What is recorded here

Bullaun stones are marked by a hollow worn smooth by repeated prayer, and Clonca holds one small enough to carry. That portability suggests a wandering saint or a frightened community moving holy objects through storm and invasion. The stone may have left other churches before entering Clonca, carrying memories of places now lost. Its hollow does not record one event but a life of repetition, perhaps by many hands across centuries.

In Clonca church (DG012-002001-), National Monument (no. 25). The Donegal Survey noted that ‘Inside the church in the SW corner is a small portable bullaun stone.’ (Lacy et al. 1983, 255, no. 1539). Compiled by Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 15 December 2015

Likely dating to the early medieval period, bullaun stones were often used for ritual purposes, such as the anointing of the sick with holy water. This example may have had a local Christian or pre-Christian sacred function, associated with healing or spiritual practice.

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