Holy well, Ower, Co. Galway
Co. Galway |
Holy Sites & Wells
Some places are notable for what they contain; this one is notable for what it no longer does.
A holy well once known as Tobar Éinne stood on the north side of a road near Ower in County Galway, roughly 180 metres west of a cashel, which is a type of stone-walled early medieval enclosure. Today there is nothing to see. The well was quarried out of existence sometime after 1933, leaving no visible surface trace whatsoever.
Tobar Éinne takes its name from Saint Éinne, or Enda, the sixth-century monastic founder associated most closely with Inis Mór on the Aran Islands, just across the water from this part of Galway. Holy wells dedicated to local saints were, and in many places remain, focal points for patterns, the traditional Irish gatherings combining religious observance with communal activity held on a saint's feast day. The well was recorded on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey six-inch map, which dates from the mid-nineteenth century, and was still present when the third edition was produced in 1933. At some point after that, quarrying activity in the area obliterated it entirely. No date is given for when exactly it disappeared, only the stark conclusion that no trace survives.
What makes Tobar Éinne worth noting is precisely its absence. The archaeological record preserves it as a kind of placeholder, a point on a map where something once mattered to people and has since been erased not by time or neglect but by industrial extraction. The coordinates remain; the well does not.