Translation according to P. W. Joyce:
Lissacarha in Galway; of the rock. See Cairthe, vol. i. p. 343 [reproduced below].
"In many parts of Ireland, and particularly in districts where the stone circles occur, may be seen huge blocks of stone, which evidently owe their upright position, not to accident, but to the design and labour of an ancient people. They are called by the native Irish gallauns or leaganns, and in character they are precisely similar to the hoar-stones of England, the hare-stanes of Scotland, and maen-gwyr of Wales. Many theories have been promulgated relative to their origin. They are supposed to have been idol stones - to have been stones of memorial - to have been erected as landmarks, boundaries, etc. - and, lastly, to be monumental stones" (Wakeman's "Handbood of Irish Antiquities", p. 17). We know that the erection of pillar-stones as sepulchral monuments is often recorded in ancient Irish authorities, one example of which will be found in the passage quoted from Leabhar an hUidhre at page 338; but it is probable that some were erected for other purposes. There are several words in Irish to signify a pillar-stone, one of which is coirthe or cairthe [corha, carha]. It is used in every part of Ireland, and has given names under various forms to many different places, in several of which the old pillar-stones are yet standing. The beautiful valley and lake of Glencar, on the borders of Leitrim and Sligo, is called in Irish, Gleann-a-chairthe [Glenacarha], the glen of the pillar-stone; but its ancient name, as used by the Four Masters, was Cairthe-Muilcheann [carha-Mulkan]. Carha and Carra, the names of several townlands in Ulster and Connaught, exhibit the word in its simple anglicised forms. There is a place in the parish of Clonfert, Cork, called Knockahorrea, which represents the Irish Cnoc-a'-chairthe, the hill of the pillar stone; and in Louth we find Drumnacarra, which has nearly the same meaning. These stones are also, as Mr. Wakeman remarks, called gallauns and leaganns.