Roman Mosaics; Or, Studies in Rome and Its Neighbourhood
John Stuart Mill · en
In Ireland footmarks are very numerous, and are attributed by the
peasantry to different saints. Mr. and Mrs. S.C. Hall, in their
account of Ireland, refer to several curious examples which are
regarded by the people with superstitious reverence, and are the
occasions of religious pilgrimage. Near the chapel of Glenfinlough, in
King's County, there is a ridge with a boulder on it called the
Fairy's Stone or the Horseman's Stone, which presents on its flat
surface, besides cup-like hollows, crosses, and other markings,
rudely-carved representations of the human foot. On a stone near
Parsonstown, called Fin's Seat, there are similar impressions--also
associated with crosses and cup-shaped hollows which are traditionally
said to be the marks of Fin Mac Coul's thumb and fingers. On an
exposed and smooth surface of rock on the northern slope of the Clare
Hills, in the townland of Dromandoora, there is the engraved
impression of a foot clothed with a sandal; and near it is sculptured
on the rock a figure resembling the caduceus of Mercury, while there
are two cromlechs in the immediate vicinity. The inauguration-stone of
the Macmahons still exists on the hill of Lech--formerly called
Mullach Leaght, or "hill of the stone"--three miles south of Meaghan;
but the impression of the foot was unfortunately effaced by the owner
of the farm about the year 1809. In the garden of Belmont on the
Greencastle road, about a mile from Londonderry, there is the
famous stone of St. Columba, held in great veneration as the
inauguration-stone of the ancient kings of Aileach, and which St.
Patrick is said to have consecrated with his blessing. On this
remarkable stone, which is about seven feet square, composed of a hard
gneiss, and quite undressed by the chisel, are sculptured two feet,
right and left, about ten inches long each. Boullaye le Gouze mentions
that in 1644 the print of St. Fin Bar's foot might be seen on a stone
in the cemetery of the Cathedral of Cork; it has long since
disappeared.