Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated in a slight N-S valley with a small E-W stream c. 15m to the N at a point where it turns N. A well is marked on the 1839 and 1940 eds of the OS 6-inch map and described as St. Catherine’s Well in gothic lettering on both. According to John O’Donovan writing c. 1840 the pattern had been held on the 25th of November until c. 1800 (O’Flanagan 1933, vol. 2, 201), but this had been forgotten by 1940 (OSFM). The date of the pattern indicates that the well was dedicated to St. Catherine of Alexandria. There are no visible remains of a well in a cereal crop.
St. Catherine was a 4th century savant who converted some pagan philosophers. When persecuted on a rack the wheels miraculously fell off the machine – hence she is always represented with a wheel. Eventually she was burned by her persecutors. Her remains were discovered in Egypt in the 8th century and miraculously translated to Mt. Sinai where her monastery continues to this day. Some of her relics came to Europe in the 11th century resulting in the popularisation of her cult. In 1969 she was removed from the Calendar by the Roman Catholic Church, but she was restored in 2002. (Butler, Rev. A 1883, 169)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 15 October, 2013

References

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

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 These unpublished manuscripts form part of the records of the Archaeological Survey of Ireland, National Monuments Service Archive, Dublin.