Two Beara wells

A visit to Castletownbere gave the perfect opportunity for a small adventure on the way back. First I went up to Dereenataggart Stone Circle, admired the rag tree and was visited by the rather snooty but very handsome guardian of the place.

Then on to check out two wells. Both turned out to be unexpectedly interesting – I don’t know why unexpected, for every holy well is interesting!

St Finnian’s Well, Castletownbere
First stop was St Finnian’s well high up in the hills behind Castletownbere. I had been reading about it in the morning before setting out and fortunately the article included a photo of the track leading onto the hillside. I recognised it instantly, parked the car and set out. The track was muddy, rutted by tyres from farm vehicles, and the surrounding area very boggy. The louseworts and butterworts were out. Inspite of the soft, damp day, the views up here were magnificent: the Caha mountains behind and Castletownbere with the sea beyond to the south.  The area was flat but no sign of anything well-like, just bog grass and pools of jewel-like greens, alluring but dangerous.

The first hint was a gleam of white quartz poking through the grasses and sure enough, there on the summit of the plateau was the well.

It’s a remarkable double well, restored in 2007. Each well is slabbed to form a hexagon with the well in the centre. The white quartz pillar stands between them.

The wells were muddy and full of bog grass rather than flowing but a BVM-shaped holy water bottle and a blue rosary showed that someone still revered the site. 

Once rounds were paid here as this extract from Schools’ Folklore Collection describers:

…A mile from Castletown on top of a little hill there is a level tract of land ..In this tract is a holy well. It is customary for people in this parish and in the parish of Eyries  to pay rounds at this well every May Eve and May Day. The well is dedicated to St Finnian. Near it are two mounds and it is around these mounds that the rounds are performed. A round consists of walking slowly ten times round each mound and saying each time one Our Father, one Hail Mary and one Gloria. Then the person takes a drink out of the well, blesses himself and rubs the water to the particular part of the body which is sick. before departing a halpenny or some little token is thrown into the well. The old people say that the round  … is good for curing headaches  or any disease of the head.

SFC:060/061:0278

The water was also said to be good for curing cattle ailments. The two mounds mentioned were not discernible.

St Finnian is commonly called the Father of Irish Monasticism. At his birth in county Meath in the early fifth century all the birds of Ireland gathered, a portent of his future significance. He seems to have been an excellent teacher and founded a monastic school in Clonard. His prominent pupils are often called the 12 Apostles of Ireland and included St Brendan and St Columba. I’m wondering if there might be a more local saint called St Finnian for this is a long way from Meath. There’s is a St Finnian’s Bay near Ballinskelligs in Kerry, named after a man who is said to have lived in the tenth century and had connections with Skellig Michael. Could this well be dedicated to him?

St Finnian’s feast day is the 12^th December though it seems May Eve and May Day were also popular days to visit the well.

Edit: The wells were revisited in May 2021 and new information discovered – see here.

Well of the Church, Tobar a’Tempuill, Toberatemple, Adrigole

Onwards towards Adrigole then a sharp turn left towards the Healy Pass. The country here is remote and beautiful and a right turn shortly after the grotto takes you down very tiny, windy roads where you hope you meet no other traffic. I parked by the old church – a surprisingly large car park which I later discovered had been built on top of monastic cells. For this is an ancient site, the remains of the church now barely discernible but once dedicated to St Caskan. The old graveyard is verdant and peaceful, full of primroses and bluebells, the modern graveyard nearby more orderly but still colourful, a huge crucifixion overlooking everything. A worn ogham stone speaks of a long history. The faded inscription has been translated as LUGUQRIT… LONAS, and dates somewhere between 500-700AD.

Interesting there is also mention of large stone once to be found on the site that was used to cure headaches. This reminded me of the capaín on top of the St Olán’s ogham stone, Aghabullogue, which is also close to a holy well (blog here).  I wonder if it was something similar. This capaín, sometimes known as St Olán’s Cap, is made of two quartzite stones and was used to cure headaches and women’s ailments! The stones were  originally detachable. For rather obvious reasons, its shape upset a local priest who tried to get rid of it, only for the capaín to mysteriously reappear. It has now been rather unsubtly cemented into place but is a fine looking specimen and apparently still potent.

Back to the well! I knew it was outside the church and on the other side of the road somewhere. I wandered with intent until I came across a gate tied with twine and saw some large and interesting stones within the boggy field.

I ventured in and there was the well, actually a bullaun stone: a deep basin carved into the sandstone boulder. It was much covered in greenery, the basin itself full of holly leaves but still impressive. It is known as Tobberatemple – the Well of the Church.

It was once renown for its healing properties regarding sore eyes:

… in the hollow of this stone … the country people bathe their eyes when sore, in expectation of a cure… at each round they throw into the hollow a bit of rush formed into a cross. They afterwards suspend a piece of rag on a bush over the site, in memorial of their devotions.

Clerical & Parochial Records of Cork, Cloyne & Ross, Brady 1863

There were no rags hanging here today but another large slab in front of the well looked interesting and I wondered if it originally featured in devotions.

This well has had few visitors recently and although marked on the OS maps seems in danger of disappearing into the undergrowth. A rather special place.

Edit: I revisited this site in April 2025. Although some gates hint at something interesting within, the site had clearly not been visited for some time.

Inside the area was dense with brambles and the bullaun almost obscured. The basin was thick with holly leaves and gunge which I carefully removed, the bullaun actually full of water. The nearby church and graveyard seem to get a lot of visitors , a shame that this impressive stone is forgotten.

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