What is recorded here

Scáithín, a small natural spring tucked into a smooth rock recess beside a Westquarter track, belonged to a saint whose name the water still carries. The well is dry now, stopped with turf and hidden from sight, yet it sits barely two hundred metres from an early ecclesiastical enclosure. People may have drunk from it, washed wounds in it or simply stood beside it when the water ran clear. What is lost is not the fact of the well but the sound it made when living.

On N side of track to W of a house cluster and c. 150m SW of an early ecclesiastical enclosure (GA009D025002-). Known locally as Scáithín, probably from the saint's name, it consists of a small natural spring, now dry and stopped with turf, in a small smooth-sided recess in a rock outcrop by the track (info. T. Robinson). When visited in June 2016 there was no visible surface trace of the well. It may have been obscured by vegetation. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. I - West Galway'. Compiled by Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1993). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated. Date of revised upload: 24 June 2016

Linked to Saint Scáithín, the well was traditionally visited for its supposed healing properties, particularly for skin ailments. The name Scáithín reflects an early Christian presence in the area, though the site is now dry and little remains of its original structure.

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