wells historical ireland

An historic place of pilgrimage. Well worth a visit to experience the peace and tranquility concealed in a woodland area....

The patron day at this well near Carnaross, Kells, is held on the first Sunday of August. Legend is that the well was formed at St Kieran's command. Several pools there have supposed healing powers. It is likely that the well was a place of worship in pagan times....

This well lies in a hollow within a small circle of trees and is possibly within the remains of an earthen ring-fort, of which there is some slight evidence.
Believed in the past to be effective against cholera, a story is told of a man who rested by the side of the well, suffering from the disease, and for three weeks took no nourishment but water from the well. According to local tradition, the man was cured and eventually went to America....

Associated with St Patrick who, says the story, struck the ground with his staff and feresh water bubbled up. The original source of the well is nearby.
The present well is surrounded by a lowstone well and reached by cut stone steps. The water is excellent....

It is one of the largest wells in Ireland, with a shimmering pool at its mouth and a 6th-7th century Cross mounted on a Plinth in the pool centre. In 1969, thanks to the efforts of the then Mayor of Los Angeles, Sam Yorty (whose mother was born in Clonmel) the Irish Israeli Society of South California and the St. Patrick's Day Society Clonmel much needed restoration and landscaping was carried out on the well site. It has now become as well known as a tourist attraction as a place of Pilgrimage...

A recently refurbished antiquity of Cahir is the Holy Well known as Tobar Iosa - "The Well of Jesus". It is located 1 km. North West of Cahir Castle on the N24. This well is a relic of pre-Christian times, possibly 7th or 8th century. The old pagan custom, adopted by the early Christians, of affixing multicoloured rags to the holly tree that adjoins the well, is still the custom even to this day. A stone with two carved crosses rests on a slab said to be used in Penal Days as a "Mass Rock"....

Ardmore is the oldest Christian settlement in Ireland. St. Declan lived in the period 350 -450 AD and christianised this area before the coming of St. Patrick. St. Declan's feast day is "Pattern Day" every 24th of July....

Water has always played a major role in Irish history, first in pagan and later in Christian times. Galway city had many holy wells some of which were credited with curing various ailments.
One such sacred spot, St Augustine's Well can still be seen by Lough Atalia, on the east side of the city....

The well of pure water consecrated by St. Colmcille in 560 A.D. marks the origin of Swords as it gives the town its name - "Sord" meaning "pure"....

Struell wells are hauntingly located in a rocky valley between Downpatrick and Saul, and since medieval times and probably before, they have been the resort of pilgrims who came here in search of cures which they believed the waters from the wells could provide. The buildings are grouped in and around a roughly triangular grassed area, in the centre of which is a small structure known as the Eye Well. At the north-eastern end is a rectangular church building of c. 1750, but probably never comp...