Look more closely, though, and you will find a deep, water-filled hollow carved into its upper surface, almost perfectly circular, wide enough to cup both hands inside. It is a bullaun stone, one of hundreds scattered across Ireland, and its presence here beside an old pump feels quietly appropriate, two objects from entirely different centuries performing variations on the same basic function, holding water in one spot.

Bullaun stones are boulders, usually glacial, into which one or more cup-shaped depressions have been deliberately ground. The word derives from the Irish word for bowl, and the hollows were almost certainly worked by human hand, though the period of their creation is debated; many are associated with early medieval monastic sites, while others appear in more isolated rural settings with no obvious ecclesiastical connection. The water that collects in them was traditionally considered to have curative or protective properties, and some bullauns became focal points for pattern days and local devotion well into the modern era. The Lackelly East example, documented by Caimin O'Brien and recorded in 2019, is a substantial piece of stone measuring roughly one metre by seventy centimetres across and about forty centimetres in height. The hollow itself has a top diameter of thirty-eight centimetres and a depth of twenty-two centimetres, which places it among the more pronounced examples of the type.

The stone sits on the north side of the road and is immediately adjacent to the old pump, making it relatively straightforward to locate once you are in the townland. There is no formal signage or designated stopping point, so approaching on foot or pulling well clear of the road is advisable. The hollow will almost always contain standing water, given its depth and the Irish climate, which means the original character of the stone is preserved in a practical sense. Worth examining is the texture of the hollow itself, where the grinding that formed it over generations has left the interior noticeably smoother than the weathered outer surface of the boulder.