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 […]
BVM
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 […]
Well, Well, Well? The making of an arthouse film
Fieldwork has taken a bit of a back burner this year for I have been involved in a very exciting project which has just come to fruition. Almost a year ago I was contacted by Marie Brett, an award winning visual artist, who wondered if I might be interested in working with her on an […]
Well dressed – in Buxton, Derbyshire
I’m just back from a week in Buxton, England having attended the excellent Sacred Waters Conference organised by Sewanee Liberal Arts College, Tennessee and Durham University, England. It was well attended with speakers and participants from America, England, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Ibiza, Scotland, Finland, Portugal, Sweden, Netherlands, India, Nigeria and Wales. It […]





