Why this matters
Linked to Saint Brigid, the well is associated with healing and fertility traditions, common in many Irish holy wells dedicated to her. Local folklore may have included rituals such as leaving clooties or seeking cures for ailments, reflecting broader Celtic Christian practices.
What is recorded here
Recorded in the Ordnance Survey letters of 1838-40 as ‘in the townland of Ballymacahara they shew a holy well called Tubber Brighde (or Bridget’s Well). It is a strong spring gushing from the foot of a little bank, having two old ash trees growing over it. It is still resorted to for the cure of pains in the limbs, bowels, etc., and the briars and thorns over it exhibit in tolerable abundance the raggy offerings of its votaries’ (O’Flanagan 1928, 248). Today a few upright boulders and a clump of trees marks the site of the filled in holy well.
Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien
Date of upload: 16 November 2012
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