The Blarney Stone (Cloch na Blarnan) is a block of blue-stone built into the battlements of Blarney Castle, Blarney is about 8 kilometres (5 miles) from Cork. According to legend, kissing the stone endows the kisser with the gift of the gab (great eloquence or skill at flattery). The stone was set into a tower of the castle in 1446. The castle is a popular tourist site in Ireland, attracting visitors from all over the world to kiss the stone and tour the castle and its gardens.

The word blarney has come to mean clever, flattering, or coaxing talk.

An early story involves the goddess Clíodhna. Cormac Laidir MacCarthy, the builder of Blarney Castle, being involved in a lawsuit, appealed to Clíodhna for her assistance. She told MacCarthy to kiss the first stone he found in the morning on his way to court, and he did so, with the result that he pleaded his case with great eloquence, and won. Thus the Blarney Stone is said to impart 'the ability to deceive without offending'. MacCarthy then incorporated it into the parapet of the castle.

Another suggests that Queen Elizabeth I, while requesting an oath of loyalty to retain occupancy of land, received responses from Cormac Teige McCarthy, the Lord of Blarney, which amounted to subtle diplomacy, and promised loyalty to the Queen without 'giving in'. Elizabeth proclaimed that McCarthy was giving her '(a lot of) blarney', thus apparently giving rise to the legend.

The ritual of kissing the Blarney Stone, according to the castle's proprietors, has been performed by millions of people, including world statesmen, literary giants and legends of the silver screen. The kiss, however, is not casually achieved. To touch the stone with one's lips, the participant must ascend to the castle's peak, then lean over backwards on the parapet's edge. This is traditionally achieved with the help of an assistant. Although the parapet is now fitted with wrought-iron guide rails and protective crossbars, the ritual can still trigger attacks of acrophobia, an extreme or irrational fear of heights.

The Blarney Stone is ranked as the most unhygienic tourist attraction in the world.

Prior to the installation of the safeguards, the kiss was performed with real risk to life and limb, as participants were grasped by the ankles and dangled bodily from the height. In the Sherlock Holmes radio dramatisation The Adventure of the Blarney Stone (first broadcast March 18, 1946), a man attempting to kiss the Blarney Stone falls to his death. Holmes' investigation reveals this as a murder, the man's boots having been surreptitiously greased before the attempt.

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