What is recorded here

St. Muadains Well is a small D-shaped recess in a rock face beside a Monaghan stream, remembered in local tradition for a two-day gathering around August 30 until the well was closed in 1836. People may have come across the road, knelt at the overflowing water and stayed through the heat, believing the place still answered prayer. The rock gives no warning now, but the remembered ceremony suggests the well once felt alive, generous and worthy of return.

Situated at the base of a NE-facing rock-face (H c. 2m), which is on the SW bank of a small stream. The well is across the road to the NE of the graveyard (MO003-018003-) and is accessible by a path down from the road to a rock outcrop platform. The well (D 0.3m) is in a D-shaped recess (dims 0.8m WNW-ESE; 0.5m NNE-SSW; H 0.5m) and it overflows across the platform to the stream. There is no evidence of veneration now but in the folk memory there was a two day pattern held at the well around August 30 until the well was closed in 1836 (see this web-page accessed on 28/10/2016: http://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4742067/4732198 Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of revised upload: 7 November, 2016

St. Muadains Well is associated with St. Muadan, a 6th-century Irish saint known for his ascetic practices and healing miracles. The well is traditionally visited for its supposed curative properties, particularly for skin ailments and general well-being, and may have been a site of pilgrimage and seasonal rituals in pre-modern times.

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