Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

Rectangular stone-lined trough. Stone-built rectangular covering, roofed by lintels on inside, 'hipped' shape on outside. Water from well drained by stone-lined channel dug into field. Still venerated. (Roberts, 1988). Myler (1998, 25) records 'from the outside it appears as a stone built mound of 4 ft. in height. There is a passage cut into the sloping ground to the south-east, 6 yards long, which leads into a small chamber within which is the flagged well, 2.5ft by 1.5ft. The roof of the chamber is lintelled and stone built'. Myler further notes that the well was 'known locally as Tobar Partalam and that 'there used to be an annual gathering at this well but such an event has not taken place for well over 100 years' and 'the well is now neglected and overgrown'.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 1: West Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1992). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload/revision: 24 January 2013

Images provided by and copyright of Amanda Clarke 2016-2022 https://holywellscorkandkerry.com/

References

Myler, D. 1998 An archaeological survey of the Mealagh Valley. Mealagh Valley Community Development Association.