It is a little difficult to define what is meant by a spa well. In a general way, a spa well may be defined as a well, the waters of which contain salts, which are not present in significant amounts in ordinary potable water. I do not know if the native Irish paid any attention to these strange waters, but it seems most unlikely that they did; I do not know of any references to them earlier than the seventeenth century. This was the time when official medicine became interested in them and spas on the Continent and in England became famous and fashionable. Some of them, Bath and Buxton for example, had been used by the Romans, but the great popularity of this form of treatment extended from early in the seventeenth century until the end of the nineteenth century. At present the waters of Bath, Buxton and Harrogate attract many people and in Ireland the waters of Lisdoonvarna are still famous. Even yet, bottles of the waters of famous Continental spas with exotic labels can be found in some old-fashioned chemist shops, but they are no longer used to any extent.

The sites of spa wells are marked on the Ordnance Survey maps and the wells are mentioned in the name books. They are classified as chalybeate, when the water contains iron salts, and sulphurous, in which the sulphates are the most al salts. The custom was to drink large quantities of the waters-as much as two gallons a day-and while drinking it many people agreed that they felt better. The chalybeate if drunk in large quantities, would probably help to correct an iron deficiency anaemia. For anyone suffering from chronic constipation-and the wealthy often did during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries-waters containing sulphates would be helpful. Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate and Glauber's salts (sodium sulphate) are examples of these. Perhaps the large volume of water drunk was as important as anything else. The water is excreted through the kidneys, and it might well help to wash out small pieces of gravel and it would also help in cases of infection of the kidney.

There have been a number of books written on the Irish spa wells during the days of their fame. An early reference to Irish spas is a letter to the Duke of Ormond by Doctor Edmund O'Meara in 1674. The doctor advised the Duke his patient, to drink spa water, leaving it to the Duke him self to decide which spa here or in England he would prefer A small book called 'The Irish Spaw' by Doctor Peter Bellon was published in Dublin in 1684. There were a number of other books written during the eighteenth century and probably the best of these was 'The Mineral Waters of Ireland' by John Rutty, published in Dublin in 1757.

It will be noticed that in the course of this book forge water has been mentioned as a treatment for tiredness and some other conditions. In describing the spa wells, Rutty said that some of them smelled like forge water. This may have been the source of the belief in the usefulness of forge water, which was probably rich in salts of iron and if taken continuously would help a case of anaemia due to iron deficiency.

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