That hollow is the point of the whole thing. Bullaun stones are boulders or bedrock outcrops bearing one or more cup-shaped depressions, and they appear at early Christian sites across Ireland with a regularity that suggests deliberate, repeated use, though exactly what that use was remains genuinely uncertain. The water that collects in a bullaun was often credited with curative or protective properties, and many examples remained focal points of local veneration long after the formal church had moved on.

This particular stone measures roughly 0.9 metres by 0.5 metres and stands only about 0.25 metres high, so it sits close to the ground rather than presenting itself as any kind of monument. The hollow on its upper face is modest too, about 0.2 metres across and 0.08 metres deep, the kind of depression that could be missed entirely if you were not looking for it. Its position on the eastern boundary of the enclosure is worth noting. Early ecclesiastical enclosures, the roughly circular or oval boundaries that defined the sacred and functional space around early Irish monasteries or church sites, were not simply walls for privacy. The perimeter itself carried meaning, and objects placed at its edge occupied a liminal position, neither fully inside nor outside the protected ground.