would explain why the field in which the standing stone is situated is called Gort na Manach, or ‘field of the Monks’.

GPS: 53.75322, -9.50183