Seen & Found

I spotted this stone at the foot of an early 20th century gravestone in a cemetery not far from where I live. The cemetery is very much off the beaten track and is believed to have been the site of a medieval church and cemetery. On Taylor's map of Kildare dated 1783, the church it seems was already in ruins. There are no visible remains of the church to be seen today.
As long as I can remember the cemetery had been overgrown with scrub and not many of the grave-markers were visible. The Local History Group did a wonderful job cleaning up the cemetery recently, but what's quite strange is, they don't mention the find on their on-line blog! To me it looks like a Bullaun Stone? It measures 31 cm. long, 26.5 cm. wide and stands approximately 23.5 cm. high. The diameter of the bullaun (hollow) is approximately 14 cm. wide and is approximately 7 cm. deep. The 'moss-less' upper surface of the stone is very smooth and rounded to the touch.










Side profiles of the stone - any ideas what type of stone it is? Shale? Limestone?








The stone itself is not unlike many of the stones that sit in the surrounding cemetery wall, so it's certainly a possibility that it has come from the wall and the hollow in the stone is natural.





It did occur to me that because it was formerly the site of a church, could it have been used as a holy water font (although the denomination of the church and cemetery is recorded as COI)? A baptismal font was found here and is now in the local Parish church.

What are the chances of this being prehistoric in date? A lot of questions I know, and probably far too many than there are answers for!!

slowburner wrote: »

Definitely a bullaun. They are often found in association with early church sites. The two (or is it three?) cuts are interesting if not natural.
Looks like limestone to me. More often then not bullauns are made in granite, so this might be somewhat unusual.

Thanks SB!
I have my doubts whether this was an early church site (I can't find any records to suggest it was) and although I've found medieval pottery sherds (green-glazed ware) in the surrounding field, I think the church and cemetery were likely post-medieval in date. I'll contact the local History Group just to double check this and see if the bullaun stone was something they may have overlooked.

I know what you're saying about the stone type - most you see are made of granite - and if this is limestone as you think, it's unusual. That got me to thinking though! Could it be prehistoric in date? Do we know of any bullaun-like stones that were found in a prehistoric context? And if so, what were they likely to have been used as/for? I've found quite a lot of prehistoric artefacts literally feet from the cemetery wall (reported to the NMI). It's very likely the surrounding field was formerly the site of a prehistoric settlement.

There does appear to be three cut-like marks on the top of the stone too, but it's difficult to tell whether these were deliberately done or just natural.

P.S. - I forgot to ask, but if not already recorded should the find be reported to the NMI?

slowburner wrote: »

Yes, definitely report it.

Is it prehistoric - who knows? The church is quite likely to have been sited on an earlier feature.
Bullauns are pretty enigmatic objects both in terms of date and purpose. Date wise, there is little doubt that some are prehistoric, though whether or not they were in use before the introduction of metal, is another story. Others are probably much later, possibly up to the early medieval period, or even later. Nobody really knows.
If you ever get a chance to visit the Seven Fonts in Glendalough you should take it. This is a remarkable site with somewhere in the region of eighteen bullauns in close proximity. This is a unique site that has all the appearance of a production line. Nobody knows if they were processing something on site, or if they were producing the bullauns themselves. Which brings us to the subject of a theory gaining increasing currency: that bullauns were used for primary ore crushing. It's a debatable theory, but there is a recognised correlation between metalworking sites and bullaun stones. Many early church sites had close relationships with iron working, so that could be seen as a direct relationship.
It should be pointed out that a bullaun stone is a tool that could have had many uses, just as the mortar and pestle has many uses today. The action stays the same and can be applied to any friable matter. However, stone mortars were in use at the same time as bullauns, but were portable. We could postulate that bullauns differed from mortars by their mass and weight, and that this meant people had to go to the bullaun. This could imply that they had a ritual significance.
It's anybody's guess really.

I haven't seen the 'Seven Fonts' bullaun stones yet, so must put it on my list of things to see.
Thanks SB!

th283 wrote: »

Hi, I'm not sure how to get the coordinates from google earth but if you search lissanearla east it is visible and another similar looking one in lissanearla west

It has been recorded and its SMR no. is KE021-126.
It's a ringfort/rath and its name 'Lissanearla' has been anglicised from the Irish 'Lios an Íarla' - 'Ringfort of the Earl'.

pueblo wrote: »

Sorry to bump my own post but can anyone tell me anything about the 'lozenge' motif seen here, or the use of the lozenge/diamond shape in Ireland at any period?

Also I am guessing it is some type of alloy (copper/tin?) however the 3 barrel style hinges are of a different material, possibly bronze?



And lastly can anyone point me to good information on reliquaries in Ireland? I have been through much of what I can find of relevance from Google.

Thanks

Hi Pueblo,
I've been waiting patiently, just like yourself I'm sure, for someone to throw light on this box too. Where was it found?
Could it be that it's a cigarette box perhaps, and possibly Edwardian in date?
It obviously had a hinged lid and the pedestals on the base could suggest it was intended to sit on a desktop and not intended to be carried about in one's pocket. I'm not sure that the lozenge shapes on the box would have any great deal of significance, unless you have a theory yourself of course?
That's all I've got I'm afraid!

pueblo wrote: »

Hey Bonedigger, it was found in the river. It could easily be a cigarette box or something but to me it looks very 'hand-made', though been bashed about in the river could be an explanation for that. The lozenge pattern on the border is irregular looks to be imprinted on, it's not entirely plumb with the angles of the box. I also feel there is a possibility that it was enameled at some stage.

The fact that it only has two feet (at opposing corners) is also curious and I am at a loss to think of reason for such a design.

The eternal optimist I am hoping it might be 13th/14thc, hence my question on reliquaries. If this was only part of a different structure and it 'sat into' some other piece then this might somehow explain it only having 2 feet?

I know little of reliquaries to be honest, so wouldn't be able to tell whether it had any association with a reliquary or not. I'd send an image or two to the National Museum (if you haven't done so already?), and see what they think.
In one of the original images you posted it kinda looks like one of the bottom corners had had a foot/pedestal which may have been broken or deliberately removed and filed down?? It's difficult to tell from photos alone.
Could the metal be pewter by any chance?

Despite being less than two kilometres from my own home, I only spotted this circular feature recently! It can only be seen on the present Google Earth satellite imagery, but doesn't appear on Bing, the OSI's orthophotography or the historic maps. It's not recorded on the 'Sites and Monuments Record'. At 14 metres in diameter, it would appear to have all the hallmarks of a barrow. It is sited approximately 200 metres SE of the summit of Pollardstown hill, Co.Kildare. The NGR for this circular feature is: N77628, 15040



There's no sign of the circular feature on this Bing satellite image:
http://binged.it/1KS2k2e

Pollardstown hill itself sits on an esker ridge. The hill was once the site of four recorded monuments, all of which have since been obliterated by quarrying. One of these recorded monuments, KD023-005 (Grid Ref. 77696, 14911), was believed to have been a Bronze Age cist burial and was discovered in 1903 by workers quarrying material from a large pit for the Great Southern and Western Co. Fragments of an encrusted urn were recovered. This is exciting for me on two counts; firstly, it may be tantalising evidence that a small barrow cemetery was present on that ridge, and secondly, I've been finding prehistoric lithics in an area no more than 600 metres away. The lithics have been examined and it has been suggested that the assemblage may span several time periods in prehistory, from the earlier Mesolithic right through to the Bronze Age. Assuming the cist burial on Pollardstown hill, with its accompanying encrusted urn, dates to sometime in the Early Bronze age (I'm guessing circa 1800 - 1500 B.C.), this timeline would not be inconsistent with the dating of some of the flint artefacts I've found. Would it be stretching the imagination too much to suggest the flints have come from a former Bronze Age settlement site and that the individuals interred in cists on the ridge overlooking the settlement were once members of that settlement community?

The image below is where the circular feature should appear on the ground, but I couldn't see anything discernible (it's on private ground, so this is about as close as I could get):

Looks like a pewter snuff box to me