In Praise of Well Keepers

I am in the early stages of collaborating on an art project focusing on holy wells. Marie Brett is leading the project and approached me with inquiries about locating possible holy wells. After a lot of difficulty I narrowed it down to four wells, two in North Cork and two in North Kerry, all visited before but now looked upon in a new light. The most rewarding and important part of the trip was meeting the well keepers, three of the wells lucky enough to have committed individuals looking after them.

Tubrid Well, Millstreet

I have visited this impressive well on many occasions and each time have been impressed and each time discover new things to explore and admire. Today we were lucky enough to meet the well custodian, James Ó Sullivan. Storm Babet was still creating havoc and conditions were damp but it was a privilege to be shown the well through his experienced and compassionate eyes. His father looked after the well before him and he hopes one day his son might take on the mantle.

James has created a place that is almost a sanctuary – one that is used by a wide variety of people from those grieving, to those seeking help, to those wishing for a cure to those wanting help with more practical requests such as passing exams. He oversees all this is a gentle and unobtrusive way, creating a welcoming and safe place. He, at peoples’ requests, makes benches for those wishing to remember loved ones – each has a sad story he confessed but he enjoyed seeing how people would sit on the benches and strike up conversations and he hoped it might somehow help.

Today the water was gushing, crystal clear and percolating and James explained that it is the main source of drinking water for the citizens of Millstreet – the spring supply is augmented by a borehole located within the Water Treatment Compound nearby.

What really made my day, however, was the sudden quiet arrival of the resident blessed eel! Here we are looking hopefully.

Yes Tubrid is one of the many holy wells that contains a guardian fish and to see one is considered extreme good luck. Having visited over 600 wells I had yet to see anything but today we were graced with the silent appearance of a slender black creature about 30cms long who swam quietly out of the shadows then kicked up the mud and disappeared. I was thrilled and so excited that I missed the photo opportunity, thankfully Nic caught the moment.

As we left the site, I spotted a stag on the side of the path, just standing there amongst the undergrowth. Surely another wonderful portent.

James kindly took us back to his home and provided us with a magnificent tea complete with scones and cream and regaled us with stories from the well. His compassion and depth is going to add a very special layer to the project.

City of Shrone, Cathair Crobh Dearg, Fort of the Red Claw

Whilst in the neighbourhood it would have been rude not to visit The City, Cathair Crobh Dearg, just a few miles across the border in County Kerry especially as Marie and Nic had not yet been. Conditions were wet! The sheep were astonished.

The traditional pathway to the site involved leaping over a fairly deep and fast flowing stream – our canine companion refused but Himself was braver.

This ancient site, tucked into a massive cashel, just oozes atmosphere and mystery, snuggled as it is under the Paps of Anu – completely invisible today.

The holy well lies just outside the walls, a little austere in its concrete surround, but the water is clear and extremely cold. Traditionally it was collected on May morning and sprinkled over the land and on the cattle. It is an ancient Bealtine site and may be the oldest spiritual site in western Europe still revered.

Lady’s Well, Tobar Mhuire, Rockspring

From Millstreet we head up towards Liscaroll, finally going down the long bumpy boreen that leads to Lady’s Well, Tobar Mhuire, in the townland of Rockspring. This was my third visit here and I was struck by how a rather forlorn air has crept into the site.

The first time I visited the shrine was illuminated, the mugs were sparkling clean and neatly stacked and everywhere there were offerings. The hairs literally stood up on the back of my neck. Today the well was full of leaves and large branches, the mugs had gone and the offerings were randomly piled up in the shrine – no lights on. Nonetheless the place has an enormous power, the well is deep and percolating and an extraordinary luminous turquoisey grey.

It exudes peace inspite of the presence of a large and bouncy labrador who thought we were the most exciting things he’d seen all day.

Sadly we could find no trace of the dog’s owner or the well keeper.

St Michael’s Well, Tobar Mhíchíl, Lixnaw

The next day of our trip we met bright and early at St Michael’s Well, Lixnaw in County Kerry. I had visited this well fairly recently on its feast day when it was looking wonderful in the bright sunshine, bunting and fairy lights leading the way down to the inner site.

Today we met up with Tim Joe Connell, who is chairman of the Well Committee and has been the custodian for over 20 years. Another kind and thoughtful man, he made us tea and we ate biscuits as he told us some of the well’s history and developments.

The well had once been very rural, approached across fields and the interior had been grassed. Extensive work was carried out in the 1950s when the main statue of the archangel, brought over from Italy, was erected in its imposing shrine. Further work was carried out in the 70s/80s – more shelters were added and at some point the whole site was fitted with slabs, all materials donated and recycled. A little room for the priest is the latest addition, now used as a cosy spot for a brew of tea and some digestive biscuits. Tim Joe visits the site throughout the day and keeps it in immaculate condition. Visitors are constant and the well obviously still has an important part to play in the community and is renowned for the strength of its healing.

Gail Tangney took this photo of Tim Joe, on the far left, with some visitors on the pattern day, 29th September, 2023. On the right, Marie and I ponder over some serious issues overlooked by our guardian angel! Gail interviewed Tim Joe on the same day the previous year in the video below.

Another holy well fortunate enough to have such a devoted and compassionate custodian.

Wethers Well, Tobar na Molt, Ardfert

The final well of our trip was Tobar na Molt , also known as Well of the Wethers, near Ardfert and here we met the landowners and wellkeepers, Annamarie and Richard Ó Flaherty. The well had been in the ownership of Annamarie’s ancestors for many years before the land changed hands but it has since been bought back by the family and Richard and Annamarie are now custodians. They showed us the old homestead where Annamarie’s great grandparents had originally lived before building a new bungalow next door in the 1970s.

Pilgrims were sometimes accommodated here and refreshments provided on the pattern days. The bungalow has recently been purchased and renovated.

The approach to the well is along a green causeway, lifted up off the bogginess, I think, in the 1980s when slabs from the nearby quarry were placed underneath. We were intrigued to see deer hoofmarks skitting about in the green. More portents. Entering through the small gate it feels like another world, an enclosed and magical space with just a small robin singing. Richard told us how, before it was renovated in the 1980s, the interior was dense with undergrowth, the monuments and the well itself existing in tiny pockets of clearing.

Full immersion seems to have been practised here, the baptismal place of St Brendan, and it remains a place of healing and sanctuary.

We encountered a man who told us that he had been cured here and visited every month in thanks. Other stories abounded, including one about another man who became well enough to abandon his medication and he buried it on the site, planting a tree above – the tree is still flourishing! The belief in the cure and power of healing here is evident in the growing number of rags on the hawthorn tree and in the handwritten messages left in what’s known as the changing house – pilgrims, or the priest, may once have changed in here before immersing themselves in the water.

Richard and Annamarie have, like James and Tim Joe, managed to unobtrusively maintain and ensure a place of inclusion and solace where everyone is made to feel welcome and safe.

Thank you to Gail again for providing this photo of Annamarie and Richard, with two of their children, taken on the pattern day, 16 May 2023.

Gail also videoed the day which was extremely well attended.

What is most noticeable about all keepers described here is their love for the sites they tend, their quiet respect and devotion, and their openness to include and reach out to anyone who needs to avail of the solace and peace these wells still obviously provide.

Many thanks to Tim Joe Connell, James Ó Sullivan, and Annamarie and Richard Ó Flaherty for their time, insights and hospitality. Thanks also to Gail Tangney for permission to use her photos and videos, to Peter Clarke for use of some of his photos and to Nic Piper for snapping the eel!

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