Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

On the NW-facing slope of Knocklawrence Hill, near the E bank of a stream. This spring well is enclosed by a poorly built subcircular drystone wall (1.75m E-W; 1.5m N-S; H 0.5-0.9m int., 0.45-1.3m ext.; Wth 0.3-0.65m) interspersed with a number of trees. The entrance (Wth 0.41m) is at S. On inspection some collapsed stones were noted around the entrance area, though one may have been an original threshold stone. The well was overgrown and the tree roots formed a natural threat to the foundations of the enclosing wall. According to local tradition, two natural pools at the external base of the wall at NW were known as ‘the eyes’ and people with eye ailments bathed their eyes with the water as the well is said to cure sore eyes. A children’s burial ground (GA133A002002-) lies immediately to the SW. (O’Flanagan 1927, Vol. 2, 502)

Compiled by: Galway Archaeological Survey, UCG

Date of Upload: 12 April 2023

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.