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Ritual site - holy well

Tobermurro

Holy well dedicated to Mary in Cooney, County Sligo, Ireland.

  • AccessNot confirmed
  • National MonumentNot recorded
  • DateNot stated
  • Folklore1 quote
  • PhotoWanted
Cooney, Co. Sligo54.19877, -8.54827
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Unofficial guide. Not the National Monuments Service, the OPW, Fáilte Ireland or the landowner. Disclaimer

At a glance

  • TypeRitual site - holy well
  • Condition (as surveyed)Ruined

What to look for

  • Offerings left

Picked out from the Archaeological Survey description below.

Can you visit?

  • No source says it is open to the public.Most monuments in Ireland stand on private farmland.
  • Ask the landowner before crossing fields, close gates, leave the stones as you find them.Visiting responsibly
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History and description

In rough pasture, on the E side of a road, on a W-facing slope of the Ox mountains. A well (D 0.6m from roof slab) with a rectangular drystone slab surround (0.8m E-W; 0.8m N-S; T 0.38m) with an opening (Wth 0.3m) at N. Two lintel slabs cover the S half which is partially collapsed.

Full archaeological record 193 words

In rough pasture, on the E side of a road, on a W-facing slope of the Ox mountains. A well (D 0.6m from roof slab) with a rectangular drystone slab surround (0.8m E-W; 0.8m N-S; T 0.38m) with an opening (Wth 0.3m) at N. Two lintel slabs cover the S half which is partially collapsed.

There is no indication that this is a holy well. However, this may be the holy well referred to by O'Rorke (1878, 277) as being a little to the east of the cruckawn, called Tubbermurro, 'where stations used to be performed by the people of the neighbourhood. The well lay in a hollow between two bushes and the devotees made a circuit on their knees round the bushes, attaching to one or other of them, at the close of the exercise, a small strip of scrap of cloth, in token, probably, of willingness to make a more valuable offering if circumstances permitted or required. Either by accident or by design the water supply was cut off and the well dried, about thirty years ago, by persons quarrying close to Tubbermurro.' A footnote states that Tubbermurro signifies 'Mary's Well'.

Archaeological Survey of Ireland, National Monuments Service (CC BY 4.0) · Compiled by Archaeological Survey Unit, UCC with revisions by Patrick F. O'Donovan and Paul Walsh · Updated 20 June 2011. It describes the site as it was when surveyed.

Folklore and traditions

The well lay in a hollow between two bushes and the devotees made a circuit on their knees round the bushes, attaching to one or other of them, at the close of the exercise, a small strip of scrap of cloth, in token, probably, of willingness to make a more valuable offering if circumstances permitted or required.
As recorded by the Archaeological Survey · a tradition, not a fact

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      Around Tobermurro

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