What is recorded here

Indicated is a holy well in County Meath dedicated to Dympna of Gheel, patron saint of the mentally ill. John O’Donovan found it almost dry in the 1830s, yet people kept returning to its hollow basin. A local group restored it in 2000, revealing a small stone-lined well where offerings still accumulate. The place turns mental suffering into shared ritual rather than private shame.

Located in a hollow in a fairly level landscape. John O’Donovan writing in the 1830s describes Tobar Damhnata as almost dried up (Herity 2001, 67), but the dedication was compounded with Dympna of Gheel in Belgium, the patron saint of the mentally ill whose feastday is on May 15th. The well is depicted but not named on the 1836 edition of the OS 6-inch map, and it is not represented on later maps. The well was restored by a local group in 2000 (French 2012, 69-71). It is now a rectangular stone-lined well (int. dims 0.85m E-W; 0.7m N-S; D 0.5m) approached by three steps from the W. It is within a cobbled enclosure (int. diam. 3.2m) with some offering, which is defined by a masonry wall (Wth 0.4m; H 1.15m). Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 28 February 2019

Linked to Saint Dympna, patroness of mental health and victims of abuse, the well reflects a tradition of pilgrimage and healing associated with her cult, which spread from Belgium to Ireland. The name "Kildalkey" may derive from "Cill Dáilbhí," possibly referencing a local figure or variation of Dympna’s veneration.

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