Some wells are invisible: exploring around Enniskean

Some wells prove difficult! I had five wells on the agenda today, all remote and my expectations of finding anything were low. This proved entirely justified. But I did get to explore some beautiful areas in the crisp Spring sunshine.

St Srufan’s Well, Drimoleague

First stop, St Strufan’s Well, long vanished according to the Archaeological Inventory, which was once sited in the centre of Drimoleague. The main street was examined and the GPS was called into play. It led me to this rather odd corner, full of jumbled steps and odd angles. Could this have been the site of the well, now covered over, once dedicated to St Srufan?

St Srufan* seems to have been a shadowy kind of chap. According to Ballingeary Historical Society he was a sub-king living sometime in the 10th century. He ruled the area known as the Cineal Laoghaire, an area in North Carbery stretching between Coppeen and Drimoleague. He apparently gave three tuatha, (pockets of land), to his kinsmen: Inchigeelagh, Ballingeary and Coolmountain, then took himself off to a monastery to pursue a more saintly sort of life.

*Srufan could also be a corruption of the word sruthán which means stream or brook (thank you VH).

Holy Well, Sleenoge, near Kinneigh

A scenic drive inland out of Enniskean and you arrive in Kinneigh, site of a remarkable and ancient monument: a round tower. St Mocholmóg (also known as St Colman, Mocholmóg is a sort of pet name meaning my dear little Colum!) founded a monastery near here in 619AD, of which virtually nothing remains. The tower was constructed later, sometime around 1014AD.

There are 64 round towers remaining in Ireland, but only two are extant in County Cork – this one and another in Cloyne. They are considered to be bell towers, once attached to a monastery, and are known as cloicteach.The Kinneigh tower is unique in that it is the only round tower to have a hexagonal base.

There is a collective family memory associated with this monument for on our first visit to Ireland, with two small boys in tow, we had a day exploring around this part of West Cork. The highlight had been collecting the key to Ballinacarriga Castle, which we were allowed to explore unhindered. As we started our journey home, the round tower leapt off the map – we had to go! It took ages to find it. We proceeded down small roads, in relentless drizzle, with tempers fraying. We arrived and the collective verdict (apart from me) was – is that it?

Nonetheless, it is a fine tower and what I hadn’t realised (thank goodness the family would have sighed) is that there is also a holy well on the site, surely once connected with the ecclesiastical settlement. This time I explored in a leisurely fashion.

Again the GPS kicked in and led me down to the bridge, just outside the north walls of the churchyard.

A gap in the wall and little steps leading downwards to the stream looked hopeful, as did the stepping stones. Was this little jumble of stones all that remained of a stream-side well?  What an attractive little bridge from down here too.

Could this have been the well described by Bishop Downes in 1700 which was almost too successful and popular:

… a well that had great medicinal virtues, and that the concourse of people being very chargeable to the inhabitants, they stopped it.

WG Wood Martin: Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland, a Folklore Sketch, 1901

Edit: further research suggests that although I was probably in the right place I should have been looking for a bullaun. A drawing and notes by William Frazer sketched in 1905 after an original drawing by John Windele in 1840 entitled Kinneigh Rock Basin, clearly shows a bullaun stone and has these accompanying notes:

Kinneigh Tower near stream at the road side -a little below the church is a hollow in a stone, said to be the saint’s knee when he jumped off the tower, vexed by the old woman.

Why had the old woman vexed the saint you might wonder? There’s more:

At Kinneigh the saint took away the ladder and left the masons up the tower to ‘cheat them’ of their wages which they ? about relinquishing when an old woman recommended them throwing down the tower they had just finished. This stopped the saint’s plan to his disgust and led to his leaping down at the old woman.

It seems the saint must have been up there somewhere as well, but his kneeprint is clearly seen in the drawing of the bullaun. The drawing is in the collection of the National Library of Ireland.

I think this must be the well that was described in an anonymous letter to the West Cork Eagle on July 18th 1868 in which the saint is portrayed in a better light:

I started from Enniskeane in light to the north and having overtaken an old man on the way, with whom I entered into conversation, he led me to a portion of the old road between a Mr. Fuller’s and a Mr. Harrington’s, where he showed me a large round stone, in which was a circular hollow, and near it is an old white-thorn bush, well feathered with rags of various colours. The tradition he told me was that a long time ago when Enniskeane was building, there was an Irish chieftain living in a village called Castletown–his name was Cain Mahony–he was the head of a sept and was of a violent and despotic disposition. On a particular day he led his sept on a cragh, which we call ‘Robty’ and seized all the working materials and provisions of the builders and took them away towards his home. The Saint so called, who was then the clergyman of the place, followed them on the road, and having used his best solicitations without moving the heart of the fiery Cain, knelt on this stone and used the following imprecation:
‘East from his house the Saint holds up his hand and prays to God from the verdant sod on which he stands, that Donal may the head of Cain cut off and over his army gain a victory complete. The hollow in the stone is said to have been made by the pressure of his knees, so ardent were his petitions. The place is considered sacred and numerous pilgrims visit it, and the rags on the white-thorn are placed there as tokens.

This well is due a reinvestigation!

Well of the Bard, Tobar Sheanora, Toberhanore, Ballyvelone West

Another holy well was in the vicinity in the nearby townland of Ballyvelone West.  According to Bruno O Donoghue in his remarkably useful book: Parish Histories, there were originally two wells in this townland: Tobar Aillise, Well of the Gangrene, and Tobar Sheanora, Well of the Bard. I rather hoped this was the Gangrene well, just because it evokes so many imaginings but having consulted the early OS maps, the well is marked as Toberhanore, close enough to Tobar Sheanora, so the bard wins.

Again the GPS led me down through rich green pasture to this slab of stone, the only one in the field. Was this the well covered over?

The Archaeological Inventory described the well as being in boggy ground – well that was over the sturdy wall, the terrain too wet and squidgy to negotiate and the undergrowth too lush.

According to O Donoghue, the well was in the Phairc a ‘Bhile, Field of the Sacred Tree, so more interesting musings. The Well of the Gangrene sadly seems to have disappeared.

There is another very special well in the area in the nearby townland of Ballyvelone East where there is a well dedicated to St Patrick, already recorded.

The next hunt took me to Kilcolman, just outside Desertserges. It was a beautiful verdant area with rivers, tree-lined roads and, over the wide-spanned bridge at Desertserges, a glimpse of an old railway station.

How different the landscape must have looked when the railways were still active.

O Donoghue listed two wells in this townland: Tobar a’Bhurcaigh, Well of the Light-Soiled Field, which was apparently good for warts; and Tobar a’Staighre, Well of the Stairs, which once had steps down to it but was now closed. Neither names matched the online Archaeological Inventory which had gone for much less evocative names: Kilcoman Wart Well and Kilcolman Well. The hardback version of the Inventory (West Cork Vol 1) however did refer to Kilcolman Wart Well as Toberastira, or Well of the Stairs, so mystery solved. Sort of.

Wart Well, Kilcoman

A scenic drive down through woodland, I parked the car and set off to find the well, described as being made from stone. An ornate iron gate, now blocked, looked a good omen. I had to climb over a wall a bit further down  – the river gushing down the hill, the whole area awash with wild garlic, the smell pungent. Bluebells too just pushing up.

The well was meant to be at the side of the river but it was too dense to get anywhere near, my path blocked with fallen trees and thick undergrowth. I was going to return to ask at the house but pink balloons had appeared on the gate and I didn’t think they’d appreciate a mad woman looking for wells at the party. I did notice a pipe coming out of the wall into a stone basin, right by the roadside and wondered if perhaps the water was now piped down here for convenience, the original well long since disappeared?

Stair Well, Tobar a’Staigre, Kilcolman

The second well in Kilcolman seemed to be in the middle of pasture and there were no signs of any stairs.  Again the GPS led me to a spot which did have a rather unassuming and unexciting dip in it – was this all that remained of Tobar a’Staigre ?

It was once probably connected with an ecclesiastical settlement the remains of which reputedly lay over the road but I wasn’t going to explore for the site was guarded by a very large and very free-range brown dog.

Frustrating results, a lot of guesswork but a good bit of exploration. if anyone has information about these wells I would be grateful to hear it.

The location of these wells can be found in the Gazetteer.