Iona, Tobar A' Cheathain
Well (Medieval)
Site Name Iona, Tobar A' Cheathain
Classification Well (Medieval)
Canmore ID 21618
Site Number NM22SE 11
NGR NM 2868 2444
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/21618
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Kilfinichen And Kilvickeon
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NM22SE 11 2868 2444.
(NM 2868 2444) Tobar a'Cheathain (NR)
OS 25" map, Argyllshire, (1900)
Tobar Cheathain (Reeves 1857; Ritchie 1934), "The Well of Ceathan or Kian" - celebrated in Gaelic verse. (The name as published appears to apply to a pecked area but perhaps it should apply to the well published at NM 2868 2446.)
W Reeves 1857; A Ritchie and E Ritchie 1934.
The well at NM 2873 2444, undoubtedly Tobar a' Cheathain, is now concrete-lined and covered over.
Visited by OS (RD) 9 June 1972.
Field Visit (August 1974)
WELL. The site of the well or spring known as Tobar a' Cheathain is located about 35 m NE of St Mary's Chapel, in rough ground at the edge of the field in which the chapel stands. Although the well was classified as an antiquity by the officers of the Ordnance Survey in 1875, and is noted by Reeves as 'celebrated in Gaelic verse', there is no record of any associated structure. It is now covered with a concrete slab.
RCAHMS 1982, visited August 1974
Field Visit (April 1996 - May 1996)
'The Well of Ceathan or Kian', is celebrated in Gaelic verse, but is now concrete lined and covered over.
(ION96 063)
Information from NTS (SCS) January 2016
External Reference (28 October 2011)
Scheduled as element within 'The monument known as St Mary's Abbey, Iona, monastic settlement [comprising] the remains of the large early historic monastic settlement founded by St Columba in AD 563, St Martin's Cross, and parts of medieval buildings associated with the Benedictine Abbey of St Mary founded around AD 1200.'
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 28 October 2011.
