An unusual well in County Limerick on the agenda today, one literally in an estuary. Barrigone Well, St Jude’s Well, Craggs I have long been intrigued by this well having seen images of it waterlogged, like a small ship afloat. It’s situated on the Robertstown River estuary which flows out to join the mighty Shannon […]
Limerick
St Kyren & St Molua, two holy wells near Ardagh
Two contrasting wells today, one recently restored, the other quietly being left to its own devices in woodland. First we went in search of St Molua, patron saint of Ardagh – yes, the place where the astonishing chalice was discovered in 1868. All was very quiet as we parked in the village. On inquiring about […]
Enticed by old photographs: three ladies encountered around Adare
The National Folklore Photographic Collection, available online at duchas.ie, is an invaluable source with a wide ranging variety of images including holy wells. County Limerick seems especially well documented and each of the three wells covered in this blog initially enticed me with their beautiful black and white photographs. I had high hopes for each […]
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 […]
Three ladies encountered enroute to Adare
Day one of a well hunting trip to County Limerick in the excellent company of Robert and Finola of Roaringwater Journal. The weather had been atrocious and I was nervous as to how we’d cope as were going to be in the field with nowhere to run. The journey up to Adare, where we were […]
A Golden Fish & Fun & Frolics: Our Lady’s Well, Croom
Meandering through south County Limerick, a quick stop was made in Croom, County Limerick, in search of Lady’s Well. Steps from the main road lead down into a public park and the first things encountered are some strange looking stones – big ones. Three large stones seemed to be arranged in a triangular arrangement with […]