Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Ritual site - holy well
Castle Ellis, County Kilkenny, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Castle Ellis
- County
- Kilkenny
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Bastionfort Well
- Latest-edition OS map
- Bastionfort Well
- Coordinates
- 52.62741, -7.07478
- SMR number
- KK020-059----
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesUniversity Library, Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1790 "Composite: Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
In flat marshy field, subsequently reclaimed, c. 40m of an E-W flowing stream which flows into the River Barrow, on the W edge of Gowran village. Described in the OS Namebooks (O'Donovan et al. c. 1840) as, 'Tobar bhaiste an phoill = Baptism well of the hole or pit...A holy well...said to be the best water in all Ireland: it being measured and weighed by an Englishman who pronounced it such'. According to Drennan (1965, 53) the well was used for religious purposes before the piped water supply was installed. A circular concrete wall with rounded top encloses the well, with a metal gate in the entrance gap.
See attached photograph (7 July 1992)
Compiled by: Jean Farrelly
Date of upload: 14 December 2020
References
Drennan, C. 1965 Gowran. Old Kilkenny Review, vol. 17, 59-61.
Nearby in the register
- Ritual site - holy wellunder 1 mi
- Bridgeunder 1 mi
- Water mill - unclassifiedunder 1 mi
- Barrow - ditch barrowunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.