Dublin Core
Title
Tobersool
Description of Well Item Type Metadata
1 Name of well and saint
Tobersool
2 Townland, County, GPS
Tobersool, Dublin
3 Physical description of well and its surroundings
This well “is located on lands belonging to Tobersool House in Tobersool Lane. Access is gained via a rusted stile, currently overgrown, in the corner of a field under tillage. Its exact location is within a small conspicuous clump of fir, hawthorn, and holly. The well itself is a small rectangular dry-stone structure in a slight hollow within this dump of trees. The top of the stones have been mortared in recent times to allow the placing of a corrugated iron sheet to preserve the quality of the water. The water is clean and flowing” (Branigan 2012: 57).
4 Cure
Cures eye disorders.
5 Pattern day
1 February.
8 Stories
“Local legend holds that Oliver Cromwell washed his feet in this well, and as a result of this offence it dried up, but was restored by the prayers of a Catholic priest” (Branigan 2012: 57).
9 Publications
Branigan, Gary. 2012. Ancient and Holy Wells of Ireland. Dublin: The History Press Ireland.
10 More
Branigan notes that the well “is widely known as Tobersool, being the phonetic Anglicisation of the Irish Tobar Shúil which translates as ‘Well of the Eye’; this evidences the tradition that it holds the cure for disorders of the eyes. It is also known locally as the Eye Well or St Brigid’s Well, though less commonly” (Branigan 2012: 57).