The Fountain

In 1872, Lord Annaly built an artificial reservoir on a hillside to the south - east of Ballyvaughan to serve the farming community in the valley. The reservoir is fed by two springs and the water is distributed through a system of pipes in the normal manner. The scheme was extended by the Board of Guardians to the centre of Ballyvaughan under the Public Health Act of 1874, the water being conveyed by gravity in cast-iron pipes laid in crevices in the rock or above ground. A fountain was erected in the village in 1875 by two Connemara stonemasons, the Coyne brothers, who were marooned in Ballyvaughan when their craft sank at Gleninagh pier. A number of plaques on the fountain record the names of those involved in providing Ballyvaughan with one of the earliest reliable public water supplies in the country.