You can of course visit a holy well any day of the week but there are certain times when a visit is considered to be especially potent. The main day for visiting a well is the pattern day or pátrún day, usually celebrated on the patron saint’s feast day. St John’s wells are visited on […]
Ballyvourney
Trees, Saints, Cats & Cake: well hunting North Cork
This cluster of wells was on my list last time we were in North Cork but had to be postponed as the weather was just too hot! The heatwave having abated I dropped Himself off in Ballyvourney as he tackled the last leg of the Slí Gaeltacht Mhúscrai, also postponed due to heat. We arranged […]
Old Friends Revisited
A final trip into the Gaeltacht Mhúscraí was required to find three unvisited wells. We intended to stay in the area for three days, Himself walking the Slí Muscrai Gaeltacht. I also had a motley quartet in my sights around Newtownshandrum. But we were slightly thwarted by the weather: no, not torrential rain or floods or […]
In the footsteps of O Sullivan Bere
Summer arrived for a few magnificent days – an excellent opportunity to head to the hills and explore the Gaeltacht Mhúscraí around Baile Mhúirne (Ballyvourney) and Béal Átha an Ghaorthaidh (Ballingeary). I had six wells left in this area, all of them in seemingly remote and difficult areas, all of them with apparently little to […]
Meandering south of Mallow
Four wells on the agenda today, all south of Mallow and all having interesting and detailed write ups by Colonel Grove White in his Historical and Topological Notes etc. Ania’s Well, Tobar Aine, Dromore As we approached Dromore House, (now called Nazareth House and run by the Sisters of Nazareth as a holistic centre) where the well […]
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 […]