St Brigids Well, Louth
Faughart Hill
The church is about the centre of the graveyard, and it is a very old one. It is supposed to have been founded by the nuns of Saint Moninna about three hundred years after the time of Saint Brigid. There is part of the North South, and West wall remaining.
There is a holy well in the graveyard also, and the roof of it is shaped like a beehive. There is supposed to have been a skull lying beside the well and it is supposed that people came there and drank out of it for the cure of the head ache.
On the 1st of February people came there to make stations and pray. It is built with stones and mortar and it is dry in the Summer, and the water only in it in the Winter.
Shoemakers Wife. Mrs Michael Ferguson - aged 56 - Upper Faughart, Dundalk Duchas Schools Project

St Brigid's birthplace is said to be Fochard Muirtheimne, about 450 AD, later known as Fochard Bríde. Traditions relate that she was born on the threshold doorway of a cottage or barn, at dawn.
A Well dedicated to her sits atop the Hill of Faughart in an old graveyard. There is an ample car park, though watch out for broken glass, this is a popular site for the 'lads' to get out of their heads and smash a few bottles when the pilgrims have gone home. Not a promising start for any visit. But it does get better. If you look south you overlook the Irish Sea and Dundalk, a great view in clear weather.
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Walk into the graveyard and follow the path eastwards, to the right, near the surrounding wall. Around a corner you will find the protective beehive shaped stone capping of the well, with ribbons and objects of prayer tied onto the overhanging tree.
Brigid's Bed (horse-shoe shaped enclosure which may have been a building) and Pillar (maybe the base of a removed High Cross) are in the graveyard.
The hill also has the remains of an Iron-Age fort, Norman motte / castle and medieval church.
This water is piped downhill to the Christianised well head at the Shrine. Here there is a beautiful wood with gurgling stream, stations of the cross, and a range of healing stones. And for some the more important toilets. Again a good sized car park.
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