TreeAlive
‹ Sites and Monuments Record, Ireland

Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ritual site - holy well

Ardrass Upper, County Kildare, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ritual site - holy well, Ardrass Upper, 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
Ardrass Upper
County
Kildare
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Not indicated
Latest-edition OS map
St. Patricks Well
Coordinates
53.32701, -6.58482
SMR number
KD010-024----

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)
  • 1799 · 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)

Get directions ↗

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

The National Monuments Service's description

Although not recorded on the 1st ed. (1838) of the OS 6-inch map the well is mentioned by name in the OSL (Herity 2002, 14), and in the 1870's, according to Shearman (1874-5, 306), was 'still frequented by pilgrims who hang up votive offerings of rags on an ancient thorn which overhangs the well'. Jackson (1979-80, 159) records that it was associated with cures for sore eyes and a place of pilgrimage on St Patrick's Day. The well lies in a small thicket on the S-roadside at the N-foot of St Patrick's Hill (OD 308 feet). The area is flooded, possibly by the spring well itself, but a square area (dims. L 2m; Wth 2m) defined by ivy-covered drystone walls, open to the S, is visible under the water's surface and a large flag/lintel along the S may be part of a roof structure. The possible holy tree mentioned above by Shearman is designated KD010-024001-.

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
All Ritual site - holy well in Kildare All County Kildare records All Ireland Heritage registers Historical markers (US)National Register of Historic Places (US)
See your own family's places on a living map