A sheet of bedrock breaks through the earth’s surface, and carved into its weathered face is a deep, bowl-shaped depression known as a bullaun stone. The hollow measures about 30 centimetres across at its rim, narrowing to 12 centimetres at the base, with a depth of 25 centimetres; precisely the sort of dimensions that made these stone mortars so useful to early Irish communities.

Just metres to the east stand the crumbling walls of an old cottage, but this bullaun’s story stretches back much further. The first edition Ordnance Survey maps from the 19th century reveal something remarkable: this stone once sat at the heart of a clochan, a type of clustered linear settlement typical of medieval Ireland. These communities often formed along ancient routeways, with houses, gardens and shared spaces arranged in distinctive patterns that can still be traced in the landscape today.

The presence of another bullaun stone just 240 metres to the north-northwest, also within a similar clustered settlement, suggests these weren’t isolated features but integral parts of community life. Bullauns served multiple purposes in early Irish society; grinding grain and herbs, preparing medicines, or holding holy water for blessing and healing. Their worn surfaces tell stories of countless hands working grain into flour, of remedies mixed for the sick, and of communities gathering around these permanent fixtures in the landscape for generations.