St Patrick’s Well, Cloncagh
Just when he though he had the job done, St Patrick was visiting the church at Cloncagh, South Limerick, when what should he see but a serpent hurtling towards him! He quickly threw his prayer book at the beast and where it landed up sprung a holy well. The serpent was speedily banished but the well remains, today looking rather forlorn and uncherished. This story is borne out by a similar tale from the Schools’ Folklore Collection which gives the basic information about the well:
There is only one Holy well in my parish. It is in the townland of Clouncagh, and in Baggot’s field. The well is called St. Patrick’s well. It is visited on St. Patrick’s day. The rounds and prayers performed are one rosary to three rounds of the well. It is said that there was a serpent in Clouncagh, killing all the animals, and St. Patrick knelt on a stone in the field at the North side of the parish Priest’s house, and threw his Prayer book and killed the serpent, and where the prayer book fell the well sprung up. It is also said that the print of St. Patrick’s knee is to be seen on the stone where he knelt. The people drink the water, and rub it to the affected parts. There was a salley tree over the well on which pieces of ribbon were tied. If the people sees a small fish in the well while making the rounds, it is a sign that request will be granted. This is known to have happened on few occasions. It is said that the proper time to pay rounds at the well is before sunrise, and after sunset.
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As you wander around the old church, the site of a monastery founded by St Maedoc of Ferns, the well can be spotted out in the field. At first we could find no way to get to it. There seemed to be no gate from the churchyard so we clambered in rather undignified manners over its walls.
The well is enclosed by an unadorned circular wall made from cement blocks, put here in the 1970s when it was last refurbished. A metal gate leads within. The centre is small, claustrophobic and very overgrown. The well takes up most of the area but it is hard to see what exactly lies under all the grass, no sign of the saintly kneeprints or the salley tree mentioned in the above extract. There seem to be traces of a circular path around the well, with a stone slab directly over it.
The well itself appears to be semicircular, flush with the ground. Although overgrown, a little careful clearing revealed fresh copious water.
The water is said to hold a cure for blindness and sore eyes. It also contains a blessed fish, good luck to those who see it.
What dominates is a life size statue of the saint enclosed in a shrine, protected by glass. St Patrick looks faded and remote, as well he might for I suspect he receives few pilgrims these days. We visited a few days before St Patrick’s Day, 17th March, and there were no signs that anybody had been to do a quick tidy up or clean, as was evident at the next well we visited, also dedicated to Patrick.
Pilgrimages were once made here as the the Limerick Diocesan website descibes:
The well was refurbished in the 1970s. In 1999, the dedication at the well was held in May, not on March 17th as usual. The congregation, led by Fr Crawford, walked from the church at Cloncagh to the old cemetery at Cloncagh, and from there on to the well. This route chosen for this walk symbolised the circle of life and the connection between life, death and the water of life.
limerickdiocese.org/history-heritage
I wonder if there have been any pilgrimages since.
There were originally two other holy wells in the large field: Sunday Well and Lady’s Well, though there are no signs of them now. The 25inch historic map reveals not only the holy wells but an enormous circular enclosure containing the ruins of the church and graveyard, with two unnamed wells – one inside the enclosure and one just outside the walls. This structure has been described as a ringfort or an early ecclesiastical enclosure.
A site that has lost much of its grandeur and a rather lost and unloved holy well.
St Patrick’s Well, Ballyelan
A few kilometres east of Cloncagh in the townland of Ballyelan is another well dedicated to St Patrick. Situated right on the side of the road, this little well has a more jaunty and optimistic air. Cleaning preparations were evidently underway for the forthcoming feast day and it had an air of of expectation. This is another of the several wells Patrick stopped at as he made his way to Ardpatrick and seems to have a long history:
A well – near Lee’s Cross, in the Parish of Ballingarry, about 3 miles from Granagh was a centre of Pagan superstition. St Patrick visited it, blessed it, and left the print of his foot on a flag-stone beside it. It is much honoured on every St Patrick’s day, which is a regular Pattern day a the Well. Rounds are paid, and the water is brought home to sick people or invalids who cannot visit the well themselves
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Sadly there was no sign of the footprint, in an other version described as a handprint – apparently the stone was last seen in Abbeyfeale. The well is covered by a whitewashed wellhouse, rectangular with a pointed gable. A large statue of St Patrick sits on a plinth on the roof. He holds his crozier aloft, a shamrock attached to it, details picked out in emerald green. A motif on the front of the gable looks like a four leafed shamrock – extra good luck?
A slab holds an assortment of offerings: including jugs, candles and holy water bottles. In a small niche lurks an Infant of Prague.
Behind lies the well, roughly circular, lined with stone. The water is deep, cold and clear, and is believed to hold a cure for sore eyes.
Offerings of statues, mass cards and more candles show the well is still active.
One of the nearby bushes nearby is starting to sprout what look like new rags.
And the hedgehog and its interesting passengers was a first.
Traditionally Mass was held at the well on St Patrick’s Day but its proximity to the road has made this dangerous. Now people walk from the church at Ballingarry and the Rosary is said at the well. The path round the well looked like it had been recently cleared and the bushes trimmed, all ready for some rounding.
A ramshackle bench, once painted green, is available for pilgrims to rest awhile.
I liked this well.
The location of these wells can be found in the Gazetteer.
Well described – that first one had a very forlorn air.
It did but I liked the serpent story!
Another interesting blog. I wonder if the grass was tamed / removed you would see his knee print !
With the offerings I thought someone had left a carton of milk at first;-)
I wonder! He seems to have left them all over the place!