What is recorded here

Half a metre of sandstone, flat-topped and basin-cut, it sat in a cashel at Doobally before moving into the Tullaghan church porch. The basin is thirty-five centimetres across and twenty deep, with faint peck marks around its edge, the kind of wear that comes from repeated use rather than one gesture. It may have been a stoup, a place for water in ritual or daily life, and the church gave it a second life by keeping it where people could still touch the idea.

In the porch of the Roman Catholic church at Tullaghan. Originally from a cashel at Doobally, probably (LE001-035----), c. 1.3km to the ESE. This is a globular sandstone boulder (H 0.52m) which has a flat top (dims 0.58 x 0.54m) with a single basin (diam. 0.35m; D 0.2m). There are traces of pecking in the basin and around the top of the stone, and it may have been used as a stoup. A limestone plaque (LE001-063002-) from the same ringfort has been installed on the wall of the porch. It has an incised inscription in Latin commemorating Rev. Eugene Magowan who founded a chapel in '177?'. (Ó Gallachair 1958, 28-9) The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Leitrim' compiled by Michael J. Moore (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2003). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 23 September 2008

Likely 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 baptismal font. Such stones are often associated with sacred sites and may have had both religious and symbolic significance in local tradition.

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