When Christianity came to Ireland in the fifth century, the worship of wells grew rather than diminished and the early monks built their churches and living places around them. As the monk population grew, more wells were consecrated and become places of pilgrimage.
The custom flourished and the people's belief was total. No complaint, no matter how malignant, was beyond the powers of the magical waters. The first Sunday in November was the chief visiting day in Ireland. The ritual of veneration was almost the same everywhere. The pilgrim trudged around the well three times offering prayers to the patron of the spring. He then knelt down and bathed his face and hands, paying particular attention to any affected area. Afterwards he left a votive offering, a throwback to the times when the sacrifice of live animals was practised. Then like the eternal optimist he went hopefully home.
For many centuries, Wexford too, abounded with holy wells and like the rest of the country the people also turned out in droves. Nowadays the turnout is down to a dribble and the constant pilgrim is fast becoming an oddity.
Some years ago Jack Sinnott and Christy Murphy drained and piped the area around the well. They did a major clean up and made the well accessible again as before they did this one had to step on stones to get near it. This was recently continued by Seamus Seery and others and now it is very easy to get to the well. Some votive artefacts are still there but alas the tree which was full of brown pennies is very bare.
This well was mentioned on several occasions in 'The Free Press':
The well of St. Fintan Munna has of late been much talked about in the district of on account of several reported cures which took place there recently. On Sunday over 100 people visited the well and drank the waters. During the previous week two cures were reported.
The well of St. Fintan Munna at Brownscastle is still attracting a large number of people every Sunday. People in large numbers visit the well and partake of its healing waters. One cure has already taken place and others are reported. The well should rival Ballinaslaney in popularity in a short time.
The Holy Well of St. Munna at Brownscastle is still being visited by people who seek for a cure, by bathing in it's healing waters. People suffering from various diseases visited the well in a constant stream during the summer months. With the coming of winter however, the number has fallen off very considerably. The report that a number of cures had taken place at the well drew public attention to the healing powers of the water.
A couple of lines of an old ballad still linger in the memory of some older people and they confirm that the activities at these patterns were not confined solely to spiritual matters:
Another line from the same ballad goes:
indicating that the pattern was then held in October.
Sir, a stirring characteristic of the Irish race is their love and veneration of holy things and places - .it is almost a part of their real existence without which they could hardly be termed Irish. It is an Irishman's or woman's second nature. But I am of the opinion that some of the habitants of Taghmon are not true Irish for instead of showing veneration for holy places they desecrate them. I do not mean any respectable inhabitants of Taghmon - far from it - for they, like myself are shocked at such an existing state of affairs. One day last week a friend of mine visited me and I was showing him about. We were visiting historic ruins around the village. I asked him would he like to see Tobar Munna, or St Munn's Well, and he said he would. We arrived at the entrance to the well, a narrow lane way not wide enough to allow two persons to walk abreast and almost 40 yards in length. It is opposite the chapel. The well itself is covered with a small masonry structure resembling a house for the purpose of guarding against leaves and other dirt that might otherwise get into its waters. As I and my friend were proceeding along the lane way towards the well we had to watch our step for every two or three feet we met with nuisance but when we reached the well we were entirely shocked for the little wall around the well, and the ground adjoining it were literally smeared with nuisance. Such a state of affairs is hardly commendable in a Christian country and still less in model Wexford, but unfortunately it is too true. The well was blessed of old, by St Fintan Munn, as he is called locally, the patron saint of Taghmon, and about twenty years ago this little house was built over it and blessed by the late Dean Murphy.
The writer who signed the letter 'No Class' goes on to suggest that a committee be formed to investigate the above and clean up the area as a mark of respect to the late Dean Murphy and for the love and honour of St. Fintan.
There is a tradition in the village that the site of the Nunnery Well was moved following Cromwell's arrival in Taghmon, when his soldiers are reputed to have washed their feet in the waters. A large stone, situated a few yards away, marks the original well site.
