This is a bullaun stone, a type of ancient carved rock found at early Christian and pre-Christian sites across Ireland, typically characterised by one or more cup-shaped depressions worn or cut into the surface. The purpose of these hollows has long been debated; suggestions range from practical uses such as grinding grain or pigments to ritual functions connected with water, healing, or cursing. The water that collects in them was sometimes credited with curative powers, and local traditions around particular bullauns could persist for centuries.

This example lies approximately eight metres south-west of the burial ground at Kilpatrick, a proximity that is typical rather than coincidental. Bullaun stones are frequently found close to early ecclesiastical enclosures, graveyards, and holy wells, suggesting they were integrated into the devotional or communal life of early Christian communities, even if their origins may be considerably older. The boulder itself is substantial, measuring about 1.45 metres by 1.25 metres, which makes the carefully worked hollow towards its eastern end all the more deliberate looking against the rough, irregular mass of the stone around it.