Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

Described as a 'Boiling Well' on the 1839 ed. of the OS 6-inch map and as Tobermuire - Mary's Well - on the 1940 ed. Situated at the bottom of a SE-facing slope, it is the source of a stream that runs off to the SW, but no well structure is visible. There is no physical evidence of veneration but it had been resorted to for eye ailments, although this had been long discontinued by 1940 (OSFM). Archaeological testing (05E0901) in the vicinity produced evidence of a brickworks in the area just N of the Holy well. There is no record of a brick works here, and it is presumably 18th or 19th century in date. (Delaney 2008)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Dtae of upload: 15 March 2012

References

OSFM. Ordnance Survey Field Memorandums. A collection of survey notes and descriptions of monuments on pro-forma sheets compiled by Ordnance Survey field staff in the course of the 1:2500 map revision of various counties, mostly dating from 1931 – early 1960s. These unpublished manuscripts form part of the records of the Archaeological Survey of Ireland, National Monuments Service Archive, Dublin.

Delaney, F. 2008 Creagh Demesne/Gorey Corporation Lands, Gorey. Red-brick kiln/furnace/chimney. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 2005: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 402, No. 1643. Dublin. Wordwell.