A Peregrination Part 2: meet the family

In A Peregrination Part 1, we followed St Gobnait as she started her journey from Inis Oirr on the Aran Islands, through Kerry, Limerick and Waterford as she searched for the place of her resurrection – identifiable by seeing nine white deer. She has already seen a smattering of deer, left a scattering of churches, caused a few holy wells to spring up and blessed pagan wells already in existence. As she travels she has gained a reputation as a healer, a champion of the poor and the sick.

Now we shall join her again as she fills her backpack with jars of honey, metal working tools and some fresh milk! (This will possibly make sense later on and you might need a cup of tea yourself, before reading this) and heads off along the N72 into the rebel county, County Cork. Apart from a quick diversion to County Kerry, she remains within Cork until she finds the site of her resurrection. Again this is a very personal interpretation of her route and very much open to discussion – much like Harry Clarke, depicted here by his friend Sean Keating, I have spent a lot of time thinking out St Gobnait!

Leaving Dungarvan in Waterford, the next possible stop on her peregrination is 78km away, just west of Mallow.

Ecclesiastical Enclosure, Kilgobban (CO032-055)

Kilgobban sounds promising and could possibly mean the Cill Gobnait, church of Gobnait. The site of an ecclesiastical enclosure is marked on the historic OS maps as is a nearby burial ground. There is a reference to both in the Schools’ Folklore Collection:

Killgubbin is called by that name because once St Gobnait had a church and graveyard there. Some people say that lights are seen there yet. It is said that unbaptized children were buried there.

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There are just humps and bumps in the field now and no visible signs of a church but Colonel Grove White confirms that the site was once used as a cilleen, a burial place for the unbaptised:

At Kilgoban is a rath used from time immemorial as a burial place for stillborn children.

Grove White: Historical & Topographical Notes

The first concrete evidence of the saint is provided a little further west in another townland clearly named after her – Kilgobnet.

Abbey’s Well, Kilgobnet (CO041-031002)

Here St Gobnait saw three white deer and caused a holy well to spring up. The well remains, St Abbey’s Well, still much revered and is enclosed in an attractive whitewashed wellhouse built by the wonderfully named Johnny the Prayers in the 1870s.

Above the lintel is a very eroded plaque that records St Abigail expelling the plague 1872. The saint is represented, kneeling at an altar, but both words and image are very hard to see.

The story of how she expelled the plague is a good one and will be discussed when we reach our destination. This well held a cure for sore limbs and sore eyes. A trout and an eel resided within but the well was dry when I visited. The well could possibly be within a ringfort. So highly was it esteemed that a burial ground grew up around it, the trees seemingly planting themselves. It was also used as a match-making venue:

Abbeys Well: is situated about 1 mile from Gortrue. This place is near Lombardstown about 5 miles to the west of Mallow. It’s [sic] patron is St Abbey and it was she made the well. The patron day is 11th February. Long ago the old men and women used to be matchmaking for their daughters during Shrove at the well. Once the well went dry because the people used to draw water out of it. A certain man built a kind of a house over it and put a bottle of holy-water into it. It was never known to go dry since.

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Continuing south of the N72, St Gobnait’s next stop was in Fermoyle, below Banteer. I hope she had time for some refreshment at the Well Bar before she left.

Sunday’s Well, Fermoyle (CO040-017)

Access to this well involves a steep climb with hundreds of steps but it’s worth it. The spring seeps out of the hillside surmounted by a small stone well house. A tall tree covered in offerings towers above it and there are numerous shrines and statues. The well is generally known as Sunday’s Well but according to this entry in the Schools’ Folklore Collection, St Gobnait is its patron and here she saw one white deer:

Sunday’s Well is situated in a wooded incline in the townland of Fermoyle, Banteer. The well is still visited by great numbers on Good Friday. They come from far and near to pay rounds there. St Abbey is the patron saint of this well. It is believed that once when she was on her way to Ballyvourney she saw a white deer at this well and as it was on a Sunday she reached the well she blessed it and called it Sunday’s Well.

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The well was renovated in 2016 and is said to contain a blessed frog, all who see it ensured good fortune.

Carrying on towards the Kerry border, this is where things start to get complicated and multi-layered and St Gobnait’s persona changes slightly. First stop Inghne Bhuidhe’s holy well in Dromtarriff.

Inghne Bhuidhe’s holy well, Dromtarriff, (CO031-034)

This entry in the Schools’Folklore Collection clearly describes how St Gobnait saw six white deer here, caused the well to spring up and remains patron:

As she came along she met three white deer at a place about six miles to the south-west of Mallow. Then a well sprung up and ever – afterwards it was called Abbeyswell. On she journeyed until she came to a place named Dromtarriff. Here she met six white deer. She knew she could not build her church here and so she pressed on further. On the spot where she met the six white deer a well also sprung up. 

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Other entries in the Schools’ Collection have different versions of how the well came into being but the site remains attractive and potent. It is surrounded by a circular wall, a large and colourful rag tree standing sentinel over the subterranean well. The water is clean and fresh and holds a cure for men’s ailment. Here’s Robert demonstrating its efficacy. The feast day is 6th May, making it a Bealtine site. I like to think Gobnait visited here for it is such a tranquil and peaceful spot, easy to imagine six white deer fast asleep in this protective space.

The well is also dedicated to Inghne Bhuidhe, the yellow-haired daughter, who is one of three saintly sisters who were active in North Cork – the other two being St Laitiarain of Cullen and St Lasair of Kilmeen, who originally had holy wells nearby. So close were the sisters that an angel kindly caused a paved road to appear, making their visiting each other simpler, especially when in bare feet, as was their wont:

In the diocese of Kerry there is an old church at Dromtariff, in the parish so-called, and County of Cork, where a female saint, called Inneen, was venerated on the 6th of May. According to popular tradition, she was the sister of St. Lateerin, who is likewise popularly known at Cullin in that part of the country, and to an older sister who lived at Kilmeen. The remains of an ancient paved way may be traced between the places. It is stated, according to a local tradition, that the Angels of Heaven made a road one night from Kilmeen through Dromtariff and on to Cullin, so that the three sisters might the more conveniently visit each other once every week.

The Lives of the Saints, Canon O Halon

However, (and here it’s easy to get seriously sidetracked) in this particular area on the Cork/Kerry border, St Gobnait is often described as being one of the three saintly sisters, usually replacing Inghne Bhuidhe. To make things even more complicated and intriguing another sister enters the fray, one of ancient heritage – Croabh Dearg, the strangely named Red Claw.

… we find that Gobnait is part of a different tradition from that celebrated at the major Gobnait sites. In the area around the foot of the Paps she is venerated as one of three sister saints, this veneration extends to the modern parishes of Rathmore/Knocknagree, Milllstreet/Cullen, Dromtariffe and Ballydesmond. We don’t get agreement on the names of her two sister saints in the tradition. Most usually Latiaran of Cullen and Crobhdhearg are found in the tradition but sometimes a saint called Iníon Buí is substituted for either Latiaran or Crobhdhearg.

Diocese of Kerry website on St Gobnait

It’s possible to get even more embroiled as there are hints here of the Morrigan – the goddess of war, fate, death and destiny who could appear as a single individual or as a trio of sisters acting under a single name. St Bridget is also sometimes represented as an individual comprising three sisters – poet, smith and healer. A quick mention of possible brothers! It seems the three sisters had three brothers: in particular St John of nearby Mushera, St Berrihert of Tullylease, and St Olan of Aughabullogue! We will meet one of them later. The significance of three could also be further explored but I’ve meandered enough!

Back to St Gobnait’s peregrination. Whilst in the area, I’m sure she pressed on to Rathmore and nipped into Kerry to visit Croabh Dearg in her stronghold, the enigmatic Cathair Crobh Dearg, the Mansion of the Red Claw, usually simply referred to as The City, or the City of Shrone.

Cathair Croabh Dearg, The City, Rathmore (KE068-022007)

This extraordinary site nestles under the twin peaked mountains known as the Paps of Anú: Anú of impressive and ancient heritage is sometimes referred to as the mother of all Irish gods, and a goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danannn. The City comprises several monuments enclosed in an enormous cashel, a stone fort. Inside the immense stone walls are a neolithic monument, a standing stone, an altar, a mound and a statue of Our lady of the Wayside. It is said to be one of the oldest pilgrimage sites in Ireland.

It certainly exudes presence and feels very real. There is also a holy well, not in its original position but now found just within the cashel. The water is abundant and fresh and can be seen percolating vigorously, good for both humans and animals, especially cattle. It is another Bealtine site and the rounds are still paid here on the Ist May when an open air Mass is held.

Resisting the temptation to delve further into all the complicated connections at this point – was Croabh Dearg originally a pagan war goddess, was she the Morrigan, how interesting to note the significance of Triads, and how did Gobnait get involved – I shall offer a quote from Máire MacNeill instead:

It would be unrealistic of course, to assume that the Duhallow saints are goddesses redressed in Christian garb. The enduring tradition connecting them with parish centres and early Christianity suggests there were settlements or hermitages of devout Christian women there, and that in the course of time the foundressess attracted to themselves legends and attributes floating in folk consciousness from old times as the properties of beneficent female powers.

Máire MacNeill, The Festival of Lunasa, Part 1

Let’s imagine that St Gobnait having visited her sister, Croabh Dearg, partook of the water then turned back in an easterly direction to visit her other sister, St Laitairain in nearby Cullen. (Have you notice how complicated all the spelling are?) En route she stopped at Tubrid Well, outside Millstreet.

Tubrid Well, Tobar na Bo Finne, Millstreet (CO039-042)

This beautiful, tranquil site also feels that it has a long provenance but has now, on the face of it, been taken under the wing of Christianity. St Gobnait is given as a possible patron here, along with the the BVM and St Ita.

It is considered to be the second largest well in Ireland, (St Patrick at Clonmel taking that honour) is beautifully kept, much frequented and has exceptionally pure water. Another Bealtine site, this well is revered, especially throughout May.

St Laitiarain’s Well, Tobar Laitiairain, Cullen, (CO029-076003)

Our penultimate destination on this leg of the peregrination is to nearby Cullen, where it seems entirely reasonable that she visited her younger sister, St Laitiarain, who is connected with a fascinating story. Every morning she went to the local blacksmith to collect the seed for the fire ie the red hot embers. She carried them back in her apron and never seemed to get burnt. One day, as she scooped the embers into her apron, she revealed her bare white feet and the blacksmith remarked on their beauty! She glanced at her feet and at once was burned by the coals for she had felt the sin of pride. Interestingly I found a very similar version of the story with Gobnait as the proud saint:

There are many stories about the saint, one is she went to a neighbour’s house for a spark of coal to light her fire. She took the red coal in her hand and put it into her apron. ‘There is no fear’, Gobnait said, ‘It will not burn my apron’ as she noticed the astonishment of the woman’s face. As she set out on the road she met a young man who remarked ‘What lovely feet you have Gobnait,’ she glanced down at her feet and as she did the coal burned through her apron and fell at her feet and quenched. She had committed the sin of pride admiring her lovely feet.

Beaufort parish website

The well is still active and is a Lunasa site, the feast day 25 July. There has never been a smith in the village since he was cursed by the saint of the beautiful white feet, but fierce temper!

Having caught up with the sisters, St Gobnait then takes a cross country route to Rylane to visit her possible brother, St Olan.

St Olan’s Well, Aghabullogue (CO061-089002)

This is another complex and interesting site with a holy well, blessed tree, standing stone with ogham inscription and Stations of the Cross.

… Another well is situated in Rylane, Coachford, County Cork. The exact origin is not know, but it is supposed that St. Gobnait rested there on her way from Ballyvourney … Tradition tells us that the tree, which grows near the well grew there miraculously. Once a man was passing by the well. He put the whip near by, while taking a drink in the well. Then he tried to take up the whip, but is was stuck fast to the ground. Shortly afterwards a large tree grew up but after some years it withered away. The people of the district took in the rotten wood for firing, but it would not light.

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The description fits perfectly with St Olan’s Well with its tree sprouting up behind the well, supposedly caused when St Olan stuck his staff in the well. The wood would never burn but, if the well was dry, pilgrims would take twigs with them instead of water, to protect the home. This is not the original tree but it is still regarded with reverence.

A few miles covered, St Gobnait rested her beautiful white feet before preparing for the last stage of her peregrination. This is a slightly more straightforward journey – well, there is one diversion. Part 3 coming soon.

A tangled web and weave of ancient memory and stories, still traceable through place names, historical and prehistorical sites, myths and folklore.

See MAP for St Gobnait’s journey.