Book review: Quest leaves no stone unturned

David Keohan's 'The Wind Beneath the Stone' is a well-researched window into a forgotten aspect of Ireland’s rural social life

David Keohan discovered stone lifting during the covid crisis while searching for things to do during the lockdowns. Picture: Moya Nolan

• The Wind Beneath the Stone: My Quest to Unearth a Piece of Ireland’s Folklore
• David Keohan
• Bloomsbury Books, €16.99

By his own admission David Keohan was not a sporty child. He says he was “a bit of a loner and a daydreamer” who preferred to explore, climb, and swim along the Copper Coast of Waterford rather than mix with others or play team sports.

He was in his 30s when he learned about the sport of Girevoy, a Russian-originated endurance weightlifting sport that involves lifting kettlebells.

He went on to represent Ireland at Girevoy, and holds a world endurance record in the sport.

Although he could never have imagined it happening, his childhood activities and his Girevoy achievements prepared him for what has been the real adventure of his life; researching and re-enacting the ancient pastime of stone lifting across Ireland.

Stone lifting was one of the many sports, challenges, and pastimes that occupied people on Sundays, pattern days, funerals, and other gatherings, before teams sports became codified in the 19th century.

Keohan discovered stone lifting during the covid crisis while searching for things to do during the lockdowns. 

He found a series of documentaries on stone lifting in Iceland, Spain, and Scotland on the internet. 

His research also led to a paper published by Dr Conor Heffernan in 2017. The paper quotes from Liam O’Flaherty’s short story, The Stone. 

This is the story of an old man who is trying to lift a huge stone, as he had done in his youth. The Stone fascinated Keohan.

His new book, The Wind Beneath the Stone: My Quest to Unearth a Piece of Ireland’s Folklore is the result of several years of searching for similar stones across Ireland. 

The title refers to the fact that a genuine lift is achieved when a stone (sometimes weighing over 200kg) is raised from the ground to allow the wind to blow through underneath. The cry of encouragement from the onlookers is “give it wind”.

Keohan’s background meant that he was perfectly prepared for what was a lonely quest. 

Local history and legends collected in the 1930s

His primary research tool was the Dúchas Schools Project website; a site which compiles all the local history and legends collected by national schoolchildren across Ireland in the 1930s. 

When he was not researching these stories, he was training and lifting heavier and heavier stones in preparation for the adventures ahead.

His first trip was to Inis Mór in the Aran Islands to find the stone that Liam O’Flaherty preserved in his writing. 

He and his friends found the stone. Keohan did ‘give it wind’, but only just; he knew he would have to go back.

However, before that could happen, there were many other stones that had to be found.

Each chapter is a quest to find and lift another stone. The book could easily have turned into a series of grunts and groans. It didn’t because Keohan is a natural storyteller. 

He outlines the location, the myths, and the legends associated with each stone. By doing this, he turns the finding and lifting of each stone into an adventure.

His enthusiasm for his mission is infectious. Through his research and social media posts, he gathers an enthusiastic group of followers. 

Their help is invaluable. It shows that he got great encouragement and that he rarely had difficulty getting permission to access farmlands.

When team sports and weight throwing events became organised in the 19th century it meant that those casual gatherings of stone lifting, and the feats performed in lifting them, were eclipsed from the national consciousness by the more organised sports.

The Wind Beneath the Stone is a well-researched window into this forgotten aspect of Ireland’s rural social life. 

Keohan points out that we now live our lives in buildings of steel and concrete and, as a consequence we have lost our connections to nature and the spirituality that nature brings. 

He believes that by visiting these stones, in their remote locations, he has been able to reconnect with these more magical and simpler times.