Springs that were sacred before the saints and sacred after them. Ireland has thousands; people still visit them on the saint's day, walk the rounds, leave a rag on the tree and take the water home.
A holy well is a spring or a small pool of water held to be sacred — in Christianity, and in the religions before it. The water is usually believed to heal, through the presence of the well's saint or, earlier, its guardian spirit, and most wells carry a legend of how the saint made the water flow. They are places of pilgrimage and of ritual: people pray there, leave offerings, and on the saint's feast day gather for the pattern, the patron's day, which in many parishes is the oldest custom still kept.
The rag tree is the sight most visitors remember: strips of cloth tied to a tree or bush beside the well, each one a prayer or a thanks, left to rot away and take the ailment with it. The rounds are the other — a set number of circuits of the well, sunwise, with prayers at each station. Both are older than anyone can say.
Ireland has holy wells in their thousands, most of them unrecorded beyond a name on the map and the memory of the townland. This page has the handful with a documented article and a location; the Schools' Folklore Collection has the rest, well by well, in the words of the children who were sent to ask about them in 1937.
Sources: Wikipedia — Holy well ↗
Inis Cathaigh (also known as Scattery Island or Inniscattery Island) is an island in the Shannon Estuary, Ireland, off the coast of Kilrush, County Clare. The island is home to a lighthouse, a ruined monastery associated with Saints Senan and Canir, an Irish round tower and the remains of an artillery battery.
Temple Cronan is a ruined medieval oratory or chapel built near a holy well in the Burren, County Clare, Ireland. The current building apparently dates from the 12th and 15th centuries, although it may partly incorporate earlier buildings or some of the masonry thereof. It may have been the site of an early Christian monastery.
Farran (Irish: An Fearann) is a village in County Cork, Ireland, in the parish of Ovens. It lies on the southside of the River Lee. Farran is 12 miles (19 km) west from Cork City on the N22 road. The village has a primary school, creche and Montessori school, a church, community hall, and a number of small businesses.
St Cooey's Wells, also called St Cowey's Wells, is the location of three holy wells, and the remains of a 7th century church; it is located in Tara Bay, near Portaferry, County Down. The site is dedicated to St Cooey (also known as St Cowey or St Cu'Mhaighe), a 7th century Irish saint.
Struell Wells (Irish: Toibreacha an tSruthail; Ulster-Scots: Struell Waals) are a set of four holy wells in the townland of Struell, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland (grid ref: J513442). The wells date from before the time of Saint Patrick, and even today are used for people seeking cures.
St. James' Church (Irish: Eaglais Naomh Séamais) is a former Church of Ireland church in James's Street, Dublin, Ireland. Established in 1707, the corresponding parish, which was separated from that of nearby St. Catherine's, was established in 1710. There had been a shrine dedicated to St. James at nearby St.
St. Fintan's Cemetery is located in Sutton, on the south side of Carrickbrack Road in Dublin, Ireland. The cemetery is laid out in several sections: original with a ruined keeper's cottage and the remnants of old St. Fintan's Church, 1889, 1907 and 1954 extensions, and St. Fintan's Lawn Cemetery divided to St. Marnoc's, St. Assam's, St.
St. Cuan's Well is a holy well located near Ahascragh in County Galway, Ireland. The well site, and the nearby cross slabs, is protected as a National Monument.
Aughatubbrid (Irish: Achadh Tiobraide), also known as Chatsworth, is a townland in County Kilkenny, Ireland. The townland, which has an area of approximately 6.63 square kilometres (2.56 sq mi), is in the civil parish of Castlecomer. The village and townland of Clogh is to the east.
Kilkeasy (Irish: Cill Chéise) is a civil parish in the historical barony of Knocktopher in County Kilkenny, Ireland. Kilkeasy civil parish, which has an area of approximately 13.4 square kilometres (5.2 mi2), contains the townlands of Ballybray, Kilkeasy and Knockmoylan. Kilkeasy also shares its name with a local electoral division.
Ballyda (Irish: Baile Dháith) is a small townland in the civil parish of Danesfort in County Kilkenny, Ireland. The townland has an area of approximately 1.4 square kilometres (0.5 sq mi), and is 9 kilometres (6 mi) south of Kilkenny city centre. It had a population of 70 people as of the 2011 census.
The Callan Augustinian Friary (Irish: Mainistir Agaistínigh Challainn) is an Augustinian friary in Callan, County Kilkenny, Ireland. Originally founded in the 15th century, it is located in what is known locally as the "Abbey Meadow", in the north-east of the town, on the banks of the Kings River.
Rathbeagh (Irish: Ráth Bheathach, meaning 'rath of birches') is a townland and hill on the River Nore in the parish of Lisdowney near Ballyragget, County Kilkenny, Ireland. The Irish language name is Rath Beithigh, meaning "rath (ringfort) of the birch trees".
Freshford (Irish: Achadh Úr, meaning 'fresh field') is a village in the barony of Crannagh, County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is 13 km north-west of Kilkenny city. The village is in a civil parish of the same name.
Tybroughney, statutory spelling Tibberaghny (Irish: Tiobra Fhachna), is a civil parish in the barony of Iverk, County Kilkenny in Ireland. The parish comprises a single townland, also called Tibberaghny.
Kiltubrid or Kiltubbrid (Irish: Cill Tiobraid) is a civil parish in the barony of Leitrim, County Leitrim, Ireland. The villages of Keshcarrigan and Drumcong lie within the civil parish.
Durrow Abbey is a historic site in Durrow, County Offaly in Ireland. It is 5 kilometres (3 mi) north of the centre of Tullamore (8 kilometres (5 mi) via the N52 road). Largely undisturbed, the site is an early medieval monastic complex of ecclesiastical and secular monuments, visible and sub-surface.
Tobernalt (Irish: Tobar an Aillt, meaning 'well of the cliff') is a holy well in north County Sligo, Ireland near the southwest corner of Lough Gill. It is an ancient natural spring dating back to the 5th century as a pagan meeting place and later a Penal Law mass site. As of 2016 it is maintained by St John's Parish, Carraroe, Sligo.
St. Patrick's Well is a medieval Christian site located in County Tipperary, Ireland, consisting of a holy well, 12th-century church and an ancient stone cross.
Descriptions are Wikipedia's own opening lines, used under CC BY-SA 4.0 with a link to each article; the list and the coordinates come from the same place. Nothing here is a guide to access — many of these stand on private land.
A spring or small pool of water held sacred — believed to heal, usually through its saint, and visited for prayer, offerings and the pattern day on the saint's feast. Many were sacred before Christianity and were taken over rather than replaced.
A tree or bush beside a holy well hung with strips of cloth, each tied on as a prayer or a thanks and left to rot away, taking the ailment with it. Known in Scotland as a clootie well.
The patron's day: the feast of the well's saint, when the parish gathers at the well to walk the rounds and pray. In many places it survived when nothing else of the old year did.
Thousands. This page has the 19 with a documented article and a location; the Schools' Folklore Collection on Dúchas records hundreds more, townland by townland.
Know one that is missing? Thousands of holy wells have no article and no pin — a townland name and a rough location is enough to start.
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