This is a bullaun stone, a type of worked or naturally hollowed rock associated with early Christian sites across Ireland, where the shallow basins were used for grinding, for holding water with supposed curative properties, or for purposes that remain a matter of quiet academic debate. This one is modest in scale, measuring 48 centimetres by 52 centimetres, with a circular bowl roughly 27 centimetres across and 10 centimetres deep at its deepest point.

The stone did not begin its life here. It was originally located at the church site at Castletimon, where it presumably sat for centuries in its proper ecclesiastical context. Sometime after 1990 it was moved to Brittas Church, and whoever settled it into its current position marked the occasion by etching that millennial date into the cement. The surface around the rim of the bowl has been defaced, which is not uncommon for bullaun stones that have passed through various hands or fallen outside their original setting. The relocation, however well intentioned, strips the object of the stratigraphic and spatial context that would otherwise help interpret it, and the cementing ensures it is unlikely to move again.