St John’s Well, Minard, Kerry

A few days on the Dingle Peninsula and what does one do with a bit of spare time – why visit a holy well of course. First we had a quick mooch around Dingle in the sunshine, admiring the many quirky doors and colour schemes.

Then it was on to Minard, via Annascaul and its colourful and historic pubs.

Minard is off the beaten track, down tiny roads with verdant hedgerows yet fortunately there is a large car park near the strand. And what a strand, a storm beach in fact with colossal pebbles  and rocks forming an impressive barrier to the encroaching sea.

All this wild splendour is topped off by the gaunt remains of Minard Castle gazing down on proceedings.

Today it looked calm but it has a turbulent history. Voices from the Dawn describes the area beautifully. It also featured in Ryan’s Daughter! And not only that, there is also a well nearby.

St John the Baptist’s Well, Tobar Eoin Baiste

Tobar Eoin Baiste, St John the Baptist’s Well, is just past the castle and clearly and attractively signed.

A leafy path takes you down well kept wooden steps into a little glade, the sea glimpsed just below.

And there is the well: a horseshoe-shaped wellhouse made out of blocks of stone, now sporting a flat turf roof! An opening in the walls, marked by a flat slab, gives access to the water.

The water is fresh and clear if a little leaf strewn. A golden fish is said to live within and any pilgrim who spots him is sure to have their prayers answered. The water also holds a cure for headaches.

On top of the wall of the wellhouse is an upright stone inscribed with a deep Latin cross, the work of many pilgrims over the years.

Behind the well, rags and an eclectic collection of offerings adorn an ivy-strewn bank.

The well is dedicated to St John the Baptist. Caoimhín Ó Danachair, the noted Irish folklorist, wrote about this well in his article The Holy Wells of Corkaguiney which appeared in The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland in1960 and offers some insight into its origins:

… A particular association of the well which has contributed to the long survival of religious observance here is the legend connecting St John the Baptist with the Corca Dhuibhne people. This legend asserted that John the Baptist was beheaded by an Irish druid called Mogh Roith (the Slave of the Wheel) from Valentia Island on the other side of Dingle Bay, and prophesied that the Irish people – and especially the Corca Dhuibhne – would be called upon to pay for the crime at a date when certain time divisions coincided. In 1096 it was thought that the appointed time was approaching, and Ireland was seized with a panic, similar to the millenialist hysteria that had gripped many in Europe a century before. Rigorous fasting and prayer were undertaken, and it is probably from this date that the well derived its importance, along with many others dedicated to St John the Baptist.

It is also said that a pilgrim once saw the face of John the Baptist in the water. The feast day is celebrated on August 29th, the date associated with the beheading of the saint. It once attracted large crowds.

….In the past the pattern was an occasion of great entertainment as well as devotion. Penny stalls were set up on the level triangle of grass nearby, and at the top of the slip beside the coastguards’ boathouse there was music and dancing into the night. But the authority of the church was brought to bear and the pattern was suppressed in all but its devotional aspect; even that, with its evidently pagan origins, was looked on with no great favour. (Holy Wells of Corcaguiney)

This entry in the Schools’ Folklore Collection describes how the rounds were paid:

There is a holy well behind at Minard. It is near the sea. There is a wall around the well. The people pay the round on the 29th of August. the people go around the well nine times. Every one that pays the round must get nine berries and at every round they will drop a berry. There is a trout in the well. Any one that will see the trout will be cured. There is a stone standing at the top of the wall and there is a cross on the stone. The people that pay the round leave offerings at that stone. The people leave a few coppers and buttons and pins and the women leave a tassel of their shawl. After you would leave the round paid you would take three sups of the holy water. On taking the water you would bless yourself. Some people bring home the holy water to drink. As long as you would have the holy water in the house it would be fresh. The well is up on a height. The water cures a headache. The name of the well is Tobar Naomh Eoin baiste.605:0426

The berries referred to are blackberries – a unique touch, normally it would be pebbles. The water must have been an interesting colour by the end.

Ó Donachair also took photographs of the many wells he visited including this one. They can now be found in the Duchás Photographic Collection. It is interesting to see how exposed the well was originally and how it commanded views out across the sea, today now obscured by trees. The well itself remains much the same.

Gavin McArdle sent in a wonderful story about the well in the 1980s when it sounds as though it was extremely overgrown, though very potent:

Hello – just to let you know a story about the holy well at Minard in Kerry – we used to stay there when we were younger in the 80s/early 90s and we heard there was a holy well in the area (at the time the area where it was was covered in hedges etc – now that has all since all been cleared) – we cut into the hedgerow and found the well – my dad had really bad back problems at the time – and when we found the well he dipped his back in the well and since then he has never had a problem with his back – this is the honest truth – I’m a sworn atheist and sceptic – so I find it all very mad – I still have clear vivid memories of trying to find the well and my dad dipping his back in.

Gavin McArdle, February 2024

An annual pilgrimage is still held at this well on the Sunday nearest the 29th August, the feast day commemorating the death of John the Baptist.

As we emerged from this quiet and peaceful place I spotted two men, both very smartly dressed. One had to be a groom! He was and the other was the celebrant and they were waiting for the bride for they were getting married up by the ruins of the castle. They were shortly joined by the photographer.

It seemed a remote location for a wedding. We loitered and waited for the bride who arrived resplendent in acres of white and high heels. Quite a tramp up to the castle.

We asked if they were visiting the holy well too but they weren’t.

Finally on to Inch Strand which was looking magnificent.

I had to smile though for there were more saintly associations. We had previously admired an extraordinary mural of the Last Supper by Ella Yates in the Presentation Sisters Convent in Dingle and I was struck by this very surfer-dude looking disciple. Lo and behold, there was his doppelganger on Inch beach!

The location of this well can be found in the Gazetteer

Many thanks to Gavin McArdle for his information about the well.