After the atrocious weather of the the day before (see Part 1) and the cancellation of all ferries, Scattery Island Tours kindly laid on an extra sailing on Saturday morning to anyone who had missed their original booking. We were keen to avail of the offer and were amazed to find that we were the […]
BVM
A St Michael Well on the Cork /Waterford Border
St Michael’s Well, Tobernhulla, Well of the Anointing I was sent an image of this well by Michael O’ Sullivan who suggested that I visit it as part of my research in the holy wells of County Cork. I was amazed I hadn’t come across it before and it has proved too be a bit […]
Set in Stone: an exploration of saintly imprints
In the middle of a small road leading to the Swiss Cottage in Cahir, County Tipperary , is a lozenge shape, inlaid with stones – but look carefully and two large scoops can be seen in the centre. These are described as imprints left by St Patrick’s knees when he knelt down to pray whilst […]
Ringing in the old & the new: a round up of explorations in 2024
It’a always interesting to look back on a year and see where I’ve been and what I’ve done. It didn’t feel as though I’d visited many holy wells this year as much of my time had been taken up with the project Well, Well, Well?, working with artist Marie Brett. This immersive and creative project […]
Found, Forgotten, Revisited: a November round up
A blog highlighting some recently visited wells around County Cork and County Kerry, including some old friends and some new discoveries. It is now reasonable to assume that many holy wells date from before the Christian era and can therefore be hundreds of years old. The first well described may be unusual in that it […]
Kinsale: Fan na dTubraid, a town built on springs
I recently joined forces with Charlotte Cargin who took me on a whirlwind tour of some of the wells in Kinsale, the town originally called Fan na dTubraid: the Slope of the Springs/Wells. I had noticed that Charlotte was busy uncovering wells in the town and surrounding areas and wanted to find out a bit […]





