The most significant thing about a holy well is of course the water. Not all wells are wells though, they can be springs, lakes, scoops in rock, ponds, hollows in trees or part of a stream.
And not all wells now contain water – 43 of the 330 holy wells visited were dry. Hopefully a few of those were the result of the long hot summer of 2018 and will fill up again over the winter. Others have become dry due to changes in land use and disruption to the water table. In one case, St Olan’s Well, it seems that the well would regularly dry during a hot summer and instead of taking water, pilgrims would take home small pieces of the bark from the tree, believed to have been planted by the saint himself:
… It is usual to take home some water from the well. When the summer’s are very hot and the well dries up people take away a piece of the bark of the tree near the well. This tree is supposed to have been planted by St Olan himself. It is said he was minding cows near the well and had in his hand a stick for driving the cows. He stuck it beside the well and it is from that twig that the famous tree was growing until a few years ago … When it fell another tree grew up in its place and it is to be seen on top of the well now, Some neighbours took some of it to burn but they had no luck with their cattle. They took no more and it can still be seen at the back of the well.
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The Water
For any holy well it is the quality of the water that is special – pure, clean, fresh and often miraculously appearing in unexpected and unexplained place. If additionally blessed by a saint, the water becomes even more potent (saints will be covered in the next blog). Only a small proportion of wells, 37, were found to have scummy or stagnant water; the rest, active or abandoned, retained clean water.
Water from a holy well should only ever be used for healing purposes and if attempting to use it for domestic activities – washing your petticoats, making a cup of tea- things could go horribly wrong. Three wells dedicated to St Lachteen near Donoughmore are reputed to all be connected. The wells at Ballykerwick and Knockyrouke both shifted having been disrespected. I’m not sure what upset the well at Ballykerwick but the one at Knockyrouke was offended when a young woman washed her feet in it, though another story describes blood dripping into it after a fight. Whatever happened these two wells moved and reappeared at Grenagh where the well, still dedicated to St Lachteen, is thriving.
Holy water was said to never boil and countless examples in the Schools’ Folklore Collection and elsewhere refer to frustrated attempts and dire consequences if trying to do so. One such well is Skour Well, Tobar na Sceabhrach, near Lough Hyne which caused a bit of matrimonial dispute as Terri Kearney, Director of Skibbereen Heritage Centre. Whilst interviewing residents of Lough Hyne for her book Lough Hyne; from Prehistory to the Present, she remembers one man telling her how amused locals were to see a tinker family camped near the well and on taking water from the well being flummoxed as to why it wouldn’t boil! Terri’s father was a great believer in the powers of the well and he firmly asserted that water would not boil. Her mother was of a more sceptical nature and decided to play a trick! On Terri’s Confirmation Day the family went to Lough Hyne as was traditional. Her mother took some water from the well and took it back home where she boiled the water and made tea for her father. On asking how the tea was her father replied that it was a grand cup of tea altogether. Her mother revealed what she had done and he spat it across the kitchen! Living dangerously!
Occasionally a holy well may have a runoff area where water might be used for more general purposes or where a pilgrim can fully wash arms/legs/entire body etc. without causing offence. At Lady’s Well, Tobar Muire, near Cloyne, the holy well is approached through the gap in the wall and is a few steps down under the tree.The runoff can just be seen to the right in the first photo.
The water was also noted for some other unusual characteristics:
There is an outlet from the well on the northern side to carry away the surplus or overflow of water which is fairly large and which never seems to vary in quantity in any weather. Even in the very driest of weather the quantity from the well seems the same as in the wettest winter. A curious fact about the water is that it seems warm in winter and very cold in summer.
The Cure
All holy wells have a capacity for healing, some more potent than others. Most contain a general cure that is believed will make you feel better if imbibed it or rubbed on an afflicted spot. Some wells contain specific cures. 31 different cures have been identified in Cork wells covering everything from ague to arthritis, fleshwounds to headaches, men’s problems to lameness! Here’s a selection of wells offering specific cures:
Eye Wells, Tobar na Súl
The most popular cure is for sore eyes – an astonishing 71 wells holding this cure. The common name for this kind of well is is Tobar na Súl – eye well. In the days when there was little access to a doctor and opticians were unheard of, how refreshing it must have been to bathe sore eyes in fresh water. This little well near Drimoleague is simply called called Tobar na Súl. The water today is scummy and the well unloved but it is still there in the hedgerow.
I think eye well may also refer to a less mundane and more spiritual aspect of healing for some of these wells. Should you have a problem, a question to be answered, a visit to an eye well may help you to see the answer. Walter J Brenneman & Mary G Brenneman describe this concept succinctly in their book: The Circle and the Cross: Reflections on the Holy Wells of Ireland:
In our fieldwork in Ireland, we discovered that the vast majority of healings that occurred atIn our fieldwork in Ireland, we discovered that the vast majority of healings that occurred at sacred springs were healings of the eyes.Some claimed that problems with the eyes were due to an injury to the the eyes from the peat fires in cottages. There is, most probably, a deeper
meaning to the healing of eyes. For example, Irish mythological tradition associates the eyes with wisdom, in the sense of “seeing” into the meaning of things. We speak of a “seer” as one who has prophetic wisdom. In a sense, wisdom as healing of the eyes occurs when those
elements that are separated due to illness or injury are brought together again, that is, they are made whole, healed. When the eyes are made whole, they are able to see into the meaning of things again.There is an Irish legend about St. Brigid that thematizes the symbolic relationship between water, the eyes, and wisdom. St. Brigid is the Christian redaction of the Celtic mother goddess Brigid, a goddess of the fertility of the earth and especially of water and intuitive wisdom. Inthe legend, St. Brigid is being pursued by an unwelcome suitor. In order to deflect his advances, she asks him which of her features he most admires. He replies that it is her eyes, for he longs for her wisdom, at which point she plucks out both eyes and drops them at his feet. St.Brigid then went to a holy well, bathed the empty sockets, and her sight/wisdom was restored by the water.
The story of the beautiful but saintly woman plucking out her eyes also occurs in North Cork :
Nearby is a Holy Well dedicated to St. Cranat. Like St. Nicholas’s Well, this also travelled; from Killura, where the landowner, being fed up with the pilgrims, built a wall surrounding it. On completion of the wall, Cranait herself gathered up the well in her apron and moved it to its present site. Rounds were paid here on March 9th. Another aspect of her cult relates to Crann na hUlla. Legend has it that she was the beautiful sister of SS Nicholas (Monanimy) and Branat (Doonawanly), who aroused the passions of an unprincipled Prince. In order to quell his fire, she plucked out her eye and cast it from her. Where it landed, a tree grew, known as “Crann na hUlla” (The Tree of the Eye). A twig from this tree was reputed to be a charm against shipwreck, and, as such, was stripped during the great emigrations of the 19th century. As can be imagined, it no longer stands.
Eircom history website
Interesting to read that the saint herself caused the well to move, but sadly nothing remains of St Cranit’s Well nor the Crann na hUlla.
There’s one example in the Schools’ Folklore Collection that is sort of related. St John’s Well in Templeboden once housed a statue of the saint, which was somehow consulted when there were disagreements in the community – a seeing of sorts:
There is a blessed well in Templeboden. It is called Saint John the Baptist’s Well. He is the Patron Saint and in olden times there were several cures. People used to come here from all parts to settle any dispute before the Statue of Saint John the Baptist until some miracle happened and the priest broke the statue.
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Rather a public and less spiritual way of looking for answers and a rather abrupt ending to the statue. St John’s Well was restored in 2013.
Wart Wells, Tobar na bhFaithni
The second most popular cure is for warts, 28 wells holding this cure. Almost all wart wells are in bullauns – manmade scoops in rocks. Do they hold some specific minerals? This sadly forgotten little well in Lissagriffin lies just outside an ancient ecclesiastical enclosure. Traditionally you walked around the well three times, dipping a warty fingers in each time and then leaving an offering.
Miraculous cures
Some wells can be held responsible for miraculous healing ie something inexplicable and dramatic happening. There are many stories of disabled people being carried to a well in a chair or on the back of a strong man who, on paying the rounds and taking the water, miraculously were able to walk home! Others involve blind people who once they reached the well and paid their respects also had their sight restored. Some times these two afflictions are combined in one tale. A story that crops up regularly is of two brothers or two friends- one lame and one blind – who visit a local well in the hope of being cured. There’s an interesting version of the story attached to St Brigid’s Well in Castlemagner. Owen Egan, a stonemason, lost his sight. His brother was a cripple and one night dreamed that if he went to the well he would be cured. The blind brother carried the crippled brother, and the crippled brother gave instructions to the blind brother. They both drank from the water but only the blind brother was cured. Like many wells, this one was said to contain a trout and it was the cripple brother catching sight of the blessed fish that caused the cure. In thanks he built the wellhouse and inscribed the following: Owen Egan of Knocknanus erected this in honour of God and the Blessed Virgin Mary AD 1787.
This well is a particularly fascinating and complex site and a whole blog could be spent analysing the carvings and figures to be found on the wellhouse built in thanksgiving – but I better not get sidetracked.
Animal cures
It isn’t only humans who could benefit from water from a holy well. Five wells hold specific cures for cattle ailments. The most well known is at Gougane Barra where the whole lake is considered blessed, for it was here that St Finbarr having fought with the resident sea serpent Tú . After an almighty tussle St Finbarr prevailed and the serpent left, speedily carving out a channel from the lake to the sea that eventually became the River Lee!
Originally cattle would be forced to swim across the lake, the waters considered healing, and their spancels (hobbles) were later left as offerings by the large cross in the centre of the site:
… The principal building on the island is a rudely formed circular wall of considerable solidity, in the thickness of which are nine arched recesses or cells, called chapels, severally dedicated to particular saints, with a plain flag stone set up in each as an altar. In the centre of this enclosure, on a grassy elevation, that appears to have been formerly surrounded by stone steps, stands a wooden pole, the upright remains of a large cross, braced with many pieces of iron. Hundreds of votive rags and bandages are nailed against it, and hung upon it, by those whose faith has made them whole, intended as acknowledgments of their cure. Also the spancels of cattle that have been driven through the lake, as a preventive against the murrain.
Crofton Croker, T Researches in the South of Ireland, 1813
Murrain seems to cover a variety of illness that could be potentially fatal to cattle. The water was obviously considered highly potent to humans too as Crofton Croker noted in amazement:
The door or opening to the front of the well was so narrow as scarcely to admit two persons at the same time. Within, the well was crowded to excess, probably seven or eight persons, some with their arms, some with their legs thrust down into the water, exhibiting the most disgusting sores and shocking infirmities. When those within came out, their places were as instantly filled by others. Some there were who had waited two or three hours before they could obtain access to this ‘healing fount.’ The blind, the cripple, and the infirm jostled and retarded each other in their efforts to approach; whilst women and boys forced their way about, offering the polluted water of the well for sale, in little glass bottles, the bottom of broken jugs and scallop shells, to those whose strength did not permit them to gain this sacred spot. The water so offered was eagerly purchased, in some instances applied to the diseased part, and in others drank with the eagerness of enthusiasm. In the crowd, mothers stood with their naked children in their arms, anxiously waiting the moment when an opening might allow them to plunge their struggling and shrieking infants into the waters of the well.
Ibid
Today the humans are a little more sedate and the well, dedicated to St Finbarr, has now been recessed off from the lake. It’s still very much used though.
Scientific research
Not much research has yet done on the components and minerals that occur in holy well water. The landowner of the Well of the Medicinal Draught was curious enough to have the water analysed and found it contained magnesium and cobalt – minerals associated with aiding digestion. Other wells are renowned for their mineral content which can include traces of sulphur, magnesium, iron, potassium and even lithium. One well, in Kerry has had its water analysed due to its considerable success in healing mental disorders: Tobar na nGealt, the Well of the Mad. An Interesting article in the Irish Times looks at all aspects of this well.
There is also one holy well said to contain a cure for madness in County Cork: Well of the Saints, Tobar na Naomh, at Dunlough on the MIzen Peninsula. I couldn’t find the exact spot but rounds were once paid here. I think only the mad would attempt to find it!
Edit: In 2023 a new book was published analysing the chemical content of holy well water: Wells and Wellbeing: The Hydrogeology of Irish Holy Wells, written by Bruce Misstear, Emeritus Professor at Trinity College, Dublin. He surveyed 215 holy wells across 26 counties including 17 in County Cork and eight in County Kerry. He also examined five spa wells. At each site he recorded details of location, topography, accessibility and geology and measured each well’s dimensions, depth, temperature and chemical content. Putting it very basically, he found holy wells in all geological settings, with most wells being springs. Although many minerals and chemical elements were present in the water none were at levels to cause significant effects to health. (Spa waters however were found to have elevated traces of specific minerals). However, he makes the very important point that the setting of a well, (many to be found in beautiful and remote places, a therapeutic landscape), would, combined with drinking what was believed to be clean, sacred water, significantly contribute to mental health and wellbeing. He concludes:
Although the spiritual and psychological benefits of a therapeutic landscape may not always be matched by the actual chemical or microbiological attributes of the water itself, it is clear that the combination of water (when wholesome) and landscape make a a powerful contribution to our personal wellbeing and to our wider culture.
And a word of caution to end with. The water of a holy well should really not be drunk unless you are absolutely certain that is is uncontaminated. I would only consider it if the cups are spotless and the water sparkling. Otherwise it’s a dab behind the ear and on the wrist.
