Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

Marked on the 1839 and 1925 eds of the OS 6-inch map and described in gothic lettering on both as St. Clómaun’s Well. This is a misspelling of Saint Colmán, and it was pronounced locally as ‘St. Clement’s Well’ (Wexford People 24-07-1954, 10). It is not known which of the many St. Colmáns (Ó Riain 2011, 183-208) was commemorated. The well is situated at the bottom of a steep E-facing slope that forms the W bank of a wide N-S river and it is at the boundary with the mud-flats of the tidal river. A spring leads to a stone-lined channel (Wth 0.6m; L 2.1m) heading towards the river and there is a concrete U-shaped wall backing into the river bank just the S, which has a concrete basin and overflow channel that were erected in 1954. When the basin was installed a stone with the inscription 'RC 1696' was recovered together with a stone that had the imprint of a human foot, a portion of a cross, and part of a font (Wexford People 31-07-1954, 10). These stones are no longer at the site.

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: 19 August, 2013

References

Wexford People: A weekly newspaper published in Wexford as 'People' 1853 - Apr. 1994 and as 'Wexford People' thereafter.