In the footsteps of O Sullivan Bere

Summer arrived for a few magnificent days – an excellent opportunity to head to the hills and explore the Gaeltacht Mhúscraí around Baile Mhúirne (Ballyvourney) and Béal Átha an Ghaorthaidh (Ballingeary). I had six wells left in this area, all of them in seemingly remote and difficult areas, all of them with apparently little to show. In fact there was such an abundance of interest that only three wells will be covered here.

The journey inland is wildly scenic with small, winding roads, huge sweeping valleys, stark inhospitable mountains, boulder-strewn fields, scatterings of white farmsteads, lots of sheep and of course all signs as Gaeilge which can make life interesting – more than once, I have found myself in the wrong baile! There are some remarkably bold colours too.

An Teampaillin, Augheris

My first stop was the townland of Augheris where there was a well, a ballaun and an ancient church. First I went to the Augheris church also known as An Teampaillin (CO069-038001) or Teampull Earchraise: Church of the Way or Passage. There’s an interesting entry in the Schools’ Folklore Collection about it:

There is a townland in Ballingeary, Co Cork, called Bán Teampaill. A Graveyard and the walls of an old church may be seen there. In this graveyard poor people and stillborn babies are buried. This Teampall and graveyard were at one time in Augheris about a half mile distant from its present site. Owing to its being desecrated by some unholy persons it was removed one night and placed in its present position. While being removed a stone fell from it into a little river nearby and has remained there since. People perform rounds at Bán Teampaill.

Schools’ Folklore Collection: 098:0337

It sounds as though Eachros was the original site of the church and this townland is closer to the site of the well, visited next, though I’m just wondering if Augheris and Eachros are not the same place?

The walk to the church is part of the Beara Breifne Way, Ireland’s longest walking trail, and is ridiculously beautiful. I seemed to pick up my own herd of sheep who followed me with interest, stopping every time I did, a bit like Grandmother’s footsteps.

I left them at the stile and continued across the fields, following the Bunsheelin River.

The ruins of the church were in a raised, walled enclosure, defined by a circlet of tall spindly firs.  From the centre of the ruins emerged a large ash tree.

It was quiet and peaceful today, but one of the stories associated with it is a dismal one and directly linked to the Beara Breifne Way which follows the historic march of Donál Cam O Sullivan Bere, the last Gaelic chief of West Cork and South Kerry. After the defeat of the Irish by the English at the Battle of Kinsale in 1601 many Gaelic chieftains, including Donál Cam O Sullivan Bere, lost their lands. His castle at Dunboy on the Beara Peninsula was seized after a brutal siege, as were his lands and goods, and he himself was outlawed. When his cattle were also stolen he had no option but to flee. On New Year’s Eve 1602, he left this ancestral lands and began an epic march hoping to join forces with Hugh O Neill in Ulster. He was accompanied by 1000 people: 400 soldiers and the rest civilians; men, women and children.

Their camp, after the first day’s long hard march of 26 miles, was here at Augheris. The site was chosen as it was sacred ground and it was hoped it might offer some sort of sanctuary. The church, in existence by 1212,  was already in ruins. The holy well associated with it lay a few hundred metres away, and no doubt some people visited it and paid the rounds.

The church is also close to Ballyvourney and St Gobnait’s shrine, which the clan walked to the next day, New Year’s Day 1603.  Philip O Sullivan, Donál Cam’s brother, wrote:

On the next day, the first of January, 1603, starting off in the early morning, he reached before midday the populous village of Ballyvourney, dedicated to St. Gobnata. There the soldiers paid such vows as each one list, gave vent to unaccustomed prayers, and made offerings beseeching the saint for a happy journey.

They had good reason to pray to St Gobnait for in 1601, Pope Clement VIII had officially recognised Gobnait and imparted a special indulgence:

… of ten years and quarantines to the faithful who would visit the parish church of Gobnait on her feast-day, would confess and receive Holy Communion, and would pray for peace among Christian princes, for the expulsion of heresy, and for the exaltation of Holy Mother Church.

All this faith came to nought for the entire march took 14 days, was 500 miles long and relentlessly gruelling. O Sullivan Bere arrived in Leitrim with only 35 out of the original 1000 people, many having died or fled along the way. More can be read about the march here .

Holy Well, Augheris

The holy well associated with the church lies on the other side of the river. Originally there must have been a track though the fields and stepping stones across the river. Donál Cam lost his favourite horse here – it either broke its leg on the uneven ground or drowned in the river, accounts vary. Today the well can be approached from the road. There is a pull-in place and a track and a rusty gate suggests that you are getting close to something interesting.

It’s located in a little copse full of gnarly moss-covered trees; brimming with strange shapes and silence, the banks steep with a scattering of old stone walls.

The Archaeological Inventory has this to say about it:

On gentle SW-facing slope, close to road and adjacent to field fence. Natural ledge (0.9m X 0.4m) onto which water flows (now directed via pipe) from higher ground to NE. Some water collects in slight hollow on ledge, to a depth of 0.05m. According to information collected by Fr O’Donoghue in 1917, well was associated with Augeris church and graveyard … 300m to SW; rounds were made at well after visiting church.

The well, if I have identified it correctly, seems to have been where the large plastic pipe was leading from the bank into a square metal container.

Was this the ledge described in the Inventory?

The area was very wet, water literally dripping out over the top of the container.

There was a strange atmosphere, as if I had stepped into another world: wood anemones and primroses speckled the moss, a pennant of sheeps’ wool fluttered on the barbed wire and it was so quiet.

As has been mentioned, rounds were paid at the church and completed by visiting the well. It is not mentioned by name on any of the old maps though there is a dot in the right place.

Augheris Bullaun Stone

A little to the south of the well is a bullaun stone. Walking along the road to find it, the old church was plainly visible on the hillside, nestling in its protective ring of trees.

It is believed that the bullaun was originally sited in the church and moved to its present roadside position sometime pre 1917. It was was easy to find as it had its own little altar, fashioned out of stones in the wall.

Look carefully at the largest stone on the right for it is on its side, the ballaun is near the ground, identifiable by the customary scoop out of the rock.

Bullaun stones, Clondrohid

My next stop was nearby Clondrohid where two large bullaun stones lay just outside the old church (CO070-039002). One is now near the wall of the graveyard and the other sits alone and rather incongruous in the parking area. (Incidentally they are marked wrongly on the Archaeological Inventory where they are shown inside the graveyard).

I spoke to a woman who was passing and she told me the stones had been placed there by St Gobnait. St Gobnait was born on the Aran Islands and an angel appeared and told her to travel until she found nine white deer grazing together and there she would find her resurrection. Apparently she saw three white deer in Clondrohid and left the stones as a reminder (she then saw six white deer in Ballymakeery, finally spotting the nine in Ballyvourney). The woman explained that the stones were revered and the water within was considered good for curing warts. The central stone is in fact called St Gobnait’s Stone on the early maps and It was traditional to carry coffins around it before entering the graveyard.

The whole area was beautifully and reverentially kept – a shrine to St Gobnait having been made on the corner of the road.

I suspect O Sullivan Bere and his clan would have passed here on the way to Ballyvourney and I’m sure many people would have stopped to offer prayers and ask for spiritual help during that bleak and wretched march.

There is traditional march called  O Sullivan’s March played here by the Chieftains, looking very young!

The location of these wells can be found in the Gazetteer