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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ritual site - holy well

Sion, County Kildare, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ritual site - holy well, Sion, County Kildare, 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
Sion
County
Kildare
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Shaughlins (sic) Well
Latest-edition OS map
Shaughlins Well
Coordinates
53.38341, -6.51368
SMR number
KD006-001----

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 1799 map "Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

Historical maps covering this location

  • 1799 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1811 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1830 · V.3:11-15:XV. Britisches Reich. C. Kon: Ireland. a. Prov: Leinster. Counties: 1-12 (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

Shown on the 1st ed. (1838) of the OS 6-inch map as the source of a small, S-flowing stream. According to the OSL (Herity 2002, 1-2), 'There is a well called Shaughlin's well … (which) was formerly frequented … and … many miraculous Cures effected. There was an iron hoop appended to a chain at it for the use of those who frequented it ...'. Fitzgerald (1903, 28) says the well was named in a County Dublin Exchequer Inquisition of 1557 as being 'in the possession of Thomas Luttrell, of Luttrellstown'. Jackson (1979-80, 159-60) records the local tradition of it being named after Maelsechlainn, the king who drowned the Viking leader Tuirgeis. On a W-facing slope in undulating tillage. The well is dry, its location defined by an overgrown circular area (diam. 5m) enclosed by iron railings.

Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy

Date of upload: 10 June 2011

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
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