Holy Wells of Ireland

Sacred Realms and Popular Domains

The verdant landscape of Ireland is dotted with holy wells—small springs, pools, and ponds that hold spiritual and often curative meaning to locals. Sadly, many of these sites have been lost to development, despite being associated with daily devotions and indigenous saints never canonized by the Catholic Church.

To celebrate and protect the wells that remain, Holy Wells of Ireland examines these irreplaceable resources of spiritual, archaeological, and historical significance. Of the roughly 3,000 holy wells documented across Ireland, about a third are still visited; some attract international pilgrims and others are stewarded by a single family. This sense of spiritual tradition draws younger Irish generations to the wells even when they no longer consider themselves practicing Catholics. Holy wells are also home to flora and fauna deemed sacred to their patron saint and instrumental in their waters' curative powers. Featuring 140 color images, this remarkable volume shares the interdisciplinary work of contributors who study these wells through the overlapping lenses of anthropology, archaeology, art history, biomedicine, folklore, geography, history, and hydrology.

Braiding community perspectives with those of scholars across academia, Holy Wells of Ireland considers Irish holy wells as a resilient feature of ever-evolving Irish Christianity, as places of pilgrimage and healing, and as threatened biocultural resources.

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