County: Louth Site name: PAUGHANSTOWN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: LH017-038001 and LH017-038002 Licence number: 04E0040
Author: Kieran Campbell
Site type: Ritual site - holy well and Bullaun stone
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 699460m, N 788125m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.833093, -6.488993
Testing took place on 14 January 2004 on a site for a house in a field immediately west of Trinity Green, a small unkempt area in the corner of a large pasture field that contains a holy well, Trinity Well. A concrete pipe now stands vertically over the well, with murky water visible within. Up to the 1850s a pattern was held at the well on Trinity Sunday, with accompanying refreshments and sporting contests that often descended into faction fights. Five test-trenches excavated on the development site exposed only natural subsoil, with three sherds of 19th–20th-century pottery noted in the topsoil.
During testing, a report of a stone associated with Trinity Green was followed up on behalf of the National Monuments Section, DOEHLG. The stone is the first of two mentioned in an article by Reverend D. MacIvor (CLAJ 1950) and now reposes in a derelict farmyard on the opposite side of the road from Trinity Green. The regular circular depression on the top of the stone is artificially made, with pocking visible. The stone is to be removed to a place of safety.
6 St Ultan's, Laytown, Drogheda
