Sweep’s Pit and Cross Rock

Sweep’s Pit and Sweep’s or the Cross Rock are two small features found up on Killakee Mountain as you head up the Featherbeds of the Dublin Hills. Sweep’s Pit is an excavation on the height known to local hill farmers as a place sheep got stuck in holes.

Sweep’s or the Cross Rock as marked our Dublin Mountains 1:25,000 mapping is a small relatively insignificant looking boulder down near the road. It carries an inscription of sorts and the shape of a cross.

Both names were known by Patrick Healy who collected much local information several decades ago. I presume Sweep was a personal name, maybe of a man who grazed this area once and/or who died up here. But to be honest, I don’t really know and if anyone else has an answer, please let us know 12

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