Today we ventured inland into the Gaeltacht in the search of St Lachteen. St Lachteen (526- 622AD) is patron saint of the Kilnamatrya area, cill na matra meaning church of the relic. This relic in question was an armbone of the saint, housed in an extraordinary artefact: the Lámh Lachtáin. The gorgeous reliquary dates from […]
Search Results for: Gobnait
Three sisters, Two wells around Cullen
The area around Cullen in North Cork reveres three saintly sisters: St Lasair, St Laitairian and St Inghne Bhuidhe – the spellings of these names vary enormously! Who they were seems complicated. Some accounts refer to them as being from the north of England for the wonderfully named St Beirechert (also spelled in a multitude […]
Two wells for Bealtine: Tubrid Well & City of Shrone
Just back from a brief but fruitful tour of North Cork, culminating in two very special wells that are traditionally visited at Bealtine. Bealtine was one of the four ancient Celtic festivals and is a Cross Quarter Day, half way between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice. It was usually celebrated on May 1st. […]
St Brigid’s Well, Castlemagner
This has to be one of my favourite wells visited so far. We had had an energetic day searching out holy wells in North Cork and this was the last on the agenda. It is not easy to find and seems to be on the fold of several different OS maps but eventually, after much […]
Lady’s Well, Tobar Mhuire, Sheep’s Head
This attractive little well is found next to a Mass rock and together they form a special site, still visited and venerated. The road that leads up to Lady’s Well is signed but tiny with huge views across Bantry Bay. Park where you can then go through the stile, across a very muddy field, sometimes […]
St Abban’s Well, Tobar Abán, Baile Mhúirne
I visited this little well on the 11th February, the feast day of St Gobnait, but was so entranced that I felt it deserved its own page. Appropriately enough St Abán is meant to have been the brother, or possibly the mentor, of St Gobnait and it may have been he who founded the religious […]