Celeste Ray is Professor and Chair of Anthropology and Director of the Environmental Arts and Humanities Program at Sewanee: The University of the South. She is author of The Origins of Ireland's Holy Wells and of Highland Heritage: Scottish Americans in the American South. She is editor most recently of Sacred Waters: A Cross-Cultural Compendium of Hallowed Springs and Holy Wells. Finbar McCormick is a retired Senior Lecturer from the School of Natural and Built Environment at Queen's University Belfast. He is author (with Aidan O'Sullivan, Thomas R. Kerr, and Lorcan Harney) of Early Medieval Ireland, AD 400-1100: The Evidence from Archaeological Excavations and (with Emily Murray) of Knowth and the Zooarchaeology of Early Christian Ireland.

An Introduction to the Holy Wells of Ireland, by Celeste Ray

Part 1: Natural Features of Holy Well Landscapes

1. Sacred Stones by Healing Wells, by Celeste Ray

2. Cranfield Stones at St. Olcan's Well, County Antrim, by Patrick McAteer and Celeste Ray

3. Healing Soils and Holy Wells of County Fermanagh, by Gerry A. Quinn

4. The Plants and Animals Associated with Holy Wells in Irish Folk Tradition, by Niall Mac Coitir

5. The Submerged Well of Many Names, Lacken, County Wicklow, by Geraldine Lynch

6. The Water Sources and Chemistry of Irish Holy Wells, by Bruce Misstear, Laurence Gill, Cora McKenna, and Ronan Foley

Part 2: Holy Wells in Irish Christianity

7. The Conversion Function of Holy Wells in the Tripartite Life of Patrick, by Claire Collins

8. Holy Wells of County Clare, by Michael Houlihan and Maura Egan

9. Holy Wells, Saintly Authority, and the Fountain of Life in Early Irish Hagiography, by Shane Lordan

10. Tobar Chuáin agus Brocáin at Mothel, County Waterford, by Eugene Broderick

11. Saint Colmcille's Well, Doonierin, County Sligo, by Tamlyn McHugh

12. St. Mochua's Well, Derrynoose, County Armagh, by John Makem

13. Curative Waters and Penance: The Many Traditions of Irish Holy Wells, by Finbar McCormick

14. Tobar Phádraig, Monivea, County Galway, by Christy Cunniffe

15. Two County Fermanagh Wells, by Janet Cassidy and Fred Ternan

Part 3: The Cure

16. Holy Wells and "The Cure" in Twentieth-Century Ireland, by Carol Barron

17. Father Moore's Well, County Kildare, by Suzanne Pegley

18. The Holy Wells of County Cork, by Amanda Clarke

19. Holy Wells of North Leinster: A Medical Geography, by Ronan Foley

20. St. Brigid's Well, Liscannor, County Clare, by Rita McCarthy

Part 4: Pilgrimage and Patterns

21. Tents, Ale-Poles, and Pattern Pies: An Examination of the Temporary Shelters and Food of the Pattern Day 1700-1950, by Shane Lehane

22. Mám Éan, by Michael Gibbons and Anja Renkes

23. Rock, Bell, Steeple: Revisiting the Ardmore Pattern, County Waterford, by Stiofán Ó Cadhla

24. St. Fiachra's Well at Ullard, County Kilkenny, by Edward N. Moran

25. St. Patrick's Well at Holywell, County Fermanagh, by Janet Cassidy

Part 5: Irish Identities and Evolving Devotions

26. Shaping Ireland: The Holy Well in Irish Painting, by Anne Cormican

27. Mo Griffith: A Water Liberator, by Celeste Ray, Annie Griffith, and Hannah Chew

28. Irish Travellers and Holy Wells, by Attracta Brownlee

29. Devotional Heritage on Inishark and Inishbofin, by Ryan Lash

30. The Holy Wells of County Dublin, by Gary Branigan

31. Cillíní (Children's Burial Grounds) and Holy Wells in Early Modern Ireland, by Colm Donnelly and Eileen Murphy

32. The Ecumenical Re-Opening of St. John the Baptist's Holy Well in Drumcondra, County Dublin, by Bernadette Masterson

33. Layered Resonance at Abbeyswell, County Cork, by Ray Cashman

34. The Destruction of St. John's Well at Warrenstown, County Meath, by Noel French

35. Afterword, by Celeste Ray and Finbar McCormick

Index