A bullaun is a rounded depression or basin ground into a boulder or rock surface, typically by human hand, and usually associated with early medieval religious activity. They are found near churches, holy wells, and monastic sites, though their precise function remains a matter of some debate. Some were likely used for grinding or processing plant material; others may have held water considered to have curative or sacred properties. The Furgill example represents a category of monument that tends to be overlooked precisely because it does not announce itself the way a round tower or a carved high cross does. It sits in the landscape as a stone with a hollow in it, and yet that hollow connects it to a long tradition of use and belief.