Enchantment around Myrtleville

I always love being invited to see a well. Deirdre contacted me during the first severe lockdown and explained that she had beaten a track to a holy well at Gortigrenane, within her 5km! She was delighted to have found the well, still flowing, and sent me some photographs, offering to take me there when things went back to normal. I had attempted to locate the well myself in January 2019 and found myself down a long, dark potholed boreen in the drizzle, tired after a full on day of well hunting.

The closer I got to what was possibly an uninhabited house, the more uneasy I felt – abandoned cars, rubbish, rusty machinery lay strewn everywhere and I was unsure of what I might find. In the end I abandoned ship and legged it back to my car!

Things have yet to return to normal but Deirdre and I arranged to meet up and what a delightful and productive day we had, also accompanied by her friend Annamarie and Até, the cocker/springer spaniel. We enjoyed brownies and coffee then piled into Deirdre’s car and travelled the coast road to Gortigrenane, first marvelling at the number of swimmers in the sea at Myrtleville. It looked enticing as did the whole landscape. I had no idea how close I had been to the sea on my original visit, having struggle with the fog.

Tobar na bhFirciní, Well of the Firkins

We parked up high, Ringabella estuary glinting in silver tones below us.

The boreen was still potholed and muddy but this time we had permission. Até led the way.

We followed the boreen for a kilometre or so then veered off into a green field – Gortigrenane means field of the sun and once a group of families made a living in this scenic position. The historic 25 inch OS map shows the clachán and its position in relation to the well.

Today only one cottage remains, the roof caved in and nature encroaching

The well lay close by. I have no idea how Deirdre and Anne Marie found it for the brambles were mighty yet they had cleared a path through and revealed the well (note Deirdre’s impressive slashing tool). The well is built into a field boundary and there seems to be a rectangular trough which Até leapt straight into. Flat, striated rocks provide other places for water to gather.

The water was copious, emerging from underground and flowing down into the undergrowth, the whole area sodden. A pipe attested to someone making use of it, the water said to be exceptionally good.

In fact there are two springs marked on the OS maps and there is a certain amount of confusion as to which is the holy well. This second potential area was dry today but Deirdre confirmed it had been wet earlier on in the year.

The name of the well Tobar na bhFircíní is interesting for it is where firkins of butter were kept before they were transported to the Butter Market in Cork, itself known as the Firkin Crane. Firkins were wooden buckets/churns holding about 9 gallons (around 34l) or 80lbs of tightly packed butter (36kg).

This entry from the Schools’ Folklore Collection explains how they were arranged:

At the top of this glen is a well called Tobar Na bhFircíní. The water slowly drips down from a rock. It got its name as the people brought their butter firkins and piled them one on the other so that the water cooled them.

SFC:127:0321

Would this have been acceptable behaviour in relation to a holy well knowing how quickly they can take offense? Possibly, as butter making has always had a supernatural quality about it and a scoop of water from a holy well was often used to get it going.

The well lies in the evocatively named Gleann na Muice Duibhe, the Glen of the Black Pig and features in an extraordinary story:

I was born about a half mile from Gleann Na Muice Duibhe and it was a densely wooded place when I was a mere child, and I was always hearing legends about it from the old men living there. The principal legend was that it was inhabited by a huge black boar which was devastating all the country around and could not be killed as he was enchanted, but that at long last Fionn Mac Cumhail and his Fianna determined to rid the country of him and attacked him with his warriors and after several of his men were killed by the boar, one of his heroes Ferdia, killed the boar and then proceeded to measure him from his tail to his head with hand spans, and that one of the boar’s bristles pricked him under his thumb and as the boar was poisoned Ferdia became very ill and likely to die and his comrades were told that if he got three drinks of water from the well (Tobar na bhFircíní) at the top of the glen he would be made be made well again. Conal Maol went for the first drink and gave it to him and the hero improved, then he went for the second drink. He gave it to him and Ferdia was very much better and when Conal Maol went for the third drink the Devil met him and told him that Ferdia was too great with his (Conal Maol’s) wife and then Conal believed it and did not bring him the drink, so that Ferdia died in agony. The old men had a song or a caoine that Conal composed about his friend and comrade whom he let die through his jealousy. It is a pity that Conal’s caoine or lament is lost now as I was going to remember it … It is curious that the well mentioned in the legend is marked on the present day ordnance map as a holy well but the people around never regarded it as a holy well in the ordinary sense but as an enchanted well. It is not in use now as there are no houses near since a family named Jeffers who lived above it died out about 50 years ago and the house was levelled down.

SFC:152:0321

Now what does that remind you of? Those of you who know your ancient Irish myths will recognise how similar it is to the story of Diarmuid and Gráinne – in particular the death of Diarmuid who was predicted to die by being gored by a boar. In this well know tale Finn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool) pursues the lovers for he had intended to wed Gráinne himself. He spends many years hunting Diarmuid who is eventually gored by a boar – Finn had the power to heal Diarmuid by washing his wounds with water from a well (remember Finn’s magic thumb) but twice he goes to the well and twice he lets the water slip through his fingers. In the end Oscar, Finn’s grandson, threatens his grandfather and persuades him to help the dying Diarmuid. Finn goes to the well for a third time but but by the time he returns Diarmuid is dead. Here’s the long version.

This is where it gets complicated. In the Schools’ Folklore version above Finn has been replaced by Conal Maol and Diarmuid has morphed into Ferdia, another hero and Cú Cuchulainn’s foster brother. Cú Cuchulainn and Ferdia feature in another famous myth in which the two friends and brothers reluctantly are fated to fight each other (another complicated story involving Queen Maeve, bulls and trickery: here’s the long version!) They fight for four days, neither wishing to kill the other but each knowing the outcome for one of them can only be death. Twice Ferdia dunks Cú Cuchulainn in well water to cool him down when the battle rage comes upon him. On the third occasion the water does not cool his violence and Cú Cuchulainn resorts to the gae bolga, a dreadful spearlike weapon which splinters into a million pieces when it enters a body. Ferdia dies a horrible death.

But who was Conal Maol you’ll be wondering, as I was? Apparently he’s better known as Conall Cearnach – the victorious. Another hero of the Ulster Cycle, he had a crooked head after his uncle tried to break his neck on learning that Conall was prophesied to kill half the men in Connacht. Conall also slept with the head of a Connacht man under his knees! He was a Red Branch Knight and his adventures are many and complicated and entwined with all the other heroes. There’s a wonderful description of him in the Togail Bruidre Dá Derga – The Destruction of Da Derga’s hostel:

I saw a man there in an ornamented dining compartment, who was the fairest of the warriors of Ireland. A fleecy crimson cloak about him. As white as the snow one of the cheeks on him, as freckled-red as the foxglove the other cheek. One of his two eyes is as blue as a hyacinth, as black as a beetle’s back the other eye. The measure of a reaping basket his bushy tree (of) fair, very blond (hair) that is on him. It strikes the edge of his two hips. It is as fleecy as a tufted ram.

This early Irish tale also features a similar story of water being asked for – twice denied and the third time offered but too late. Conal Maol, like Ferdia, may have been have been a foster brother of Cu Cuchulain but how all these stories became entwined and connected to the unassuming Tobar na bhFircíní I cannot explain but it is providing endless distractions!

A combination of myths connected by feuding heroes, mystical wells, trickery, honour, feisty women and a ferocious boar – an animal held in high esteem in early Irish culture, associated with fertility, fearlessness, wealth, stubbornness, courage, and warrior strength. The memory lives on in the name of Glen na Muice Duibhne. No wonder it was referred to as being enchanted. Incidentally the ferocious boar originated from near Ben Bulben in County Sligo, so he was a long way from home.

After all that excitement, we went in search of another well that had also originally proved elusive – St Bridget’s Well in the appropriately named townland of Tubbrid, meaning well.

St Bridget’s Well, Tobar Bhride, Tubbrid

The Archaeological Inventory is vague about the whereabouts of this well but it seemed worth rechecking. We wandered up and down the main road in the townland and I spotted a water tank hidden in the undergrowth which look significant. It was in low lying land, now abandoned, the whole area sodden and rich in watercress.

A few metres up the road, we were fortunate to meet a farmer who assured us that that was the well. In fact he said there had once been two wells – later, consulting the 25 inch OS historic map two springs are clearly marked. He told us that the water was so copious it originally flowed down to where the old parochial house had been, near the Overdraft Inn.

The whereabouts of the emerging water was no longer visible but the mill stream from an old tuck mill was and Até leapt in, to the delight of her new found friend.

Time for one more well and we headed down tiny roads towards Riverstick.

Tobar na Súl, Eye Well

This well is not marked on the Archaeological Inventory but is mentioned in the Schools’ Folklore Collection, described as being near the church and Cullen rectory:

There is another holy well on glebe lands of the Cullen Rectory. They used to pay rounds in olden times to the well. The old people saw some relics hanging up on a whitethorn bush.

A perusal of the OS maps and the historic 25 inch map clearly shows a well and two springs.

Consulting the digital map it looked as though there was a clearly defined shape in an otherwise cleared field, always a good sign. On arrival, and parking near the graveyard, there was the shape – a small raised enclosure in an otherwise flat field, respectfully left. Could this be Tobar na Súl?

The enclosure ditch was deep, wet and full of watercress. It looks as though a wellhouse of sorts had been built over the well and pipes were in evidence.

This is a description of it in the 1930s:

There is a holy well in Cullen and it is called Tobar na Súil, that means a cure for sore eyes, when the old people had sore eyes they went to this well to get themselves cured. There was a small hawthorn tree growing near this well, when the people paid a visit to this well they always left a penny or a half-penny after them, and, if they had not any copper they would leave a piece of rag or any thing they like after them, and they would hang it up in the tree and leave it there, but the tree is not there now it is rotted away.

SFC:016:0322

No sign of the tree today but I would be very interested to know if I have correctly identified the site. The shape, a distinct horseshoe but a very large one, reminded me of a fulacht fiadh, in fact the red dot marked above the well on the map is a fualcht fiadh. The two monuments are often companions and I wonder if they might have merged here?

A most satisfactory day out and still quite a lot of questions to be answered.

Many thanks to Deirdre and Annamarie for showing me Tobar na bhFircíní, and to Até the dog for her bouncing company.

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