#Boann
On a Fragment Concerning the Well of Nechtan, with Notes on an Unusual Variant of the River-Naming Tradition
Analecta Hiberniae, Fasciculus XI
The fragment below is preserved in a single later hand's transcript of material that appears to derive from a Meath psalter, now lost, of probable ninth-century provenance. It presents a variant account of the naming of the Bóann — the river known to moderns as the Boyne — that departs in one notable particular from the standard recension preserved in the prose Dindshenchas. Where the standard text concerns itself primarily with the transformation and the river-naming that follows, this variant dwells, in its characteristic compression, on what the present writer will call the interval: Bóann's approach to the well, the observation she made there, and the consequence. The transformation sequence is rendered with an unusual flatness that the present writer initially attributed to lacunae in the exemplar but has come to regard as a deliberate quality of this recension. The account is notable also for what it withholds: neither the contents of the well nor the precise nature of the observation are disclosed. The parallel with the Teiresian tradition — forbidden sight, divine retribution, the seer unmade by what is seen — will be apparent; the Irish material, as always, resists schematic classical analogy, but the substrate is not wholly dissimilar. The monk's appended note is brief and reflects the conventional piety of the Hiberno-Latin hand when treating pre-Christian material. * * * _Transcribed from a copy (s. xi, single hand) of an original text not otherwise attested. The manuscript from which this copy derives was held at some point in the library of the monastery of Clonard, to judge by a partially legible ex libris on the first folio; a second, older marginal hand appears throughout, most extensively on this fragment. The exemplar was evidently in poor condition: several passages in the verse section are damaged beyond recovery, and one gap in the main text was noted by the copyist without supply._ * * * Bóann came to the well before dawn. She had been told the names of those permitted to approach it. Her name was not among them. Three cup-bearers guarded the well of Nechtan, that is also called Tobar Segais. They had kept that post since before the count of years. The well held what Nechtan had gathered and what the rivers brought him and what had come to rest there in the darkness beneath the plain. He was the only one who drew from it freely. What came up in his cup he kept. She walked three times widdershins around it. She looked at what was in the water. She stepped back from the edge. She looked again. She did not look away. The cup-bearers stood at a remove. They had not been told what to do in this circumstance. _[Here approximately twelve lines are missing from the exemplar. The copyist has noted the gap but has not supplied the text.]_ The well knew when it was being observed. It rose. She ran west and it took her left hand. She ran north and it took her left eye. She ran east and it took her left leg. Three things it did not take. She ran still. She ran until she reached the sea. Where she ran the river ran after her. The river had no name until that day. The well had the same name it had before. Nechtan's cup-bearers returned to their posts. * * * > _Con-dairc ocus ní tháinic._ _B[eirid ... ] co muir [... f]ír [...]._ _Atá tobar lán._ * * * _Scripsi haec post vesperas. Membrana antiqua et tenuis. Exemplar in locis vix legibile. Duodecim lineae in exemplari desunt. Paganum est, et tamen verum, quod gravius est. Nescio quid viderunt oculi eius in aqua. Scio quid facere debui cum vidi quod non licebat videre. Scripsi. Non dixi. Deus miseratur mei._ * * * **Footnote:** The well is here assigned its alternate designation: _Tobar Segais_ , the well of the Segais hazel, found under the same name in the prose Dindshenchas and in several related texts of the wisdom tradition. The Segais was the sacred hazel that stood above the well, and its nuts, falling into the water, were held to be the origin of all wisdom in the world; the salmon that consumed them carried that wisdom into the rivers of Ireland. The double naming is not unusual in manuscripts of this type and appears to reflect two parallel traditions concerning the same site. Of considerable mythological interest, if somewhat tangential to the principal aetiological concern of this fragment. The monk's note translates as follows: _I wrote these things after vespers. The parchment is old and thin. The exemplar barely legible in places. Twelve lines are missing from the exemplar. It is pagan, and yet true, which is the more troubling. I do not know what her eyes saw in the water. I know what I should have done when I saw what was not permitted to be seen. I wrote it. I did not speak. God have mercy on me._ The personal observation is of the type familiar in manuscripts of this provenance; the closing formula is conventional. The verse passage presents considerable difficulty. The first line may be rendered: _She saw and did not return._ The second line is damaged beyond recovery in the central portion; the surviving fragments include the word _fír_ , which carries in legal Old Irish the technical sense of sworn testimony, or in some contexts accusation, in addition to its primary meaning of truth. The present writer reads the line as _She carries [something] to the sea, [something] true_ , though the legal valence is not without interest and has perhaps been noted too hastily by previous editors. Meyer's reading of the principal action as structured around the dawn hour, permitting a solar myth interpretation, seems to the present writer an over-determination of the text; this recension specifies no hour, and the omission appears deliberate. The third line is intact: _The well is full._ Stokes, treating the standard Dindshenchas recension, reads the river-naming as the primary aetiological function of the myth; the present writer is inclined to regard this variant's closing sentences as confirmation of that reading. The well's continuation is, in this tradition, the natural terminus. * * * Buy Me A Coffee
www.oddsignals.art
September 14, 2026 at 3:33 PM
Apparently this should be drunk in a carpark. I couldn't find one up on High Seat. We drank some anyway. Redacted Naggin Boann 5 Years Old Forêt De Tronçais Cask.
September 12, 2026 at 3:19 PM
And here's 3 more! I think from Lough Gill's 2025 series also, again dénichées chez le Comptoir Irlandais. Cracked Spear tonight, definitely has a charred, smoky aroma as if the whiskey was peated (they don't say, but Boann do make a peated whiskey)
Sláinte!
#beer #beersky #Ireland
August 29, 2026 at 5:40 PM
Got a few drop outs for tonight’s Boann whiskey tasting. If you fancy trying some of the best drams coming out of Ireland atm (and one that’s not even available) then grab a ticket here

shop.independentspiritofbath.co.uk/products/boa...

You also get to try the new Legacy, first bottles in Bath!
August 28, 2026 at 1:57 PM
September’s #WhiskeyByTheWater will be exploring 2 new #IrishWhiskey ☘️🥃 releases.
Stillness from M&S by Boann &,
Distiller’s Batch from Jameson, a Single Pot Still.
Come along & enjoy the craic!
August 25, 2026 at 8:35 PM
Next 3 tastings are all whisk(e)y

This Friday - Boann
Top notch drops from Ireland - 8 tix left

Next Thursday - Secret Islay
😉 - 5 tickets left

11th September - Wonderful Wormtub Whiskies
Big ol meaty drams - 8 tickets left

shop.independentspiritofbath.co.uk/collections/...
August 25, 2026 at 10:39 AM
...and some interesting casks, like my first experience with Fondillón

Thanks to Alex and everyone else at Boann for your time!

#IrishWhiskey #Geen18GeenAlcohol #DrinkResponsibly #SinglePotStill #Boann
August 21, 2026 at 2:52 PM
NEW BLOG: Reworking Single Pot Still and Beautiful Casks at Boann Distillery 🇮🇪🥃🌾

Wow, I'm behind on my distillery tours, aren't I? 😳

Last year, I took a trip to Ireland with a first for EuroWhisky - visiting an Irish distillery!

Read the full blog at www.eurowhiskey.eu/blog/3332262...
Reworking Single Pot Still and Beautiful Casks at Boann Distillery / Blog | EuroWhisky
Last winter, I walked out from Drogheda’s train station to see an Irish distillery I’d heard a lot about - Boann. Many had recommended it, and I tried some early products of theirs in Paris, but now I...
www.eurowhiskey.eu
August 21, 2026 at 2:52 PM
Friday next week we have our next tasting.
Boann Irish whiskey. Pot still drams galore from one of the best in the business and probably the future of Irish whiskey.

shop.independentspiritofbath.co.uk/products/boa...
August 19, 2026 at 10:34 AM
♪ #nowplaying A mermaid or a swan - Boann (The Twa sisters - De Två systrarna (an old celtic & nordic tale) - 2020) https://www.radiofrance.fr/fip
August 10, 2026 at 3:16 PM
♪ #nowplaying A mermaid or a swan - Boann (The Twa sisters - De Två systrarna (an old celtic & nordic tale) - 2020) https://www.radiofrance.fr/fip
August 10, 2026 at 3:16 PM
♪ #nowplaying A mermaid or a swan - Boann (The Twa sisters - De Två systrarna (an old celtic & nordic tale) - 2020) https://www.radiofrance.fr/fip
August 10, 2026 at 3:16 PM
Like buses - you wait ages for one and then..

The Boann and the Tyrconnell picked up at the Friend At Hand whiskey shop in Belfast after a chat with the @WhiskeyNovice himself, Jim. Always willing to give you time and advice.
August 7, 2026 at 4:54 PM
finally got around to ordering Boann Distillery’s award winning 1848 Apple Brandy. Will look forward to sampling this!

www.retailnews.ie/news-and-vie...
Boann's Irish-French spirit named World’s Best Apple Brandy for third consecutive year
www.retailnews.ie
August 6, 2026 at 10:28 AM
The issue for #Boann (AKA Eithne, Fidelm, Ness) went deep on comparative mythological parallels to #Greek and #Hindu goddesses, which was fun. It even had a little injection of #LGBTQ #Mythology, where two parallels of Boann turned out to be patrons of Trans folks:
buttondown.com/godsandcrozi...
Jul 6: Eithne, Goddess of Wisdom, Freshwater, Maternity, and Eternity
Eithne, or Boann, or Fidelm, is goddess of Rivers, Wisdom, Prophesy, Motherhood, and perhaps Genderqueerness! With hints of a cosmogonic role, and several...
buttondown.com
July 30, 2026 at 10:29 PM
Hi Bluesky - I've been away, this network seems just much quieter overall than the Fediverse. No harm in crossposting here still, but as always I'll be reserving the "good stuff" for the account over at: pagan.plus/@godsandcroz...

I've had two issues since my last post here! #Boann, and #TheDagda..
The Gods and Their Croziers (@godsandcroziers@pagan.plus)
109 Posts, 85 Following, 71 Followers · A project to apply comparative mythology to Celtic-Christian Hagiography to undo the layers of "Interpretatio Christiana" that rendered the Celtic gods into Sai...
pagan.plus
July 30, 2026 at 10:17 PM
On a Thursday! 😲 Currach Wakame Seaweed Sake Cask Single Malt Irish Whiskey. Fercullen 15yo Single Grain Irish Whiskey. Redacted Bottlers Boann 5yo Single Pot Still. Cheers all.
July 30, 2026 at 8:58 PM
Boann Distillery lands M&S contract with Stillness Irish #Whiskey 🥃

droghedalife.com/boann-distil...
Boann Distillery launches new Irish whiskey with Marks & Spencer - Drogheda Life
Eddie Murphy, Country Director at M&S, Ireland and Northern Ireland, and Peter Cooney, Export Sales Director at Boann Distillery
droghedalife.com
July 24, 2026 at 1:59 PM
M&S launch Stillness Irish Whiskey in partnership with award-winning Boann Distillery

Marks & Spencer (M&S) has partnered with award-winning Boann Distillery, based in the heart of the Boyne Valley in Ireland's Ancient East, to launch Stillness Irish Whiskey, a new own-label spirit...
M&S launch Stillness Irish Whiskey in partnership with award-winning Boann Distillery
Marks & Spencer (M&S) has partnered with award-winning Boann Distillery, based in the heart of the Boyne Valley in Ireland's Ancient East, to launch Stillness Irish Whiskey, a new own-label spirit cre...
www.irishmirror.ie
July 23, 2026 at 2:26 PM
New tastings coming up.
Boann Irish Whisky
Yes that’s the one we have been telling you about for ages.
28/08

shop.independentspiritofbath.co.uk/collections/...
July 10, 2026 at 11:45 AM
The 2nd issue for today is out (albeit late!). This issue is on "Saint" Nectan of Hartland, how his mythos can be traced all the way to India, and from there we can identify details that connect him more firmly to the homonymous Irish God, Nechtan.

buttondown.com/godsandcrozi...

#Mythology #Pagan
June 16th: St.Nectan of Hartland - Nechtan, God of Cloistered Wisdom
Saint Nectan of Hartland is Nechtan, husband of Boann. Like her, he's a god of Wisdom..but with a different philosophy on Wisdom. Seemingly preferring...
buttondown.com
June 17, 2026 at 12:44 AM