Celebrations on several accounts: it’s been two years to the day since I embarked on this ambitious, slightly mad but riveting project to visit every holy well in County Cork; this is my 100th blog and it’s St Bridget’s Day! There are potentially at least 356 holy wells in County Cork and I am now […]
Other
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly …
… a quick whizz through some of the most memorable holy wells visited in 2017. Most privileged encounter: St Patrick’s Well, Castletownroche The year started with a wonderful encounter where we were not only privileged to visit St Patrick’s Well, Castletownroche, right on the Blackwater River, but we were also given an extensive and personal tour […]
Inse an tSagairt
The sun was shining and we nipped across the border into Kerry. It would have been rude not to explore whilst there, so a guest well today. I left Himself at Molly Gallivan’s and he disappeared off into the mountains for a long hike. I headed for Innisfoyle and what sounded like an interesting Mass […]
Thwarted
Thwarted at every turn today by cattle, streams, briars and tiny winding roads with five rather obscure wells on the agenda, roughly between Macroom and Carrigadrohid. No great successes well-wise, but I did encounter a few things of interests and the day was beautiful. Well of the White Fort, Tobar an Rátha Bháin, Toberbaun, Tobar […]
In search of Blessed Fish
Confined to barracks due to hurricanes and tidal surges, my thoughts turned to blessed fish. During the year and a half I have been exploring holy wells in County Cork, I have been fascinated by how many are said to contain a blessed fish – roughly one tenth. The fish are usually described as eels […]
St Declan’s Well, Ardmore
I’m just back from an excellent two day conference on Holy Wells, An Tobar, in Waterford. It’s always good to meet like minded fellow enthusiasts and it was a very cosmopolitan and interesting gathering. Congratulations to the two organisers, Celeste Ray and Shane Lordan, for such a well organised and comprehensive conference. After all the […]