What is recorded here

Bullaun stones are ancient meditation markers where prayer and patience wore stone into shape. In Castletown, one lies beside another inside Kilkieran graveyard on Kilmacoliver Hill, facing the River Suir valley. They were hidden long enough to be forgotten, then brought back into sight during a graveyard clean-up in 1985. The shallow bowl does not shout; it waits for company, remembrance, and the quiet company of people who have buried others there.

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 (KK034-032013-) 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 sub-rectangular-shaped free-standing sandstone boulder (dims. 0.41m x 0.68m; max. D 0.26m; min. D 0.13m) with a roughly circular shallow bowl (dims. 0.37m x 0.28m; D 0.07m). Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 20 August 2018

Probably dating to the early Christian period, the bullaun stone may have been used for ritual purposes, such as the preparation of holy water or as a site for pilgrimages. It may also have earlier prehistoric associations, given its location within a graveyard and near a prominent landscape feature.

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