Why this matters
St. Declan’s Well is associated with St. Declan, an early Irish saint traditionally regarded as a precursor to St. Patrick and credited with establishing monastic sites in Munster. The well was likely used for holy water and pilgrimage, with local tradition attributing cures for eye ailments and general healing to its waters.
What is recorded here
Situated on a shelf on top of cliffs overlooking Ardmore Bay to the N. St Declan’s Well has a masonry superstructure and is just 20m W of Dysert church (WA040-011001-). It has two openings and is surmounted by two (originally three) crosses, all late medieval in character. The S cross that is missing was illustrated by Westropp (1903, 377, 5) as a shield-shaped piece wider than it was tall with a crudely executed figure. The present S cross is a sandstone plaque (dims. H 0.46m; Wth 0.2m; T 0.12m) with a crucified figure. The N cross is a cross-shaped sandstone (H 0.58m; Wth 0.27m; T 0.12m) with a crucified figure. St Declan’s Stone (WA040-010----), also associated with the pattern, is on the beach c. 550m to WNW. (Power 1898b, 161; Westropp 1903, 376-7)
Power, Rev. P. (1898b) Excursion guides – 2: Ardmore. WAJ 4, 147-63.
Westropp, T. J. (1903) Notes on the antiquities of Ardmore. JRSAI, 33, 353-80.
Compiled by: Michael Moore
date of upload: 20 Octiber, 2011
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