St. Cronans Well

St Cronan's Well is a natural spring well in a hollow marked by a tree SW of Glassmore Abbey (DU011-019----). No longer venerated. This was formerly a station well. There is a local tradition that the water cures some eyes and chicken pox (Ó Danachair 1958, 81). The well also appears top have been known locally as St Brigid's Well and St Joseph's Well. The following folklore about this holy well was collected from Swords School; 'About a mile west of Swords there stands a small well, known as Mooretown, but was at one time called Saint Brigid's well. On the right of this is another well called Saint Mary's on one side of which stands a Mass rock, where the priest found shelter to say Mass during the Penal times' (The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0788, Page 109; https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4428186/4384662/4443923?ChapterID=4428186). A second story also collected from Swords School recorded the following tradition; 'There are about three Holy wells in the Parish of Swords, namely: St. Werburg's well in Feltrim, St. Colmcille's well in Swords and St. Joseph's well in Mooretown. St. Joseph's well was once used by the nuns of the Nunnery at Mooretown. People sometimes visit these wells and pray there. There leave relics there when they are leaving such as, medals, scapulars and rosary beads. There is a cure for sore eyes in St. Joseph's well. If the water is rubbed three times on the sore eyes while making the sign of the cross they will be cured. This well is under the shade of a large ash tree' (The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0789, Page 150; https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4428188/4384892). Folklore about the curative powers of this holy well collected from Swords School recorded the following details; 'About a mile and a half outside Swords, there is a well called Mooretown. The people say that if you drink the water it will cure the chicken-pox' (The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0788, Page 94; https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4428186/4384828/4443909). Recent archaeological investigation (Licence no. 08E0303) identified the well as a spring percolating up through the underlying natural subsoil, near to which a small sub-rectangular pool/pit for the collection of the water has been dug. The pool (diam. 1.4m) was lined with a single course of large irregularly-shaped stones pressed into the ground around its edges. A late nineteenth– early twentieth-century ceramic drainpipe directed water from the well source into the pool, suggesting a very recent date for the latter. The area around the well and pool was metalled. A fulacht fia (DU011-148----) was identified in the immediate vicinity of the well and a medieval settlement to the north (DU011-149----) (Frazer 2008). See attached photos (01/02/03) taken by Caoimhín Ó Danachair, courtesy of and © National Folklore Collection, UCD. The Photographic Collection, F024.06.00133 accessible online at https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbeg/16653; F024.06.00134 accessible online at https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbeg/30781; F024.06.00135 accessible online at https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbeg/30782. Compiled by: Geraldine Stout Updated by: Christine Baker Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 12 April 2023

St. Cronan's Well is associated with the early Irish saint Cronan, traditionally linked to the founding of monastic sites in the region. The well was once venerated as a station well, where pilgrims would stop during religious journeys, and it was believed to have curative properties, particularly for eye ailments.