Continuing on from the big day out in Clonakilty environs, four wells still remaining roughly in a direction towards Bandon.
The next stop was Kilbrittain but I was momentarily distracted by some interesting things around Ballinascarthy which resulted in a quick stop to admire a ruined cottage, complete with unusually fancy door and windows. A possible gate lodge? Apparently not, though the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage is also puzzled by its desmesne archictecture when there is no apparent desmesne.
I then noticed the abandoned farmstead on the otherside of the road, complete with plaque, also listed in the Architectural Heritage Inventory.
How interesting for this house was once the home of Danny and Minnie Walsh, the bold tenant farmers who were the first to boycott an unjust landlord, Bence Jones on this occasion, by refusing to send supplies up to the estate in protest at his treatment of his tenants in 1880. It seems that the boycott had been organised by the local branch of the Land League. There’s even a ballad about it!
Who was this Bence Jones and where was his estate? Well it is near Clonakilty and it’s quite impressive for he was the architect of the rather gorgeous Lisselane House, a slightly different home to that of his tenants! Sorry, you just missed it though, it has just sold for three million euros! The story concerning his tenants (and the parish priest) is complicated and heated and a good article can be found in the Southern Star should you want to know more.
There were further distractions up the road in the form of Ballinascarthy Castle, its sombre and desolate remains in a field near the road side. More history here for this area was the site of The Battle of the Big Cross, the only action of the Rebellion of 1798 to take place in Munster.
Right, back to holy wells and Kilbrittain!
St Brittain’s Well, Kilbrittain
This was another area that had been searched pre GPS to no avail. This time I was more fortunate and found the well high above the village in sloping pasture. Encouragingly I could see a fenced off circlular area in the middle of the field – all the hallmarks of a neglected but still respected holy well,
As I approached it was clear that the well not only still existed but was in fairly good condition, the lintel still intact. The well itself seemed to be dampish but the spring had found a way to emerge just below the well and could be seen trickling out. A jumble of stones aorund the site suggested the remains of a more substantial wellhouse at some point.
The well is said to have been dedicated to St Brittain, of whom I can find no information. More plausibly the name Kilbrittain or Cill Breatain (the church of the Britain), probably refers to a religious settlement of Welsh or British origin. The well is marked as a spring on the historic OS maps and has a distinct path leading to it.
Castlenalact Holy Well
This well itself was apparently once near the road in tillage and had been distinguished by a whitethorn growing over it.
There was no sign of it today, the pasture was empty but the stream running along the edge of the field and next to the road did contain a jumble of stones – was this the site? There were no whitethorns either but tall elms and ashes towering above the stream. I can find no other information about this well.
Well of the Hood, Tober a’Chailcin
On to two more wells above Bandon in the townland of Rearour. Just one look at the map and I knew they would be difficult to find. The wells lay fairly close together: Tobar a ‘Chailcin, Well of the Hood, and Tobar na Súl, Well of the Eyes. Both were reputed to contain a cure for sore eyes.
They were approached down one of the smallest roads I have driven down complete with a complex, hilly crossroads, a river and a ford. I parked and wondered where to begin, in front of me lay green rolling hills complete with the sound of water. Frustratingly I realised I was on the wrong side of the river but a tractor track seemed to lead down to it and could possibly offer a way across.
I followed it and traversed ford number two, emerging muddy but dry on the other side.
Tobar a ‘Chailcin lay in a dense copse of evergreens. The GPS lead me just inside. It was hard to distinguish any definite well-like features as the banks were soft and collapsing and the whole area was being used as a rubbish dump. Could those stones have once formed a structure? The name, Well of the Hood, is unusual and I can find no explanation for it.
Well of the Eye, Tobar na Súl
The other well lay a few hundred metres across the fields, a beautiful area with the River Brittain meandering down below the hillside.
The GPS led me to yet another tangled copse, the area very damp but totally overgrown with briars.
… a tiny spring issues from the foot of a little hill and forms a shallow well….rounds were paid here, but not within living memory. Believed to have cured eye complaints PJ Hartnett (1939, 252)
The spring seemed to have developed since 1939 and was fairly substantial and free flowing but the undergrowth was dense and again I could find no definite signs of a well.
By this time I was exhausted and finding my way back to Bandon proved complex – I was flummoxed by that six-pronged crossroad, every road I attempted seemingly going in the wrong direction! The two final wells were postponed for another day!
You can’t win them all, but it’s always a good day trying.
And some interesting distractions!
Greate well done do you know if anybody measures the energy field of the water i have measured energy field of saint gobnets =vast and saint declans = vast . These waters transfer energy to other water when stored in cool shad. Profesor Masaru Emoto book , messages from water and the universe .Another book The Holy Wells Of Ireland by Patrick Logon .Thanks for all your effort .
Thanks for the kind comment Jim. Re your question about measuring energy from wells – you might find this blog interesting: http://liminalentwinings.com/blog/