When I left Castlestrange (County Roscommon) I decided to head straight home. Nothing was going to compete with that today!
However, I happened to drive past this well signposted and obviously popular well and so I felt I had to see what it was about. When I got there I realised that I had actually planned a visit here, but to the cross (the cross is the only thing marked on the OS).
To reach the well you have to walk through an enclosure that houses a very primeval looking pond. Once through this you pass a couple of bottle of holy water and a small, new bullaun and enter the main area. This is amazing. Services are still obviously held here as there is a modern altar with a frame for a canopy, which is surrounded by benches made from logs.
To one side of the altar is the well, a small (dry) hole in the ground, in a little grotto. Mounted above this is the cross and a horrible painted statue of St. Patrick.
The most amazing thing about the area are the huge trees, each of them decorated with icon like images. These popular, Christian wells simply ooze echoes of a pagan past, I'm beginning to like them more and more.
A Random Selection of Nearby Monuments
St Mogue's Well (Co. Wexford) | Durrow (Co. Offaly) | Glasnamullen (Co. Wicklow) |
St. Brigit's Well (Co. Cavan) | St. Lassair's Well (Co. Roscommon) | Grallagh (Co. Dublin) |