BMF 09/12/2021

St. Nicholas’s Well/Tobar Niocláis: This well is now dry. The water has been diverted to drain the field and it now issues about 100m downslope to N. A cross-inscribed stone which stood 9 feet (2.7m) W of the well (OSNB Ballyduff, 18) now lies loose on the surface. It is a small, thin slab measuring .55m x .37m x .06m thick. On one face is a simple incised Latin cross, with T-bar terminals to head and arms. St. Nicholas is the patron Saint of Ballyduff Parish and the site was visited by large numbers of people on his feast day, the 6th of December. The field in which it is located is known as Páirc an Turasa and 3 circuits of the whole field were made as part of the turas (Ó Danachair 1960, 71).

Tobar Nioclais local. Now only a small depression in a field. About three yards away on a little mound is a small upright slab with an incised cross. Now no longer visited, the well having dried up because of drainage. The rounds were made by large numbers on Saint Nicholas’ Day, 6th December; the well was visited, too, on other days. Three circuits of the whole field (called Pdirc an Turasa) were made; a rosary was recited during each circuit. The water was drunk and applied to sore eyes. Small objects were left as offerings. Legend : Water from the well could not be heated and when examined a trout was discovered in it; water and trout were returned to the well

This well has changed location, now being 100m to the north, and emerging from a steep bank. It is easily accessible from the road. Faint traces of where it once was remain, as a gentle channel in the grass. There are no signs of any kind of structure around its emergence, and it forms a natural stream that joins a bigger one after around 5m. The cross-inscribed slab mentioned by Cuppage was not found.