Holy well in Unknown Townland

Annotated 'St. Patrick's Well (Site of)' on the 1863 edition of the OSi 25-inch map where the site is shown located on the E side of Patrick Street to the NW of St. Patrick's Cathedral (DU018-020269-) beneath the row of levelled seventeenth-century houses (DU018-020058-) known as ‘Dutch Billys’ that were drawn on James Malton’s 1793 print of the W end of the cathedral. The holy well was described by the English Cistercian monk, Jocelin of Furness (1185-1200) in his twelfth-century ‘Life of St Patrick’ as the ‘Fountain of Dublini' or the 'Fountain of St. Patrick' (Clarke 2002, 18).   'The Life and Acts of St. Patrick' written in 1185 by Jocelin of Furness, recorded the following legend about the origins of this well; 'Saint Patrick while abiding in this village was entertained at the house of a woman, who often in his presence complained of the want of fresh water. For the river [Poddle] that ran near it, was by the flowing in of the tide of the sea made wholly salt of taste, nor before the return thereof could any fresh water be obtained unless drawn at a great distance. But the saint who continually thirsted after God, the Living Fountain, compassionated the grievance of his hostess and of the multitude then newly born unto Christ, and the rather that they might the more ardently pant toward the Fountain of Life, thought he fit to shew its virtue. Therefore on the morrow he went unto a certain place, and in the presence of many standing around he prayed, and touched the earth with the Staff of Jesus, and in the name of the Lord produced from it a clear fountain. Thus with the Staff in the hand of his Preacher, Saint Patrick, did the Lord renew the Miracle which of old time he had deigned to work by the Rod in the hand of Moses striking the Rock: - there the Rock twice struck flowed forth abundant waters; - here the Earth once pierced poured forth a pure fountain. And this is the Fountain of Dublini , wide in its stream, plenteous in its course, sweet to the taste, which, as is said, hath many infirmities; and even to this day is rightly called The Fountain of Saint Patrick' (O'Haloran 1823, 91-2). The siting of the holy well was described in 1509 by Andowe, as located ‘near the house of the Prebendary of Howth’ (Drew 1901, 293).  In 1590 Archbishop Ussher described the siting of the well as follows; ‘In the enclosure [precinct wall] of the church of St. Patrick, not far from the tower [west end], we have seen that fount of St. Patrick at which Dublin neophytes were baptized, lately enclosed among houses and choked up’ (Drew 1901, 293).  In the eighteenth century Dr. John Lyon, treasurer of St Patrick’s Cathedral who lived in a manse in the precinct of the cathedral stated that the well was located ‘in the outer court of the Archdeacon of Glendaloch’s Cloister’ (ibid.). In 1793 James Malton who illustrated the western façade of the Cathedral wrote that St Patrick’s Well was located ‘under the hall of the house seen beyond the ruin’ in his drawing (ibid.). The Cathedral Architect, Thomas Drew concluded that the well was located at a spot on the roadway of Patrick Street and under the pavement.  The holy well site was described in the late nineteenth century by the Cathedral Architect, Thomas Drew (1891, 3-4) as follows; 'Antiquaries of reverent instinct, and ecclesiologists are hereby warned of a coming chance of recovery of this famous and sacrosanct well, on the restoration of the ground sometime desecrated as a public street, "non procul a campanili," and within the area of the houses marked on my map as in possession of Henry Hunt, or Rotton, in 1750, removed by the Wide Streets Commission in 1824. Bearing in mind that the inevitable accumulation process in city bounds has in seven centuries raised the surface of the ground 6 feet [1.8m], and perhaps more, above the ancient ground level, a hope may he entertained by the pious that the well of St. Patrick is not lost for ever. It may be added that the so-called well of St. Patrick, shown in the south transept, is no well, and but a small collection of surface water in a hollow, not seven inches deep; nor has it any pretensions to antiquity or sanctity. It must of necessity be drainage from adjoining vaults, in which are recorded many interments of the Loftus families and others'.  It was speculated that the possible site of the well was uncovered in 1901 by Mr Spencer Harty, the City Surveyor, during drainage works carried out by Dublin Corporation on the Poddle in Patrick Street, within 10 feet [3m] of the location indicated by Thomas Drew in the late nineteenth century.  According to Mr Harty the well was located in front of the west door of the Cathedral (Ronan 1941, 1).  The discovery of this well was described as follows; ‘He soon found the ancient causeway of Patrick-street lower by six feet [1.8m] than the present one, within a few feet of the spot instinctively indicated. The record of the Well was at once verified by the finding of a very ancient cross [DU018-282----], or, rather, two crosses, inscribed in high relief on a great granite stone. The well itself had disappeared. Mr. Harty, with me, attributes this to a diversion of the Poddle by an arched culvert which directed the water-power along the west front of the Cathedral, turned a corn mill built against the west front of the Cathedral itself, and gave its name to the "Cross Poddle," and went on to grind at other mills. This diversion, and its great stone culvert, was probably made in the time of Charles II. [1660-85], and eliminated the Well itself. It could be no mere coincidence that this remarkable stone, found by Mr. Harty built into the north wall of the Poddle culvert, was on the exact spot where St. Patrick's Well was looked for’ (Drew 1901, 294; Kelly 1905, 640).  Today there are no surface remains visible. The site of the holy well is depicted on the 1863 edition of the OSi 25-inch map to the N of the find spot of the cross-slab. It is more likely that the holy well was located in the area to the NW of the cathedral and not in the area where the cross-slab was discovered in 1901.  The siting of the holy well beneath the Dutch Billy houses to the N of St Patrick’s Cathedral is based on the description of the site location by Archbishop Ussher and James Malton and this location is the area depicted as ‘St Patrick’s Well (Site of)’ on the OSi 25-inch map.     Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien