Aghade Holed Stone

Aghade Holed Stone or Cloghaphoill is a large holed stone and a national monument located in Aghade, County Carlow, Ireland.

Description
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 32 cm in diameter near the top.

History and legend
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:

"Then Niall went to Leinster upon a hosting, and he said that he would not go from them so long as he was alive, or until Echu were given him as a pledge and hostage. And this had to be done. So he was taken to Ath Fadat [Fád's ford] in Fothairt Fea on the bank of the Slaney, and was left there before Niall, with a chain around his neck, and the end of the chain through the hole of a stone pillar. Nine champions advance towards him to slay him. 'Woe!' said Echu, 'this is bad indeed!' With that he gave himself a twist, so that the chain broke in two. He seized the iron bolt that was through the chain, and advanced to meet them. He plied the bolt on them so that the nine fell."

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.