Just back from a very fruitful few days in North Kerry, and the first holy well on the agenda was situated on the Kerry/Limerick border in Brosna. The sun shone, Brosna was pretty much closed but we managed to buy some cheese and biscuits in the Post Office and eat a makeshift lunch in the strangely huge but deserted square just in front of the cemetery.
St Moling’s Well, Tobar Moling
St Moling’s Well, Tobar Moling, lies behind the walled cemetery and is clearly signed, a blue painted gate announcing its presence.
A narrow green boreen leads downwards, today the path underfoot crisp and frosty. The first surprise – a rather odd statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, housed in an especially customized bathtub ( a bit of a thing apparently, especially in America. )
A marker stone points the way and the green road continues round the bend, through another gate and down a fenced walkway into a large expanse of field.
The well is enclosed by a tightly packed stone wall topped by grass. Noticeable are stones placed in the wall, almost like little seats. There are five of them and they turn out to be kneelers, places where pilgrims stopped to recite prayers, the distinct dips in them caused by countless knees pressing into the stone over the years. The kneelers are included in the rounds – more of this in a moment.
A narrow opening in the wall allows entrance into the inner sanctum, barbed wire placed overhead to deter people from climbing up on the walls presumably. Inside the enclosed space is another stone building – the well house itself,
It is roughly rectangular with large chunks of stone laid haphazardly on the roof – did these stones come from the ruined church, marked on the historic 25 inch map but no longer in evidence? Just outside the entrance to the well is a worn stone, almost bullaun-like. A narrow opening leads down to the well itself.
The well is circular and stone-lined, the water fresh and very cold. It is said to hold a cure for sore eyes, in fact sores in general for St Moling himself suffered from ulcers to the legs.
Once a woman came a long journey to this well. She was lame and had two sticks and she paid two or three rounds together. She was cured and threw the sticks away. The water is also a cure for sore eyes, people wash their eyes with it and drink it for a sore throat. (Schools Folklore Collection: 484/485:0449)
And like most holy wells, the water was only to be used for sacred purposes and would never boil if put on the fire.
Long ago there was a girl at Lyons, and she was sent to the well. She did not know the right well and went to the holy well. She had the water over the fire all day and it didn’t warm.(Schools Folklore Collection: 484/485:0449)
On the 25 inch historic map another well is marked, but not in Gothic lettering as is usual for holy wells, named Tobarnaganie – was this the well the girl described above should have gone to? A Mrs Guiney is mentioned in a later extract.
Another extract from the Schools’ Folklore Collection refers to the blessed fish, confirming that those who see it are considered very fortunate:
During Easter it is said that a fish is seen early in the morning in this well. It is believed that the first person that would see the fish in the morning would be cured from any disease or sore he was suffering from. A story is told of Denis Murphy of Caph. This man was paralysed for years. His people one morning brought him to this well, he saw the fish and immediately he was cured. (314/15: 0449)
Cups are tucked amongst the stones on the roof, as well as candles and a few offerings.
The site was renovated in 1998 by the Brosna Heritage Group under the direction of James Scanlon, renowned stained glass artist and sculptor, who was born in Brosna. It sounds as though the wall surrounding the well was remade and the stone kneelers placed within in for originally there had been humps:
There is but one holy well in my district and it is called after St Moling, who was born near the side of it where his home was. During the month of May visits are made by the people of the surrounding districts. There are five humps around the well and on every one of these a Decade of the Rosary is said. This is done three times. Then the people who are paying the rounds, go to the well and drink some of the water and if they have any sores, they also rub the water to them. They then make a cross of rushes and drop it into the well. If whatever you request is granted, a fish will appear in the water. Mrs Ben Guiney was one time praying at the well and she saw a fish in the water, Sometime after she had a son and she called him Moling. The water was taken once to boil for the tea, but it never boiled. (Schools Folklore Collection:486:0449)
The space within the walls remains intimate, it feels ancient and secure, just room for a few pilgrims to pay the rounds, watched over by a small statue of the BVM, plastic roses at her feet and a blue bow at her waist.
This entry from the Schools’ Folklore Collection confirms how the rounds were paid and includes a prayer in Irish:
St Moiling’s (sic) well is situated in the land of Timothy Lyons of Loughvalla on the south side of the village. The people of this district and surrounding districts have great faith in this well. Great crowds come there, every one with their different complaints, hoping to be cured. These round begin on the first Saturday of May and continue all through that month. This is how the rounds are made. The people kneel at the first mound and say Our Father, ten Hail Marys. They continue going around in that way until three rounds of the beads have been completed. When they have this done they go near the well, make a cross of rushes and throw it into the well. Long ago when the old people knew Irish they had a beautiful prayer to say when they went to the well.
Go mbeannuighthear dhuit, a thobair naomhtha,
Mar a bheannuighid na naoimh is na h-aspoil dá chéile,
Is cughat-sa a thána ag gearán mo sgéal leat,
Is ag lorg mo leighis i gcúntas Dé ort.
(Schools’ Folklore Collection: 314/15:0449)
(Roughly translated as: Blessings to you from the holy well, as the saints and the apostles greeted each other, and to you I came telling my problems, and looking to be cured in the name of God).
The crosses made of rushes are an interesting addition. A cross, etched into the red stone by pilgrims remains.
There are many stories as to how the well came into being. Here’s the first:
The local saint is Saint Moling. He was born in Brosna and lived there with his parents in a little mud cabin a few fields from Brosna Church. When the cabin fell a well sprang up and it was called St. Moling’s well. In this well there is supposed to be a cure for sores. People from Cork, Limerick and all parts of Munster pay rounds to it every Saturday in the month of May.
A crippled man came to pay a round and as he was leaving the well he could walk without his crutches. His image is in the Brosna Church at the back of the Altar and was put there by the late Fr. Neligan. St Moling was Bishop of Ferns Co. Wexford (Schools’ Folklore Collection: 513:0449)
The stained glass is still there, made by Alfred Edward Child of An Túr Gloine studios in 1908.
And another story:
St. Mullen’s well is situated in the picturesque historic town of Brosna in East Kerry. In the dim and distant past, St. Mullin – a holy Bishop was preaching to a large crowd of Pagans at the foot of Lavalla hill where the blessed well is situated. He saw that his words were making a deep impression on the pagans and he was hoping to make many converts. When the Saint had concluded his sermon a tall handsome blind man said: ‘If you claim God has such power, I’d like you would give some demonstration of that power.’ ‘If I representing God .’ said the Saint ‘gave sight to your eyes would you be converted?’ ‘Gladly and willingly,’ answered the blind chieftain. Thereupon the Saint, lifting his crozier above his head prayed long and fervently and then struck the ground three times with the end of the crozier. Immediately water gushed from the ground and when the Saint bathed the blind chieftain’s eyes with the water and immediately his sight was restored. The chieftain and all his followers were converted on the spot. Every month of May hundreds of people pay ’rounds’ at the well and many cures especially to the eyes have been affected.
But my favourite is this one which originated in The Birth of Moling and his Life, an early Irish text transcribed in 1628 by Mícheál Ó Cléirigh, one of the the compilers of the Annals of the Four Masters. This was later translated into English in 1907 by Whitley Stokes. This is Stokes’s version:
At that time his (Faelán the Fair) wife had beside her a beautiful sister, named Emnait. Fáelán’s heart was set upon her, so that he gained her love, and she became great with child. Fear and dread seized her on account of her sister, and because of the shame of the (evil) deed that had befallen her. Wherefore she went back stealthily by the same road; and not by day, but by night she used to travel, and every day she lay still. So thus she reached her own country, to wit, Cenel Siatnai in the west. Now when she came in this wise to the midst of the Luachair in the west, the night falls upon her there, and a prodigious snow descends, so that it reached men’s shoulders. Then, because of the exceeding cold, and the greatness of the snow, and the fear and dread that came about her, birthpangs seized her, and thereafter she brought forth the babe that lay in her womb, to wit, a boy sweet and beautiful, sweet and shining. There came a service of angels to the place wherein he lay. So because of that service the snow melted for thirty feet on every side from him. But she turned her back to the little child … and was seeking how she should inflict death upon him, for she felt shame in looking at him, she, instead of her sister, having conceived him. The sun’s radiance arose over the face of the green-sided, choice earth, and she was contemplating the infant there. Then she put her forearms about him, to inflict upon him death and extinction and tragic fate. So there fore the Lord sent a dove from heaven to protect that little child. And the dove put its plumage and its wings about the infant’s skin, so that it was (both) covering and warming the babe. The girl was stretching out her hand towards him, on the side on which the dove was not, in order to kill the child. But the dove would come around him on every side, and put its wings over his countenance and its claws over the girl’s face; and in this wise it was protecting the infant until daytime came thereat.
In the morning mother and child were found by Collanach his priest (sent by St Brendan), who baptised the baby at the well which had sprung up to mark his birth. He was baptised Tairchell. When he was about sixteen years old, he encountered a family of spectres on the road, but managed to escape them by means of three fantastic leaps. Collanach then renamed the boy Mo Ling – ling meaning leap. He is often known as Moling Luachra after the area where he was born, Sliabh Luachra.
Moling went on to become Bishop of Ferns and one of the Four Prophets of Ireland. He sounds a fascinating man – kind, humble, afflicted, fond of animals and one of the few people who took in poor Mad Sweeney. I have encountered him before in County Carlow where the town St Mullins is named after him and where he is said to be buried. And close by in County Kilkenny is Mullinakill where there is an attractive well and the remains of a blessed tree dedicated to the saint.
St Moling’s feast day is the 17th June though it does not seem to have been especially commemorated at Brosna, May being the special month here.
Finola says
Oh, I love this post! The sweet and shining Moling is my new favourite.
Amanda Clarke says
Me too! We all need angels at our birth!
Robert says
What fascinating stories! Particularly the one about St Moling’s birth – and his giant leaps! We are so frustrated that we were right beside the holy well in Brosna and didn’t know it was there!
Amanda Clarke says
A man of many parts I think. You’re just going to have to go back Robert, I’m sure that won’t be the last time we find ourselves in North Kerry.
Timothy O'Leary says
Very nice posting,with so much information!and a lovely stained glass window.As always,I await the day when you end your story by saying”And I saw the Blessed Fish in the well!”Perhaps one day…
Amanda Clarke says
North Kerry wells are heaving with fish – surely I must see one at one point – you’ll be the first to know!
Amanda Clarke says
We live in hope! This was a lovely well.