What is recorded here

Bullaun stone in Aherla More is a large sandstone boulder with a deep oval hollow, kept secret in a Cork glen and believed to hold holy water for healing. During the Penal days, hidden worship may have turned its smooth top into an altar, while frightened believers drank from its hollow before fleeing. The stone disappeared after being photographed in 1981, leaving behind a absence sharp enough to mark the memory of the place.

In secluded glen, near the village of Aherla. Hartnett (1939, 245) described a 'large sandstone boulder 5 feet by 4 feet on top and 2 feet in height. Top surface is comparatively smooth and level, and has in centre an oval hollow 14in by 11in and 9in in depth'. Stone is known locally as "holy-water stone" and is thought to have curative powers; local tradition that 'mass was celebrated here in the Penal days' and stone used as altar (ibid.). Photographed in 1981 by Dr D.D.C. Pochin Mould; subsequently removed. See Excavations 2002, 54. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 3: Mid Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

Likely dating to the early Christian or Iron Age period, the bullaun stone may have been used for ritual purposes, possibly as a holy or healing site. Such stones are often associated with local folklore, including connections to Saint Patrick or other early Christian traditions.

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