This was difficult to photograph as there was little natural light available.
The notices within the grounds and the tour guide, aimed at children, refer to the well as a wishing well but I am not convinced that it was ever a wishing well and as I have never seen any coins within the structure I suspect the most visitors are not convinced either.
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 second 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.
Location: Mount Prospect Avenue/James Larkin Road, Clontarf East, Dublin.
Rebecca Low Biography: “I am a 27-year-old Doctor who works in the Mater Hospital. I paint as a hobby and have found it to be extremely therapeutic in the past few months. I studied art to leaving certificate level”
Today was a Bank Holiday here in Ireland and at about 7am I was awakened by an amazing amount of noise due to a sporting event on the street where I live and I had np option but to leave my apartment so I decided to visit St Anne’s Park. As I left my apartment the weather was beautiful but when I arrived in St Anne’s there was a light shower of rain and I had to seek shelter for about fifteen minutes. Two hours later there was a torrential downpour that caused flooding in the park.
Mount Prospect Avenue is a prestigious residential street in Clontarf, Dublin 3. It is located just a short walk from the seafront and St Anne’s Park, and is home to some of the most desirable properties in the area.
The avenue was originally developed in the 1860s, and many of the houses on the street are large, period properties. There are also a number of newer apartments and townhouses on the avenue.
Mount Prospect Avenue is well-served by public transport, with buses running regularly to and from Dublin City Centre.
Note: The event that I mentioned by the Inner City Running Club who organised a 10k & 21k run on August 6, 2023, at 9am. The starting point is Henrietta Flats immediately across the street from my bedroom. The entry fee was €35 and the The event was sold out.