What is recorded here

Ladys Well is a holy well in County Kilkenny, Ireland, hidden behind Cushendale Mills where a millrace joins the Douske River. Water still flows from under its stone lintel into the millrace, though silt has choked much of the ancient spring. The well may have given life to the mills, sustained the town, or marked a boundary between human and divine worlds. Its name suggests a woman once tended it, prayed at it, or was lost beside it.

On a hill slope, on the W side of a millrace where it joins the Douske River, N of Mill Road (formerly the northern High Street), and to the rear of Cushendale Mills. The well is much silted up, though there is still a flow of water from it into the adjacent millrace (Farrelly et al. 1993, vol. 1, 156). The spring is just visible under a stone lintel (L 1.2m; T 0.23m) and is delineated by a low semi-circular wall (H c. 0.6m; Wth 0.2m) of stone and concrete (ibid.). See attached photograph: KK029-018007-_01 Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 16 March 2022

Linked to a local tradition of healing and fertility, Ladys Well is associated with rituals involving the collection of water for sick or infertile individuals. The well's name may derive from a local saint or a pre-Christian female deity, reflecting a common pattern in Irish holy well lore where Christian and pagan elements merge.

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