Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Ritual site - holy well
Castlekeeran, County Meath, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Castlekeeran
- County
- Meath
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- St. Keerans Well
- Latest-edition OS map
- St. Keerans Well
- Coordinates
- 53.73892, -6.95834
- SMR number
- ME016-050----
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1636 "Vltoniae Orientalis Pars" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
Located at the bottom of a SE-facing knoll of limestone outcrop, and in an enclosed rectangular area (dims c. 50m NW-SE; c. 20-30m NE-SW) devoted to it. The well is dedicated to St Kerran or Ciarán, whose church of Belach Dúin (ME016-009----) is c. 350m to the NE. The well is a natural spring (dims c. 2m WNW-ESE; c. 1m NNE-SSW; D 0.2-0.4m) in a cleft in the rock (H c. 1m), with a young ash tree festooned with rags overlooking it. This is a replacement for an old ash tree that finally died c. 1920 (MacNeill 1960, 260). Coins are in the well in thanks for cures, and a shrine with statues is at the hilltop c. 30m to the NW. This is a modern addition of the 1910s when the well was very popular, and Countess Markeivicz spoke there in 1917 (French 2012, 37-40). A stream runs E and SE from the well through various pools, which have a cures for toothache, headache, and foot complaints, to join a larger stream that enters the NW-SE River Balckwater just N of the church site. A rock at the well, which retains the impression of the saint’s body, reputedly cures backache. The main pattern was held on the first Sunday of August (O’Connell 1957, 28-31; Mulvany 1971, 15; Mac Gabhann 2000, 232-4) which is a Lughnasa occasion, and large crowds assemble at the pattern as the curative powers of the water are greatest then. Up to the middle of the last century horses were ridden through the stream on that day to preserve their health in the coming year (Mac Neill 1960, 26-3).
Compiled by: Michael Moore
Date of upload: 30 March 2016
Revised: 26 February 2019
References
O'Connell, P. 1957 Castle Kieran. Ríocht na Mídhe, 1, 3, 17-33.
MacNeill, M. 1962 The festival of Lughnasa. London. Oxford University Press.
Mulvany, P. 1971 Some notices of the baronies of Kells. Ríocht na Mídhe, 4, 5, 14-27.
Mac Gabhann, S. 2000 Landmarks of the People: Meath and Cavan places prominent in the Lughnasa mythology and folklore. Ríocht na Mídhe, vol. XI, 219-39.
French, N. 2012 Meath Holy Wells. Meath Heritage Centre
Nearby in the register
- Excavation - miscellaneousunder 1 mi
- Cross - High crossunder 1 mi
- Graveyardunder 1 mi
- Cross-slabunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.