A Few Waifs & Strays

A few waifs and strays remain from the many trips to Kerry this year. Here’s a quick round up of those in Corca Dhuibhne, Dingle Peninsula.

Baile an Bhoithín, Ballywiheen ecclesiastical site

We pulled in to examine an intriguing site that lay right on the side of the road having spotted mounds and crosses from the car. It turned out to be Baile an Bhoithín or Ballywiheen – an early Christian enclosure that is also a National Monument. Originally known as Raingiléis, the road now bisects the circular settlement. It’s a peaceful place with some interesting monuments: a collapsed oratory, several leachts (grave mounds), a decorated cross slab, a stone cross and lots of grave markers that indicate its one time use as a culluragh or cilleen (burial place for the unbaptised).

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The jury is out as to whether there was ever a holy well here but J Curran in his Record of the Ancient Monuments of the Promontory of DIngle (unpublished) recorded: a sunken well reached by fourteen steps. In 1931 TF O Sullivan in his book Romantic Hidden Kerry also noted the monument but thought it might be a souterrain rather than a holy well. There were no obvious signs of it today but we could have lingered a long time in this enchanting spot.

A little further along the road and off to the right are the remains of Tobar Mhealaicí, usually translated as St Mologa’s or St Malachy’s Well.

St Mologa’s Well, St Malachy’s Well, Tobar Mhealaicí, Tobermologa

Now approached across a very boggy field, not much remains of the well except a lot of dampness and a sprinkling of stones.

When Caoimhin Ó Danachair recorded the well in 1960 he described it as: a good spring well with some rough drystone work. Today the area remains very wet with the spring water channelling off into the field.

The water was said to hold a cure for aches and pains and to never run dry.

This entry in the Schools’ Folklore Collection gives some interesting information:

Tobar Naomh Malachy an ainm atá ar. I dtalamh Mícheál Mac Síthigh atá sé, i ngort go nglaodhtar Clochán na Ceárdthain ar. Ta an gort san suas le trí míle taobh thiar thuaidh de Dhaingean Uí Chúise, i gCorca Dhuibhne. Tá crann cuibheasach mór ag fás ag ceann an tobair. agus tá leac na sheasamh i n-aice leis agus tá scríobhnóireacht ar. Ní feidir le aoinne a dhéanamh amach cad tá scríobhtha ar. Thughadh daoine turas ann fadó ach níor thug aoinne an turas ann le fad an lá. Is dóca go bhfuil deith mbliana fichid ann ó thug aoinne an turas ann. I gcóir tinneas cinn a thugtaí an turas. Bhíodh brect beag bán ann agus spotaí dearga air. Bhi eascú ann agus bhí sé sin bán leis. Bhíodar timpeall sé orlaighe ar fhaid. Ní théighidís riamh amach as an dtobar. Nuair a bhéach an duine ag tábhairt an turas dá mbheadh sé mar seans air an breac agus an eascú d’fheiscint bheadh sé leiste. Tá an breac agus an eascú imtíghthe as anois agus níl fhios ag aoinne cár imthígheadar. Thagadh daoine ó gach áit ag tabhairt an turas. Níor triomuigh an tobar san riamh ná níor thug aoinne aon iarracht ar é thriomú. Bíonn an uisce fuar ann sa tSamhradh agus uisce ana dheas le n-ól iseadh é.

SFC:445-447:0421

It has been kindly translated for me by Finola Finlay:

St Malachy’s Well is its name. It is in the land of Michael Mac Sithigh, in a field that is known as Clochán na Ceárdthain. The field is three miles north west of Dingle, in Corca Dhuibhne. A fairly large tree grows at the head of the well and there is a slab standing beside it and there is writing on it. No one can read what it says. Long ago people paid the rounds but nobody does it now. It is likely that no one has done it for thirty years. You do the turas for headaches. There was a small white trout there with red spots on it. There was an eel there too and it was also white. They were about six inches long. They would never go out of the well. When the people went paying the round if there was a chance the trout or the eel would appear they would be cured. The trout and the eel have gone now and no one knows where they went. People came from everywhere to pay the round. The well never dried up and nobody ever tried to dry it up. The water is always cold in the summer and very nice to drink. (445-447:0421)

The blessed fish are especially exotic in colouring and there is another story associated with the trout:

There is a legend at Mo-Laga’s Well which runs thus ( my informant heard it from his father, in whose boyhood the event is said to have taken place). There was a marriage at Ballywiheen. The priest in those times performed the rites in the house, where the festivities were held, and often stayed with the guests for a good part of the night. In the course of the evening, the cook, in great alarm, informed the man of the house that the pot of water, which ought to have been fully boiled, was cold as when she hung it over the fire. When the priest learned the cause of the alarm, he asked where the water had been obtained. They told him it was from the holy well, as that was the best water of the place. He bade them lift the cover and bring a light: when this was done a trout was seen swimming about in the pot. The priest directed them to replace the trout in the well, and after they obeyed the water boiled properly.

Ballywiheen Church, Ballyneanig, County Kerry; RAS MacAlister, 1897. Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland.

It’s interesting how another well in North Cork, also dedicated to St Mologa, had a famous trout.

The fairly large tree has gone but the cross slab still stands above the well.

You have to look very hard to distinguish the carving but this is how the Archaeological Inventory for Corca Dhuibhne describes it (the drawing is from there too):

The cross-slab (KE042-100002-) stands on the W side of this hollow and is .94m high, .68m wide and .13 to .17m thick. The decoration on its E face consists of a plain cross within an irregular oval, with a small plain cross occupying each of the quadrants; the lower left cross is barely traceable. Short notches project beyond the circle on either side of the side and lower arms of the cross; there may have been a notch above the upper arm also but this area is now much eroded and it is not possible to be certain. Two unusual cross motifs occur beneath the circle, one with up-turned arms, resembling a triple-branched candelabrum, the other with down-turned arms and a small dot in the angles between arms and shaft. It is possible that these symbolise the good and bad thieves crucified with Christ.

Archaeological Inventory for Corca Dhuibhne

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On the early historic maps the well is recorded as being part of a penitential station and the cross slab as a monumental stone. Rounds were paid here until the early 20C but it seems a forgotten place now.

This short film produced by Molsceal for TG4 links the two sites above and refers to the many wildflowers growing at the sites, and their medicinal qualities.

An Riasc, Mainistir Riaisc

Close by is the remarkable site of An Riasc, riasc meaning marshy place. It is another early monastic site enclosed in sturdy stone walls, containing a number of clocháns (beehive huts), a slab shrine and an oratory.

What is most remarkable is the number of decorated cross slabs and pillars to be found, some highly decorated. It seems to have been abandoned fairly early on in its history and became a  culluragh – there are 42 marked graves.

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The well is is tucked into the walls, stone built and circular but now dry.

It’s not listed in the Archaeological Inventory as being holy but Holy Wells of Ireland Blogspot reckons it is and I tend to agree.

Edit: I have since been very reliably informed that this is not a holy well but a corn drying kiln, hence the lack of information!

St John’s Well, Tobar Eoin, Toberone, Tobar na Rátha

This tiny spring well is situated right on the side of the road from Ballyferriter to Marhin. It is  very easy to miss, tucked into the hedgerow.

It is lintelled and still full of water. Interestingly the spring seems to go under the road and pops up on the other side where there is another well-like structure.

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It is dedicated to St John and Ó Danachair mentions that a pilgrimage was held here on the 24th June, St John’s Day. Locally the well is known as Tobar na Rátha and the rath in question is a very impressive ringfort literally on the side of the road a few metres to the south of the well. In fact the road cuts right through the fort.

St Ciaran’s Well, Tobar Chiaráin, Well of the Women, Tobar na mBan

This ‘well’ is simply a hollow in a rock where rain and sea-spray collect. It is situated beside Wine Strand and the turas which was formerly made here each day of May also included a visit to a well in the adjacent townland of Caherquin

An Seabhac 1939, 106: Ó Conchuir 1973, 44

Wine Strand is fabulous – white sand, sheltered, with the sea today a stunning blue. A swim was taken.

There was no obvious sign of the well but this is where the GPS lead me.

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I’m not entirely confident that this is the well and I suspect it was higher up on the rocks but I could see nothing there. It’s an interesting area, rich in heritage. On the strand itself is the remains of a fulacht fiadh, again not obvious. Up on the cliffs a cluster of Ogham stones were revealed in the 18C by a storm. Only one remains in situ today.

Six of these now lie in the grounds of Colaiste Ide near Ventry – some of them strange horizontal, cigar-shaped stones. Were they originally part of the rounds connected with the well?

A ruined church known as Caherquin or Teampall Bán was also included in the rounds. It’s vanished now but had a significant history:

Caherquin Church/An Teampall Bán: This may be the site of the single cell church which appears on Admiral Winter’s contemporary map of the Siege of Smerwick Harbour in 1580 (Public Record Office, London, MPF 75) and which was reputed to have been a small chapel built by the Spaniards (Smith 1756, 187). Local tradition records that the victims of the massacre in 1580 were subsequently buried here (KE042-002001-). A Protestant church erected on the site in 1800 fell into decay shortly afterwards (OSNB Dunurlin, 30) and there are now no visible remains of any structure. Graves and human bones, periodically exposed in the vicinity of the church by sand erosion, are traditionally considered to be the interments of sailors and seafaring men (O’Sullivan 1931, 507; OSNB). A cross-inscribed stone, reused as a door lintel and gap-post in Ballineanig-Castlequarter townland, reputedly came from here (KE042-150—-). The site lies on the low-lying sandy ground bordering the S side of Smerwick Harbour.

Archaeological Inventory for Corca Dhuibhne

The site was excavated in 1996 and the excavation report makes interesting reading.

Edit: Another trip to Wine Strand and another explore still lead to nothing definite though I have had more information concerning the well. Apparently it is also known as Tobar na mBan, Well of the Women. It is said to hold a cure for morning sickness – the water had to be sipped three times a day. Three rounds were paid, holding water in your hand and reciting the rosary. Should a man drink from he well it was said he would never marry. Cathy told me of a man who had been playing football nearby and came to drink from he well – he never married. Another man deliberately drunk at the well so that he would never marry! An intriguing but elsusive well.

Holy stone, Dingle

Back into Dingle town and a strange and fascinating monument. Lying at the edge of Goat Street is a truly colossal stone, parked right in the gutter and jutting out into the road. On closer inspection it becomes apparent that it contains several scoops – four large and three smaller. It is usually described as a bullaun stone and the four large man-made basins certainly fit the bill. The smaller scoops could be cup marks dating back to the Bronze Age.

It sits there defiantly, the world going on around it, today rather unglamorously adorned with traffic cones. There is a tradition that the stone, known as the Holy Stone, was used as a Mass Rock during Penal Times. The bullauns may have held holy water and been used as baptismal fonts or they may have been viewed as holy wells in their own right.The stone was also apparently used as a subtle way of informing priests if it was safe to conduct Mass  – if sand was placed in the basins then all was safe, otherwise keep clear. Rounds were also paid at the stone.

How old it is and how long it has been revered can only be guessed at. One theory is that it was removed from the Milltown area of town where there is a complex of standing stones, some of which include rock art but how it got here and why is not known. Incidentally it has its own Twitter page –that’s a first!

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

Many thanks to Finola Finlay for her translation and to Gearóid Ó Brainagan for his assistance with the eel!

And thanks to Isabel Bennett, Curator of Músaem Chorca Dhuibhne, for information about the corn drying kiln in Reasc.

Many thanks to Cathy Partington for her information about Tobar na mBan.