Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

On the N shore of Lough Meelagh (dims c. 2km E-W; c. 600m-1km N-S), c. 75m W of Kilronan church (RO-004-003001-) and S of the Keadew-Ballyfarnon road. Rectangular well (dims 2.3m NW-SE; 1.6m NE-SW), which is still venerated, surrounded by a masonry wall and with steps at the SE. A limestone plaque (RO004-002005-) (dims 0.63m x 0.26m; T 0.07-0.16m) commemorating Roger Mc Dermotroe and his wife Ellen Conor with the date 1686 is built into the wall. A rag tree (RO004-002004-) stands over the well, and the overflow channel has a stone (dims. 0.65m x. 0.45m; T 0.15m) with a shallow basin (dims 0.55m x 0.35m; D 0.05m) which may be a saddle quern or a bullaun stone (RO004-002003-).
An uninscribed stone, probably intended as a headstone and known locally as an altar, consists of a rectangular limestone slab (dims 1.8m x 1.05m; T 0.1m) supported by four corner stones (H c. 1m) on which water-rolled stones are placed. It was mistaken for a megalithic monument (Borlase 1897, vol. 1, 196), and was once on the N side of the road (OS Name Books). The pattern was traditionally held on 8th and 9th of Sept. and is still continued today. Promontory fort (RO004-001----) is c. 140m to the WNW, and holy well (RO004-060----) is c. 230m to the NNW. (Hayward 1955, 135; O'Connell 1988, 61; Healy 2001, 51-2)

See the attached view of the well taken from the SE.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 24 August 2010

References

Hayward, R. 1955 This is Ireland, Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim and Roscommon. London. Arthur Barker.

Healy, E. 2001 In search of Ireland's holy wells. Dublin. Wolfhound.

O'Connell, M. 1988 An examination of how some Co. Roscommon holy wells feature in the cult of the holy well in Ireland. Journal of the Roscommon Historical and Archaeological Society 7, 58-65.

OSNB - Ordnance Survey Name Books. Pro-forma books arranged by Civil Parish for recording townland and other name-forms and compiled in the course of the OS 6-inch survey 1824-1841. The name books also include minor names and incidental references to antiquities. National Archives of Ireland.