Bullaun stone

The National Monuments Service's description

Ruins of Galey Church (KE010-018----) are depicted standing in centre of small circular-shaped graveyard (KE010-018001-) the outline of which was shown with dotted line on the 1841 ed. OS 6-inch map.
In 2011 a graveyard survey carried out by Ann Frykler and Robert Hanbidge of Headland Archaeology Ltd. recorded the following details: ‘The boundaries of the original graveyard consist of rubblestone walls with rubblestone coping. The main entrance which is located midway along the northwestern boundary, fronts directly onto the road and is splayed in plan with concaved enclosing walls. The entrance consists of a pair of dressed rubblestone square‐profile piers with roughly dressed rubblestone coping and supports a single‐leaf
wrought‐iron gate. A possible shallow font/bullaun (Miscellaneous item No. 06) was found within the fabric of the northeastern boundary to the interior. Carved in a locally sourced sedimentary stone, the circular plan and shallow concave profile suggests that this may indeed be a font/bullaun.
Miscellaneous No. 01: Located in the eastern half of the site, 3m to the northwest of a tomb (Grave No.
121) is an unnamed gravemarker (Grave No. 320). This gravemarker comprises a roughly circular,
shallow (c. 1 cm deep) concave feature carved into the upper surface of a slate stone. The
circular feature is roughly carved and therefore does not share many similarities with fonts or bullaun
stones, which are often more finely carved and are more ‘basin like’ in profile with greater depths.
There are several smaller depressions around the base of this feature which are unusual and may
indicate that the feature may have served as some sort of receptacle, possibly associated with a grave
or otherwise, although this cannot be confirmed.
Miscellaneous No. 06: Included within the fabric of the northeastern boundary to the graveyard is a
possible font/bullaun stone. Carved in a locally sourced sedimentary stone, the feature has a circular plan and concave profile which though relatively shallow is similar to other shallow fonts and bullaun stones with smooth sides and a fine concave profile. The basin is deeper in profile in comparison to miscellaneous item No. 01, a cruder example of a basin carved into a narrow slate gravemarker' (Hanbidge 2011, 15).

See attached plan of church site and graveyard courtesy of Robert Hanbidge

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 10 June 2022

References

Hanbidge, R. 2011 Archaeological Survey of Galey Graveyard, Listowel, County Kerry. Unpublished report by Headland Archaeology Ltd. for Kerry County Council.