WWLB003. ROUNDSTONE
Location: Connemara, Ireland
Keeper: Tim Robinson
Status: Not yet installed.
Guide: Not yet published

In Roundstone (a fishing village fifty miles west of Galway) follow the lane that runs uphill westwards from the harbour, by O’Dowd’s bar. After 200 yards take the turn to the right, a small surfaced road climbing slowly northwards through fields. There is a gate across it just over half a mile up, after which the road is unsurfaced and in open commonage of rough grazing. Just beyond the gate the road twists left and then right again, and begins to descend. Admire the immense vista of mountains, bays and islands visible from here.

From this last bend count 200 good paces along the road, and then turn to face the hillside on your left. About 80 yards ahead (i.e. to the west and uphill) is a steep little rock outcrop, with a level patch above it. This bit of the hillside is called Clochairín, meaning ‘little stony place’. The ground is very uneven and boggy (boots or wellingtons are recommended) but if you cast about on the level area you will find the remains of a rectangular building measuring four or five paces long from east to west inside. A shepherd family lived here, probably in the mid-19th century. Only a foot or two of its walls still stand; the rest is tumbled stones. (Please do not disturb any of the stones.) Leaning against the outside of its north wall, four feet from its west end, is a slanting stone with a squarish corner. Put your hand in behind this stone.

NOTES
The site was chosen for its proximity to Ludwig Wittgenstein’s house at Rosroe.