Three fields, three wells, three lads: exploring around Rathkeale

Astonishingly the sun shone and the rain desisted on our big day out in the wilds of County Limerick, nine holy wells on the agenda! These three were all adrift in fields, all had male saints yet each was very different.

St James’ Well, Ardgoul South

St James’ Well was tricky to find and I had to ask for directions from a man mowing a graveyard. He told me I was very close and to head for the abandoned Protestant church (closed 1972), its spire discernible above the trees in the distance.

We followed his instructions and sure enough a sign led off the main road towards the old church at Nantinan. Two handsome horses were thrilled to see us and came over for a chat. I tried to remember the instructions re accessing well and of course we went the difficult way, finding ourselves in a thicket and having to climb over walls. But there it was, alone in a field, walled and serene though it is not in its original position, apparently having moved a few metres after a woman washed potatoes in it.

We squelched our way to it and opened the creaky metal gate. The stone beehive-shaped wellhouse is in good condition, nicely constructed. It is surmounted by a large Celtic cross, put up in 1982 according to the plaque over the entrance.

A welcome addition for previously the wellhouse looked a little plain.

A couple of steps lead down to the well. Inside the water is clear and fresh, festooned with ferns around the edge.

The water was recommended for the cure of all diseases, but especially for sore eyes and running sores, though there were conditions attached:

At the south-western part of our parish in the townland of Amigan, near our home there is a holy well whose waters are famous for the cure of evils. These are running sores which never seem to heal. The persons affected must visit the well before sunset on Saturday evenings and before sunrise on Sunday morning. The water must be thrown by a man or boy whose name is James. When dashing the water with the hand he must say, ‘In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost’. My uncle who is now dead threw the water on several people who had evils. Many of them were cured.

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Some of the cures were dramatic:

It is said that a woman whose child could not stand or walk, carried it to St James’s well. She got her donkey and car and put the child on the car and drove to the well. Then she took off the child and laid it on the grass. She did her rounds seven or eight times. Each time she went around she dropped a stone in front of it. Then she took the child up in her arms and bathed it with the water and said as she bathed it. ‘If this child is not to get better, take it from me’. Then she took the child and put it on the car again and sat beside it. As she went along the child stood up and the mother was delighted. Then she got off the car and took the child off too, and it walked about two yards. it is said that the child grew up to be a big healthy man.

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It also seems to have helped with sore hands: wash the hand three times in the well then hang up a rag by the bush near the well (no sign of that now) and the hand should be healed.

A cure was ensured if you saw the resident trout, preferably glimpsing him three times in succession.

A trout is supposed to be in the well. He should not be molested or harmed in any way. He is supposed to be very big. Not seen very often.

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The plaque placed on the side of the well commemorates the blessed trout and rather nicely includes a sculpture of the fish. This is one of only three eighteenth century plaques on wells in County Limerick.

The inscription reads:

This work was erected
By Mr Matt Flood in
honor of S[ain]t Jam[e]s Ap
ostle 1750

This attractive little drawing accompanied an entry in the Main Manuscript of the Folklore Collection. Presumably Mr Flood saw the blessed trout and good luck ensued.

The well is now dedicated to St James the Apostle, but it may have originally had a different patron. Tradition has it that it’s an ancient well, existing before St Patrick came to Ireland and that he himself stopped to bless the well on his travels then dedicated it to one of his followers:

St James is the patron of this parish. There is a well dedicated to him and called St James Well. We have a Pattern held at the well every years on the 25th of July. Mostly all the people of the go to the well on that day and pay rounds. People who had been sick and got cured at the well left some holy things there such as beads and medals.There is a story told that St Patrick on his way to Knockpatrick took a drink from this well and blessed it.

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The well may have been rededicated during the Viking or the Anglo-Norman periods. The main pattern day was St James’ feast day, 25th July, when the water was considered most potent:

There is a Holy well not far from our house situated in Mr. Switzer’s field, in the town-land of Nantenan. It is called after St James, who it is said, blessed it and drank the first glass of water out of it. People used to visit this well on St James’ day, but they now visit it on the the following Sunday, as everyone was not able to go on St James’ day. Rounds are still performed and prayers are said on a narrow circular path around the well.The water of the well is recommended for the cure of all diseases, especially for the cure of sore eyes. If people with sore eyes look down into the water and see something moving in it, they are cured. Other people who want to be cured must drink the water, a glass of which they buy from two old women who are in charge of the well. This water cannot be procured at any time except on St James’ day or on the following Sunday. There is a stone grotto built over the well to protect it, with just enough room to get in for the water.

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Seven rounds were required:

Rounds are performed. 7 special rounds starting from door of well, the pilgrim goes from east to west. 7 small stones used to count rounds. When starting the person has 7 stones in hand and drops one in front of the well at the end of each round. The same stones are used by different pilgrims hence no trace of pebbles is near the well, The rosary (was ) said silently … Men leave a penny or halfpenny, nail or button in stone over well door. men leave hairpins, medals and buttons.

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This aerial photograph gives an interesting view and it’s easy to see how compact the rounds were.

Two elderly women were stationed by the well on the pattern day, handing out glasses of water for a few pennies. The pattern was once large and attracted many pilgrims and after devotions were paid there was often a hurling match followed by dancing. The fairs held in the surrounding fields also attracted crowds. The most popular dates for these were 10th July, 5th August and 12th November. Like many fairs in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries they often ended up faction fights, the two opposing tribes being the Two-year- olds and the Three-year-olds. I’ve come across them before in Ballygran!

Mass is still held here on St James’ Day. This photo was taken in on the 19th March, 2021 – not sure why that date is relevant but it was a well attended event.

Today it’s a quiet and tranquil place, self contained and peaceful. We walked back along the stream, the correct route this time.

St Colman’s Well, Kilcoman

This well is on private land approached through a farmyard and then through fields, rich pasture with a line of handsome tree, almost living up to this poetic description:

Midway between Ardagh and Shanagolden is situated the reposing well of St Colman. It lies in the midst of fresh green fields and waving meadows, where grow many wild flowers and tall, branchy trees. Drooping willows kiss its gurgling waters and shake their rustling heads when a gentle wind comes laughing by and shake their rustling leaves.

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The well is enclosed in a rectangular wall, an ornate wellhouse glimpsed over the concrete.

Going through the metal gate, it’s quite a shock to see the interior. The space is large, the area around the well seemingly having been made into a cistern at some point – you can still hear the water flowing out from underneath – but now it is completely covered with strips of corrugated iron. A pallet blocks the entrance to the well.

The photo from the National Folklore Photographic Collection below shows what the well looked like in the 1950s. The wellhouse was erected in 1868 by the McCoy family, in thanks for the recovery of a sick daughter – the commemorative plaque, now very hard to read, is above the entrance. The original shape can be clearly seen today and is striking for the triangular projections which rest on a plinth and face towards the four cardinal points. The outflow is also evident, now covered.

The entrance to the well is blocked by a palette and a cattle mat sits on top of it but lift this up and the water is seen to be copious. Many cures were associated with it :

Many people now visit the place now every year on the 29th October. Everybody takes a drink of the cool refreshing water and bathe any bodily defects with it and many are the number that have been cured.

Ibid

Presumably the covers were placed to prevent cattle getting in and falling in the water but it is a sorry sight.

The well is not in its original position having moved twice due to various abuses. Originally it was near the graveyard:

But this well was not always where it is now. It lay on the side of the road, near the graveyard. Near this place a family resided. One day a wife washed the clothes of her infant son in the well. But lo next morning the well had completely vanished to the present spot. The people in the neighbourhood were thoroughly frightened and terrified and did not know what to make of the matter. One old woman however when she found out where it had sprung up again, disregarded all that her neighbours said, and went there for some water to make tea. When she bent down to fill the vessel she carried, a human hand appeared in the water, and she ran to her home, filled with terror. never since has the water been utilized for such purposes and the well has been declared blessed and named after St Coleman.

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The feast day was St Colman’s Day, the 29th October when it was traditional to fast the day before. This is the date generally associated with Colman of Kilmacduagh from Galway. Pádraigh Ó Riain in his scholarly work, A Dictionary of Irish Saints, suggests that our Colman: was a localization of the saint and ultimately of Colm Cille. The Irish Tourist Association Survey gives the main feast day as 15th August, but says the pilgrimage had died out by the 1940s. Rounds were paid around the well reciting the Rosary and continued to the nearby church, also dedicated to St Colman, where pilgrims made the sign of the cross on a large lump of white marble which was said to bear the mark of St Colman’s head. It held a cure for headaches. I often prefer not to find out too much about a site before I visit it, enjoying making up my own mind and feeling the vibes, and then do my research back at home. However on this occasion I should have done my homework and been forewarned about the stone which I annoyingly missed. This photo is from the Limerick Diocesan Heritage Project.

St Colman promised to look after the whole parish. He blessed it and vowed that no one would ever be struck by lightening. It is also said that he prayed for every single corpse that was brought into the graveyard.

St Bernard’s Well, Ballyallinan

This photo, probably taken in the 1960s, conjured up a bucolic scene – a large well with cattle leisurely drinking from it. Could it still be the same?

It seemed to be another well adrift in another field.

St Bernard’s Well, which can also be referred to as St Benedict or even St Beinid’s Well, is in the townland of Ballyallinan near Rathkeale. First impressions were not hopeful but where better to go during a pandemic than a holy well?

We slipped through the stile and carried on down the boreen, first encountering the small and ancient church, also dedicated to St Bernard but usually known as Templebeinid.

It has many interesting features and is obviously still revered.

Surrounding the well is a children’s burial ground or cilleen, though no grave markers were in evidence. The well lies a short way away, still surrounded by a circlet of trees as in the early photograph.

There are no cattle in evidence today but the water is eye catching: an extraordinary colour, a sort of translucent limpid azure.

It can clearly be seen percolating vigorously. Apparently this is due to several different springs bubbling up in the same area. The well is said to never go dry.

The next thing to catch the eye is the enormous ash tree, literally overhanging the well, its feet in the water!

Once it was traditional to hammer nails into the tree but there was no evidence that this continues today.

Walking around the tree towards the steps leading into the water, offerings are revealed including a slightly unsettling headless statue, the BVM presumably carrying the Infant Jesus. (The statue has since been identified as St Anthony, thank you Finola).

Slipping down the steps, the water seems even more compelling at close quarters. It is said to hold cures for sore eyes, sores, rheumatism and lameness and seven visits were recommended:

It is called St Bernard’s well. The water in it is supposed to cure sores. If you go to this well seven times and wash the sores with the water they will heal. People used to rub the water for skin disease, and sore eyes were washed in it. If it did not cure the first seven times, you should pay another seven visits.

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Here’s Finola hoping her aching knee might be rejuevenated.

The patron is St Bernard who is said to have visited the well. The feast days are 20th August, and Good Friday. A very invigorating sort of place.

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