Archaeology Notes

Event ID 674424

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/674424

NM55NW 3 5015 5525.

(Name: NM 5015 5522) Tobar Mhoire (NR)

OS 6" map, Argyllshire, 2nd ed., (1900)

Tobar Mhoire, a holy well dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is that from which the town of Tobermory takes its name. It is a spring situated 100 yds S of St Mary's Chapel (NM55NW 2).

Name Book 1878; T Hannan 1926; H Scott et al 1915-61.

The area is now overgrown and no spring is visible although the well shown on OS 25" at NM 5015 5525 (which has now gone) is that referred to. The modern drinking fountain which is named St Mary's Well is at NM 5012 5527. Name confirmed.

Visited by OS (D W R) 20 April 1972.

(NM 5015 5525) Tobar Mhoire (NR) (site of)

OS 1:10,000 map, (1976)

Tobar Mhoire: A granite cross (at NM 5012 5527) at the roadside, erected to commemorate the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902, purports to mark the site of the well of St Mary from which Tobermory took its name. The traditional site of the well is at the edge of a footpath some 80m

S of the chapel (information from Mrs U V G Betts). (This is the site given on O S 1:10,000 map.) Martin Martin (1934) stated that the well was reputed to have therapeutic qualities.

M Martin 1934; RCAHMS 1980.