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Holy Wells | Mass Rocks |
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St Colmog's well is situated about 100 yards from the old church ruins in Loughill. St Colmog was reputedly a hermit who had a little church in the area. It is claimed that the well can cure eye ailments. Tradition had it that the well should be visited before sunrise or after sunset. People usually left pieces of material as a token of their visit to the well. These rags were placed on an oak tree that sheltered the well. The rounds of the well consisted of walking seven times around the well and on each round reciting one Our Father and three Hail Marys. At the end of each round, a pebble was dropped into the well. So by the end of the rounds of the well the person should have dropped seven pebbles into the well. It is claimed that a girl who lived locally washed clothes in the well instead of the river. The following day the well was dry and a new well had sprung up a short distance away from the original well. The well has been covered in with topsoil in the recent past. Danaher also mentions another well in the parish. In the old parish of Kilmoylan, there was a well in the townland of Tinnakilla called Tobercloonagh. The well was built with stone and clay and roofed with flagstones. No tradition about the well survives today. "Recollections of Our Native Valley" mentions two mass rocks. One of these was at Cromleac in Tinnakilla townland. From a nearby vantage point all of the surrounding countryside can be seen so it was ideal location to evade the authorities, and escape before a raid could be made. The second mass rock was near Loughill old bridge, which was near the village of Loughill. This mass rock has now been covered over with soil.
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