HIDDEN MONUMENT

This is a hidden monument camouflaged with ivy to conceal its significance. It is the original Bigstone. I pass it every time I take a walk down the road, it is only 200 yards from my house.

It's significance is that it marks the spot of a hedge school back in the 1820s. The school eventually collapsed during The Great Famine in the 1840s. A new school was built further down the road in the community of Bigstone in 1879 where a new, and bigger, stone is boldly etched with the words BIGSTONE.

But I like the idea that the original Big Stone is sitting in a ditch down the road from my house. I feel like a guardian of the real Big Stone.

Just before I leave the subject. It is ironic that the area that I live in is known as Carrigeen Crossroads. In Irish 'Carrigeen' means Little Stone!