Sunday 16 April 2023

The Butter Stone, Toureen Peacaun, Tipperary

Toureen Peacaun, Tipperary

Sometimes in life you occasionally find yourself in a hidden part of the World and blissfully unaware of the bustling modernity from the 21st Century which you've left not too far behind. Toureen Peacaun is one such spot.

At times spelt Peakaun, Peckaun, Kilpeacan, Beacon or Peachaun the spelling seems almost irrelevant because it appears most likely there never existed a Saint Peacaun.

From what I have been able to gather it seems probable that Peacaun is most likely a corruption of Becan or Beccan.

The hugely informative Omnium Santorum Hiberniae provides information on

Saint Becan of Toureen

and a further two Saints by the same name.

Toureen Peacaun is located just off the N24 and on the edge of the Glen of Aherlow and the Galtee mountains. It's about 5 Kilometers from Cahir. A more panoramic area would be difficult to find.

It is three small sites in one.

Saint Peacaun's Church, Peacaun's Well and Peacaun's Cell, all located alongside a bubbling stream and divided by a small boreen.

I didn't realise at the time that just 300 metres or so further on in woodland is a small waterfall called Saint Peacaun's Waterfall.

Its seemingly remote location and small size belie what is in effect a wonderful assortment of ancient Christian artifacts and curiosities.

To list the artifacts at Toureen Peacaun here one by one would take quite a while so I'll mention just a quick overview of the site.

The Church itself is a beautiful 12th Century Romanesque style ruin with cyclopean masonry work into and along of which a multitude of artifacts and antiquities have been assembled.

On site at Toureen

are variously ;

a large and unusual double sided Bullaun stone,

a double Bullaun stone, a Sun dial,

multiple Cross slabs, a Millstone,

a Stoup, remnants of a Corner Post Shrine,

a Holy Well, a possible Cell,

multiple Inscribed slabs,

Cross Pillars, possible High Cross fragments,

a beautiful and unusual plain Cross, a further rough uncut Stoup,

Crosses carved in relief,

several Slabs inscribed with Goidelic script or unknown text

and finally the Butter Stone.

With so many items of Christian significance found in one place Toureen Peacaun was obviously a very important early ecclesiastical establishment.

There may indeed be and probably are, quite a lot more artifacts I missed at Toureen Peacaun.

The first Church here is believed to have been founded during the 7th Century,

either by Saints Alban (Abbán ?) or Beccan.

No one can say with certainty who was the original founder.

Archaeological investigations revealed multiple wooden Post holes and this suggests its more likely there were several Churches together in close proximity forming an early Christian ecclesiastical site.

Radiocarbon dating of excavated elements of what has been described as an early ecclesiastical enclosure at the site yielded an approximate date that matched with the 7th Century. Saint Beccan is believed to have died c. 689 AD.

I titled the post the "Butter Stone" in reference to an almost unnoticed small stone I came across near the Church which was out in the open but housed under a protective metal cage.

While the little dark stone was quite possibly the smallest thing of note at Toureen Peacaun I was intrigued to find out just what it was that deserved such special protection.

In Ireland Bullaun Stones are called such because of their shape. Bullaun in this context can be taken to mean the Irish for bowl.

Technically I presume that what we usually call a Bullaun stone is in fact just a Bullaun. I'll explain as I go on and please bear with me, there is a point to my rambling here.

Many of these stones held only water and were deemed to have curative properties. Some purportedly cured Warts while yet others cured Headaches or various ailments.

Some held no water and housed only a single rounded and smoothly worn stone within their depressions or "bowls."

To be technically correct I'll assume these would be the Bullaun stones while the larger stones with the deep depressions which housed them would merely be the "Bullaun."

In effect a matching pair would be a Bullaun and a Bullaun stone, a bowl and a bowl stone. More often than not we refer to either as Bullaun stones.

Either way it's really about recognising a supposition that although most Bullauns dotted throughout Ireland today exist as a single unit, usually without an accompanying inner stone, at some prior time in antiquity many were probably originally a matched pairing of both the bowl and the smooth rounded stone it housed.

Bullauns which once held or now hold Bullaun stones are often called Swearing or Cursing stones.

A Swearing stone could be used to swear fealty, fidelity, an oath, a promise, seek divine intervention, ask forgiveness or recite a prayer or invocation.

A Cursing stone on the other hand could be used to attempt to cast a spell, bring bad luck to a foe, wish ill health to bad neighbours or cause all sorts of mischief and sorrow.

And at some locations the stones traditionally appear to act as both Swearing and Cursing stones.

Usually the Bullaun Stones within the Bullauns would be moved about in a manner associated with local tradition as the curse or oath were being sworn.

It may have been rotated clockwise or counterclockwise or turned 360º. It might have to have been turned two, four or any number of times dictated by tradition at that particular site.

The Butter Stone is one such stone. It was originally located in one of the Bullauns at Saint Peacauns and judging by it's protective metal encasement it is still a highly venerated object today.

Folklore tells that the Saint was looking for something to eat and chancing upon a local women he asked her for some food.

She had been making butter but she insisted she had nothing to eat and nothing to give to the Saint despite her abundance of butter.

Unhappy with the woman the Saint turned her ball of butter into a stone.

This is the origins of the Butter Stone. If you look closely at the stone you will see that the imprints from the woman's fingers in her butter were also transformed directly onto the stone.

There is the likely probability that Bullaun stones predate Christianity and while many are today found at ecclesiastical sites it seems most likely that because of strong preexisting traditions surrounding them and their local importance in folklore that they were co-opted into early Christian worship rituals in Ireland.

The Laois Cyclist

Sunday 16 April 2023

The Butter Stone, Toureen Peacaun, Tipperary

Toureen Peacaun, Tipperary

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