St. Mannan’s Well

Marked on the 1839 and 1925 eds of the OS 6-inch map and described as St. Mannan’s Well in gothic lettering on both. The name is a corruption of Moininne, one of the most famous female saints in early Christian Ireland. She was connected with the Ui Eachach Comha of Co. Down or, in another version, with the Cenel Eoghan of Tyrone. She was reputedly baptised by St. Patrick, and founded a nunnery at Faughart, Co. Louth (LH004-097001-), the reputed birthplace of St. Bridget (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 384). St. Moininne also visited St. Iobhar at Beggerin (WX038-004001-), but St. Bridget’s gift of a vessel miraculously travelled to Killevy on Slieve Gullion, Co. Armagh, where Moininne founded a convent (Ó Riain 2011, 495-7) that later became a convent of Augustinian nuns and which survived until the Suppression (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 321; Neill 2009, 484-94). According to John O’Donovan writing c. 1840 the pattern was held on the 6th of July until c. 1810 (O’Flanagan 1933, vol. 2, 75), and this is the feastday of St. Moininne. The well is situated in a slight NW-SE valley, overgrown in mixed woodland and scrub, with the stream c. 50m to the NE. It was not identified, but it is locally described as a natural spring that was filled-in c. 1970. Kilmannan church (WX042-021001-) is c. 320m to the NNW.