Sometime recently, someone had mentioned something about Nassau Street that had been filed away under ‘unusual and worth checking out when next there’. But could I remember the sometime, the something or even the someone – could I hell.
Then Eureka. The name on the streetsign brought it all back. During Heritage Week, I attended a very interesting walk through Cork with a talk on Pilgrimage and Pilgrim Sites. The guides were Louise Nugent and Richard Scriven. Either Louise or Richard mentioned that there was a Holy Well on Nassau Street, by the entrance to Trinity College. I did an about turn and back to Trinity but was informed by the gentleman at the Trinity Tourism helpdesk, who had heard of the well only a few weeks before, that it had been filled in some years ago and the tree now stands on the spot. I left disappointed. On the train home, I read on the Irish Holy Wells blog that as well as being the well where St. Patrick baptised his converts, it was a protected structure but was locked and not available to the public in 2012. Dublin City Council’s list of protect structures does not mention St. Patrick’s Well on Nassau St so maybe the Trinity Tourism gentleman was correct. But the Railway Procurement Agency said in 2013 that the well would not be affected by Luas works. I do hope that Old Moore’s Almanac are correct and that appointment to view can be made with the Provost’s Office – on the agenda for next trip to Dublin. After all it did remain in March, 2014 – but I wonder what percentage of those passing on a daily basis are aware of its existence. |