Bullaun stone, Cloghoge, Co. Wicklow

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Bullaun stone, Cloghoge, Co. Wicklow

At the foot of a north-east facing slope in Cloghoge, County Wicklow, a low granite boulder sits almost flush with the ground, easy to step over without a second thought.

What makes it worth a closer look are two bullauns, deliberately carved circular depressions hollowed into the rock's upper surface, a feature associated with early medieval Ireland and found at sites ranging from monastery precincts to isolated fieldscapes. Their purpose remains debated; they may have served as basins for grinding or pounding, or held water considered to have curative or ritual properties.

The boulder itself is relatively modest, measuring roughly 1.15 metres along its east-west axis and 0.86 metres across, rising only about 0.3 metres from the ground. It is fine-grained granite with a flat top, and both bullauns are clustered towards its northern side. The larger of the two measures 0.26 metres in diameter and 0.14 metres deep; the second is slightly smaller at 0.22 metres across and 0.12 metres deep. At some point, the northern and western ends of the boulder were broken away, and the damage has encroached on the second bullaun, leaving it partially intact. Whether that breakage was accidental, agricultural, or deliberate is not recorded, but it is a reminder of how quietly these things can be lost.

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