(Site of) Smelting House — Crone Beg

Recent ground works associated with a roadside drain uncovered a previously unlocated bullaun stone at Crone Beg, Co. Wicklow. The boulder was no doubt originally in an earthfast position, but is presently fully exposed and resting on the ground. There is a report in the National Museum of Ireland [NMI] topographical files from 1930 describing '6 or 8 stones having cuppings' on the land of Joseph Murphy at Crone Beg, Aughrim. A letter to the NMI in 1930 recorded the following details; 'I have recently come across a number of large stones with cuppings at the farm of Mr. J. Murphy, Cronebeg, Aughrim, Co. Wicklow. There are about 6 or 8 stones having cuppings which w[oul]d each hold, say 2 quarts or over, some stones have one, some two and some three cuppings, the stone are very large, except one I brought to my place at Ballymacsimon, Glenealy. Mr Murphy smashed up one large stone to make a road for his implements. He shifted a large stone with three cuppings from the field where it lay with the others down to the side of or near his farm-yard. All the stones were originally in one field directly at other side of road from Mr. Murphy’s house. There are thorns and scrub growing in the field and covering some of the stones. They mostly weigh from one to three tons. I believe they were stones used to grind corn and that the place was primitive but very important for the period mill. I can trace on one stone, it has 3 cuppings, the places where persons sat grinding the corn and even where their hands rested one hand whilst the other worked the stone pestel then in use. It seems to have been a regular grinding field for the district. Mr. Murphy’s place is on the left (his house) going from Rathdrum to Aughrim. He can easily be found by the fact that he owns threshing sets. His name is Joseph Murphy’ (NMI Correspondence between Donal Ó Dubhghaill and Dr. A. Mahr, 14/01/1930). According to Price (1959, 164) the bullaun with a single basin was at that time located at the house of Donal Ó Dubhghaill in Ballymacsimon, Glenealy. A second letter to the NMI recorded the following details about the monument; ‘I have discovered the remains of a Cromleach and a large moat or fort at Cronebeg, Aughrim, I mentioned this to you before I now find that neither the Cromleach or the Fort is marked on the Ordnance Map. The Fort is in a remarkable state of preservation and the paved road leading to it is in an unusual state of preservation. The original fences are yet to be seen in good condition a great part of the way. I pointed out to the owner of the land the spot where one of the two pillars supporting the Cromleach once stood, he was much surprised and said that when a youth he remembered the stone being taken and broken up to build a cow-house. The land is owned by Jos. Murphy, Cronebeg, Aughrim, Co. Wicklow, a large farmer. There were a number of large stones there having holes for grinding corn, one large stone had three such holes and a place for the operator to sit and a place to rest his/her hand for balance. Mr. Murphy smashed it up for railway macadam, he also smashed one or two others before I stopped him. There are several remaining with one or two holes each. He promised to not smash them or the remaining stones of the Cromleach, it was deemed for early smashing if I had not intervened. I am convinced that the whole field is of interest and until recently I believe it has not been interfered with for many centuries. I did not see a stone which I am told resembled a chair and which Murphy smashed before I arrived‘(NMI Correspondence between Donal Ó Dubhghaill and Dr. A. Mahr, 06/12/1930). The recently uncovered bullaun stone is located on poorly drained land immediately S of the site of a Smelting House depicted on the first edition of the OS 6-inch map. This bullaun stone consists of an irregular-shaped granite boulder (1.3m x 1m x H 0.3m -0.84m), with three bowls on the top surface. Their position suggests that the top surface was always in a sloping position when it was originally earthfast. As a result of the sloping surface, the bowls are placed in descending order. The upper-most bowl measures 0.26m x 0.23m across and ranges from 0.14m deep, with a steep rear, and 0.08m deep at the lower lip. The middle bowl is 0.23m across and ranges from 0.20m deep, with a steep rear, to 0.1m deep at the lower lip. The third bowl is placed within an angle at the lowest part of the stone. It measures 0.23m across and is 0.08m deep. There are no other markings. Compiled by: Claire Breen Revised by: Caimin O'Brien based on information provided by Chris Corlett Date of revised upload: 01 April 2019