Bullaun stone in Garranes (glanarought By., Banawn Ed)

In pasture, on the lower S-facing slopes of Barrerneen. A subrectangular stone (2.1m x 2m; H 1m) with seven bowl-shaped hollows (diam. 0.05-0.4m; D 0.02-0.13m) on its upper surface. Each hollow contains a smooth oval stone. These stones are known locally as 'butter lumps' (Bigger 1898, 321; Harbison 1991, 224-6). The bullaun stone is known locally as 'The Petrified Dairy' and formed part of the 'rounds' at the holy well, Tobarfeaghna (KE102-038004-), which is c. 60m to the NE. A fragment of a quernstone, with a long oval stone inserted into its central perforation, lies at the centre of the bullaun stone. According to Bigger (ibid.), the quernstone fragment was found in a neighbouring field and was unrelated to the other stones. A church (KE102-038001-) and burial ground (KE102-038002-) are c. 70m and c. 20m to the N, respectively. There is another bullaun stone (KE102-038005-) c. 35m to the S. Between 1937-38, folklore collected from Shelbourne School in Gortrooskagh decribed the bullaun stone known as 'The Petrified Dairy' as follows; 'In St. Fiachna's Graveyard, on the road-side, stands a large roughly rectangular boulder; the top & sides being flat, the front erect & perpendicular, & the back sunk in the soil. The top of the block resembles a table, & it is about six feet square, with the corners facing the four cardinal points. On the surface there are hollowed out seven large Bulláns or rock-basins, undoubtedly artificially arranged, as shown in the accompanying scale-plan. Each Bullán is about one foot in diameter, and five inches deep, having nearly vertical sides and a slightly rounded base. In each of the seven Bulláns there lies a smooth, rounded and oval-shaped stone, of a size suitable to that of the inside of the basin. Rain-water fills each hollow round the contained stone. This big boulder is known as the "Petrified Dairy," indicated as such by its seven "keeler," and seven "pats of butter," one in each keeler. These pebbles should never be removed from the keelers, or some misfortune may befall the person who does so. It is said that a man took one pebble home to cure a sick cow, and that before morning all his cows were dead in the cabin and that the pebble taken, came back of itself and rested again in its own "keeler." '(The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0461, Pages 027-028). Mícheál Ó Tuama recalled the following folklore about this bullaun stone; 'It is said that a certain woman every night milked the cows of her neighbours and transferred milk to her own dairy. Suspected at length, the hue and cry was raised against her, and St. Fiachna, who led a holy life at the church (referred to) resolved to punish the woman. He mounted his horse to visit her, but she fled. The saint, as he passed, turned her dairy into stone. and then descended the hill towards the river in pursuit of her. He crossed the stream and rode up the opposite hill-side, where, about mid-way he overtook the criminal of whom he was in chase, and instantly turned her into stone, and there she still stands, a good Gallán of six feet in height. The woman carried a "spancel" in her hand, with a "Búircín" at the end of it. She used to spansel the cows while milking. From the Búircín of the spancel a tree grew up in the bare hill-side. Some people say that the saint had a sword in his hand when he followed the milk-stealer, and after crossing the stream, and going up the opposite side of the valley, she being close before him, he made a slash at her with his sword. He missed her, however, but in doing so, cut into two halves a large boulder, still to be seen - and after that he called on God to turn the woman into stone. There she still stands, intended by the good St. Fiachna to be an awful warning to thieves' (The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0461, Pages 029-030). Another story collected from this school referred to the bullaun stone as 'The Rock of the Warts' which recorded that; 'At the present time there is another use of the "Dairy" of quite a different character. It is said that "lounds" are "paid" there for curing warts. The person affected with warts must go round the rock seven times in the Tuathal[?] direction contrary to the path of the sun. He must say an Our Father and Hail Mary at each of the basins, dip his finger into the water under the stone, rub the water on the warts, making the Sign of the Cross on them, and in two months they will be gone' (ibid.). To see a 3D model of the bullaun stone visit https://skfb.ly/oyFxT See attached drawing or Plan of "The Petrified Dairy" drawn by Mícheál Ó Tuama, courtesy of and © National Folklore Collection, UCD. The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0461, Page 029 accessible online at https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4742074/4732947/4759637. See attached photographs courtesy of Amanda Clarke The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Kerry. Volume I: South-West Kerry' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2009). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 30 May 2011