Dublin Core
Title
St. Patrick's Well
Description of Well Item Type Metadata
1 Name of well and saint
St Patrick’s Well
2 Townland, County, GPS
Tierworker, Meath
3 Physical description of well and its surroundings
The well is located “in the parish of Tierworker…[in] an old graveyard called Moybologue. In it stands the ruins of St Patrick’s Church. St Patrick blessed a well where people were cured of sore eyes. The saint left the mark of his knee on a stone at the well” (French 2012: 14).
8 Stories
A young girl lived close by named Maura Gargan. St Patrick caught her eating blackberries going to Holy Communion. For the sin of eating before Communion she disappeared in three parts. One part went up in the air; one went underground and the third into a lake nearby called Clugga Lake. The part that went underground was to appear on earth again St Patrick said when ninety nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine people by the Gargan name would cross the spot where she disappeared. For years and years anyone named Gargan would cross the field rather than pass the place lest Maura Gargan might rise again. By 1930s most people had forgotten about it and there were nobody by the surname Gargan living in the vicinity. The present church at Tierworker is dedicated to St Patrick” (French 2012: 14).
9 Publications
French, Noel. 2012. Meath Holy Wells. Trim: Meath Heritage Centre.