A bullaun is a large stone, usually a boulder or a rock outcrop, with one or more deliberately hollowed depressions ground into its surface. The cups collect rainwater, and that water has long been considered to have curative or sacred properties. The stones appear across Ireland in their hundreds, often associated with early Christian sites or older ritual landscapes, though their precise origins and original purposes remain genuinely uncertain.

Bullaun stones occupy an interesting space in Irish archaeology, neither fully explained nor easily dated. Some are thought to predate Christianity entirely, while others appear to have been absorbed into early medieval religious practice, placed near churches or holy wells and incorporated into patterns of local devotion. The water pooled in their hollows was used for healing, for cursing, and for blessing, depending on the tradition. Smaller, rounded stones found resting inside the cups, sometimes called rounding stones or cursing stones, were turned by those seeking either remedy or retribution. The example at Killeely More is recorded as a monument, which places it within a documented landscape of early historic or prehistoric significance, though the specifics of its context, its condition, and any associated features at the site remain to be more fully detailed.