Holy well in Mainstown, County Tipperary

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20m N of Glen River and NNW of bridge over this river. It is on the S side of a driveway to a two storey house with old out buildings. The land on either side of the driveway, including the area around the well, is landscaped. The well is a circular, stone-lined structure (diam. 2.5m N-S; 2.2m E-W) with a stone step down to the water in the NE sector. On the S side of the well there is a beech tree which is leaning badly to the S. The well is presently covered by a wooden frame with a metal grid. Though the well is known locally as being a holy well there are no devotions practiced here any more, no religious relics at the site. The dry-stone walling around the well is 0.8m H and is composed of a mixture of large and small rough blocks of stone. The rim of the well on the N and E sides has been covered with concrete. There is water in the well 0.2m above the silt which appears to be at least 0.2m D. According to Power (1908, 4) the well was called 'Tobberessay' from Tobar Iosa, in English 'Jesus' Well' and was 'a remarkable well of great size and volume, at which "rounds" and votive offerings were formerly made. The offerings here took the peculiar form of tufts of hair cut from the pilgrim's heads'.

From the National Monuments Service (Archaeological Survey of Ireland) record TS085-009

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Photo credits

National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
Kmcnamee, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Maker not stated on source page, www.pinterest.com
Maker not stated on source page, en.wikipedia.org
Maker not stated on source page, commons.wikimedia.org

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