Only when you look at its upper surface does the oddness become apparent: three carefully worked, bowl-shaped depressions, evenly spaced and worn smooth, cut into the rock over what were almost certainly many centuries.

Bullauns are artificial cup-shaped hollows ground into stone, found across Ireland and often associated with early Christian or pre-Christian ritual sites, holy wells, and monastic enclosures. Their precise original purpose remains debated, though they have been used for grinding, for collecting water believed to have curative properties, and as focal points for localised devotional practice. The boulder at Ballard is a glacial erratic, a large coarse-grained granite stone deposited by ice-sheet movement and almost certainly resting in or very close to its original position. It measures roughly 2.4 metres east to west and 1.8 metres north to south, rising to just over a metre in height on its western side. The three bullauns on its surface are circular and broadly similar in size, ranging from about 23 to 28 centimetres across and between 12 and 16 centimetres deep. The stone was hidden beneath hedgerow growth until the hedges were cleared, at which point the carvings became visible again. A second, smaller bullaun stone is also present nearby; a broken granite boulder with a single incomplete basin, around 19 centimetres across and 6 centimetres deep. Its origins are uncertain, though it is believed to come from the immediate area.

The larger boulder is built into a stone fence running roughly north-northwest to south-southeast, close to the gable end of a house beside the lane. The three basins are on the upper face, accessible to anyone who approaches the fence, and their regularity and depth make them unmistakably deliberate rather than the product of weathering or chance.