What is recorded here

No visible cavity in the stone. A hollow place, not a made hole. The body may have worn it, or water, or time. The church and castle still stand nearby. The monk is gone. The shape remains.

A monastery at Lemanaghan (Liath Manchán) was founded in the 7th century by Manchán whose feastday is celebrated on the 24th of January (Ó Riain 2011, 429). Bullaun stone located on the public road from Ballycumber to Ferbane beneath a tree opposite the disused schoolhouse at Lemanaghan. Roughly rectangular-shaped sandstone slab (dims. 0.98m L x 0.44m Wth x 0.22m T) with hollow (top diam. 0.36-0.3m; base diam. 0.11m; D 0.15m) in centre. Lemanaghan church (OF015-004003-) and graveyard (OF015-004004-) 13m to SSE, Lemanaghan Castle (OF015-004001-) 50m to NNW. The bullaun stone is part of an archaeological complex consisting of an ecclesiastical enclosure (OF015-004008-), a tower house (OF015-004001-), church (OF015-004003-), 18 early christian cross-slabs (OF015-004005-/032-), graveyard (OF015-004004-),a rectangular building (OF015-004009-) possibly of late medieval date. Possible oratory or hermitage (OF015-004006-) and togher (OF015-004011) located SE of Lemanaghan church. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien. Date of upload: 23 May 2011

Likely dating to the early medieval period, the bullaun stone at Lemanaghan may have been used for ritual purposes, possibly connected to the nearby 7th-century monastery founded by St Manchán. Such stones were often associated with Christian and pre-Christian practices, including the preparation of holy water or as markers of sacred sites.

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