Holy Fish, Faction Fighting & some Meandering

Who knew an innocent paragraph could lead down so many different paths and involve so much detective work and strange stories! Browsing through Sacred Waters, I came across an intriguing reference to a holy lake in County Cork that I had not yet come across:

… the sacred lake of Loughadrine (Cork) which cured all manner of diseases. This lake was visited on several days of the year, the pilgrims throwing bread and biscuits into the water as offerings to the holy fishes, and rags were ties to the surrounding bushes. The clergy objected to the pilgrimages and accompanying revelry, and brought the visits to an end.

Janet and Colin Bord, Sacred Waters: Holy wells and water lore in Britain and Ireland, 1985

A bit more research and it seems the Bords had found their information in WG Wood Martin’s Elder Faiths of Ireland: a Folklore Sketch. Published in 1901 this is full of interesting information but this is what caught my eyes:

At Loughadrine in the county Cork, there is a lake formerly sacred. On its northern bank a celebrated station was held, until of later years, the clergy interfered and suppressed it; offerings of rags were tied to the the bushes.

A little further on in the book, some more information emerges:

There were in former times several station days in the year at the sacred lake at Loughadrine in the county Cork. The trout in the lake, on being boiled, turned into blood. The devotees fling bread and biscuits into the water to these holy fishes, saying at the same time certain prayers; on such occasions one could take basketful. Cures of every kind were effected by the potency of the waters, and as usual, the period of devotion was always close to revelry.

Wood Martin, Elder Faiths of Ireland, 1901

How intriguing yet researching Loughadrine nothing else came up apart from a reference to Wood Martin’s book by Herbert Thomas Knox a couple of years later. He also described the blessed lake on the Beara, Lough Mackeenlaun, just over the border in south Kerry famous for its miraculous tussocks, already visited.

Trying different variations of the name, I slipped back further in time and found other references:

Lough Drine, situated in County Cork, Munster, the islands of which, the country people say, change places on a certain day of the year.

Topographica Hibernia, or the Topography of Ireland Ancient & Modern, William Wenman Seward, 1797

This phenomenon was confirmed by Thomas Walford who noted :

At Kilmacabra see Lough Drine with Danish encampment on the hill to the east. The lough is supposed by the peasantry to have the miraculous property of shifting all its islands on some holy day every year.

Thomas Walford, The Scientific Tourist through Ireland by which the Traveller is Directed, 1818

Finally a place name but not one that seemed to be recognised today. Charles Smith offered more clues in his wanderings through County Cork in the late 18C:

Between Leap and Skibbereen, are many loughs stored with trout and eels, which the Irish call aghills; and some have floating islands, which swim from one side to the other… In the parish of Kilmaceaba, is a lake, called Loughdrine, which the country people hold to be miraculous; and say, on a certain day of the year, all the islands in it change place and shift from one side to the other; at which time, vast numbers of these ignorant people assemble at this lough, where they erect booths, and feats, everyone bringing bits of bread, meal etc to feed the fish.

Charles Smith: The Ancient and Present State of the County and City of Cork, 1774

So now I had a clear geographical reference, somewhere between Leap and Skibbereen, and even a townland. A little more searching and an unexpected visit to Twitter confirmed what I suspected – Kilmacabra was now the parish of Kilmacabea, just outside Leap. Searching on the OS maps, modern and ancient, the lake seems to have changed its names many times over the years from Loughadrine to Loch a Drine to Loch a Doirín to Loc a ‘Drin to its current status, Lough Adereen.

The lure of moving islands and blessed fish meant it had to be visited if at all possible. An initial perusal of the OS map showed the lake was to be found just behind Leap, close to the GAA pitch. I actually tried to find this lake just before the last lockdown kicked in at the end of December 2020, and thought I had succeeded but just before I posted the blog, something made me do a double check. I had the wrong lake – Lough Adoolig rather than Lough Adereen which was lurking further out towards Cononagh! Too late to revisit I had to wait until this week when another exploration was undertaken with more success! First a wander through Dromillihy Woods just because; and the bluebells were just coming out.

Back on the N71, the next road on the left wanders up into the hinterland following a small river. The map appeared to suggest that there was a track leading to the lake, though it was now marked as a disused quarry. We parked the car and spied what was indeed a track leading to an interesting raised mound in the middle of a large field, covered in clumps of gorse and whitethorns.

The area had been extensively quarried and clambering up loose scree we were delighted to find that a small part of the lake remained below, rich colours today. * (see edit)

It’s hard to imagine that this forgotten stretch of water was once the site of a pilgrimage attracting large crowds. This entry in the Schools’ Folklore Collection that refers to it. It’s in Irish and beautifully written in the old script.

My friend Finola Finlay kindly had a go at translating it for me. The gist confirms what I had discovered already. Pilgrims arrived on various holy days throughout the year, (I haven’t been able to find out the specific dates but suspect one was St John’s Eve and the other St Stephen’s Day) bringing with them bread for the fish.

They paid rounds around the lake, tying ribbons on a certain bush. There is also a reference to an old altar that was in use a long time ago. The entry describes how the lough was already much diminished by the 1930s when it was written. I have to confess that having found this extract I have frustratingly been unable to re-source it and cannot give it a proper reference. There’s a lesson there!

Another entry describes the potency of the site and also mentions a lake and a well beside it – had a small section of the lake been sectioned off to make a well such as at Gougane Barra?

There was a farmer in Gortroe, named Jennings. He had two or more workmen employed. To reclaim some of his land he set about deepening the drain leading to the lake and the well beside it. The place is better known locally as Loc a’ Drin. Up to recent years pilgrims visited and took with them some of the supposed sacred water from this well. Jennings and his men had their work almost completed when a big sod floated from the lake and almost blocked the drain. Jennings called on each of his men to remove it. They refused and he took the shovel to do so himself. The sod was so heavy and his being barefoot at the moment put his foot on it while he attempted to break it into parts with his shovel. Suddenly his leg began to ache. He was soon in agony…

SFC:091/092:0309

To cut a long story short, Jennings went in search of Father John Power, the parish priest of Kilmacabea. He is a very interesting character – a man described as having a solus, or light/aura, who was renown for his healing skills and ability to perform miracles. Jennings presented himself, Father Power duly cured him and all was well whilst Jennings attended Mass. However, Jennings soon returned to his Protestant service whereupon up flared the agony in his leg. On returning to Father Power, he this time refused to help him. The pain in the leg became so severe that it was eventually amputated and buried in the graveyard at Rosscarbery, the rest of Jennings joining it some years later!

The image below was forwarded by Barrie Jordan who found this copy in a pile of old books and journals, source unknown. Father Power cuts a fine figure.

Father Power was also involved in one of the pattern days at the lough where things got very lively, translated by Finola as follows:

… there would be a fair and get-together on the east side of the lake in Ballygortroe (or Gortroe). There would be music and dancing and suchlike and they would end up the merriment with a big ferocious fight in the afternoon. That’s how it was customary with the people to fight with those of the Cill Mhic parish, showing their blackthorn sticks and other weapons.

It seems that Loughadrine may mean Lake of the Blackthorns and the trees that grew around it were, on this occasion, fashioned into sticks and cudgels. There is a lengthy and dramatic account of a faction fight that took place after the Wren on St Stephen’s Day 1802 which developed into what became known as the Battle of Cooladreen (SFC: 115-118:0309). Two clans were involved, the O Callaghans and the Scairts. They gathered at Mass, the women brought with them the weapons hidden under their cloaks! Both sides went to collect the guinea traditionally given to the first Wren men by the O Donovan of Bawnlahan. Stones were thrown and fighting erupted continuing down through Myross to the sea at Tra na mBó. Father Power was called for and only succeeded in breaking up the fight by calling on the folk of Myross to ferry one clan to safety in their boats.

This just seems to have been the warm up. Sticks were cut and they gathered again at the Mass rock at Cooladreen and ended up in the boggy section of the lake whereupon a man was stabbed with a spear:

… the wife of the victim closely ran towards her husband and drank the blood as it flowed from the wound. The woman soon afterwards gave birth to a child whose face bore a remarkable bloodmark.

SFC:118:0309

An unsettling action but one that is reminiscent of the reaction of recently widowed Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonnaill in the epic poem Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire, (The Lament for Art O Leary) a poem so beautifully explored in Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s Ghost in the Throat . The battle eventually collapsed after the Callaghans retreated and the pattern to the holy lake ended:

The contest didn’t end until an O’Callaghan man died, three score years ago. A bishop condemned it as a barbaric custom and ordered each Catholic to desist. From that time on there was no outing … to the banks of Loc a’ Doirín.

Ibid

Confused about faction fighting as I was? The Irish Examiner published an interesting article about it based on the Days of the Blackthorn: faction fighters of Kerr by Séan Moraghan which sort of clarifies it. The illustration above is by WH Brooke taken from William Carleton’s Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry, 1830.

Father John Power (1764-1831) continued to be a controversial figure, much loved by the people but regarded with suspicion by others. He is buried in the Abbey graveyard in Rosscarbery and his tomb is still an object of veneration.

An interesting postscript (these stories could just go on): local man O Donovan Rossa claimed he was at Father Power’s funeral on the 10th August 1831, although he had yet to be born, his mother was still carrying him that day Rossa was baptised a month later. He later went on to become an acclaimed Irish Fenian leader and member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. In his memoirs (Rossa Recollections 1838-1898 – ebook Project Guttenberg) he recalled visiting Rosscarbery on St John’s Eve and described the thousands of people who flocked to pay their respects at the tomb, his connection here remembered with an attractive stained glass panel at the entrance to the graveyard.

Fascinating stories but sadly no sign of any tussocks today, miraculous or otherwise. The altar referred to was probably a cromlech and seems to have been removed to stop further gatherings. The blackthorns are still flourishing though.

• Edit (July 2023): I have since received information that what I hoped was the lake was in fact the old quarry pit. The lake was further to the east but has since been drained, most of it going into the quarry pit or the nearby river. Apparently traces of it can be seen after heavy rainfall.

Many thanks to Finola Finlay for her translation and to Barrie Jordan for the image of Father Power.

The location of Lake Adereen can be be found in the Gazetteer.