A stand-off has developed between a seaside community in Co Kerry and a developer over attempts to move a 10-tonne Spanish marble slab which fell from a ship 160 years ago.
The slab was destined for a church in Killorglin when it fell into the foreshore at the seaside village of Cromane.
Local people have mounted a 24-hour guard on the white marble, and local gardaí are also monitoring the situation.
A spokesman for the Cromane Community Council, Mr Pat Casey, said yesterday that the slab has been a local landmark since 1840.
"It fell off a ship while being transferred to a smaller one to take to the pier, and it has been in that spot since."
Community members had plans to move the slab themselves and to display it properly, he added.
However, Killorglin developer Mr Cyril Moriarty told local newspaper Kerry's Eye that he was the legal owner of the rock and entitled to remove it.
Mr Moriarty said that the fourth generation descendants of the Spanish quarry owners gave him permission to remove it.
He said that he was awaiting a licence from the Department of the Marine to enable him to move the slab from the foreshore.