Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

This holy well was reported to ASI by Sarah McCutcheon, archaeologist with Limerick County Council on 16th October 2012. She described the well as follows: "it’s a roadside well, built into the ditch, with an outfall continuing northward which eventually feeds into the Camogue. The stonework is mortared and neatly built. The roof is formed of a flat slate maybe one piece or two but in any event it is damaged and one part is gone. The slate is surmounted by large stones. The roadside section of the well is damaged, the side wall is slightly bulged, the ‘capstones’ are also at risk. Internal dimensions are: 0.9m x 0.82m x c. 1.2m high (masonry). The distance between the walls at the opening is 0.66m but there is a lower projecting stone on the east which reduces the channel opening to 0.44m. There is a recess provided in the east wall 0.38m from opening. Dimensions: 0.19m depth x 0.19m height x 0.14m width. It is 0.62m above the level of the masonry base and 0.35m below the slate roof. The well is named 'Tobergobinet' on the 1927 OS six-inch map."

Ó Danachair (1955, 209) recorded the following details about this holy well; 'Tobergobinet (not in Gothic) on 1927 edition of 6-inch O.S. map. "A well named by some people Abby's Well and by others Gobinet's Well".lr. na Gaedhilge, xii, 64. No tradition survives'.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 03 July 2019

References

Ó Danachair, C. 1955 The Holy Wells of County Limerick Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 85, 193-217