the cup-shaped rock-hole; the well
Amongst the several meanings of ballán are 'stone with a (cup-shaped) hole', and by extension, 'well'. These ‘bullaun’ stones are found alongside holy wells (cf. Archaeological Inventory of County Galway I, pp. 90, 116), but they sometimes form part of the well itself: see the wells Ballán Mhaolodhair, townland Cill Mhuirbhigh, and Ballán an Cheathrair Álainn, townland Eochaill (par. Árainn); and cf. Tobar an Bhalláin (‘it consists of a natural oval basin', Archaeological Inventory p. 118), townland An Cheathrú Rua Theas. There is a well in the centre of the present townland (‘Tober Patrick' on Ordnance Survey maps), and see 'St. Patrick's Well' in another townland named An Ballán (par. An Ballán, bar. Baile Locha Riach) = 'Ballayn Padryg' (Pontificia Hibernica, anno 1223). See also 'b[allán] Barruinde, name of a spring', a reference to Betha Colaim Chille in A Dictionary of the Irish Language, www.dil.ie, s.v. ballán.