Parking is available in the car park close to the cache. This can be a high muggle area so please be vigilant. Please avoid disturbing the usual church events and the devotions of visitors to the Holy Well. Please replace carefully. The cache is not within the church grounds or the area of the Holy Well.
The earliest remains of a church at St Aidan’s date back to the 13th century but an ancient holy well at the site indicates that this was a pre-Christian spiritual site.
The Holy Well, situated at St Aidan's Church, Magilligan, originates from the legend that part of St Aidan's body was buried here in a cairn by St Coleman, a celtic Abbot in 664AD, on his way to found a new monastery in Mayo. Due to the proximity of the grave to a celebrated well, St Coleman blessed the well and dedicated it to St Aidan, encouraging local folklore which suggested that the well cured ills and ailments. Any visitor to the site wishing to avail of the legendary healing powers of the well should first draw some of the dust from the cairn, where it is said St Aidan lies. Water extracted from the well should then be mixed with the dust and the mixture should be applied externally to the affliction to effect healing
The Church, originally known as Tamhlacht Oirthear Arda, became known first as Teampall Chadáin or St Cadan’s Church, and this through similarity in pronunciation was altered to St Aidan’s. St Cadan was a follower of St Patrick and his grave lies under the gable of the medieval ruins. The water from the nearby holy well is said to cure ills when applied to the afflicted area.
Post reformation, the graveyard was used by both the Catholic and Church of Ireland communities and after the relaxation of the Penal Laws the church was returned to the Catholic Church by Bishop Hervey, the Earl Bishop of Derry. It was he who built the Bishop’s House and Mussenden Temple at Downhill further along the coast.
The present Roman Catholic Church was built here in 1826 after the Catholic Emancipation Act was passed, relaxing the Penal laws against practicing Catholicism. The nearby Church of Ireland at Duncrun was built around the same time by the Bishop Hervey for his Church of Ireland congregation. It is situated a couple of miles away on the same road.
Buried in the graveyard of St Aidan’s is Donncha Ó hÁmhsaigh, known in English as Denis Hempson or Denis O’Hampsey, the renowned blind harpist from Magilligan and known as Last of the Bards. He was born in 1695 in the townland of Craigmore, Ballerin, between Garvagh and Limavady, and died in Magilligan in 1807 at the ripe old age of 112. He is buried alongside his daughter and his wife, whom he married at the ripe old age of 86. He performed at the famous Belfast Harp Festival in 1792. O'Hampsey, who was said to be the last and greatest of the Irish Harpers, reportedly played the tune of Danny Boy, then known as 'O'Cahan's Lament' for Bonnie Prince Charlie. His bicentenary was celebrated in November 2007.
Also buried here is Eddie Butcher (1900-1980), the renowned folksinger from Magilligan. His repertoire is reputed to have stretched to some 300 songs.
The Church Micro IE series is open to everyone; if you have a church you would like to place a cache at then please contact THE_Chris through Geocaching.com. He keeps track of the numbers of the churches and he will give you the general format for the cache page. In the UK there are #1500 caches in the series so we have some catching up to do! If you currently have a published cache at a church that you would like to include in the series get in contact and we can add it.
