The Bullaun Stones: Irish Mystery

 

Whispers in the Hollow: Ireland’s Bullaun Stones

 

Across Ireland’s green hills and ruined monasteries lie stones marked by deep, rounded hollows—bullaun stones, carved long ago, their purpose still cloaked in mystery.

Folklore tells us these stones could heal or curse. Pilgrims would circle small pebbles within the hollows, whispering prayers or casting away misfortune. Rainwater pooled inside was said to cure sickness, for it was touched by the hand of heaven.

At Glendalough in County Wicklow, bullauns rest beside the ruins of St. Kevin’s hermitage, worn smooth by centuries of devotion. In Clonmacnoise, they sit among crumbling crosses and tombs, echoes of monks who may have used them in ritual. In Kildare, at the holy well of St. Brigid, the water from these stones still draws the faithful.

Perhaps they were once tools, perhaps sacred vessels, but today they remain as silent thresholds between past and present. To stand before a bullaun is to touch a story half-forgotten, a prayer carved in stone, waiting for someone to listen.