What is recorded here

Four feet above Harbour Road, a three-inch iron pipe forces a tiny trickle from beneath St Mary's Abbey, feeding the local belief that the water cures sore eyes. The spout hides its own name from maps, answering only to Our Lady's Spout or the Eye Spout, while children and adults still tilt their faces into the cold jet. What begins as a mundane pipe becomes a boundary between the ordinary street and the buried abbey, where water carries memory instead of forgetting.

Holy well known locally as 'Our Lady's Spout', located near the base of the retaining wall of St Mary's Abbey abbey (DU015-029001-) graveyard (DU015-029006-). Described by Ó Danachair (1958, 77) as; The Holy Spout" or "The Eye Spout local. Not named on maps. A steady trickle of water issuing from a short length of three-inch iron pipe which projects at a height of about four feet from the retaining wall on the south side of Harbour Road, Howth, just outside Howth Abbey. It is said to come from a holy well, dedicated to Our Lady, in the abbey grounds, The water cures sore eyes'. Folklore collected in 1934 from Howth School recorded the following tradition about 'Our Lady's Spout' ; 'This is a small stream of water which runs through an iron spout, and comes under the ruins of St Mary's Abbey, Howth, on to the Harbour Road. The spout is about 5 feet from ground, there is only a small trickle of water, but it is held to be a cure for sore eyes, and the people still use it for that purpose' (The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0792, Page 3; https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4498746/4385850/4498747?ChapterID=4498746). Compiled by: Geraldine Stout Updated by: Christine Baker Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 17 April 2023

Linked to St Mary's Abbey, the well is traditionally associated with Marian devotion, and local tradition holds that it was a site of pilgrimage and healing. It was known as "Our Lady's Spout," suggesting a connection to the Virgin Mary and possibly a tradition of water cures or blessings.

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