Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

SSW of the trigonometrical station is a well, lined with slabs, known as Tobar na Súl [well of the eyes]. The water is said to have curative properties when applied to the eyes. Situated on the summit of Slieve Sneacht. Listed by Ó Muirgheasa as well no. 98.
Ó Muirgheasa in 1936 recorded this well which was known as, 'Tobar na Súl, or " The Well of the Eyes." Writing in August, 1835, Dr. O'Donovan states:-" I ascended Sliabh Sneachta (a mountain, 2,140 feet high, on the extreme top of which the writer saw a small spring well, called Tober na Súl, or 'the well for the eyes,' many of the peasantry holding that its waters possess curative properties, when applied to the eyes, derived from its having been blessed, at some time, by some of the holy bishops of the vicinity, or, as others will have it, that it was blessed by St. Patrick himself during his sojourn of forty days in the locality, whilst the great church Domhnach mor Muighe Tochair was being erected under his guidance)" (Ó Muirgheasa 1936, 158)

The above description was derived from the 'Archaeological Survey of County Donegal. A description of the field antiquities of the County from the Mesolithic Period to the 17th century.' Compiled by: Brian Lacey with Eamon Cody, Claire Cotter, Judy Cuppage, Noel Dunne, Vincent Hurley, Celie O'Rahilly, Paul Walsh and Seán Ó Nualláin (Lifford: Donegal County Council, 1983). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated.

Date of upload/revision: 06 January 2012