Bullaun and other stones

looksee

I wonder does anyone think this might be a bullaun stone? Its randomly in my garden.

There are also a couple of these

which I am told are harrow stones (a chain goes through the hole at the top and they are/were dragged behind a horse/tractor to harrow soil.)

kildarejohn

Based on the scale on the ruler, it looks a bit small for a bullaun stone, but I am no expert.

looksee

Thank you for responding, yes that was my problem with it. Initially I had thought it was a stone from the bottom of a gate, the 'bowl' acting as a pivot, but then I realised it is not big enough to support a gate, it is only a couple of inches thick. The hollow does not look like a natural shape so I am intrigued as to what it might be.

Peregrinus

This can be a natural formation. You have a stone lying in a river bed, at a point where the river is fast-flowing and turbulent. There's already a shallow natural depression in the surface of the stone, or a crack. Grit or pebbles settle in that depression/crack and then, because the water is eddying and swirling, are swirled around rather than simply being washed out. Friction from the swirling of the grit/pebbles gradually makes the depression larger and deeper; larger pebbles or small stones can become trapped in in and swirl around; the hole gets bigger; rinse and repeat.

magicbastarder

how flat is the first stone? it just seems a little too flat and the hole too nicely circular to appear natural at first glance.

looksee

Its really quite flat on top, though not machined, not so much on the other side. I don't think the hole is naturally formed, eve n by water, though you can't see any chisel marks or indications that it was ground away by something on it (like a gate hinge). It looks like local stone to me, though the area has a lot of shale and its not quite that.

looksee

Top pic is the underside of the stone. I just wetted and washed off the face and there are scratches in the bowl, and I suspect they may be mechanical, though I have no idea.

This site had/has an old cottage on it and there was a small-holding and recent (mid 20th C) evidence of pigs (as well as local info) it is possible that the stone was somewhere where a chain or water or something regularly dropped onto it and created the bowl.