What is recorded here

An Chathair Bhearnach holds a cross-slab above St Finan's Well, where water still rises beneath stone on the slopes of Knag. The dome appeared around 1960, but the slab and well belonged to older prayer, marking a place where people drank, washed or waited for grace. Lough Currane glitters below like a promise kept, while the cut cross watches the changing sky.

St Finan's Well/Tobar Fhionáin (KE098-013----) is a subrectangular stone-lined well is located on the lower SE slopes of Knag, overlooking Lough Currane to S. It is capped with two lintels, over which a domed stone structure was erected around 1960. In a niche near the top of the dome, above the well-opening, is a cross-incised slab which measures 0.56m x 0.24m x 0.07m thick. See attached photograph of cross-slab standing over St Finan's Well, Co. Kerry, taken 1946 by Caoimhín Ó Danachair courtesy of and © National Folklore Collection, UCD. The Photographic Collection, F025.18.00056 accessible online at https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbeg/16788. See attached colour photograph courtesy of Amanda Clarke. The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 1056. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 30 July 2013

Probably dating to the early Christian period (5th–9th centuries), the cross-slab may have marked a holy site associated with St Finan or served a liturgical or commemorative function. Such stones often carried Christian symbols and were linked to pilgrimage or ritual activity around wells and holy places.

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