Lasting damage has been caused to the Deer Stone in Glendalough, Co Wicklow, Ireland, in what appears to be an act of vandalism, according to Project Manager for HeritageMaps.ie, Pat Reid.
image for illustration: Glendalough by Jonjobaker, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
…Mr Reid said he believes someone lit a fire on the stone…
RTE writes:
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Philip Boucher-Hayes, Mr Reid said he believes someone lit a fire on the stone, which caused the boulder it is carved into to crack.
Damage to the stone was accelerated by the fire. [image caption]
“There’s four significant cracks running across it… if water gets into these cracks during winter the resulting freeze thaw will cleave the boulder that holds it apart….
“There was some damage to it before, but it has really accelerated it,” he said….
The Deer Stone is a Bulláin Stone, which can be thousands of years old…
….the original purpose of the stone is unknown, but it might have been used for food preparation or metal production.
They were repurposed into early Christian sites and have religious uses now as holy wells or Christening fonts…
… the National Monuments Service (NMS) said it is to carry out further specialist analysis…
….it is reporting the matter to An Garda Siochana for investigation.
