Dutchmans Well

Marked on the 1839 and 1925 eds of the OS 6-inch map where it is described as 'Dutchman’s Well' in gothic lettering on the former and italic on the latter. The name is thought to derive from two daughters of the Richards of Rathaspick House (WX042-008----) who married two Honoverian officers in 1802 (Jeffrey 1979, 30) and the adjective 'German' or 'deutsche' became attached to the well. Its ecclesiastical associations had been forgotten by the time John O’Donovan mentioned it c. 1840 (O’Flanagan 1933, vol. 1, 368). It is located in a small NW-SE valley with a stream c. 10m to the SW, and is now preserved under a man-hole. It has no ritual associations, although it is known locally as St. Bridget’s Well. Rathaspick church (WX042-010001-) is c. 250m to the SW. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 28 May, 2013

Linked to a local tradition involving two daughters of the Richards family, the well's name may derive from a 19th-century anglicized reference to Dutch heritage or a family nickname. No specific saint or cure is associated, but such wells were often sites of informal devotion or healing rituals in rural Ireland.