Tobar Mhuire Mayo tours
To the south of rosserk abbey nestled in a secluded valley lies a little chapel covering
a sacred well.it was built in 1798 by John Lynott of Rosserk in honour of the blessed
virgin. A cross sits neatly on top of this little place along with a whitethorn tree growing
happily from the roof. Its been growing there since the beginning of the century according
to eyewitness accounts.
This holy well was a place of great veneration with people of all
denominations coming here to pray, look for cures and leave little offerings like small
pieces of iron, horse shoe nails and wire nails. It was also used in the penal times as a
place of worship for catholics who were not allowed to attend mass. Money was not
left at the well until the 1970s.
It was especially noted for having a cure for bad eyesight
and people came here to wash their eyes in the holy water and also to drink it. On the
15th of august local people make their way to pray and attend the annual mass here. It
is a relic of very ancient devotion but sadly has gone the way of all holy wells, very
few know it exists.
Like most sacred wells it probably served the local people long before
the chapel was built upon it. There are three inscriptions and a bird which could be
a robin carved in stone on the front of the chapel. Two of them are in latin.
The inscriptions on the front of the well read as follows...
"This chapel was built in honour of the blessed virgin in the year of our lord
1798 by John Lynott of Rosserk esq". Underneath that is in latin "Discite justitiam monite et mon temere divis mortem
non timeo mors est in limine notro decessem a mundo velut umbra sol 1810". This
peculiar latin might mean "be warned and learn to be righteous and not despise
the divine. I do not fear death which is at our door, I would leave the world
like a shadow of the sun. 1810"
Then on the bottom stone reads "In honorem dei omniptentis beatifismoe virginis
sine labe conceptis sanctorum caetestis curia me fieri fecit pater crehn august+30+1684."
Here Peter Crehn was mentioned and there is a story told that when the Archbishop
McHale was in Rome and the Pope was proclaiming the dogma of the Immaculate
conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he said there would be no problem with
the people of the West of Ireland, as it is written in stone over a well in
the diocese of Killala.
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