Glenmore Holy Wells — Ballybeg (phillipstown Lower By.)

Two spring wells (OF010-004006-) marked on all eds. of the OS 6-inch maps as Glenmore Holy Wells. Situated on the NE side of Croghan Hill, burial mound (OD010-004001-) on summit of Croghan Hill located 490m to the SW . Rectangular area surrounded by concrete wall enclosing well which has a concrete canopy. According to the 1934 National Schools Survey of Holy Wells this enclosing wall and 'other improvements' was undertaken in the late 1920s by Rev. W. Fanning a local curate of the area (NFC 468, 135). Now referred to as St. Patrick's Well. Second holy well 25m to the NW (OF010-004006-) and Bishop Mac Caille's church site (OF010-004002-) located 420m to the S. According to Comerford (1883, 320-1) there were three wells of which only one survives. This well is enclosed in a house like construction with a statue of St Patrick on a low shelf. The well is dedicated to St Patrick and is said to have curative powers. In 1932 this well was described as, 'There is very little known about the origin and history of this well. On a stone by the well there are prints of the forelegs of a horse. It is said that they are the marks left by St. Patrick's horse when he knelt to drink. In recent years, visitors to the well have greatly increased in numbers, especially on 17th March. A man living at the foot of Croghan Hill told me there were between two and three thousand people at the well on last St. Patrick's Day. The Rosary and Litanies are recited by the people themselves and the priest. Usually it was given out and answered in Irish, but that latter custom has now died out. There is a wall built around the well to protect it. Various cures have been recorded, and people return every year and leave beads, pictures, medals, etc., in thanksgiving' (Anon 1933, 172). On the 20th of June 1934 it was recorded that on the 17th of March people from the surrounding region visited the holy well and the burial mound (OF010-004001-) on top of Croghan Hill (NFC 468, 136). The 1934 National Schools Survey of Holy Wells recorded the following information regarding Glenmore Holy Well where it stated that there was no special acts of devotion carried out at the well and that the people said their own prayers and there were no special rounds carried out at the well. People in bad health and those suffering from neuralgia or toothache go to the well to get a drink which they consider to be ‘efficacious’. People place small medals or beads or badges on the well. These get removed somehow and only an occasional one is found there. The folklore regarding the well and St Patrick stated that ‘when St Patrick visited the Hill he jumped his horse from the moat (OF010-004001-) to the well. The horse knelt down on a flat stone to get a drink and left the impression of his knee on the stone. The stone remained there and is there still. The track or print of the horse’s knee is visible on the stone’ (NFC 468, 136). In 1938 the following folklore was recorded from Croghan National School regarding this holy well; 'There are some Holy Wells in the parish of Croghan. The best known is St. Patrick's Well. It is situated in Glenmore at the bottom of Croghan Hill. It has a cement wall all round it and has a small green gate. There is a pilgrimage to the well every year on the seventeenth day of March in commemoration of St. Patrick's Death. The people of Croghan and the neighbouring districts visit the well on that day. Everyone gets a drink of holy water. If a person had a bad head-ache or a tooth-ache and believe in the water he would be cured' (The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0803, Page 314; www.duchas.ie). There is a plaque on the enclosing wall of the well commemorating the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1979. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload/revision: 18 December 2013