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Tobermurry

Holy well
Tobermurry
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What is recorded here

On the side of a trackway in the field NE of the bridge at Leenaun village. This well, correctly Tobar Muire, is now blocked up and totally obscured by growth. According to local tradition, it was frequented on 15th August, 'Pattern Fair' day, until 'travelling people washed their clothes in it and it seized up'. Now obliterated by new road (pers. comm. T. Robinson). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. I - West Galway'. Compiled by Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1993). Date of upload: 05 August 2010
Tobermurry (Tobar Muire) is associated with Saint Mary and was traditionally visited on 15th August, the Feast of the Assumption, for healing and spiritual purposes. The well's name and date of veneration suggest a Christianized form of an older pagan festival linked to fertility and water cults.

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Recorded monument

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