Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

Just inside the entrance at the SSW end of a burial ground (CL014-021001-). Drawn as a rectangular building and named ‘St Bridget’s Well’ on both the first (1842) and Cassini (1920) editions of the OS 6-inch map. This much-visited holy well is housed within a small rectangular stone structure (NIAH reg. no. 20401406), accessed on the E via a round-arched entrance (Wth 1m; H 1.8m) to a passageway (L 4.9m) at the end of which is a rectangular opening (L 1.25m; Wth 0.9m) in the floor which is filled with fresh water. A stream running SE through the W half of the burial ground feeds the holy well and flows past the wellhouse in a channel lined by Liscannor flags. The OS Letters of 1839 recorded the following inscription in modern characters on a stone over the well: ‘Saint Bridget V. Abbess and Patroness of Ireland, lived in a cell which she built under an oak, thence called Kill-Dara or Cell of the Oak. Her Festival is celebrated on the 1st day of February every year’ (Comber 1997, 94). The holy well was then much frequented by worshippers and the sick, and was commonly known as Dabhach-Bhrighde (‘Bridget’s keeve/vat’) (ibid.). The holy well is still much venerated, as attested to by the many relics, coins, statues, rosary beads, notes and mass cards lining the passageway walls and lying about the well opening. As noted in the OS Letters (ibid.), the popular feast days at the well continue to be 1st February and 15th August (for further details, see Houlihan 2021). To the SW of the well is a small lean-to type building (locked) with a mono-pitch Liscannor-flagged roof. To the NE a series of steps leads up to the centre of the burial ground. Immediately to the E of the holy well is a small hedged circular enclosure containing two statues: of Mary and St Bridget. 

 

Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Conn Herriott

 

Date of upload: 7-10-2025

References

Houlihan, M. 2021 Saint Bridget's Holy Well, Saint Brigid's Well, Ballysteen. The Clare Holy Wells Project. Available @ Saint Bridget's Holy Well, Saint Brigid's Well, Ballysteen - County Clare Heritage Office
Comber, M. (ed.) 1997 The antiquities of County Clare: John O’Donovan and Eugene Curry: Ordnance Survey Letters 1839. Clasp Press. Ennis.