Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Ritual site - holy well
Ministown, County Meath, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Ministown
- County
- Meath
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Latest-edition OS map
- St. Columbkilles Well
- Coordinates
- 53.69405, -6.25450
- SMR number
- ME021-013----
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 1799 "Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
Situated on a fairly level landscape, and at the N edge of rath (ME021-013001-). St Columbkille’s Well is marked only on the 1908 edition of the OS 6-inch map where it is depicted with a tree beside it, but it had been closed and a pumphouse erected over it before 1987 (French 2012, 18). In the late 1930s it was known to have had an ash tree with no leaves, and a stone wall had been built around it within living memory. The well had a cure for ague or fever, and some cures were known from drinking the water. The pattern was held on the second Sunday in August when decades of the Rosary were said while the well was circumambulated, but it had been discontinued for many years before the 1930s. (IFC: Schools’ Collection vol. 0682, 164)
Compiled by: Michael Moore
Date of upload: 10 October, 2019
References
IFC Schools' MSS: Irish Folklore Commission Schools' Manuscripts. Department of Folklore. University College, Dublin.
French, N. 2012 Meath Holy Wells. Meath Heritage Centre
Nearby in the register
- Ringfort - rathunder 1 mi
- Ringfort - rathunder 1 mi
- Enclosureunder 1 mi
- Burialunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.