Doubts over authenticity of Blarney Stone

by infomatique | February 20, 2008 at 03:58 pm | 3239 views | 10 comments

Millions of tourists may have kissed the wrong Blarney Stone in an effort to get the gift of the gab, according to a new study.

The authenticity of the Blarney Stone, kissed by about 400,000 tourists each year, has been questioned by Mark Samuel, an archaeologist and architectural historian, and Kate Hamlyn in a new book.

According to legend, kissing the stone at Blarney Castle, Co Cork, endows the person with the gift of gab, but the authors say the present stone only came into use in 1888 for health and safety reasons.

Up until then, visitors wishing to kiss the stone had to be dangled from the castle by two people holding their ankles.

Today visitors lie on their back, holding on to an iron railing and lean backwards to kiss the stone.

Blarney Castle has dismissed the theory that the current stone is not the one with the claimed magical powers.

Marketing manager John Fogarty said the Blarney Stone is a piece of the Stone of Scone or 'Stone of Destiny', on which the kings of Scotland were crowned.

One legend says the Scone Stone is supposed to be the pillow stone said to have been used by the biblical Jacob.

Mr Fogarty said that the part of the stone that came to Blarney was given to an Irish king, Cormac MacCarthy, by Scotland's Robert the Bruce.

It was a gift in gratitude for 4,000 Irish soldiers said to have been sent to aid Scotland when Robert defeated the English at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

The Scone Stone was subsequently captured by the English and taken to Westminster Abbey in London where it was fitted into a chair on which English sovereigns were crowned. It was returned to Edinburgh Castle in 1996.

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amyjudd

at 17:36 on February 20th, 2008

good stuff:

infomatique, I like this story. It's good stuff. Imagine if it turns out not to be the real blarney stone! I've never been, but imagine many people will feel very upset about that! Have you kissed the stone?

infomatique

at 18:01 on February 20th, 2008

No I have not. As a family we went there but as I never stop talking my dad thought that I might not be a good idea for me to kiss it. My younger sister and brothers did kiss it and since then my sister never stops talking ... she has an opinion about everything.

amyjudd

at 18:31 on February 20th, 2008

that's hilarious!

jimhum

at 19:45 on February 20th, 2008

To kiss the Blarney Stone, people lay on their back and stick their head in a hole. Those two blue spots just above the point of the arch above the window, are the pants legs of someone in the process of "Kissing the Blarney Stone."

They had a long line of people doing just that, one after another, and a tour guide was taking each one’s picture. Two men took the arms of each person and helped stick their heads into the hole under the Blarney Stone. One lady was so fat she couldn’t fit in the hole, so they pushed her a couple of times, then gave up and stood her up and sent her on her way. We are sure she’ll tell everyone she kissed the Blarney Stone. Kissing the Blarney Stone is supposed to give one eloquence.

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LBJackson

at 22:10 on February 20th, 2008

Kissing the Blarney Stone is something you must experience if you ever visit Ireland! Exploring the castle was amazing.

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fannypacksrule

at 00:25 on February 21st, 2008

For some reason, I always thought the Blarney Stone was in the middle of a field somewhere...but it definitely isn't. It's at the top of the Blarney Castle which is a just an absolute blast to climb up. Very steep steps, but the view at the top is breathtaking.

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Padráigín

at 11:42 on February 21st, 2008

I was there in July 2006 and I found it very interesting.

ElusivOne

at 16:23 on February 29th, 2008

It's certainly not a glamorous event! And even though I don't believe in the whole thing I had to go along with it and say it. It's one of those tourist traps that you just gotta do!

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Brooksider

at 13:10 on March 10th, 2008

The wife was frightened at this moment... see the grass underneath? yea.. that was scary for her.

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Inflatigirl

at 22:32 on March 13th, 2008

My husband, Jeff Sekhon, kissing the Blarney Stone. He swore he would never do it, but after the climb to the top of Blarney Castle, he decided that he'd better!

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