The Cloch Labhrais, also called the Answering Stone and the Speaking Stone, is a large glacial erratic

boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...

beside a road leading from

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

Dungarvan Dungarvan () is a coastal town and harbour in County Waterford, on the south-east coast of Ireland. Prior to the merger of Waterford County Council with Waterford City Council in 2014, Dungarvan was the county town and administrative centre of ...

, from

Stradbally, County Waterford Stradbally (, IPA: �anˠˈt̪ˠɾˠaːdʲˌwalʲə is a small village in County Waterford, Ireland. History Medieval period In 1215, King John granted the custody of the counties of Waterford and Desmond (most of Cork and Kerry) to Thomas fitz ...

in Ireland. The stone is the subject of a

legend A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...

, much like the

Blarney Stone The Blarney Stone ( ga, Cloch na Blarnan) is a block of Carboniferous limestone built into the battlements of Blarney Castle, Blarney, about from Cork, Ireland. According to legend, kissing the stone endows the kisser with ''the gift of the g ...

. The most prominent and unique feature of the stone is a large, almost completely cleaving the stone in two. The large

glacial A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...

boulder likely obtained the split when the glacial ice melted due to a rapid temperature change between the ice and the water of the stream.Waterford County Council - ''Letters Containing Information Relative to the Antiquities of the County of Waterford Collected During the Progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1841''

Size and placement

The boulder rests on the west bank of the

River Deehan A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

near Stradbally. It is split from North to South almost perfectly in the centre of the rock. The split itself, in width, cuts the stone into two parts: the eastern and western divisions.

Eastern half

The easternmost half of the boulder measures from the north to the south end. It is in height at the southern side of this section, high at the east side, high at the north side, and high at the split. From the eastern side to the split itself is .

Western half

The other half of the boulder is from north to south. It is high at the southern end, at the west, high on the northern side, and it too is high at the split. From the western edge to the split measures . A large piece of the western part broke off and fell to the northern end of the split, almost completely closing the split at that end. This segment alone weighs around four tons.

Legend

There are several legends surrounding the stone, but almost all of them feature the stone revealing whether a person is

lying A lie is an assertion that is believed to be false, typically used with the purpose of deception, deceiving or Deception, misleading someone. The practice of communicating lies is called lying. A person who communicates a lie may be termed a l ...

. One version of the story tells of a disloyal young wife and her husband. The husband began to suspect that his wife and the man who was her lover may have had some indecent relationship. He took her out to the Answering Stone and told her to say whether or not she had betrayed him. The woman, having expected this, had secretly arranged for her lover to stand at the peak of a nearby mountain, where he would be in sight from their place at the stone, but far enough away that her husband would not recognize him. She said, "I had no more to do with the man that my husband suspects than with that man standing at the summit of this mountain!" The husband asked the stone if his wife was telling the truth, to which the stone replied that she was, but the truth was bitter. Since the stone had never before encountered such a misleading and deceitful form of trickery, only having been exposed to outright honesty or a simple lie, it was horrified with the woman's wickedness and split in half.

References

{{Coord, 52.145979, -7.510842, type:landmark_region:IE-WD_scale:50000, display=title Tourist attractions in County Waterford Geography of County Waterford Rock formations of Ireland Irish legends Individual rocks

Size and placement

Eastern half

Western half

Legend

See also

References