🏆 2022 Nominated Craftsperson of The Year For England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales & Northen Ireland
🏆 2023 Design Craft Council Future Makers Award Winner
🏆 2023 Living Heritage Award Heritage Council Winner
🏆 2023 WorldSkills Finalists
We are 8th-generation Stone Masons/Stone Cutters based in Ballyknockan (“The Granite Village”). Nested in the Wicklow mountains, the O’Flaherty Family continues our historical family stone-cutting practices, keeping The Granite Village traditions alive.
Killian is the 8th generation of a line of family members working in Masonry. Initially, Killian began working in the industry for his father, Terry (7th generation stone mason). As time went on, Killian discovered his true passion for stone cutting and began a 5-year apprenticeship as a stone mason/stone cutter in the updated training system & the only programme in the country.
Committed to devoting his career to masonry and continuing his family story, Killian built O’Flaherty Stone to the company we know today. Killian was determined to modernise the business while maintaining family and industry traditions. A driving factor behind O’Flaherty Stone success today is Petra. Petra is Killian’s sister and is Ireland’s first registered woman stone mason apprentice in 30 years. Including women in a male dominated industry is one of the many ways O’Flaherty Stone is transforming and revolutionising the industry.
Owner, Stone Mason, Stone Cutter and Stone Lettering Master
The First Female Stonemason Apprentice registered in over 30 years!
Office Manager, Administration and the brain behind the business!
Office Administration
Foreman/Site Manager
S.P.A.B Heritage Awards, 2022.
World Skills Ireland, 2022.
The National Heritage Council, 2023.
Design & Crafts Council Ireland, 2022.
Projects O’Flaherty Stone worked on:
O’Flaherty (Middle Irish: Ua Flaithbertach; Modern Irish: Ó Flaithbheartaigh), is an Irish Gaelic clan, based most prominently in what is today County Galway. We are known as the Ferocious O’Flaherty’s.
The O’Flaherty lineage that brought us to where we are today was based in Saggart Co. Dublin and worked on the construction of Saggart Church in 1849. We take immense pride in our heritage and our family history of working in Masonry. Today, our owner Killian is the 8th generation of a line of stone cutters dating back to the 1800s. His sister, Petra, is the first registered woman stone mason apprentice that Ireland has experienced in over 30 years!
Killian’s grandfather, Sean (the 6th generation), was a retired stone mason and bricklayer who often spoke about his life in the trade, the men he worked with, and even the Stone Mason language bear lorraigge. Fascinated by his family lineage, Killian gathered stories and images of the many generations of O’Flaherty stone cutters. Today, Killian has images of his great-great-grandfather (Richard, the 4th generation) and great-grandfather (Thomas, the 5th generation). Additionally, Killian impressively collected a range of stories dating back to his 5x great-grandfather. The O’Flaherty family legacy of 8 generations working in masonry and its contribution to the inclusion of women in a largely male-based industry, is a fine representation of Irish history in the modern world.
O’Flaherty stone is a proud Irish stone-masonry business. When we say “stone-masonry is our blood” we are not only referring to our 8th generations of stonemasons in our modern family lineage – we are also talking about our ancestors.
Our deep roots trace back to the 10th century, the O’Flahtery tribe was noted in the annals of Ireland in 1034. At the time, the O’Flaherty Tride predominantly dominated the area of Galway Bay. The O’Flaherty family was so powerful & ferocious that they seized Connaught & Flaherty O’Flaherty proclaimed himself as ‘The High King of Ireland’. Over the years, Many of the Irish families fell to the Normans. However, the O’Flaherty’s survived and guarded their Gaelic ancestry irrespective of the threat against them.
The O’Flaherty’s were so powerful that the citizens of Galway, who were under the power of the Normans, built a wall to protect them against the family. On the wall the citizens wrote “From the ferocious O’Flaherties, Good Lord protect us”. For the next 400 years, the O’Flaherty family controlled Connemara. They began building castles, tower houses, churches and integrated into the domestic trade market. In Particular, Aughnanure Castle is a fine representation of how skilled the O’Flaherty stonemasons are.
Today, thousands of people visit Aughnanure Castle to experience the infrastructure of medieval Ireland and to walk in the steps of the O’Flaherty family. The family played a massive role in the development of the stone-masonry market in Ireland we know today. So, when we say “stone masonry is in our blood”, we mean this literally.
O’Flaherty Stone uses Irish Granite from the village of Ballyknockan. Situated on the western edge of a large granite band, extending from Dublin Bay to County Carlow in the Wicklow mountains, Ballyknockan granite quarries are deeply rooted in the stone-cutting history of Ireland since the 1800s.
Ballyknockan is often referred to as “The Granite Village” or “The Skeleton of Dublin”. Since 1823, when the village of Ballyknockan was established as a direct result of the Quarries of Ballyknockan, the term “The Skeleton of Dublin” was coined. Ballyknockan granite plays a huge role in the structural integrity of Ireland’s historical buildings. If you walked through Dublin City, it would be difficult to avoid a building made of Ballyknockan granite. The story of Ballyknockan is a Living History/Tradition, it has lasted Centuries while other stone communities dwindled. Its relative location to Dublin, coupled with its historical legacies and high-quality stone, Ballyknockan holds a deep and important position in Irish history.
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We are 8th-generation Stone Masons/Stone Cutters based in Ballyknockan (“The Granite Village”). Nested in the Wicklow mountains, the O’Flaherty Family continues our historical family stone-cutting practices, keeping The Granite Village traditions alive.
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