Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

This is St. Patrick’s well and it is located in mixed woodland at the bottom of a W-facing slope. It is described as ‘Tober Patrick’ in gothic lettering on the 1835 and 1911 editions of the OS 6-inch map. It is a circular hollow (diam. 1m; D 0.7m at E to 1.5m at W) which is dry and with no evidence of stonework, apart from two cement steps at the N side leading to it. A memorial stone (H 0.6m; Wth 0.38m; T 0.07m) with an inscription and the date 1775 is beside the steps. A tree at the well, probably the ash tree immediately to the S, served as a rag-tree in the 1930s, although there is no evidence of this in 2003. By the 1930s the memory of the pattern, which had been held at Tober Muire (LE028-065002-) c. 30m to the S between the 15th of August and the 8th September, was attached to St. Patrick’s Well, and Tober Mhuire was no longer remembered. Cures are also recorded at Tober Patrick well in the 1930s according to the Schools Manuscripts, for which see this web-page accessed on 12/04/2017: http://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4658426/4654168

The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Leitrim' compiled by Michael J. Moore (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2003). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of revised upload: 13 April, 2017

References

OSNB - Ordnance Survey Name Books. Pro-forma books arranged by Civil Parish for recording townland and other name-forms and compiled in the course of the OS 6-inch survey 1824-1841. The name books also include minor names and incidental references to antiquities. National Archives of Ireland.