Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

On a shelf towards the bottom of a S-facing slope overlooking a bog to the SE, and c. 20m N of church (RO021-022008-), which is on the other (S) side of the NE-SW Bellanagare to Castlerea road. A basin (diam. 0.3m; D 0.1m) of a double bullaun stone (RO021-022003-) serving as a holy well is set in the ground in an alcove (dims 0.5m x 0.5m; H 0.5-0.7m) at the centre of an overgrown penitential cairn (RO021-022004-) (dims c. 5.5m E-W; c. 4m N-S; H c. 1m). A roofless drystone-built passage (Wth 1m; H 0.8m) leads to the alcove from the W, and the bullaun stone has a second basin (diam. 0.45m; D 0.1m) partly hidden by the cairn.
A stone penal-style cross (RO021-022013-) (H 0.48m; Span 0.2m; T 0.1m) is set on the cairn over the bullaun stone, and a rectangular slab (RO021-022014-) (dims 0.22m x 0.21m; T 0.06m) with crosses incised on both faces is nearby. At the W edge of the cairn is a hollow ash tree (RO021-022002-) known as St Patrick’s walking stick (Circumference: 6.7m). The rough-out of a millstone (RO021-022007-) (diam. 0.8m; T 0.2m) which has a central unfinished and flat-bottomed perforation (diam. 0.37m; D 0.05m) is nearby. This has sometimes been mistaken for another bullaun stone (RO021-022006-). Knox (1902c, 188-9) describes a building (RO021-022005-) on the N side of the cairn, which may have been a church (RO021-022008-) but which cannot be seen now.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of revised upload: 3 July 2015

References

Knox, H.T. 1902c Miscellanea - Bullauns, forming two of St. Patrick's Wells in Connaught. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 32, 188-90.