Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated in modern Roadstone quarry on a rocky N-facing slope overlooking the sea, to the S of site of Chapel Hogan (WI045-005----). Site of St. Patrick's Well (WI045-007----) 210m to the SE. The well has dried up since the quarry opened, and the site is now occupied by a Marian shrine (10/10/1954) and a hawthorn on which offerings are suspended in May. Pilgrimages to the shrine take place annually on the 25th of March. According to the Ordnance Survey Letters the well 'used to be visited on 25th March and 15th August' (Price 1967, 484; O'Flanagan 1928, 137).
Folklore collected from Arklow National School recorded the following details; 'The Lady's Well is a small well situated on Murray's Farm at Arklow Rock, about one mile south of the town of Arklow. It is situated within about 100 yards of the old ruined church called Chapelhogan (perhaps Sepeal an logain)". A small part of the wall of this church still stands. People from the Rock district pay great respect to this well. Every year the people from the lower part of Arklow town visit this well on 25th March, say a decade of the Rosary, take some water from well, and drink it. They also take home some water and bring it home to give to people at home to drink. Each on as he takes water ties a 'bit of rag' on a bush out the well.' (The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0924, Page 42; www.duchas.ie)
The following folklore was collected from Arklow Convent about this well; 'There is a well called the “Lady Well” which is situated on the “Rock” in Arklow. In the olden times the people used to go out and whitewash all round the well for the Priest to go out and say the Rosary and bless it on the 25th March. This custom is still carried on for crowds of children and old people go out and say the Rosary and tie pieces of ribbon on the tree and bring home bottle of the water which is believed to be a cure for various ailments. Convent to the Lady Well is a large stone or rock on which supposed to be the imprint of a deer’s fore-feet said to have leaped from Tara Hill in Co Wexford' (The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0923, Pages 200-01; www.duchas.ie)

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

Revised by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload: 25 May 2020

References

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1928 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Wicklow collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1838. Bray.

Price, L. 1967 The place-names of Co. Wicklow. VII - The baronies of Newcastle and Arklow. The Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies (382-532).