What is recorded here

Tobernanangel, meaning Well of the Angels, is a silted-up spring hidden in a bedrock fracture at the base of a SE-facing slope in Kilcorney Valley, County Clare. The name appears on the 1842 and 1920 Ordnance Survey maps and in the 1839 Ordnance Survey Letters, linking the water to divine beings long before the earth swallowed the flow. A church, graveyard and font stand just 130m to the NW, suggesting the spring once fed ritual life in this craggy, tree-covered hollow. Though no veneration remains visible, the angle of the slope and the persistence of the name hint that people once came here believing the water carried more than rain.

At the base of a SE-facing slope on the floor of Kilcorney Valley, in a craggy area covered with trees on the edge of extensively reclaimed pasture. Named ‘Tobernanangel’ on the 1842 and 1920 eds. of the OS 6-inch map and recorded as 'Tobar na n-Aingeal' in the Ordnance Survey Letters (1839) (Comber 1997, 76). A field visit in 1998 recorded a silted-up spring (L 1.6m; Wth 0.8m) in a natural bedrock fracture with no sign of veneration. An ecclesiastical enclosure (CL009-028001-), church (CL009-028002-), graveyard (CL009-028003-) and font (CL009-028004-) are located c. 130m to the NW. Compiled by: Mary Tunney, Conn Herriott and Ros Ó Maoldúin Date of upload: 4 January 2022

Linked to Saint Angel, Tobernanangel well was traditionally visited for the cure of eye ailments, with pilgrims often leaving coins or small offerings at the site. The name, meaning "Well of Saint Angel," reflects an early Christian tradition associated with healing saints in Ireland.

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