This is a bullaun stone, a type of early medieval or prehistoric carved rock found widely across Ireland, typically featuring one or more cup-shaped depressions whose original purpose remains a matter of some debate. Some were likely used for grinding or pounding; others became associated with religious ritual, healing, or cursing over time. What makes the Kilkieran example quietly remarkable is not any single feature, but the density of similar objects gathered in one small corner of County Kilkenny.

The stone itself is modest in size, a sub-rectangular sandstone boulder measuring roughly 0.68 metres by 0.41 metres, with a roughly circular bowl approximately 0.37 metres across and just 0.07 metres deep. It lay hidden, along with a second bullaun stone, until a graveyard clean-up in 1985 brought both to light, as recorded by Hurley in 1988. The two stones now sit beside each other near the graveyard wall. A third bullaun stone lies approximately 25 metres to the east, beside a holy well associated with the same site. Holy wells in Ireland were frequently focal points for devotional practice across many centuries, and the presence of bullaun stones in their vicinity is a pattern seen elsewhere in the country, suggesting that these places carried accumulated layers of significance, each generation finding its own reason to return.