Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

On a SW-facing rise in scrub-covered limestone pavement. Marked and labelled ‘Tobermacduagh’ on both the first (1842) and Cassini (1916) editions of the OS 6-inch maps. The holy well comprises two small limestone solution holes (diams. 0.25-0.3m) enclosed within a low D-shaped, drystone walled well-house (dims. L 3.7m E-W, Wth 3.2m N-S; H 1m) in which a SSW-facing opening (L 0.65m; Wth 0.5m; H 0.3m) gives access to the ‘well’. A wedge-shaped shelf above the ope (L 0.85m; Wth 0.65m) holds an array of votive offerings: when inspected in 1999, these included statues and - strung across the opening to the shelf – a link of 13 BIC lighters. Also present were the tops of whiskey bottles nailed in lines on boards and affixed to boxes, along with c. 20 small egg-sized pebbles. A small U-shaped enclosure abuts the E side of the well-house and the ‘well’ is surrounded by circular ring (diams. 9.5m N-S; 8.6m E-W) of spaced upright slabs (av. dims. L 0.1-0.2m; Wth 0.2-0.2m; H c. 1m), set in grykes. A larger, and later subcircular enclosure (diams. 26.1m E-W; 23.8m N-S) – not recorded on the first edition (1842) of the OS 6-inch map – surrounds the well and is defined by a well-preserved drystone wall (Wth c. 0.5m; H 1.4m), which lacks an obvious entrance gap or stile.

 

Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Eve Campbell 

 

Date of upload: 22-10-2025