Fuaran Well

In a small clearing in a broadleaf plantation, some 90m N of the W-flowing Finnery River. In 1837, O’Conor, who co-compiled the OSL for County Kildare, recorded, ‘ … there is a well called ‘Fuaran Well’ at which a patron was formerly held on the 29nth of June and on the 15nth of August …’ (Herity 2002, 146 [160]). Jackson (1979-80, 158), however, says patrons were held on August 15th and September 29th, and that the well was used to cure skin ailments and was apparently resorted to by large numbers of pilgrims travelling from south-east Wicklow and Wexford. She also records a local tradition that monks fleeing from Henry VII’s soldiers were killed here, and that the last patron held ended in a faction fight. An unenclosed oval hollow (5m E-W; 3m N-S; D 1m) with no visible evidence of veneration or use as a holy well. Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 01 October 2013

Fuaran Well is traditionally associated with Saint Fuibhrean (or Fuaran), a lesser-known early Irish saint, and was likely a site of pilgrimage and healing. The well’s name and location suggest it may have been a focal point for local Christian devotion, possibly incorporating pre-Christian ritual practices linked to water as a source of spiritual and physical purification.