Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

Described as St. Stephen’s Well in gothic script on the 1839 and 1940 eds of the OS 6-inch map, and the name is mentioned by John O’Donovan writing c. 1840 (O’Flanagan 1933, vol. 2, 341). St. Stephen was one of the first converts made by the disciples after Pentecost. Being charged with blasphemy he was tried by the Sanhedrim, whom he condemned for having crucified Christ. The Sanhedrin were so outraged that they dispensed with the usual forms of justice and stoned Stephen to death, making him the first Christian martyr (Butler 1883, 182). The well was being visited on the 26th December into the 1940s (OSFM). It is situated on an E-facing slope at the lowest point of the ecclesiastical enclosure (WX029-013006-) and just inside its perimeter at SE. There is no other information about this well, and no trace of it remains.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 23 November, 2012
Amended: 4 April, 2014

References

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1933 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of County Wexford, collected during progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1838. Typescript in 2 vols. Bray.

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 These unpublished manuscripts form part of the records of the Archaeological Survey of Ireland, National Monuments Service Archive, Dublin.

Butler, Rev. A. 1883 Lives of the Saints. J. S. Virtue London and Dublin, Reprint (1990) London. Studio Editions (Abridged)