Long Lost Holy Well Found in Argyll

                                                                                                                                                   Friday July 10, 2015

A holy well, named after the 6^th century saint Modan and lost for over 30 years, has been rediscovered by an Argyll congregation.

The well, hidden on a hillside in Glendaruel, on the Cowal peninsula, was rediscovered during an expedition in June led by Presbytery of Argyll worker Gilbert Markus.

The small band of ‘explorers’, used old maps and more modern grid reference points, as well as some up-to-the-minute GPS devices, to check ground that had now been cleared on the hillside.

Nine-yea- old Isaac Markus spotted some clear water bubbling up through the boggy grass – and the well was rediscovered. Young Isaac had the honour of taking the first drink from the ancient well.

The Rev David Mitchell, minister at Kilfinan, linked with Kilmodan, Colintrive and Kyles, explained: “We’re all quite excited about this find. We hope, in the future, to restore the site a bit and make it a place for reflection for people to visit and pray. We get lots of tourists every year to the church, so hopefully this will be something else they can enjoy.”

In the mid 1800s, an ordnance survey map shows a small, Holy Well on the hillside above St Modan’s Church, Kilmodan in Glendaruel.

The well, named St Modan’s Well, after the 6^th century saint who was reputed to be the son of an Irish Chieftan.

Modan became a monk and eventually built a chapel at Dryburgh, in 522AD which he used as a base for several years while he travelled the country. This chapel was later to become the site of a larger monastery, Dryburgh Abbey.

Modan worked in the Stirling, Falkirk areas and along the Forth and

until he was elected Abbot, a post he is said to have accepted ‘reluctantly’.

After a number of years as Abbot, Modan resigned and became a hermit, settling quietly in the Dumbarton area where he eventually died.

The Well was still accessible on the hillside in the early 1960s but by the 1970s, commercial forestry had covered the site and the well had disappeared from view and was unable to be located.

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