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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ritual site - holy well

Inis Gluaire, County Mayo, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ritual site - holy well, Inis Gluaire, County Mayo, 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
Inis Gluaire
County
Mayo
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
St. Brendans Well
Latest-edition OS map
St. Brendans Well
Coordinates
54.20819, -10.11966
SMR number
MA016-003010-

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)
  • 1841 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1869 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1891 · Ireland 16 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

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

The National Monuments Service's description

Located at the SE end of Inisglora, within the confines of a monastic settlement (MA016-003008-). This holy well is named ‘St. Brendan’s Well’ on the 1838 and 1021 OS 6-inch maps. A pool of water (D c. 0.5m) is contained at the base of a penannular drystone-lined shaft (diam. 1.2m; D 2m), open on the S side where it is accessed from surface ground level by a series of eight stone steps (Wth 0.6m) flanked by walling, giving the structure as a whole a roughly key-hole shape. At ground surface, the surround wall of the well consists of a low, roughly built, and partly tumbled, drystone wall (Wth 0.7-0.8m; H 0.45m).
According to tradition, if a woman draws water from the well, the water will instantly turn to red worms (OS Letters 1838, vol. 1, 107).

Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 13 June 2017

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 Mayo All County Mayo records All Ireland Heritage registers Historical markers (US)National Register of Historic Places (US)
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