What makes it stranger still is that a second depression exists on the underside of the same stone, as though it has been flipped at some point in its long history, or was worked on both faces from the start.

This is a bullaun stone, a type of boulder, usually of granite or other hard stone, that bears one or more cup-shaped depressions formed by grinding or repeated ritual use. Such stones are found across Ireland and are frequently associated with early ecclesiastical sites, holy wells, or places of local devotion, though their precise origins and functions remain debated. The Skehanagh stone fits that pattern neatly: it was originally found in a field in the adjoining townland of Carrigagown North, beside an old building that local tradition held to have been a church. A second bullaun stone was discovered at the same site and was subsequently moved to the grounds of the Roman Catholic church in the nearby village of Kilbarron, also known as Newchapel, where it presumably remains. The Skehanagh stone itself, meanwhile, has been relocated to its present position, separated from the ecclesiastical context that once framed it.

The boulder is substantial, roughly 0.9 metres by 0.7 metres, and is composed of granite conglomerate with visible quartz inclusions. Those quartz fragments are worth noting: quartz carried particular significance in early Irish sacred landscapes and is commonly found at burial and ritual sites. Whether that material detail is coincidence or choice is one of the small, unanswerable questions the stone leaves open.