| Aghade Holed Stone | |||||||||
| Native Name: | Gallán Pollta Áth Fhád | ||||||||
| Alternate Name: | Cloghaphoill | ||||||||
| Map Type: | Ireland | ||||||||
| Coordinates: | 52.7701°N -6.7468°W | ||||||||
| Location: | Aghade, Tullow, County Carlow, Ireland | ||||||||
| Built: | early Bronze Age, 2000–1600 BC | ||||||||
| Width: | 1.56m (05.12feet) | ||||||||
| Height: | 2.4m (07.9feet) | ||||||||
| Material: | granite | ||||||||
| Embedded: |
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Aghade Holed Stone or Cloghaphoill is a large holed stone and a national monument located in Aghade, County Carlow, Ireland.[2]
The holed stone is granite, measures approximately 2.4 x 1.56 x 0.46 metres, weighs close to 5 tonnes, and has a hole about 32cm (13inches) in diameter near the top.[3] [4]
Archaeologists believe that the stone was originally a door to a megalithic tomb. The hole may have permitted the offering of food or other objects to the dead.
The 14th-century Book of Ballymote offers a story where Niall of the Nine Hostages ties Eochaid, son of Énnae Cennsalach mac Labhradh (a 5th-century King of Leinster) to the Aghade Holed Stone and sends nine men to kill him:[5]
Up to the 18th century it was common for sick children to be passed through the hole, in the belief that this would cure them.