Christian Sites

On a low-lying level landscape. Described c. 1910 as a well with two small cairns adjacent (OS Name Book). Circular well (int. diam. 1.9m E-W; 1.7m N-S) defined by a drystone wall (Wth 0.75m; ext. H 0.6m), but with no evidence of veneration. It was known Monument Type: Ritual site – holy well View on […]

On a low-lying level landscape. Drystone-lined depression (diam. 1.4m; D 0.7m) which is open to NE and which has a channel leading E that surfaces c. 3m distant. The well is surrounded by a grass-covered cairn (RO028-180003-) (diam. 6.6m NW-SE; 5.9m NE-S Monument Type: Ritual site – holy well View on Historic Environment Viewer

‘St. Columbkille’s well (DG009-006002-), modernised and surrounded by a cairn (DG009-006001-) of stones left by pilgrims (Ó Muirgheasa No. 70). It is situated to the E of a base of a steep cliff.’ (Lacy 1983, 302) Described by Ó Muirgheasa in 1936 as Monument Type: Ritual site – holy well View on Historic Environment Viewer

Marked and named as a holy well in SE corner of a field on 1st ed. of OS 6-inch map. However, only the name appears on 3rd ed. (1915). No visible surface trace survives. The above description is derived from the published ‘Archaeological Inventory of Co Monument Type: Ritual site – holy well View on […]

Formerly located in a hollow on a hillside it is now within the open space of a housing estate. Described in 1974 as a rectangular stone-lined basin (dims. 1.6m N-S x 0.6m E-W) with remains of a masonry wall on the north and west sides under an ash tree. Monument Type: Ritual site – holy […]

Annotated ‘Holy Well’ on the 1837 ed. OSi 6-inch map, accessed from lane off the old road that runs through Balrothery Village. The following folklore was collected from Balrothery School abut this well known locally as ‘Biddy Boughy’s Well; ‘It appears Monument Type: Ritual site – holy well View on Historic Environment Viewer

Marked on the 1839 and 1925 eds of the OS 6-inch map where it is described in gothic lettering as ‘Holy Well’. It is known locally as St. Anne’s well, and is located in a slight fold and towards the bottom of a steep W-facing slope of the Slaney va Monument Type: Ritual site – […]

On level ground, c. 15m to the N of a small stream and c. 40m to the SE of a church (GA14-066001-). This is a natural spring well in a rock cut depression (L 1.5m; Wth 0.75m). A small rectangular cut-stone block with a mortise hole on its upper face lies Monument Type: Ritual site […]

Situated in pasture at the bottom of the valley of a NW-SE stream, with the stream c. 10m to the W. This is a natural spring covered in briars. There is no evidence of veneration or information on the associations of the well, but a stile to a roadway at Monument Type: Ritual site – […]

Ó Muirgheasa (1936, 153, Nos. 62 and 63) recorded that ‘There are two Holy Wells (DG037-014—-; DG037-014001-) in Craig or Cregg townland, two miles from Rathmullen on the road to Rathmelton, one on each side of the road. One of these is called Tobar B Monument Type: Ritual site – holy well View on Historic […]

In a band of trees on the W bank of meandering stream called the Craosóg (O’Kelly 1969, 192). The OS Letters (1839) mentions, ‘a holy well here called Tubber Maoin or Maon’s Well, having a very large ash tree growing near it. It is not now visited for a Monument Type: Ritual site – holy […]

The early ecclesiastical site at Gartan is the reputed birthplace of Colmcille, the greatest of the Donegal saints (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 385). It presently consists of a complex of sites in and around a graveyard (DG044-017008-) enclosed by a modern s Monument Type: Ritual site – holy well View on Historic Environment Viewer