Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

Marked on the 1839 and 1940 eds of the OS 6-inch map and described in gothic lettering on both as St. Man’s Well. It is probably named after St. Munna of Taghmon (WX040-008003-), whose feastday falls on 21 October (Ó Riain 2011, 505-07), but there is no record of a pattern at this well (OSFM 1940). The well is situated in a low-lying landscape c. 5m NW of a small NE-SW stream. It is not visible now in a root crop but it is described locally as a small shallow hole. It was not venerated, but there is a local tradition that it had been located originally beside the parish church of Ishartmon (WX047-060001-), c. 480m to the N but when it was fouled by a woman washing clothes in it the well moved to Ballyboy.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 11 October, 2013

References

Ó Riain, P. 2011 A dictionary of Irish Saints. Dublin. Four Courts Press.

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 These unpublished manuscripts form part of the records of the Archaeological Survey of Ireland, National Monuments Service Archive, Dublin.