irisharchaeology:

This ancient ash tree marks the spot of St Beinean’s holy well in Co Galway. 

Surrounded by a low stone wall & a circle of hawthorn trees, the well was once an important pilgrimage site that was visited on ‘Domhnach Chroim Dubh’. This is the last Sunday in July a date that roughly corresponds with the old Irish festival of Lughnasadh (named after the god Lugh). However, in the early 19th century the local priest, a Reverend Joyce, stopped all visits to the site as he believed it was ‘a well of Druidical Sanctity’ (source the Ordnance Survey letters)