Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

Annotated 'Scurvy Well' on the 1837 ed. OSi 6-inch map and as 'Scurvy Well (Site of)' on the 1863 ed. OSi 25-inch map. On the 25-inch OSi map there is a second well shown to the S of the site of Scurvy Well and this well is probably the location of the holy well known locally as 'St. Begnet's Well'. Situated at the NW side of Dalkey Island, 68m W of St. Begnet's Church (DU023-029003-). A holy well comprising of is a spring well, apparent at high tide level (Ó Danachair 1958, 83). There is a tradition that the water cures sore eyes (Wakeman 1891, 702). The well was described in 1952 as follows; 'St. Begnet's Holy Well is situated on the brink of the sound not farm from the church [DU023-029003-]. It is held in great veneration by the people and, like many of the holy wells in Co. Dublin, its water is considered efficacious sore eyes' (Scantlebury 1960, 123).
Folklore collected from Dalkey School recorded the following details about St. Begnet's Well; 'There are great wells in Dalkey. The most important ones are the Lady’s Well, the Captain's Well and St. Begnet's Well. There is a very old story attached to St. Begnet’s well. One night a man was rowing up the Sound in a boat. The night was very dark but suddenly a man appeared on the island. The man rowed to the island but when he arrived it disappeared. The man then saw a well and put his hand into the water. He suffered from rheumatism but was cured' (The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0798, Page 84; https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4428238/4387866/4462825).

Compiled by: Geraldine Stout and Padraig Clancy

Revised by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload: 20 April 2023

References

Wakeman, W.F. 1891b Primitive churches in county Dublin. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 21, 697-702.

Scantlebury, Rev. C.S. 1960 A tale of two islands (Dalkey Island and Inis Padraig). Dublin Historical Record, Vol 15, 122-8.

Ó Danachair, C. 1958 The holy wells of county Dublin. Reportorium Novum 2, 68-87; 2, No. 2 The holy wells of County Dublin: A supplementary list, 233-5.

Daly, M. 1957 Curative wells in old Dublin. Dublin Historical Record 17, 13-24.