What is recorded here

St Bridget's Well in County Limerick is a clear spring where people once tied rags to a large tree and drank water believed to cure eye ailments. The district unanimously calls it St Colman's Well, suggesting human memory kept its own name while maps imposed another. The tree has been felled and the water piped to cattle, yet the well remains a small, stubborn marker of lost devotion.

Ó Danachair (1955, 216) recorded the following details about the holy well; "St Bridget's Well" on 1840 map. Tradition in the district is unanimous in calling this "St Colman's Well" and not "St Bridget's Well". OSL gives "Tobar Colmain, S. Colman's Well", but OSNB gives "St Bridget's Holy Well". No second well is known in tradition. The well has a good spring of clear water. Formerly a large tree stood over the well, but this has been felled in recent years, and the water piped away to provide drinking water for cattle. All devotion has ceased, although the well was formerly very popular. The water cured eye ailments, and rags were left on the tree as offerings. The Ordnance Survey Letters recorded that this well was 'called Tobar Cholmáin, Saint Colman's Well, which is frequented on Saturday evening, particularly by persons labouring under diseases that effect the eye. Two ash trees stand over it' (OSL Kilfrush Parish, 93). Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 17 June 2019

St Bridget's Well in Kilfrush is traditionally associated with St Colman according to local belief, despite being named after St Brigid on historical maps. The discrepancy highlights the fluidity of saintly attributions in Irish holy well traditions, often influenced by regional devotion and oral history.

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