Bullaun stone, Drummin, Co. Wicklow

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Holy Sites & Wells

Bullaun stone, Drummin, Co. Wicklow

A large granite boulder sits at the foot of a south-facing slope in Drummin, overlooking the Keocha Brook, and cut into its surface are three smooth, deliberate hollows.

These are bullauns, bowl-shaped depressions ground into stone, a type of feature found at early medieval ecclesiastical sites across Ireland, though their precise function remains debated. Some were used for grinding or processing, others accumulated associations with healing or cursing over centuries of local use. What makes this particular stone quietly arresting is that it carries not one but three such basins, each slightly different in shape and depth.

The boulder itself is substantial, measuring 2.3 metres long, 1.1 metres wide, and 0.8 metres high. The three basins vary in dimension and form. The first, positioned at the north-east end and cut into the slope of the boulder's surface, is roughly circular with a diameter of around 0.29 metres and a relatively shallow depth. The second is oval, measuring approximately 0.4 by 0.3 metres and noticeably deeper. The third is also oval, slightly broader at 0.35 by 0.42 metres, and the deepest of the three. The boulder is now resting on the ground surface, but it was most likely originally earthfast, meaning it would have been set firmly into the earth rather than sitting loose, which suggests the basins were worked into it with that stability in mind.

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Pete F
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