Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

A wooden statue of St Maelruan or Maol Ruain, gothic in style (H c. 66cm) and representing a bishop was found in the 19th century at the saint's well (MacLeod 1946, 162-4). St. Maol Ruain founded the monastery of Tallaght, Co. Dublin in 774 and was a leading light in the Céli Dé movement in the Irish church. He died in 792 and his feast was on the 7th of July (Ó Riain 2011, 445-6), which was celebrated at the well (Mac Leod 1946). Although there are many stories about the statue returning to this area (Ranson 1920), it was stolen about 1980 and has not returned. The well is in a little wooded N-S valley and is described locally as being on the W bank of the stream, and c. 10m from it. The well was c. 50m S of the WNW-ESE public road, and it is now back filled and not recognisable. Archaeological testing (21E0614) by Y. Whitty c. 100m to the W produced no related material (excavations.ie 2021:147).

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Wexford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1996). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload/revision: 18 December, 2012

References

Ranson, Rev. J. 1920 St. Maelruan. The Past, vol. 5, 161-7.

MacLeod, C. 1946 Some medieval wooden figure sculptures in Ireland. Statues of Irish saints. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 76, 155-70.