St. Patrick's Well is a medieval Christian site located in

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

, Ireland, consisting of a

holy well A holy well or sacred spring is a well, Spring (hydrosphere), spring or small pool of water revered either in a Christianity, Christian or Paganism, pagan context, sometimes both. The water of holy wells is often thought to have healing qualitie ...

, 12th-century church and an ancient stone cross.

Location

St. Patrick's Well is located in the Marlfield area, about west of

Clonmel Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...

town centre.

History

Traditional history links the site with

Saint Patrick Saint Patrick (; or ; ) was a fifth-century Romano-British culture, Romano-British Christian missionary and Archbishop of Armagh, bishop in Gaelic Ireland, Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Irelan ...

, who proselytised Ireland in the 5th century. It is mentioned in a 10th-century Life of

Declan of Ardmore Declan may refer to: * Declán of Ardmore (fl. 5th century), Irish religious leader * Declan (given name) Declan is an Irish given name, an anglicised form of the Irish saint name Declán, also Deaglán or Déaglán. St. Declán founded a monast ...

, so it was active at that time. From the 12th to 16th centuries, St. Patrick's Well belonged to nearby

Inislounaght Abbey Inislounaght Abbey (Irish language, Irish: ''Mainistir Inis Leamhnachta'' - "monastery on the island of fresh milk"), also referred to as ''Innislounaght'', ''Inislounacht'' and ''De Surio'', was a 12th-century Cistercian settlement on the rive ...

. The crudeness of the stone cross has led to the belief that it is early. In 1617, Nicholas Fagan, Abbot of Inislounaght was buried at St. Patrick's. The earliest reference to pilgrimage at the site was as late as 1619, when

Pope Paul V Pope Paul V (; ) (17 September 1552 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death, in January 1621. In 1611, he honored Galileo Galilei as a mem ...

granted a

plenary indulgence In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence (, from , 'permit') is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for (forgiven) sins". The ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' describes an indulgence as "a remission bef ...

to all pilgrims visiting St Patrick's Church, provided they went to

confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of people – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information that ...

, took the

Eucharist The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an Ordinance (Christianity), ordinance in ...

and visited the church on

Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 49th day (50th day when inclusive counting is used) after Easter Day, Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spiri ...

or St. Patrick's Day, any time from

Vespers Vespers /ˈvɛspərz/ () is a Christian liturgy, liturgy of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Catholic (both Latin liturgical rites, Latin and Eastern Catholic liturgy, Eastern Catholic liturgical rites), Eastern Orthodox, Oriental O ...

to sunset. The Ordnance Survey letters, written by John Donovan who visited the site in the 1840s, say "it is still esteemed holy and visited by pilgrims far and near for the cure of disease especially headaches." In 1914 Power described the well as a "great basin filled to the brim with bubbling crystal water.., close by it in the march is a stunted, rude and early

celtic cross upright 0.75 , A Celtic cross symbol The Celtic cross is a form of ringed cross, a Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring, that emerged in the British Isles and Western Europe in the Early Middle Ages. It became widespread through its u ...

which marks a penitential station." Early 20th century photographs of the well show it surrounded by a low circular enclosing wall with a large

ash tree ''Fraxinus'' (), commonly called ash, is a genus of plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae, and comprises 45–65 species of usually medium-to-large trees, most of which are deciduous trees, although some subtropical species are evergr ...

growing out of the side. The remodelling of the site began in 1956 with the addition of the statue of St Patrick. In the late 1960s, the local St. Patrick's Day Society had the site remodelled; funding was provided by

Sam Yorty Samuel William Yorty (October 1, 1909 – June 5, 1998) was an American politician, attorney, and radio host from Los Angeles, California. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives and the California State Assembly, ...

Mayor of Los Angeles The mayor of Los Angeles is the head of the executive branch of the government of Los Angeles and the chief executive of Los Angeles. The office is officially Non-partisan democracy, nonpartisan, a change made in the 1909 charter; previously, ...

, whose mother was from Clonmel. Additional funding came from

Armand Hammer Armand Hammer (May 21, 1898 – December 10, 1990) was an American businessman and philanthropist. The son of a Russian Empire-born communist activist, Hammer trained as a physician before beginning his career in trade with the newly estab ...

and the Irish-Israeli Society.

Buildings and structures

Cross

At the centre of the lake is an undecorated early medieval stone cross.

Well

The well emerges from an

underground stream A subterranean river (also known as an underground river) is a river or watercourse that runs wholly or partly beneath the ground, one where the riverbed does not represent the surface of the Earth. It is distinct from an aquifer, which may flow ...

. It flows through two long hallowed-out

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

spouts, similar to those at St. Brigid's Well,

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 10,302, making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. It is home to Kildare Cathedral, historically the site of an important abbey said to have been founded by Saint ...

. The stones have been identified as

flume A flume is a human-made channel for water, in the form of an open declined gravity chute whose walls are raised above the surrounding terrain, in contrast to a trench or ditch. Flumes are not to be confused with aqueducts, which are built to t ...

s from an early medieval horizontal watermill. Local tradition claimed that the water never froze over in winter.

Church

A rectangular

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

church with a high gable, it may have been used as a medieval parish church and continued as a place of

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

worship until the 18th century. The exterior has been re-pointed and restored. Within the church is a late medieval altar tomb, which came from the White Mortuary Chapel in St Mary's Church, Clonmel; it was brought here after the chapel was demolished in 1805. A Romanesque fragment survives: a

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

coign with

chevron Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * '' Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock la ...

carvings, similar to that at

Clonmacnoise Clonmacnoise or Clonmacnois (Irish language, Irish: ''Cluain Mhic Nóis'') is a ruined monastery in County Offaly in Republic of Ireland, Ireland on the River Shannon south of Athlone, founded in 544 by Saint Ciarán of Clonmacnoise, Ciarán, ...

. Window heads and an armorial plaque from

are incorporated into the east wall.

Gallery

File:Church at St Patrick's Well near Clonmel.jpg, The church File:Church interior at St Patrick's well near Clonmel.jpg, Church interior facing north File:Water at St Patrick's Well near Clonmel.jpg, The

s of the holy well File:Statue of St Patrick, at well near Clonmel.jpg, Statue of Saint Patrick, erected 1956 Cross and church at St. Patrick's Well, Marlfield. June 2010.jpg, View of cross and church File:Carved crest in church interior at St Patrick's well near Clonmel.jpg, White family arms on a tomb (''Party per chevron cotized, three roses - two and one''), with text "

Memento mori (Latin for "remember (that you have) to die")

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint patricks well clonmel Archaeological sites in County Tipperary Holy wells in Ireland 5th-century establishments in Ireland Buildings and structures in Clonmel