Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

In the village of Balla, located immediately to W of a building (MA090-024003-), known locally as the 'Rest House', and c. 50m E of a graveyard (MA090-024005-) and a round tower (MA090-024004-).
This well is named ‘Tobermurray’ on the 1838 and 1929 OS 6-inch maps. It consists of a circular, stone-lined depression (diam. 1.3m) linked to a narrow drain or gully (Wth 0.4m; D 0.55m), which extends to WSW beneath a property/boundary wall. A small modern shrine to the Blessed Virgin stands at the point where the gully extends beneath the wall. The well is dry and infilled with rubble. The OS Letters (1838) record that that a station was traditionally performed at the well on 15th August, and that an inscribed stone (MA090-024007-) and two penitential stations (MA090-024002-; MA090-024006-) were associated with the well. A modern spring-fed well, located 6m to NNW has superseded the traditional well. It is enclosed in a semi-circular curve at SW–N by a modern stone wall, incorporated into the line of a property wall, and by iron railings on the E side, and is approached from E by a slopping cobbled path.

Attached image: MA090-024001-_01.JPG viewed from E

Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 25 June 2018