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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ritual site - holy well

Gooreen, County Galway, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ritual site - holy well, Gooreen, County Galway, with a pin at the register's coordinates
Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915), covering this location. Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland. The pin is ours, placed from the register's coordinates.

The record

Townland
Gooreen
County
Galway
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Toberfeheen
Latest-edition OS map
Toberfeheen
Coordinates
53.53029, -10.16888
SMR number
GA021-019----

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

4 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1790 map "Composite: Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

Historical maps covering this location

  • 1790 · Composite: Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1841 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1869 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1891 · Ireland 16 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

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This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗

The National Monuments Service's description

On seashore on SW side of Omey Island. Known locally as Tobar Feichín, it consists of an irregular hole in the rock situated centrally within a small, low, pear-shaped drystone wall (2.7m by 2.5m), with an entrance at SW. There is an alcove in the inner face of the wall at N containing some white pebbles and modern offerings. No trace survives of the 'altar formed by a projection in the masonry' noted by Macalister (1896b, 253) on the outer face of the wall and which was 'covered in large spherical pebbles'. Noted by O'Flaherty in 1684 when it was frequented on 20th January and 'of late proves very miraculous for restoring of health' (Hardiman 1846, 113). (O'Flanagan 1927a, Vol. 3, 75, 79; Killanin 1954, 95)

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. I - West Galway'. Compiled by Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1993).

Date of upload: 05 August 2010

Nearby in the register

Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.

Sites and Monuments Record data: National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Record text is reproduced unchanged. National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland · CC BY 4.0
All Ritual site - holy well in Galway All County Galway records All Ireland Heritage registers Historical markers (US)National Register of Historic Places (US)
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