The Sacred Springs of Uisneach

Although having been much side-tracked by the wonders in Fore and marvels in Lemanaghan, the Hill of Uisneach was the reason for our recent visit to County Westmeath. We realised we had never been to the geographic and mythological centre of Ireland and thought it time to visit the Omphalos Hibernian, the very navel of Ireland itself. How fortunate to discover that were also a few holy wells and sacred springs in the vicinity. We treated ourselves to a private tour of the extraordinary site but arrived a little early so we could first visit St Brigid’s Well, sited auspiciously at the foot of the Hill.

St Brigid’s Well, Killarecastle

The well is easy to find, and is signed from the main road. You can see it across the boggy field, lying in a circular copse. The metal entrance gate was originally embellished with ornate signage but this blew down in a recent gale and is now lying abandoned in the ditch.

The track across the field is damp and boggy but once through the second gate, whitewashed and painted with a Brigid cross, it is like entering a little haven.

St Brigid is patron saint of this area and tradition has it that she founded a church and received her final vows here:

The patron saint of my district is St. Brigid. There is a ruined Church at Killare four miles from Moyvore which St. Brigid got built. It was at Killare St. Brigid took her Final Vows. There is a Holy Well dedicated to the Saint. The Well is beside the ruined Church. St. Brigid was buried in Downpatrick. It is said that people were cured at the Well. (SFC:0742, Page 477)

The remains of the medieval church are meagre and now much covered in foliage.

St Brigid not only built the church but may have also caused the well to spring up:

An old man told me that it is said locally that St Brigid made a pond at the Church, which she got built at Killare and it is said that a small stream flows form the pond increasing in size and from that river all the mills in the locality are driven. A lot of people are called after St Brigid in this locality. (SFC:004:0742)

The well is faring better than the church and is a large expanse of water contained within stone walls resembling a teardrop or heart, the remains of an old ash tree looming over it. Apparently there were once two trees, both, I suspect, regarded as sacred:

There grows over the well a drooping ash tree. There also grew in the enclosure another ash tree at the gable, but this was cut down some fifteen years ago, lest it might fall and injure the gable. A Mr Seery of Ballymore (known as the saddler) took this tree. It was said, that it proved its sacredness, as it refused to burn, though petrol and and paraffin were thrown on it. (SFC:085:0744)

The water is extraordinary – crystal clear and delicious, just begging you to dip your fingers in.

It holds cures for sore eyes and toothache and is know for its efficaciousness. The watercress that once grew around it was also sought for its health-giving properties.

Of course the water should never be used for domestic purposes:

There is a tradition in Killare that water out of St Bride’s Well should not be used for any purposes other than the religious one of curing. One night fresh water ran scarce in the local Uisneach Inn. Some person who was ignorant of the tradition filled a kettle in St Bride’s Well, brought it in and hung it on the kitchen fire to boil for punch-making. The kettle was on a considerable time but the water could not be brought to the boil. Someone lifted the lid of the kettle to see what was the matter. Lo! and behold, a great brown trout jumped out, shook his tail and out on the door of the inn. The local innkeeper was a man named Ben Carberry – a great grand-uncle to the present teacher in Moyvoughley School. (SFC:010:0743)

The Uisneach Inn is now sadly derelict.

Overlooking the well is a large almost beehive-shaped shrine. Inside is a statue of St Brigid, donated by Mrs. Keane Baltacken in 1929, erected in thanks for a cure for her son’s sore eyes. Her robes have recently been painted in vivid blues, greens and magentas. She is adorned with rosaries and other offerings including statues, candles and crosses.

The well was traditionally visited on Good Friday and the 15th August, presumably also on St Brigid’s Day, 1st February. This entry from Moyvore School sums things up nicely:

One of these holy wells is in the townland of Killare in the parish of Ballymore. The name of it is St. Brigid’s well. There is a Shrine there wish a Statue of Saint Brigid in it. It was erected there by Mrs. Keane Baltacken. The ruins of an old church are there. This is said to be the church in which Saint Brigid received her final religious vows. There is a story told locally that from this well all the mills in the locality got their water power, and the well could not be emptied. Many people are said to be cured at this will of various kinds of diseases. A great many people visit it on Good Friday. Rounds are performed there on that day and on the 15th August. An old man living in a cottage beside the well told me these stories. People bring the water from the Holy Well in bottles and keep it as holy water in the home. It was at Killane Saint Brigid took her final religious vows. The well is not very far from the Hill of Uisneagh. The people drink the water from the well when they go there. There is a paling round the well and there is a tall tree growing beside it.
Relics such as pins, medals, rosary beads, washers and other small articles are left as tokens at the well. (SFC:449:0742)

Tokens are still left here and today there were apples, referencing the late harvest season.

Should you want more information about this very special place there is an extensive and interesting excerpt from Boher School, Bracknahelva in the Schools’ Folklore Collection, available here.

It was hard to leave this tranquil spot but the lure of Uisneach beckoned.

St Patrick’s Holy Well, Hill of Uisneach

We were very fortunate in enjoying a private tour in the excellent hands of Ruth Illingworth. There is so much to take in in this extraordinary site including several examples of sacred springs. The first holy well we encountered was dedicated to St Patrick. Tradition has it that St Brigid received the veil from him at the well in Killare though you can’t help but feel that Brigid has been here quite a while longer. St Patrick was keen to establish a church here but after strenuous opposition by the Uí Néill clan, he put a curse on the stones of Uisneach, saying they would be of no use for anything, not heating nor washing. He had time to cause a well to appear though:

St Patrick’s Bed on Hill of Usna, – A bed of stones. He spent three nights there. Thirsty one day – looked down at ground, a well appeared – quenched his thirst – stream still there. (SFC: 066: 0744)

it is highly likely that this has also been here for many centuries before St Patrick arrived. The Archaeological Survey for County Westmeath notes:

It is one of a number of springs and bodies of water on Uisneach which may have been imbued with ritual significance in antiquity (Schot 2011). Today, the well is surrounded by a stone pavement and enclosed within a modern wall of rectangular plan, with iron railings. Next to the well on the NW is a squat, upright stone, which may be of archaeological significance. It is roughly D-shaped in section, with a rounded top, and appears to be composed of locally derived limestone. The stone is oriented E/W and its broad, S face is vertical and smooth.

Visitors aren’t encouraged to visit the holy well at the moment but I begged and Ruth cautiously agreed. I sloshed across the very boggy terrain. It’s in a sad condition, a battered sign proclaiming its presence, rusty railings just about visible through the rampant undergrowth. There’s no hope of getting to the well itself though the surrounding area was very wet which suggests it’s still there. There was no sign of the squat upright stone either.

Ruth said there were plans to restore the well and it would be wonderful to see this important site once again appreciated.

There is one other reference to St Patrick on the Hill and that is his Bed.

St Patrick’s Bed, Hill of Uisneach

This may be the most ancient site on the Hill and is probably a Neolithic passage grave. It’s perched atop the highest part of the hill with magnificent views in every direction – 20 counties visible on a clear day. An ordnance survey trig point has been placed rather unsympathetically right in the centre, now artfully concealed with branches. With a bit of imagination the shape of the surrounding stones could look like a bed and here St Patrick is said to have taken a nap.

Lough Lugh or Lough Lugborta

Perhaps one of the most mysterious features, watery or not, is a natural lake right in the heart of the archaeological complex, known as Lough Lugh. This small but bewitching lake with its central islet, has been here since the last Ice age (12,000 years ago) and although it is a natural feature there’s evidence that it was later remodelled by human intervention and probably used as a ritual pond. This makes sense for it is where Lugh, warrior God of Light, is said to have been drowned by the mythical trio of Mac Cuill, Mac Cecht and Mac Greine, in revenge for the death of their father. Ruth told the story with the goddess Éiru and her two sisters being responsible. Whoever did the deed, Lugh was pinned in the water by a spear being thrust through his foot and he eventually drowned. He is said to be buried in a nearby barrow – Carn Lugdach. A quiet and mysterious site, inscrutable.

Finnleaslach Well, Tobernaslath

As we came down off the Hill towards the end of our tour, Ruth pointed out the rather sorry remains of another holy well – Finnleaslach Well or Tobernaslath.

Although looking rather inauspicious at the moment, this well has an ancient pedigree and is said to be where Oisín stopped to quench his thirst when returning from Tír na nÓg. It is situated close to a ringfort and there is meant to be a limestone boulder at its head, hard to distinguish today. This extract from Beneath the Shadow of Uisneach by Ballymore History Project contains this contribution by Dick Hogan:

Some historians suggest that the well, fort and name Finnleaslach refer to ‘The White Hut of the Physician’ – and say there dwelt beside the well in ancient times a healer of great renown. About a century ago, a Royal Antiquarian Society member, Major Berry, writing about Uisneach’s monuments, described the fort and well thus: The fort at the south of the hill is call Finnleaslach, which might mean the White Hut of the Champion, or as it has a well, the spring of which rises in the fort and flows out at the bottom of the rampart, more probably the White Hut of the Physicia …. Certainly, the stream flowing down the hill towards the main road from this ancient water source has, for a long time, been noted for the watercress and wild mint to be found growing in it. This is a testimony to the good quality of the water. Some say that, like the water from St. Brigid’s Well, Killare, the hillside well water possesses natural curative properties, such as an ancient physician would employ with advantage. (Beneath the Shadow of Uisneach, Ballymore History Project )

No stone but there was plenty of watercress and wild mint.

In mythology the Hill of Uisneach is not only associated with Lugh, but also with Éiru, the most powerful goddess in the Celtic pantheon – Ireland’s mother goddess and the deity from whom the country takes its name. She is reputed to be buried under the Ail na Míreann, also known as the Stone of Divisions or the Cat Stone. This is the very centre of Ireland, the Ompahlos Hibernica and as we toured the site I had all but forgotten about it. As we descended the hill, there it was – I nearly dropped everything and ran towards it! It has such presence.

it is easy to see how it could be interpreted as an entrance to the spirit realms of the mysterious and invisible fifth province, Mide.

The stone itself is a limestone erratic of immense size, deposited here during the Ice Age. Yellow roses had been tucked into various nooks and crannies. You could almost hear it hum.

We had passed Ériu herself earlier on our tour, bountifully bedecked for Samhain. This powerful sculpture is by visual artist Patsy Preston.

There is so much that could be said about about Uisneach but I’ll suffice by noting what an extraordinary ceremonial landscape it is, in use for five millennia. Over 20 monuments are visible in a site of roughly four acres – ringforts, cairns, barrows, standing stones, ancient trackways and ritual water. It was the royal demesne of High Kings and is associated with an ancient assembly held during Bealtine, the Celtic festival welcoming in the summer. This was a fire festival, the location of the first great fire to be lit in Ireland – once this was ablaze all other ceremonial fires were lit over the country, symbolising the re-emergence into the light. This ancient gathering at Bealtine was revived in 2009 but Ruth explained that all significant Celtic festivals continued to be celebrated at Uisneach. This year Aisling Rogerson, wife of the late Manchán Magan, was invited to light the ceremonial Samhain fire. Manchán’s ashes had been scattered on the Hill of Uisneach a week before.

Please note Uisneach is on private land and can only be accessed via a public tour. More information can be found here.

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