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It would be great if anyone could tell us more about the writing on the sign at the well. I suppose it is written in Irish Gaelic... /Anna B.

It is in Irish, and uses the old Irish alphabet. However, between the unfamiliar alphabet, and the fact that it's from before the spelling reform, I'm having difficulty puzzling out what it says. The first line seems to be the equivalent of "tobar beannaithe" which would mean "holy well", but I'm not entirely certain about the rest. There is some information here about the traditions surrounding the well. There is also a description in Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland from 1837.

The National Museums in Northern Ireland have a few photos of the well from an earlier date (Photo 1, Photo 2, Photo 3). The Irish writing is a bit clearer and you can see that there is/was a Celtic cross decoration on the sign.

Thobair Beannuighidh. An Thaighearna Molaid agus Moraidh Well of blessing. (Blessed Well) The Lord of Praise and Majesty

Sharon Corbet Thanks for your efforts to translate from Irish, Sharon, and thanks for the links! (The first one doesn't work so well, though...) According to the text by Samuel Lewis from 1837, the cross seems to have been moved closer to the well later on. He wrote that "it stands a mile from the well". /Anna B.

Here's some info on the Nun's Church in Clonmacnoise.

Sharon Corbet Thank you, Sharon, for linking to the interesting information with even more photos of this gem of a church ruin! /Anna B.

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Sweden before 1950, and we'd love to have this added to the group!

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Svenska kyrkor - Swedish Churches, and we'd love to have this added to the group!