Bullaun stone, Carrigagown, Co. Tipperary
Co. Tipperary |
Holy Sites & Wells
A large granite boulder sitting in the grounds of a private house in Skehanagh might not announce its significance, but this particular stone carries a feature that places it within a very old tradition.
Carved or worn into its upper surface is a deep circular depression, half a metre across and a quarter of a metre deep, of the kind known as a bullaun. Bullauns are hollow basins found in boulders across Ireland, most commonly in early ecclesiastical settings, and their precise function remains genuinely unclear. Theories range from liturgical use to the grinding of pigments or grain, and in folk tradition they were often believed to hold curative water. What makes this example quietly stranger is that a second depression exists on the underside of the boulder, out of sight and inaccessible, as though the stone was shaped before anyone knew which way up it would eventually rest.
The boulder was not always where it is now. It was originally found in a field beside a ruined building in the adjoining townland of Carrigagown North, a structure that local tradition held to be a possible church. That association is consistent with the pattern seen at many bullaun sites across Ireland, where the stones appear in proximity to early Christian remains. A second bullaun stone was discovered at the same site and has since been relocated to the grounds of the Roman Catholic church in the nearby village of Kilbarron, also known as Newchapel. The two stones were apparently found together, which suggests the original field may have been part of a more substantial ecclesiastical landscape, though no firm identification of the building has been recorded.




