- Bullaun
A Bullaun or Bullan (from a word cognate with 'bowl' and French 'bol') is the term used for the depression in a stone which is often water filled. Natural rounded boulders or pebbles may sit in the bullaun. [http://www.megalithomania.com/show/glossary_item/25 Irish Bullauns] ] The size of the bullaun is highly variable and these hemispherical cups hollowed out of a rock may come as singles or multiples with the same rock. [http://www.irishmegaliths.org.uk/crosspillars2.htm The purpose of Bullauns] Pennick, Nigel (1996). "Celtic Sacred Landscapes". Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-01666-6. P. 40.]
Ritual use of some bullaun stones continued well into the Christian period and many are found in association with early churches, such as the 'Deer' Stone at
Glendalough ,County Wicklow . The example at St Brigit's StoneCounty Cavan still has its 'cure' or 'curse' stones. These would be used to by a visitor turning them whilst praying for or cursing somebody. [http://www.megalithomania.com/show/glossary_item/25 Irish Bullauns] ]St. Aid or Aed Mac Bricc was Bishop of Killare in 6th-century. At Saint Aid's birth his head had hit a stone, leaving a hole in which collected rainwater that cured all ailments, thus identifying it with the Irish tradition of
Bullaun stones.Isler H, Hasenfratz H, O'Neill T. A sixth-century Irish headache cure and its use in a south German monastery. Cephalalgia. 1996 Dec;16(8): P. 536 - 40.]Bullauns are not unique to Ireland, being also found on the Swedish island of
Gotland , and in Lithuania and France. Possibly enlarged from already-existing solution-pits caused by rain, bullauns are, of course, reminiscent of the cup-marked stones which occur all over Atlantic Europe, and their significance (if not their precise use) must date from Neolithic times. [http://www.irishmegaliths.org.uk/crosspillars2.htm The purpose of Bullauns]See also
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Rock-cut basin References
External links
* [http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/A_Researcher's_Guide_to_Local_History_Terminology A Researcher's Guide to Local History terminology]
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