What is recorded here

Bullaun stones are ancient prayer bowls cut into rock, often linked to ascetic devotion or repeated kneeling. In Kilkieran graveyard, two emerged during a 1985 clean-up, lying side by side at the south end of the east wall. A third sits near a holy well a short distance away. Together they mark a place where worship, memory and endurance still press into the land.

On the lower S-facing slope of Kilmacoliver Hill, overlooking the valley of the River Suir. The bullaun stone lies within Kilkieran graveyard (KK034-032002-), at the S end of the E graveyard wall. One of two bullaun stones (KK034-032013-; KK034-032014-) which were uncovered during a clean-up of the graveyard in 1985 (Hurley 1988, 124, 126). The other bullaun stone (KK034-032014-) lies beside it. A third bullaun stone is located beside a nearby holy well (KK034-032007-) c. 25m E of the S side of Kilkieran graveyard. It is a roughly triangular-shaped free-standing sandstone boulder (dims. 1m x 0.77m; max. D 0.48m; min. D 0.34m) with a roughly circular bowl (dims. 0.35m x 0.4m; D 0.22m). Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 20 August 2018

Likely dating to the early Christian period, bullaun stones were often used for ritual purposes, such as the preparation of holy water or as pilgrimage sites. They may also have had earlier prehistoric associations, and local folklore sometimes links them to healing or protective powers.

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