Having toured North Cork in part 2 of her peregrination, visited three possible sisters and a brother, St Gobnait remains in County Cork for the last leg of her journey; but before embarking on the home straight makes an inexplicable journey down to West Cork – sure, why wouldn’t you! Kilgobbin, Ballinadee St Gobnait then […]
South Kerry
Piety, Pleasure & Miraculous Tussocks
This sounded an intriguing place – a holy well that in fact might be a lake but which may no longer be there, remembered for its miraculous floating tussocks! We set out to investigate, heading to a remote coastal tip of the Beara Peninsula – Bunaw/Kilmackilloge, just off the R574 from Kenmare to Lauragh. The […]
Enchantment & Petrification: St Feaghna’s Well, Bonane
This has to be one of the most extraordinary and unusual sites yet visited. Extraordinary in so many ways: from the setting, to the monuments to the folklore. Apologies for the length of this post but I was immersed and enchanted! Veering off the N71 from Glengarriff to Kenmare, you encounter a myriad of tiny […]
Tobar an Bhile & a lot of Serendipity
Many years ago, and I’m talking about the late 1990s, we came for a family holiday in Kerry, staying in a cottage on the old butter road high on the slopes above Coad Mountain not far from Caherdaniel. Whilst in the local shop, I saw a notice about a pattern day at a holy well […]
A tale of Saints & Sheep: Tobar na Molt
A trip to Kerry and a chance to take a quick excursion to a well I have long wanted to visit – Tobar na Molt, Well of the Wethers, in Ardfert just north east of Tralee. I have always been intrigued by the name and this entry from the Schools’ Folklore Collection offers an explanation: […]
A trip across the border 2: Killarney wells
Part two of my Kerry excursion and a trip to Killarney meant various holy wells required visiting. The first was right in the centre of the town. St Mary’s Well, Killarney St Mary’s Well is in the town itself, conveniently near the central car park. It is an unexpected sight amidst the bustle of Killarney […]