St. Johns Well

Situated in a grove on the N shore of Killone Lake, 125m NE of Killone Augustinian nunnery (CL041-062001-). The well, dedicated to St. John, is just inside the W entrance to a subrectangular walled enclosure (29m E-W; 17-20m N-S). The well comprises a masonry wall aligned NNE-SSW built under rock outcrop. An entrance or doorway through the wall (H 0.75m; Wth 0.53m; T 0.42m) leads to a step down to the silted floor of a D-shaped lintelled chamber (H 1.64m). An iron girder supports the lintels. A 19th-century crucifixion plaque (Wth 0.55m; H 0.8m) on the external N wall of the chamber is inscribed ‘Erected to the Glory of God, in Honour of St. John’. The outcrop is surmounted by a statue of St. John the Baptist. Immediately W of the chamber is a shrine with two shelves holding a statue of the Child of Prague and other religious items. C. 7m to the S is a rectangular depression (1.85m E-W; 1.7m N-S; D 0.8-1.1m) walled on all sides with drystone walling. The top course of the wall rises over ground level (max. H 0.2m; Wth c. 1m). There are steps down from the W and a tree grows out from the side. This may have been a washing area associated with the adjacent covered feature and is locally known as the ‘tank’. A stone altar (CL041-062004-) lies c. 5m to the W. The well is still visited on June 23rd, the eve of the feast of St. John. Compiled by: Mary Tunney Date of upload: 7 November 2016

Dedicated to St. John the Baptist, the well is associated with traditional healing practices and is often visited on St. John's Eve (23–24 June) for rituals involving water and light. Such wells were commonly believed to possess curative properties, especially for ailments of the eyes and skin.