Mystery deepens as well is a holy show
A close-knit community in Enniscorthy is trying to find out who is responsible for painting a local holy well pink and why it was done.
Local man, Terry Canavan, visited the well on Sunday, November 17, and to his amazement saw it had been painted a bright pink colour.
However, it’s not just the stone wall and gate surrouning the well that were painted as a chair located nearby, and a stone plaque were also given a make-over.
Because of the fact holy statues that were located on a small alter at the site were placed neatly around the top of the wall of the well locals believe it wasn’t an act of vandalism that turned the iconic and ancient holy site into an eye-catching pink vista.
Mr Canavan is a regular visitor to the site, however, because of an injury he wasn’t down there for around two months prior to his visit a week-anda-half ago.
‘I was really shocked when I saw it,’ he told this newspaper.
‘It’s a real mystery because it would have taken a bit of time to do it and the fact the statues weren’t smashed or broken makes it look like it was done for a reason other than vandalism,’ he added.
However, no-one around the locality saw anything, or anyone, in the area and that makes the mystery behind it all the more intriguing.
Locals are encouraging whoever is responsible to make themselves known just so they can find out why it was done and if there was a specific reason behind it.
‘I would have been in the habit of keeping the well and the area around it fairly clean,’ said Mr Canavan.
‘Unfortunatly, I wasn’t able to get down there for a while,’ he added.
However, he didn’t expect that the next time he would see the well it would be pink.
Because of the fact the wall completely encloses the water in the well also means that whoever painted it likely had to stand, literally, in the well water to complete the job.
They also glued a holy statue onto the gate pier at the entrance to the well site from the road.
There is a reference to the well in the Topographical Dictionary of Ireland dated 1837.
Mr Canavan said that whoever is responsible for painting the well can contact him in strict confidence on 085 7338437 to ascertain the reason why it was painted pink.
‘We’d just like to know why it was done,’ he said.