On our previous visits to Ballintubber Abbey we always missed this holy well, though it is signposted within the abbey ground. It lies in a field to the east of the church, and on the day we visited it, with a sunny break among some showers, it looked like a very nice place in a very well kept meadow.
This well is what gives the name to the townland, Baile Tobair Phádraig, the Townland of Patrick’s Well. It is said that Patrick Christianized this pagan well in 441, after descending Croagh Patrick where he fasted, and started baptizing people of the area who had converted to the new religion.
Sixteen centuries later the well is still regularly visited as a site of pilgrimage and it is included in the Path of the Cross at the abbey, being it the Station 11.
The well is below the ground level and is surrounded by a circular stone wall with four steps on the northwest (325°) side.
A modern bronze statue representing St. Patrick in the act of baptizing a person is on the southeast side of the well.
On the day of our visit the water in the well was really murky.
|