2015:406 - Poorman's Well, Blackhorse Avenue, Dublin, Dublin

Monitoring and testing took place at the site between March and September 2015 in advance of the proposed road realignment and improvements around the site of Poor Man’s Well (DU018-021) at Blackhorse Avenue which is adjacent to the Cabra Gate of the Phoenix Park. The work was carried out on behalf of Dublin City Council Roads and Traffic Department, Road Design Division.

Monitoring at the site took place on 30-31 March 2015 while the contractors were clearing scrub in the area. Vegetation was removed around the well to clear the area and also to locate the hidden well. Some removal of topsoil also took place in a limited area as the well was completely invisible. This revealed a cut stone in the spot of the well and it was decided to cease investigative works at this point. Further investigation revealed further stones just to the north of the well, along the edge of the road, partly concealed by vegetation. These were found to be cut stone. One was part of the base of a pump. The other was a long stone with a cut border which was partly under the tree root showing that it is not recent. A suggestion was that it might be part of a horse trough. A testing programme was recommended to answer questions about the nature of the well.

Testing was carried out on 7 September 2015 and revealed two walls and a substantial well structure of cut and dressed stone. The dressed stone along the roadside identified during monitoring was of the same style and size as the capping stones of the exposed wall and indicates that there was a similar western wall corresponding with that exposed on the east side. The roadside stone is at an angle to where a western wall is likely to be, most likely the stone has been moved out of place.

The well still has to be excavated and the nature of the area flanked by walls in front of the well still has to be established. Local people informed us that there was a horse trough at the site in living memory though exact descriptions could not be gained. It is suggested that the access to the well, deliberately set in from the road, was to allow horses to be brought in from the main road (as it was in the 19th century) to drink without causing blockage to the road. This well would seem likely to have been contemporary with the pump which was adjacent to it. It is possible that the well was initially a main local source of water and generally used by man and beast, but that in the later 19th century a pump was established and the well was mainly used to water horses, hence its reputation in local memory as a horse trough.

Ballybrack Road, Glencullen, Dublin 18