Unbelievably is seems that ten years have passed since I first ventured out, rather naively it has to be said, on my quest to visit and record the state of the holy wells in County Cork. My original motives were curiosity and a desire to see a bit more of the county, a good project for my recent retirement. I hadn’t really thought it through and wasn’t expecting to be so entranced and absorbed by my peregrination. When I set out I knew very little about the traditions or folklore surrounding holy wells nor about the attendant rituals and etiquette. I’ve had my eyes opened in all respects. These are a few of my experiences.
Colonel Grove White
St Dominic’s Well, Glanworth & some thoughts on restoration & maintenance
I was recently invited to Glanworth in North Cork to give a talk on holy wells as part of National Heritage Week, and to acknowledge the recent renovation of St Dominic’s Holy Well by the local community groups. I have visited a few times before, each time alarmed by the neglected and sorry state of […]
St Ben’s Day: Tullylease revisited
I have been invited to give a talk to Thomond Historical Society in March and thought I ought to have a few more Limerick wells under my belt and so planned a speed well trip! On the way up a spot of serendipity for Nicholas invited me to the Well Day in Tullylease, which was […]
St Gobnait & the Iron Man
St Gobnait has been extensively covered in previous blogs but there were a few loose ends to tie and there is always something new to discover about this fascinating local saint. A bit of cross county exploration led to a few disappointments but also some delights. Holy Well, Kilgobnet, near Dripsey I was alerted to […]
A Peregrination Part 2: meet the family
In A Peregrination Part 1, we followed St Gobnait as she started her journey from Inis Oirr on the Aran Islands, through Kerry, Limerick and Waterford as she searched for the place of her resurrection – identifiable by seeing nine white deer. She has already seen a smattering of deer, left a scattering of churches, […]
St Finbarr Revisited & some thoughts on conservation
I am finally back in Ireland having spent six months in New Zealand, four months longer than intended due to Covid-19! The virus continues to restrict movements so I decided to revisit two holy wells close to home and see how they were faring. Last time I visited was in 2016 and both wells, both […]