Bullaun stone

The National Monuments Service's description

Leaning against the S face of a partly collapsed NW-SE running field wall at the foot of a S-facing slope, in mixed hazel cover and exposed limestone pavement. Indicated and labelled ‘Bullaun’ on the OS 25-inch plan (1897) and on the Cassini edition (1920) of the OS 6-inch map. This moss-covered oval limestone bullaun stone (H 0.82m; Wth 0.44m; T 0.15m) has two shallow but clearly defined circular hollows in its outward-facing side: one (diam. 0.16-0.18m; D 0.05m) to the left and the second (diam. 0.16-0.18m; D 0.06m) to the right. At the top of the stone is part of a third hollow (diam. 0.25m; D 0.05m), broken away. At the base of the stone is another arc (L 0.17m) of a possible fourth hollow (D 0.13m), also broken away. Macnamara (1897, 79) suggested that these hollows may have been useful for processing plant foods. However, they may also be natural solution hollows in the limestone. The stone has been illustrated by MacNamara (op. cit.) and Swinfen (1992, 11). There is a medieval house (CL017-021----) c. 27m to the E, known locally as Tigh na mBráthar due to a tradition that this ‘House of the Friars’ was the home of ‘the priests who officiated in 'Cowlnabrawher (Cill-mic-an Donáin)’ a medieval church (CL017-018----) c. 205m to the SW but now no longer extant (Macnamara, op. cit.).

Reference:

Macnamara, G.U. 1897 Identification of "The Ascetic's Church," Leana, Co. Clare. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 7, 77-79.

See attached images:
• CL017-019001-_01 Photo of moss-covered bullaun stone.
• CL017-019001-_02 Snip of Swinfen’s sketch of the bullaun stone.

Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Conn Herriott

Date of upload: 22 August 2023

References

Swinfen, A. 1992 Forgotten stones: Ancient church sites of the Burren and environs. Dublin. Lilliput Press.