Three Stragglers in South Kerry: Coolmagort & Kilclogherane

Whilst trawling through photos, I came across three wells which had somehow escaped being recorded. All are in South Kerry not far from Killarney.

Tobar Críosta, Toberchreest, St Brigid’s Well, Dunloe

Tobar Críosta is in the townland of Coolmagort, wild and scenic country to the west of Killarney near the Gap of Dunloe. The day we visited was damp and unpromising but first we examined a remarkable collection of Ogham stones, now standing rather starkly and neatly arranged in a gravelled area at the side of the road.

There are eight fine specimens here, seven having come from what is described as a cave on the historic maps, the eighth coming from the church at Kilbonane. The cave was in fact a souterrain, an underground chamber, and was discovered in 1838. Incredibly the roof was found to be supported by nine large slabs, seven of which bore Ogham inscriptions. One upright stone also had an Ogham inscription. Ogham is considered to be the earliest form of Irish writing and may date from the 5th century AD. It usually consists of lines and strokes carved along the edge of a stone and is often a memorial to an individual.

The Ogham stones were removed by the OPW in 1940 and placed in their current position. The souterrain was duly filled in.

The holy well was nearby and proved extremely difficult to get to! It lay across the fields from the Ogham stones, down a steep hill which led to woodland – once part of Dunloe Castle demesne. There was no discernible path and everywhere was very overgrown. After much fighting through the undergrowth, a little green hummock was spotted.

The ground underfoot was treacherous, boggy and damp, in fact more like a pond and there was no way I could get any closer, I have had to rely on my zoom for the photographs.

What can clearly be seen is a beehive-shaped wellhouse, now much covered in moss and ivy, the stone work discernible underneath.

Fortunately Caoimhín Ó Danachair photographed the well in the 1960s and the details are a little clearer.

The entrance to the well is small, with a stone slab in front which:

… features crosses on both faces; on the first is a small Latin cross, with expanded terminals, and the letters J, W and D beneath, while the second face features a similar, though larger, cross.

Archaeological Inventory County Kerry

A metal cross sits on top of the dome, which now seems to have vanished. It looks as though the well house might once have been rendered, even whitewashed. The well itself is described as being shallow and stone lined.

Once much visited, especially during Easter, there could be a reason why it’s so wet:

There is a well in the grounds near Dunloe Castle. Tobar Criosc it was called. Rounds used be paid there on the first Saturday and Sunday of the month. When Protestants (Conyers) came to Dunloe Castle, they closed the entrance to the well, and the field turned into a quagmire. When the O’Mahoneys came to Dunloe, the opened the well again and rounds are still paid there on the first Saturday and Sunday and also on Good Friday.

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It was traditional to leave a button, coin or pin somewhere on the wellhouse. The well is also known as St Brigid’s Well and is said to contain a blessed trout, good luck to those who see it. Frustrating not to have got closer, another attempt may have to be made.

Edit: I finally managed to get to the well in April 2024. It was extremely wet underfoot and I had to clamber to the well across a fallen tree trunk.

The wellhouse was so covered in dense moss, a tiny rich ecosystem of its own, I couldn’t actually locate the entrance to the well though water was flowing out profusely. The whole area had a wonderful rainforest feel to it, my only companions a robin and a jay.

There was a sign that someone else had visited in the not too distant past.

Lady’s Well, Tobermurry & bullaun stone

On to Kilclogherane – Cill Clocharáin, church of the hermit – where two holy wells were recorded by John Cooke in 1906. Both are bullaun stones. He describes the first well, named as Tobermurry on the historic OS maps, as follows:

… on the left hand side … is a bullán stone set in a hole in the ditch, about breast high, an unusual place in my experience. A number of bottles, a dozen or so, small and medium size, lay about the stone … an old hawthorn tree, surrounded by bushes, brambles and ferns, growing in wild and luxuriant confusion … here the pilgrims say their rounds and ties bits of rags on the hawthorn and bushes. It is a curious old world, out of the way spot and I could find no cause why it was frequented.

Cooke, J: Antiquarian Remains in the Beaufort District, County Kerry, 1906 (available on JSTOR)

The well was sufficiently interesting for the Irish Tourist Association to visit in the early 1940s. They recognised that two wells existed and described Tobermurry, Lady’s Well, as follows :

… The first is on the left hand side of the bohreen … this well is about 6 inches high and the same in breadth, sited on the ditch under some bushes. A slab of brown sandstone forms a roof; on the bushes are hanging various holy emblems including crucifixes, pictures and medallions.

The Irish Tourist Association (ITA) Topographical and General Survey, 1942-45

The Archaeological Inventory for County Kerry has some extra information:

The holy well known as Tobermurry, which is partially covered with overgrowth, consists of a flat kneeling stone with a depression in its upper surface, where water gathers. A U-shaped stone (L 0.48m; H 0.37m) stands upright and inverted on the kneeling stone and forms an arch in front of the depression, the opening (Wth 0.28m; H 0.23m) in the arch giving access to the depression. Several other stones are built up around either side of the arch.

Archaeological Inventory for County Kerry

We set out to investigate. The boreen was easily found, potholed and muddy, still with an out of the way feeling as described by Cooke. A lot of excavation work was going on, possibly drainage, and the ditches had been cleared and stones heaped up.

The U shaped stone was immediately visible, standing upright and surrounded by a jumble of stones.

On closer inspection it proved to be sandstone and was hefty.

There was no sign of the kneeling stone, the well itself, nor of a sandstone cover. I wondered if the stone above was in fact the cover, or even part of the original bullaun. The stones lay by the hedge boundary but there was no obvious sign of the luxuriant hawthorn bush as described by Cooke. A rather sorry mess.

Edit: Gail Tangney kindly sent in some photographs taken during her visit to the well in 2018. The little hummock of the well can clearly be seen in the hedgerow, as can the odd U shaped stone, revealed after a little careful clearing.

Had the second well fared any better? Cooke had this to say about it:

Another bullán stone, the water of which cures, lies some yards further up in the bottom of ditch, on the right hand side, hung about with rags where prayers are said. Notwithstanding the long spell of dry weather preceding my visit, both stones had water in them, received from the droppings off the bank and bushes above, and to which due superstition is attached. That the stones are never without water is due to the fact of their being well set into the banks and practically covered, so that there is very little evaporation from them

Cooke, J .ibid

This well was also active in the 1940s:

Further along the bohreen … we reach the second shrine on the right hand side under a small tree. An old weather beaten statue of At Anthony stands in the well which is earthen with a cavity measuring about 6 inches square.

ITA, ibid

We wandered up the boreen and there was the bullaun, no longer in a ditch but adrift in a field. The hawthorn tree and weather-beaten St Anthony mentioned long since gone.

The little basin which once received from the droppings off the bank and bushes above was leaf-choked and dry.

I am very grateful for another photo by Gail, for in 2018 the whitethorn bush was still in situ, as was the hedge, both now gone.

Both wells were once much revered and both were included in the same round, as was an elder tree no longer standing:

… There is an elder tree growing between the two bushes and when people pay rounds there, it is at this tree they start. They kneel down at the tree and say the Apostles Creed and then they go round the tree three times and they say three rosaries, at the same time. Then they go to one of the fonts and they go around three times saying one Rosary and then they go to the other font and they do the same. When people are paying the rounds they bring three rags with them, they tie one rag on the elder tree and they tie one to each of the whitethorn bushes.

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The ITA describe described how rounds were paid during May and October, and the Archaeological Inventory also gives the 1st August as a significant date. Six rounds were required – pilgrims started at either the bullaun or the well. Ideally three rounds were made on a Saturday night after sunset and three on a Sunday morning before sunrise. Three Rosaries were expected and not a lot of sleep! Water from the wells was usually rubbed on the body.

The remains of an old church, now no longer visible were also part of the rounds, as was a cilleen or ceallurgh as they are known in this part of Kerry. This extract explains why and gives a little more information about the hermit that the townland is named after:

A tradition still exists in the district that in the early days of Christianity – a very holy man – or hermit lived in Keelclogherane. He lived such a life of penance and prayer that after his death numerous cures are supposed to have taken place there. Rounds are still paid to the wells in the old ruin … The following lovely little story was got by a school boy – Darby Doona from an old resident James Mannix regarding the building of the old church:- It appears that the people of the district were so much amazed at the cures that took place at the hermits’ grave, that in thanksgiving for those miraculous cures, they decided to build a church there. They collected the necessary stones and employed masons from an outside district. They arrived one day – dug the foundation and left their tools at hand, so as to be ready to commence work the following day. When they arrived the following morning – the tools had disappeared, and as they stood looking at the spot, a lamb leaped out of the ground and started to trot off to the east, and over the hill of Aghadoe. The masons and others followed the lamb which did not stop until it reached the place now known as Muckross. There they found their tools, and stones in plenty, and erected the first Church in that district. Many years later this old church became the site of the present ruined abbey of Muckross.

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Three sadly forgotten holy wells but rich folklore.

Many thanks to Gail Tangney for her invaluable photos.

The location of these wells can be found in the Gazetteer.