Bullaun stone, Sevenchurches, Co. Wicklow

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Holy Sites & Wells

Bullaun stone, Sevenchurches, Co. Wicklow

Behind a sawmill on the banks of the Glendassan river in Glendalough's Sevenchurches valley, a piece of granite roughly the size of a small table lies half-buried under dense furze, its presence almost entirely concealed.

Cut into its upper surface is a bullaun, a term for the deliberately hollowed basin found in early medieval Irish stonework, typically associated with monastic sites and sometimes attributed with curative or ritual significance. Only half of this particular basin has survived, measuring around 27 centimetres across and 17 centimetres deep, set into a stone 70 centimetres long and 40 centimetres wide.

The stone sits on the riverbank slope, roughly halfway down toward the water, and it does not announce itself. What makes it quietly notable is partly its condition and partly its company: a second bullaun stone lies just 2.8 metres to its south-southwest, and together they form a small, overlooked cluster in a valley already dense with early Christian remains. The Sevenchurches area takes its name from the monastic ruins at Glendalough, and stray stonework of this kind is not unusual in such a landscape, though finding any individual piece requires patience.

The furze cover makes this one genuinely difficult to locate. The practical approach is to find the second bullaun first, which is considered the easier of the two to spot, then move down to the river's edge and walk approximately three metres upstream, toward the north. From there, looking up under the overhanging whin branches, the stone comes into view. The sawmill to the northeast serves as the main landmark from which to orient yourself before descending the slope.

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Pete F
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