ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how the ritual use of holy wells can make them archaeologically-resistant sites, but also considers how holy well sites can illuminate Irish regional dynamics and the interconnectedness of what appear to be discrete sacred landscapes. Historical and ethnographic accounts demonstrate that from Madagascar to Indonesia to Siberia, sacred and healing springs are closely associated with ancestors and identity. Holy wells and sacred springs are a global phenomenon and as they can endure through changing populations, elites and religions, their biographies can encapsulate local and regional societal trends across the longue duree. The paradigm of sacred water is panhuman and the sacrality of springs particularly has been reimagined and re-placed cross-culturally and trans-temporally. Sacred water paradigms were repeated in new places as populations, faiths, elites and technologies expanded. Many of Ireland’s early medieval ecclesiastical sites were intentionally placed on or near pre-Christian sacred sites, most commonly spring wells for a source of both daily and baptismal water.
