Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

In the centre of an enclosure (GA061-023003-). This is a National Monument in State care (No. 467; see Harbison 1975, 100). It comprises a spring well contained within a small oval drystone surround (NW-SE 1.8m) accessed via a narrow gap at W. The present enclosing wall appears to overlie an older structure, the foundations of which extend beyond it from NNW through N to E. A crucifixion plaque (GA061-023002-), of 18th/early 19th-century date (pers. comm. J. Higgins), rests against the NE side-wall. O'Donovan records that St Cuan (d. 752) was held in great veneration in the mid-19th century in the area of Ahascragh (AFM, iii, 487, note v). A pattern was held there on the 15th October (St Cuan's feastday) annually and it was said that the water could not be boiled (The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0044, Page 0099-0100. © National Folklore Collection, UCD; accessed at https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4583282/4576252, 28 September 2017). Egan (1960, 8) mentions a 'Tobar Grealláin' as being close by but no trace could be found when the area was visited in 1984. St Grellan was, however, associated with the medieval church (GA074-058----) at Kilcloony. (O'Flanagan 1927, Vol. 1, 116)

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. II - North Galway'. Compiled by Olive Alcock, Kathy de hÓra and Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999, No. 3525).

Revised by: Paul Walsh

Date of revision: 28 September 2017

The monument was taken into Ownership under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 - National Monument 467.

References

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1927 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Galway collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1839. Typescript in 3 vols. Bray.

Harbison, P. 1975 (2nd. ed. 1992 reprint) Guide to the national monuments in the Republic of Ireland. Gill and Macmillan, Dublin.

AFM - Annals of the kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters from the earliest period to the year 1616, ed. and trans. John O'Donovan (7 vols., Dublin, 1851; reprint New York, 1966)

Egan, P.K. 1960 The parish of Ballinasloe, its history from the earliest times to the present day. Dublin. Clonmore and Reynolds.