Well, Cashel, Co. Tipperary
Co. Tipperary |
Utility Structures
Beneath the streets of Cashel, Co. Tipperary, a small stone well sat quietly out of sight until an archaeological excavation at Bank Place brought it back into the light.
It is an understated find, roughly circular in plan and measuring just under a metre across, constructed from undressed limestone blocks that were likely held together with earth rather than mortar. The well shaft was excavated to a depth of half a metre below the present ground surface, though how much further it may originally have extended is unknown.
The well's origins remain uncertain. No datable artefacts or other material evidence were recovered during the excavation, which was carried out by O'Donnell in 2000, and the work remains unpublished. What can be said is that it may pre-date 1700, placing its construction somewhere in the early modern period or earlier, in a town already ancient by that point. Cashel had been a seat of ecclesiastical and political power for centuries by the time this well was in use, and small stone-lined wells of this kind, built without dressed stonework and relying on the natural permeability of their surroundings, were a common feature of urban and rural life long before piped water made them redundant. That this one survived beneath Bank Place, however fragmentarily, is a reminder of how much of any old town lies just below the surface of the ordinary.