A Final Ramble around Clonakilty & Bandon, part 1

It was lovely to be back in the field after a pause due to bad weather and life in general. It also feels as though I am on the last stretch of this project for I have now visited almost 250 holy wells and I suspect there can only be another 50 or so left that having any visible traces.  A final ramble around Clonakilty and Bandon was required with seven wells on the agenda.

St Ruadhán’s Well, Toberruane, Lissavard

First stop was Lissavard just outside Clonakilty. The well has a somewhat brief entry in the Archaeological Inventory:

Located in recess cut into bedrock. Now used for domestic purposes, has lost any religious associations.

Initial research suggested that it was dedicated to St Ruadhán and was situated near a bridge, ecnouragingly called St Ruadhán’s Bridge.

I found the bridge on the busy N71, parked and followed the GPS along an attractive leafy lane, primroses just emerging brightly from the undergrowth. The well appeared to be on the right hand side which was a mass of spindly birch trees and densely brambled undergrowth. The area looked tricky to get to. Just as I was pondering the practicalities, a small bend in the road complete with a boreen leading off appeared.

This looked hopeful and I followed it down towards the river. I could see the path had once been metalled and it had all the hallmarks of a Mass Path. Sure enough after a hundred metres a structure topped with with a corrugated metal sheet came into view.

The area was very damp, rich in watercress and golden saxifrage – water literally dripping from the bedrock. I lifted off some of the stones holding down the corrugated iron and peered inside. The well was enclosed in a large, modern, circular cement pipe. The water was abundant and exceptionally cold and fresh. It looked like it was being used for some sort of domestic purposes.

The site still had a lot of charm, the lorries thundering by on the N71 but here a leafy bower, removed and full of birdsong, the little path once continuing down to a ford and some stepping stones.

St Ruadhán was one of Ireland’s 12 Apostles, usually known as Ruadhán of Lorra, after the site of his major cult in County Tipperary. He was educated by St Finnian of Clontard and was famous for his miracles and for his part in the Cursing of Tara. Ruadhán was seriously offended when the King of Tara took a fugitive who was under his protection as his prisoner. There then followed a mighty contest of curses including the famous one that Tara would one day become desolate, usually read as the final struggle between the Druids and the arrival of Christianity!

Several placenames refer to St Ruadhán including Kilroan near Kinsale where two wells are dedicated to him. He was known as the Lamp of Lorra and his Feast Day is the 15th April, traditionally the day the cuckoo is meant to make its first call according to that invaluable source: The Dictionary of the Saints of Ireland by Pádraig Ó Riain.

St Brioneach’s Well, Kilbree

The next well lay a little further off down some very attractive tree-lined roads.

At one point, a mile down a minute and winding road, I came across an empty tractor barring the way. I couldn’t face the thought of having to reverse and decided to wait a little.

A sudden stampede of cattle followed by the farmer ensued. We had a quick chat. I told him my mission and he smiled indulgently and sent me on my way.

I had looked for this well before, on my first excursion around Clon, the search made especially memorable by my having stood in the most enormous cowpat. I arrived at Ber and Colm’s farm and they had a little information to impart. The well wasn’t on their land but their neighbour’s and Colm didn’t hold much hope that I would find it. He couldn’t remember the well but he could remember the bullaun stone that is meant to lie in front of it. He said that as children they would visit it and play around it, believing it was where the Blessed Virgin Mary had left her kneeprints after she knelt down to pray. He said the water was good for warts. How nice to find that this entry in the Schools’ Folklore Collection reinforces Colm’s stories:

In the townland of Ahaguilla there is a large stone called St Bridget’s Knee. It covers a holy well. St Bridget was supposed to have a school at Kilbree and when going from there to St Fachtna’s temple at Rosscarbery she used to kneel on the stone and the marks of her knees are still there. The well is never without water. Some time ago the stone split in two halves and half the stone is above the well and the other half is below the well at present. About sixty years ago a Protestant gentleman who owned the land put the stone in a ditch he was building and the following morning it was back in its original place again and it was never interfered with since. In olden times people used to come here and say their prayers at the well… (134:0307)

I went in search of the neighbour whose land it was on – apologies Breda for you were not at home and I had the GPS and nipped into your field. Watched by some very curious cattle I investigated the pasture. I found the nearby burial ground  (CO135-006001), a jumble of natural rocks and furze, but no sign of the well.

I reread the Archaeological Inventory’s information – always useful – and the well was described as being 30m away to the south, on the other side of the boreen. More lush pasture and electric fences, but an area had been left to scrub and there was the well – a tiny lintelled indent in the rock.

Sadly the well is now dry.The bullaun was meant to lie somewhere in front of the well but the grass had grown so thickly over it that I couldn’t locate either half of it.

Could this be Tobar Carriage Aoibhinn, Well of the Beautiful Rock, as described by Bruno O Donoghue in his excellent and thorough book Parish Histories and Place Names of West Cork?  Unusually he makes no mention of a well in Kilbree but he does record a well in the neighbouring townland of Cashelisky. There is no mention of a Cashelisky well in the Archaeological Inventory, although there there are two killeens in the townland, so have the two become muddled? I like to think so, but describing this rock as beautiful seems full of poetic license.

The well is thought to be dedicated to St Brioneach or Brioch and, referring again to the Dictionary of Irish Saints, she seems to have been the daughter of a Munster chieftain from nearby Rosscarbery. She was abducted by a petty king and later became the mother of Ciarán of Seirkieran who was also associated with the Diocese of Ross. I wonder if somewhere along the line Brioneach has become intertwined with Bridget considering the folklore surrounding the bullaun stone. Kilbree could very plausibly refer to Bridget’s church.

 

Little Well of the Sunny Milking Field, Tobairin na Buaile Buidhe, Tobereenaboolyboy

The third well had the most poetic of names Tobairin na Buaile Bhuide, Little Well of the Sunny Milking Field, but was extremely difficult to locate. The field was indeed green and even sunny today, the grass looking rich and fertile though no cattle were in residence. The field sloped sharply downwards towards a river, lined by a little wooded glen. Yes, that was where the well was situated. I looked over the fence and and peered into the sharp incline and dense vegetation.

 

There was no way that I could get down there. The well had last been visited by the Sites and Monuments team in 2009 and they had been unable to locate it. I too conceded defeat. The well was said to contain a cure for warts.

To be continued…..

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

Many thanks to Colm and Ber for their help in finding the Kilbree well