What is recorded here

St Santan's well in Glenasmole became St Anne's through a phonetic drift that erased her name but never stopped the water flowing. The small stone chamber sits beneath an ash tree on a west-facing slope, waiting for hands that no longer remember why they came. People may have knelt there before church ruins collapsed into folklore, drawing cool water for fever or forgiveness. The valley keeps her absence alive because the well still gives without asking who is being prayed to.

Holy Well originally dedicated to St Santán of Kilmasantan (DU025-033----) located 175m to the SW. Situated on a W facing slope above the reservoir at Glenasmole and N of St. Anne's Church (DU025-033001-). A well marked by an ash tree (Dims. L 1.22m, Wth 0.92m, 0.3m). No longer venerated (Ó Danachair 1958, 85-86, Healy 1975, 1-19). Shearman (1876, 92) recorded that 'the ruins of the old church [DU025-033001-], and St. Sanctan's Well, are still extant in Glenasmole, and by a very facile adaptation of sound, the old name is changed to Kill St. Anne'. See attached photographs of St. Ann's Well taken by Patrick Healy in 1988, from the Patrick Healy Collection accessible online at https://hdl.handle.net/10599/8028, © South Dublin Libraries, Local Studies Collection, County Library, Town Centre, Tallaght, Dublin 24 Compiled by: Geraldine Stout and Padraig Clancy Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 10 March 2023

St. Anne's Well is associated with St. Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary, and is linked to traditions of healing and fertility. Holy wells dedicated to St. Anne are often visited on her feast day, January 25th, and are believed to offer cures for infertility and women's ailments.

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