What is recorded here

Half-hidden in rough grass on Maulin Mountain, this rectangular well still holds a white cross cut into the rock beside it. Local tradition says people walked rounds here at the end of June and believed the water could ease eye trouble. The well may have been little more than a wet rock shelf, yet it clearly mattered enough to mark, return to and trust.

In rough grazing land, at the base of outcropping rock, on the steep W-facing slopes of Maulin Mountain. The most easterly of a pair of two holy wells (see CO115-102001-) c. 50m apart and known locally as 'St John's wells'. A roughly rectangular well (2.1m E-W; 1.6m N-S) set into a natural recess in the outcropping rock. A small white cross is inscribed on the rock on the SW side of the well. According to local information, rounds were formerly made here on 22 and 23 June (St John's Eve and St John's Day) and the water was said to cure eye ailments. The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 5' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2009). Date of upload: 22 December 2009 Images provided by and copyright of Amanda Clarke 2016-2022 https://holywellscorkandkerry.com/

Linked to St John the Baptist, the well is traditionally associated with healing and protection, with local folklore suggesting that water collected at dawn on St John's Day (24 June) was especially efficacious for curing ailments and ensuring good fortune. Such wells were often sites of pilgrimage and seasonal rituals in pre-modern Ireland.

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.