Tobersalrock Holy Well, Foher, Co. Galway

Co. Galway |

Holy Sites & Wells

Tobersalrock Holy Well, Foher, Co. Galway

Some places are recorded precisely because they have ceased to exist.

At the north-western end of Salrock graveyard in Foher, County Galway, there was once a holy well known correctly as Tobar Salroc, a place of the kind that once punctuated the Irish landscape with quiet religious significance. Holy wells were typically natural springs or water sources adopted into Christian and pre-Christian devotional practice, often associated with patron saints and local patterns or pilgrimage gatherings. This one has left nothing behind. No stone surround, no trickle of water, no votive offerings tied to a nearby bush. The well survives only as a cartographic ghost.

The first edition of the Ordnance Survey six-inch map, which covered Ireland in remarkable detail from the 1830s onwards, recorded Tobar Salroc as a present and presumably functioning feature. By the time the second edition was produced, with revisions published by 1896, the mapmakers had quietly amended their record. The two words "Site of" were appended, a small but telling editorial shift that means surveyors returned to find nothing where something had been. What happened in the intervening decades is not known. Wells could fall out of use as communities changed, as land was drained or altered, or simply as devotional patterns faded. Whatever the cause, the well had disappeared entirely, and no visible surface trace has been recorded since.

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 Tobersalrock Holy Well, Foher, Co. Galway. 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