What is recorded here

St. Bridget’s Well hid on an east-facing drumlin slope above the Oughteragh graveyard, marked only in gothic lettering on the 1835 map. Two wells bore her name in that parish, but this one slipped from the 1930s pattern and now resists exact finding. A shrine stands in the laneway to the old graveyard, perhaps pointing to the lost water or perhaps replacing it. Bridget kept two addresses there, as if refusing to be reduced to a single dot on a page.

Located towards the top of the E-facing slope of a broad drumlin, and N of the graveyard (LE025-008002-). Described in gothic lettering as ‘St. Bridget’s Well’ only on the 1835 edition of the OS 6-inch map, it is one of two dedicated to St Bridget in Oughteragh parish, the other (LE025-009----) being c. 550m to the NNE in Camagh townland. The precise location of this well is not known (Gallogly 1991, 7), although it might be in the laneway leading to the old graveyard where there is now a shrine. It was not involved in the pattern of the 1930s as recorded in the Schools Manuscript Collection from many local schools, but see this web-page accessed on 26/01/2017: http://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4658439/4655797 Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 5 July, 2017

St. Bridget’s Well is associated with Brigid of Kildare, a prominent early Irish Christian saint linked to fertility, healing, and poetry. Traditionally, the well was visited for its curative properties, particularly for ailments of the eyes and to ensure a safe childbirth.

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