At the junction with Green Rd as you cross the river just south of the Glendalough monastic site is the Deer Stone, set in the middle of a group of rocks. Legend claims that when St Kevin needed milk for two orphaned babies, a doe stood here waiting to be milked. The stone is actually a bullaun (a stone used as a mortar for grinding medicines or food).
Many such stones are thought to be prehistoric, and they were widely regarded as having supernatural properties: women who bathed their faces with water from the hollow were supposed to keep their looks forever. The early churchmen brought the stones into their monasteries, perhaps hoping to inherit some of their powers.
The Deer Stone was vandalized in 2023 and may not remain accessible to the public.
