What is recorded here

Three holy wells bubble on a north-facing Galway slope, their collapsed drystone walls opening south like broken mouths. People walked twenty-five metres between springs, dropped coins beneath rocks, and performed turrises on Fridays and Sundays, keeping St Brendan alive through repetition rather than memory. The small underground stream near the northwest corner still joins the main flow, carrying every forgotten prayer into the same dark water.

On a N-facing slope in grassland. This is one of three holy wells, all natural springs, dedicated to St Brendan (GA098-068001-, GA098-068002-, and GA098-068003-). GA098-068002- is located c. 25m to the E of GA098-068001-, and 2m to the N of GA098-068003-. It is defined by a rectangular drystone wall (3.8m EW; 3m NS; D 0.3-0.6m), most of which has collapsed, and which opens to the S. Near the NW corner a small underground stream runs N to join the main stream, which runs from GA098-068001-. There was a cross (GA098-068----) located between the W and E wells. The OS Letters (O’Flanagan 1927, Vol. 2, 80) mention two ‘very celebrated holy wells called (…) St Brendan’s well’ where ‘turrises are performed on Sundays and Fridays’, and when last visited a jar containing coins beneath a rock adjacent to GA098-068003- suggested it was still in use at the time. Compiled by: Galway Archaeological Survey, UCG Date of upload: 9 January 2023

St. Brendan, a 6th-century Irish abbot and monk, is traditionally associated with holy wells believed to possess healing properties. The wells dedicated to him are often linked to local traditions of pilgrimage and the use of spring water for physical and spiritual cure.

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