THE WELL OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST – DRUMCONDRA CHURCH
Today I got a bit of a surprise when I walked around the Drumcondra area of the city photographing at random. As I was walking along Ormond Avenue I noticed a signpost pointing to Drumcondra Church so I decided to follow the sign and walk along Church Avenue which led me to the Church Of St. John The Baptist or Drumcondra Church. I had been aware that there was a church known as Drumcondra Church but this was my first time to see it.
Within the grounds of the church of St John the Baptist is an ancient holy well which for generations has been a part of the historic and ecclesiastical heritage of the area.
A number of years ago the well was considered dangerous and was covered over. It has now been fully restored and decorative railings erected around it to define the well site and to ensure safety for those who visit.
Traditionally the well has been resorted to by those seeking cures for eye complaints.
SAINT ANN’S HOLY WELL – IN SAINT ANNE’S PUBLIC PARK
St. Ann’s Well in Raheny, Dublin, Ireland was once a popular holy well, and gave its name (with a slightly different spelling) to the well-known St. Anne’s Park, the city’s largest municipal park, home for many years to the Guinness family.
The well site has a protective hood of stones, and lies just beyond the old lake of the park, with its Roman temple, and below the Watchtower folly, near the main coastal entrance.
The well itself dried up in the 1950s, and although Dublin City Council made several attempts to relocate the source, it remains dry as of 2021. The site is still respected, and was visited in 2000 by a formal joint procession of worshippers from the Raheny parishes of the Roman Catholic Church and Church of Ireland. The site was cleaned of soil and vegetation by a specialist contractor in early 2018, the original well opening located, and a safety grille, also keeping leaves out, was fitted over the former outlet.
A holy well or sacred spring is a well or spring or other small body of water revered either in a Christian or pagan context, sometimes both. The term holy well is commonly employed to refer to any water source of limited size (i.e. not a lake or river, but including pools and natural springs and seeps), which has some significance in the folklore of the area where it is located, whether in the form of a particular name, an associated legend, the attribution of healing qualities to the water through the numinous presence of its guardian spirit or Christian saint, or a ceremony or ritual centred on the well site.
In Christian legend, the water is often said to have been made to flow by the action of a saint, a familiar theme especially in the hagiography of Celtic saints.
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