Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

On a slight knoll on a terrace on valley side, in rolling grassland. There are good views in all directions. The holy well is known as 'Toberadrugh' or the Hermit's Well, the hermit being associated with St Fiachra whose feast day was celebrated on the 8th of February (Carrigan 1905, vol. 2, 329-30). A holy well within a corbel-roofed stone structure (ext. dims. 3.05m E-W; 2.4m N-S; int. dims. 2.4m E-W; 0.75m N-S; wall T c. 0.9-0.95m), with external cement render. The structure is entered through a pointed doorway in the E gable (H c. 1.4m; Wth 0.55m; widening internally to 0.75m) with steps down to the well. There is a ledge in the N and S wall of the well. The eastern portion of the well is covered by two stone slabs. A stone finial from the graveyard (KK009-044002-), which was originally at the apex of a 10th/11th-century church (KK009-044001-), has been fixed to the apex of the E gable (Waldron 1959, 49). The OS Letters (1839) note that the external cut-stone facing of the structure was carted away as building material (O'Flanagan ed. 1930, vol. 1, 90-92 (30-31)). The interior of the well structure is described in the OS Letters (ibid.) as being, 'roughly plastered having several initial letters scratched on it and here and there the dates 1700, 1752, 1770, 1774'.

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 6 February 2018

References

Carrigan, Rev. W. 1905 (Reprint 1981) The history and antiquities of the diocese of Ossory, 4 vols. Kilkenny. Roberts Books and Wellbrook Press.

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1930 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Kilkenny collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1839. Bray.

Waldron, T. 1959 Tobar a'dhroo or The Hermit's Well, Clonetubrid. Old Kilkenny Review 11, 49-52.