St Derivla's Well

Built into rising ground at the base of the S-facing slope of Knocknaskea hill. The E-W island road is 2m to S.

Named ‘St. Derivlas Well’ on the 1838 and 1921 OS 6-inch maps, this holy well consists of a drystone subrectangular structure (int. 1.5m N−S; 0.9m E−W; H 0.85m) recessed into the slope, open to S. The W, N and E walls rise in eight to nine rough courses, gently corbelled at top to support flat roof slabs. The roof consists of a lower course of two large slabs, set side by side in line with the long axis of the structure, above which are at least three contiguous slabs laid transversely.

The earthen floor was dry at time of visit. At the entrance a thin sill stone, set on edge, rises 3-4 cm above ground level. The well is accessed by an unroofed sunken entrance passage (L 1.8m N−S) lined with drystone walling and paved with three large flat slabs. It narrows in width from 0.9m at its S end to 0.5m at the entrance to the well. Quartz rocks are piled along the top of the passage side walls and also on the N edge of the roof of the well structure, which is flush with the rising hill slope.

A second structure is located 3m to SW at the edge of the road. It consists of a sunken cavity (c. 1m N−S; 0.8m E−W; D 0.2m) roughly roofed with flat slabs set at ground surface level. It is surrounded by a jumble of loose stones. It may be a channel or outlet drain for the water, but it too was dry at time of visit.

According to local information, water from the well is traditionally said to have curative properties for sore eyes (pers. comm. Kea Lavelle, 2021).