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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ritual site - holy well

Rathlihen, County Offaly, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ritual site - holy well, Rathlihen, County Offaly, 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
Rathlihen
County
Offaly
Country
Ireland
Latest-edition OS map
Lady Well
Coordinates
53.19481, -7.64460
SMR number
OF024-040001-

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)
  • 1811 · 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

Modernised and still venerated holy well with gabled stone structure built over the well with a plaque with the inscription NVBM over the opening. On top of the gabled structure there is a statue of the Blessed Virgin with the child Jesus in her arms. There is a flight of steps leading down to the well. A passage leads from the roadside to the flight of steps, either side of which there are 3 inscribed stone slabs. Well is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and the annual pattern day is held on the 8th of September (Shaw Rev. 1971, 71-2).

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload: 23 May 2011

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
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