Pax Arva Colat
‘Let Peace Cultivate the Fields’
This morning the ‘Cairn of Peace’ was officially unveiled in its permanent home in Ratheniska, Co Laois to celebrate Ireland hosting the 67th World Ploughing Contest in 2022.
Each country since 1953 that hosts the World Ploughing Contest erects a ‘Cairn of Peace’ Monument – which is inscribed ‘Let Peace Cultivate the fields’. The idea of a Cairn of Peace being a permanent way to commemorate a World Ploughing Event. Although stylistically the Cairns of Peace that have been erected are all unique and remarkable in their own right they are all symbols of peace and co-operation on a global scale.
There are Cairns of Peace where each World Ploughing Contest took place and this is the sixth mounted in Ireland and first in Laois. There is currently one in Kerry, two in Wexford and two in Carlow.
The 2022 Cairn stone was extracted from Mc Keon Stone’s Kilkenny Blue Limestone quarry in Threecastles , Co Kilkenny. Kilkenny Blue Limestone, a sedimentary rock, was laid down about 330 million years ago in the Carboniferous era when Ireland was covered by a warm shallow sea.
McKeown Stone, Stradbally crafted the stone into the Cairn whilst Kent Stainless created the exquisite steelwork on the monument.