This stone is quite tricky to find, in fact the landowner showed me where it was. It is actually right where the map says it is, but as you can see it is actually buried in the field.
The bullaun is not actually complete but on the edge of the stone and it is very difficult to say whether it has broken due to its position. The stone is refered to locally as The Bell Stone.
The farmer told me of a nearby Holy Well which is not marked on the map but would be around grid ref S 972 151. Sadly it is very overgrown but the local community do have plans to tidy it up. He told me tales of using the water to make tea with many years ago and commented on the purity of th water.
I was also told the folklore of how it came to be a Holy Well. Apparently, some travelling monks and a saint (or some travellers) passed one day and washed their clothes in the stream and so blessed it.
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_I came past here to se if the holy well had been cleared, but it hasn't. I had a chat with the land owner who told me a few more stories about the area. He also said he knew of no second bullaun stone close to the holy well site.
This stone apparently got its name because the bullaun was created when the bell fell out of St. Mannon's church over the road and landed on it.
The holy well used to be in the same field as this stone, but the locals did something to offend it and it moved away to where it rises now.
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This is an explanation of (and a bit of a disclaimer for) the coordinates I provide. Where a GPS figure is given this is the master for all other coordinates. According to my Garmin these are quite accurate. Where there is no GPS figure the 6 figure grid reference is master for the others. This may not be very accurate as it could have come from the OS maps and could have been read by eye. Consequently, all other cordinates are going to have inaccuracies. The calculation of Longitude and Latitude uses an algorithm that is not 100% accurate. The long/lat figures are used as a basis for calculating the UTM & ITM coordinates. Consequently, UTM & ITM coordinates are slightly out. UTM is a global coordinate system - Universal Transverse Mercator - that is at the core of the GPS system. ITM is the new coordinate system - Irish Transverse Mercator - that is more accurate and more GPS friendly than the Irish Grid Reference system. This will be used on the next generation of Irish OS maps. |