Holy well, Finglas East, Co. Dublin

Co. Dublin |

Holy Sites & Wells

Holy well, Finglas East, Co. Dublin

Tucked into the suburban sprawl of Finglas East, on the northern edge of Dublin city, a natural spring continues to draw quiet visitors who come not out of curiosity but out of devotion.

The well is enclosed within iron railings and decorated with a monument to St Patrick, painted murals, and a small grotto, giving it the layered, accumulated look of a place that has been tended and added to across many generations. What makes it stranger still is the stone-lined bath at its front, a feature that speaks to an unexpected episode in the well's past: a moment when holy veneration and Georgian-era spa culture briefly occupied the same ground.

According to a account recorded by Daly in 1957, shortly before 1760 a stone arch was built over the spring, prompted by reports of cures it had effected. For years afterwards, people travelled to Finglas to seek relief from sore eyes and inveterate ulcers, applying rags soaked in the water to the affected part and drinking from it directly. The stone-lined bath at the front may date from this same period, when the well was deliberately developed as a spa, placing it within a broader eighteenth-century enthusiasm for curative mineral and spring waters. The Ordnance Survey Name Books classified it as a station well, meaning it was used for the performance of rounds, a devotional practice in which prayers are recited while walking a prescribed circuit around the site, often on a particular feast day. Photographs taken by the folklorist Caoimhín Ó Danachair, now held in the National Folklore Collection at UCD, show the well in its mid-twentieth-century state and are accessible through the Dúchas archive online.

The well sits in Finglas East and remains an active place of veneration, so visitors should approach it with some awareness of that. There is no grand entrance or formal heritage signage to announce it; the railings, murals, and grotto are the markers to look for. The Dúchas photographs offer a useful point of comparison for anyone interested in how the site has changed over time, and the archive references, F024.06.00184 and F024.06.00183, can be found via duchas.ie.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Holy well, Finglas East, Co. Dublin. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement