What is recorded here

Bullaun stone in Ballymooney is a hollow sandstone once used by children to cure warts, now buried or gone from Annaghharvey graveyard. Thomas Stanley recorded it in the nineteenth century lying on its back near the moat and churchyard, holding water like a shallow green cup. Children may have dipped fingers into that cold rainwater, believing the stone gave back what their bodies had tangled into knots. The graveyard keeps the claim even when the stone no longer shows, turning a missing marker into a living memory of childhood fear and small hope.

No surface traces visible of bullaun stone inside Annaghharvey graveyard (OF018-017001-) described by Thomas Stanley in the ninetenth century as 'Another sandstone lies on its back at the moat (OF018-017005-) and churchyard of Anaghharvy; a hollow in which it retains water is resorted to by urchins to get cured of their warts' (Stanley 1870-1, 28). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 23 May 2011

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