Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

Toward the bottom of a W-facing wooded slope at the E end of a small NE-SW running valley. Marked and named ‘Toberinneenboy’ on both the first (1842) and Cassini (1920) editions of the OS 6-inch map. Named ‘Tobar Iníne Baoith’ on Robinson’s map of the Burren (1977). This small well-preserved holy well is a rectangular drystone wall structure (int. dims. 0.6m NE-SW; 0.47m NW-SE; ext. dims. 1.65m NE-SW; 1.4m NW-SE). The stones are quite large and regular, but not dressed and the wall is flush with the surrounding ground surface on the NE and SE sides (upslope) but rises (max. H 0.4m) on the SW side where the wall is capped with cement. The wall is wider at NE (0.6m; av. Wth 0.4-0.5m) where a cross (CL017-027002-) is set loosely upright. A line of seven quartz pebbles has been laid out in front of the cross, the largest at the centre and the smallest at either end. The well is 0.9m deep to the water surface, and 1m in full depth. It lies within a D-shaped enclosure (7.2m NE-SW) with a straight SW side (L 7.2m), defined by a drystone wall (H 0.8-1m). On all sides except the SW this wall is surrounded by another wall at distance of between 1.4m and 6m. There are two rough entrance stiles in the walls at NE.

 

Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Conn Herriott

 

Date of upload: 9-10-2025

References

Robinson, T. 1977 (reprint 1999) The Burren: a two-inch map of the uplands of North-West Clare. Map Scale 1:31680. Roundstone: Folding Landscapes.