The first well expedition of the year set off at a cracking pace as we, in the company of the Roaringwaters, set off for the Iveragh Peninsula in Kerry, rock art and holy wells on our minds. After a damp, mild and very wet Christmas the second week in January was cold, crisp and sunny […]
The curious, the scenic and the challenging – a 2023 round up
It’s been a busy year for holy well work and the main excitement was the publication of my book Holy Wells of County Cork. This was kindly launched by Gary Branigan, author of Ancient and Holy Wells of Dublin and was hosted by the Working Artist Studios, Ballydehob. The book of course took much longer […]
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 […]
Wonderful Wells & Wild Weather: squelching around the Iveragh
I’m just back from an excellent long weekend at the inaugural Skellig Coast Archaeology Festival. The weather was atrocious and many events were outside but we were a hardy lot and sallied forth anyway – and there were wells! St Crohane’s Well, Tobar Chrócháin One of the highlights of the programme for me was a […]
An Adventure to An Blascaod Mór
A tick off the bucket list and a visit to one of the most difficult holy wells to get to – Tobar an Croise, Well of the Cross, on An Blascaod Mór, Great Blasket Island, West Kerry. We have often gazed at the enigmatic Na Blascaodaí, the Blasket Islands, from the mainland, usually seen disappearing […]
Summer meanderings
In between all the excitement of the book finally being let loose into the world, I have had time to visit a few, mainly local, wells, which had so far escaped detection; and caught up with a few old favourites. Ballybane Holy Well In June Thomas Wiegandt Invited me to inspect his well in Ballybane […]