Bullaun stone

An odd day - the sunshine promised has not materialised and we continue to be the 'misht'. I've also spent  a couple of hours in hospital visiting a friend. She's had a bad headache since Tueday and finally went to the doctor yesterday who whisked her into Bantry hospital.Tests are being done. She's in good spirits but bored and tomorow she has to go to Cork for more tests, hopefully back in the evening. She has already shocked the staff by a) confessing that she does not like tea and b) confessing she has no religion!!

On my way home I stopped off at Kilnaruane and had a wet and muddy stomp up to the stone. This is a unique site, seldom visited and very atmospheric. It looked especially good in the grey and greens of the damp weather.  Today I looked at things other than the pillar and found two ballauns.  A ballaun is a deep manmade circular indent into a rock - the ballaun stone. No-one is really sure what they were used for or how old they are - Neolithic or Bronze Age seems the most common dates. They are often associated with early Christian sites, such as Kilnaruane, and are believed to have been brought there from older sites.  Some stones contain multiple ballauns, and some have egg shaped stones  nestling in them or on top of them. They are traditonally called curse or cure stones and maybe you rubbed the inside with the pebble cursing or curing as you went. A rather more mundane explanation is that they were just good for collecting water - I'm going with the cursing and curing. Nice colours and textures here.