Diversions in Tipperary Part 4: featuring some strange & colourful saints

Whilst roving around Tipperary recently, we came across some wonderful sites connected with some colourful and interesting saints – some previously visited before and some new. First up St Séadna, possibly St John, St Seona, St Sedna or even St Senan.

St Séadna’s Well, Glen of Aherlow

Located in the south east corner of Clonbeg graveyard, tucked behind an attractive Church built in early nineteenth century as a memorial chapel for the Massey family and near the ruins of a medieval church, lies St Séadna’s Well.

The laden rag trees are the first things to catch the eye, some rags very chunky indeed. There seem to be preponderance of ties and T shirts, along with more traditional offerings.

The circular well is flush with the ground and lined with rough stones – one carved with the name St Seona.

The water is deep and clear and said to hold a cure for sores and other diseases with a feast day of 23rd June, St John’s Eve. It doesn’t seem to have changed much since this entry was written in the Schools’ Folklore Collection by Peter Horgan, Principal of Bansha National School, although he gives the Assumption as the feast day:

At Clonbeg near Aherlow, there is an ancient holy well. It is situated at the end of a Graveyard on the banks of the river Aherlow amid picturesque beauty. It is attended every year on the 15th August by people who make their rounds. Years ago there used to be a pattern on that day in a little Village called Newtown. Nowadays it is not so frequently attended. People who make their rounds there go to the well and drink some of the water. Then they hang a rag on the bush and walk round the well several times and say some prayers. Invalids who come there to get cured kneel beside the well and drink some water and at the same time say a few prayers … The well is still kept in good condition and is looked after by a man who lives near it. (SFC:166:0575)

The Irish Tourist Association Topographical and General Survey Survey for Limerick (ITA) (note not Tipperary) gives the pattern day as 20th July and describes St Séadna as: a bishop of Aherlow, said to be buried nearby. He may also have been the brother of St Eiltín, or Multose, of Kinsale,

A peaceful place, and we were very taken with the carefully mown heart-shaped grass near the well.

St Berrihert’s Holy Well & Kyle

As we travelled down the Glen we had to pop into St Berrihert’s Kyle and Holy Well, one of the most extraordinary places in the country, visited several times before. There is no signage and it’s an ankle-wrenching traverse across some boggy fields on rickety boardwalks but no matter how many times you go there, it is a constant surprise to encounter. Hidden among the trees is a circular enclosure, the stone walls containing at least 70 cross slabs, placed here in 1946 by the OPW. Nestling against the interior wall is a large bullaun stone, now used as an altar and full of offerings – some rather unexpected.

If you can tear yourself away, another short walk through more fields lies the enigmatic and remarkable holy well. It’s large, and tree-lined, offerings adorning the over-hanging trees. The water is crystal clear, a strange colour and seen to be percolating vigorously. It is believed to hold a cure for burns, scalds and headaches and was also taken by emigrants to protect them on their journeys.

This entry sums up the rituals pretty thoroughly:

St Beraherth’s well is situated in the town-land of Ardane and in the Parish of Bansha. It is said that in ancient times, there were seven brothers saints, each of them lived in adjoining parishes. One of them names St Beraherth lived where the well is. A church was there at that time but it has fallen to ruins, and only some of the stones remain to be seen. The well is surrounded by huge birch trees, and there is a tradition that any of the timber around it cannot be burned, and that the water cannot be boiled. People use the water to cure diseases. If you had a pain in you head to wash it three times in the well the pain would go away. The people of the locality observe the eighteenth of February as the pattern day of St Beraherth. They keep that day just as they keep Sunday but there is no mass celebrated. People come and go around the well six times and say the Lord’s prayer, Hail Mary and Glory be to the Father while they are doing each round. They dip ribbons in the well and tie them on the bush. They also get stones which they dip in the water, and these they take away with them. Some people wash their face three times in it. A cup is left near the well for the people to drink the water. They take three sups of it, and say — in the name of the Holy Ghost. Amen. They then go over to the cill and go around it five times saying the same prayers. It is said that in ancient times unbaptised children were buried in the cill. When the people are going away they take a bottle of water out of the well with them. (SFC:187:0575) 

St Berrihert was an Anglo-Saxon and his main place of veneration is Tullylease in North Cork where tradition describes him arriving and having to wrestle with the resident druid. The druid and the saintly man swopped clothing and were put in a shed, the shed was set alight with the premise that whoever emerged unharmed would be the saviour of Tullylease. It was of course St Berrihert who emerged, not a spot reddened upon him, and all that was left of the druid were St Berrihert’s clothing.

We could have stayed here for a long time but had to move on, coincidentally to a site where seven brothers were also commemorated. Con, still doing a recce for his fieldtrip, took us up and down tiny, steep roads to Ahenny to see the renown high crosses. Here they are, in the middle of nowhere adrift in a field.

The two remaining crosses are magnificent – there’s also a stump of a third.

Con described how each was highly decorated with stories – now very hard to identify due to the lichen and to erosion. My favourite story concerned an extraordinary saint, new to me – St Sciothin/St Scuithin and the tales surrounding him are highly contradictory. The first story does not present him in a very favourable light but is fascinating. Although a holy man, he was married and every year a child was born to him and his wife. Eventually he decided that he had a surplus of children and decided to leave the family home and put himself away from temptation and more offspring. He was away for seven years, possibly in Wales, and on his return his wife promptly became pregnant. To his horror, she gave birth to seven sons – one for each year he had been away! In a not very saintly manner, St Scoithin took them down to the river to drown them but a passing saint persuaded him to desist and told him that each son would grown up to be a saintly man! They did and they are are depicted as seven bishops on the base of the cross on the left. Maybe one is St Berrihert!

Another version of his life is totally different and has him down as a virgin saint of great austerity and self discipline, so immune to temptation that he would regularly sleep amongst damsels beautiful, white-bosomed, according to George Moore. What a man! He may have been related to Ailbe of Emly, who we shall meet next. Incidentally, this little graveyard seems to be dedicated to St Clispeen, possibly St Crispin, who seems a very English-favoured saint to come across in the Tipperary countryside – the rousing Agincourt speech in Henry V coming to mind.

St Ailbe’s Well & Cross, Emly

At some point in our journeying we fell into Emly, what a delightful place full of interesting old buildings and so beautifully kept.

We were thrilled to find Seasons Coffee Shop where excellent coffee and large slices of apple pie were consumed. Thus refreshed we went in search of St Ailbe’s Well, located somewhere in the graveyard. Everywhere was immaculate and clearly signed but the well was a disappointment – closed up with access to the water almost impossible. I have since learnt from the parish priest that there are plans to fully restore the well, once funds are available.

The well is said to be very deep, 35 feet according to RH Long in his article Cashel and Emly Diocese (JCHAS 1898, Vol 4, No39) and it sounds as though more than one person fell in it:

St, Ailbe’s well is situated in the corner of the graveyard. It is a very large well. It is a very deep well. It is said that St, Ailbe jumped from the top of the hill of Knockcarron to where the well stands now and that is what caused the well to be there. People go round the well on the 12th of September. Every time they go round it they bless themselves and say the rosary. It is said that a man with a bundle of straw was tired and seated himself on the side of the well. As he was sitting down he fell into the well. When he fell in the water overflowed and he swam out of the water. (SFC: 013:0580)

It was traditional to go around the well nine times reciting the rosary after every three circulation:

There is a well in the graveyard dedicated to St Ailbe. On the 12th September the people make their rounds there within the Octave. It is said that it cures sick people especially those suffering from rheumatism. The prayers that are said are five Paters and Aves then three Rosaries while walking around the churchyard on the Feast day or within Octave. On any other day nine Rosaries must be said. After every Rosary a cross must be made on St Ailbe’s gravestone with a stone left there for that purpose  (SFC:125:0580)

The water held a cure for rheumatism but could also be used to deter birds:

People take the water from the well to drink. When St Ailbe was young he was sent into a garden to keep birds off of it and since that people go to the well, and take water from it and sprinkle it on the corn to keep the birds away. (SFC:013:0580)

The cross remains, in better condition than the well, still with a stone left on top. This is believed to mark the saint’s burial place, Ailbe dying around 536AD at a great age.

It is made from granite and has healing qualities of its own:

There is a tomb-stone in Emly grave yard. It is know as St. Ailbe’s Cross. It is a Celtic cross. It is a very ancient cross. It is worn away now. It is made of granite stone. It is situated in the south western part of the graveyard. There is no stone in the graveyard like it. The stone is four feet eight inches high and one foot ten inches wide. People say that more than half of it exists under the ground. There is no writing and no carving on it now. The weather has worn it away from time to time. St Ailbe is buried to the west of the stone. There was a monastery opposite the stone but it does not exist now. The Sign of the Cross is made by the people on it with three stones which are laid on top of it. Long ago the people used swear by the Holy Stone of Emly. Every time people respect it as they pass it by carving a cross on it with stones. When a person has a pain in his back he would get it cured by putting his back against the stone and praying to St Ailbe. When a person has no pain in his back and to do the same it would strengthen his back. (SFC:016:0580)

St Ailbe also has a soft spot in my heart for he is sometimes known as St Elvis and his feast day is my birthday, 12th September. He may have been a pre-Patrican saint and has some interesting folklore surrounding him. When he was born the chief Conan ordered that he should be exposed on a hillside as the baby was born of nuptials against the king’s orders, in other words he was his illegitimate son. His mother snuck out from the castle and hid the baby under a rock – Leac Ailbhe. Here he was found by a she-wolf who took him in and cared for him as one of her cubs. Later he seems to have been found in the forest by visiting Britons who fostered him and took him back to Britain, probably Wales.

One day Lorcan Mac Luigir found him and took him to his own house. Tradition said Lorcan was the ‘perfection of natural goodness’. Lorcan gave him to people from Britain. The Britains were Christians and they brought St Ailbe up a Christian. One day the Britains were going to Britain and they did not want to take St. Ailbe. They set sail without him but were driven back on the coast. They looked on this as a sign that Ailbe was to go with them. He went to Rome and he was ordained a priest and then he was consecrated bishop. He went to Western Europe to teach. Then he went to Brittany and to Wales. He came back to Killroot, East of Ulster. He made his way to the South till he reached Cashel. It is related that the Bishops Ibar, Ciaran and Ailbe meet St Patrick at Cashel at the Court of King Aengus. St Patrick and King Aengus settled that St Ailbe should be Archbishop of Munster. It is said he lived in Connaught for a while and that an angel appeared and told him to go back to the cross of Emly and build a monastery and teach there.St Ailbe returned to Emly and built his monastery at “Imleach Inbhair” or the place beside the lake. There is no trace of the lake now, but it did exist up to about two hundred and fifty years ago. (SFC:123:0580)

An eventful and saintly life but there’s one final nice tale associated with him. Long afterwards, when Ailbe had become a bishop, an old she-wolf was being pursued by hunters. She ran to the bishops and laid her head upon his breast. He protected her and looked after her and her cubs.

St Peacaun’s Holy Well, Cell & Church, Tuairín Péacáin

No visit to this part of Tipperary is complete without a visit to St Peacaun’s early ecclesiastical site. This is a large and complex site visited several times before but it is always worth a revisit for pass through the level crossing and you enter a different world, untouched by modernity.

The site is large and may originally have been founded by St Abban who put St Peacaun in charge, sometime in the 7th Century. It was probably an early monastic site surrounded by a huge enclosure. On one side of the boreen are the ruins of a 13th century church containing cross slabs, a sundial and fragments of inscriptions.

Protected by a cattle grid is another assemblage of other fragments and an intriguing artefact known as the Butter stone. St Peacaun, also known as Béccan, Becan, Beagan, or Mo-Bhec-oc, seems, like many saints, to have been a pleasant chap unless annoyed. Apparently he was hungry and came across a woman who had been making butter. He asked whether he could have something to eat and she told him that she had nothing to give him. Disliking her meanness and lies, St Peacaun turned her roll of butter into stone. The stone was probably originally placed in the bullaun across the road and was considered to be a homing stone ie if stolen it would return to its original place. It is now protected by an iron grill but look carefully and you can see the fingerprints of the unfortunate woman.

On the other side of the road lies the holy well and St Peacauns’ Cell.

The well is in a small copse and is deep and subterranean. Nearby a holy water font has been cemented into a wall. The water contains a one eyed fish and a cure for burns.

Further into the field is the cell – actually a double bullaun stone protected by a stone wall and very attractively set off by a hawthorn tree. Here St Peacaun is said to have prayed, leaving his kneeprints forever in the stone.

His feast day is 1st August making it a Lunasa site, and the pattern once attracted hundreds of people:

St Piocán’s well is situated in the townland of Tooren in the Parish of Bansha. St Piocán was a brother of St Beraherth. St Piocán’s well is surrounded by white-thorn bushes. The people of that district honour the first of August as the pattern day of St Piocán. Sports are held year on the first of August, and the people come and do there rounds. They leave a mug near the well for the people to drink the water. They say certain prayers and tie ribbons on the buses in remembrance of them. They used be old women with tents there selling sweets and cakes at the sports. Long ago the children of Tanker’s-town school, and Ballydrehid got a half-day from school to go to the pattern every year.  (SFC:188:0575)

An open air Mass is still held here on that date.

We were fortunate to have Conleth Manning as our guide, especially on this site, for he led an archaeological excavation in Toureen Peacaun in the late 1980s – here is his report.