Ritual site - holy well, Fanaghans, Co. Donegal
On a sloping hillside above Inver Bay in County Donegal sits St. Naul's Well, a once vibrant pilgrimage site that has been modernised over the years.
Ritual site - holy well, Fanaghans, Co. Donegal
The well occupies a south-southeast facing slope with views across the sea, positioned on what local records describe as fairly good land near the village of Inver. This holy well has long been associated with a miracle attributed to St. Naal, who was said to have drawn water from solid rock at this very spot.
When the antiquarian Ó Muirgheasa documented the site in 1936, he noted that it had once been the centre of a great annual pilgrimage. Even then, the tradition was already fading; whilst votive offerings and discarded walking sticks still bore witness to healing cures sought by pilgrims, the station had declined to what he called ‘negligible dimensions’. These offerings, left behind by those hoping for or grateful for miraculous healing, were common features at Irish holy wells where the faithful would leave tokens of their visit or symbols of their ailments.
Archaeological testing carried out in February 2001 ahead of local development work revealed little of the well’s deeper history. The excavation team, led by Declan Moore, dug eighteen test trenches around the area where new houses were planned, finding only topsoil and sod overlaying compact yellow-brown sand and bedrock. Whilst nothing of archaeological significance emerged from these investigations, the well itself remains a tangible link to centuries of folk religious practice, standing as a modernised monument to the blend of Christian and older traditions that characterise so many of Ireland’s sacred springs.





