Tobernamnarialta

Situated towards the head of a flat-bottomed N-S valley, with an E-W stream c. 40m to the S. This is a natural spring, now overgrown, where a pattern was formerly held on August 15th, according to J. O'Donovan writing c. 1840 (O’Flanagan 1929, 79). It is not frequented now. O’Flanagan, M. (Compiler) (1929) Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Waterford collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1841. Typescript. Bray. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Waterford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 10th October, 2011 Compiled by: Michael Moore

Linked to a pattern day held on August 15th, the well is traditionally associated with Saint Mary and may have been a site of seasonal pilgrimage or communal celebration. Such August festivals often coincided with Lammas or were connected to Marian devotion in rural Irish tradition.