Today is the Feast of St John the Baptist, a good example of one of those Christian festivals that neatly superimposed itself upon a much older pagan celebration, for it is also Midsummer – an ancient Celtic festival when fires were lit to honour Áine, the goddess associated with the sun, fertility and the protection […]
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Trinity Well, Newmarket
This was an unexpected and interesting well, clearly signed from the road and approached down a long, damp trackway complete with horsetail shoots. The stone wellhouse, a colourful mound in a pool of bogginess, is semi-circular and bedecked with plastic flowers and eclectic offerings, a wooden cross placed atop. A large slab, now submerged, lies […]
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 Barrahane & St Brigid: an explore around Castlehaven
Two small, well camouflaged wells today, both with minute roads leading to them which required nerves of steel but well worth it! St Barrahane’s Well, Tobar Bearcháin, Castlehaven What a beautiful spot this is – a small, narrow, bumpy road takes you down to the unexpectedly expansive harbour of Castlehaven, the blue of the water […]
Three wells dedicated to St Gobnait, Baile Mhúirne
The 11th February is St Gobnait’s Day, the feast day of a very popular saint in West Cork, one who still attracts many pilgrims to her shrine in Baile Mhúirne, (Ballyvourney. I decided to come and pay my respects too and was impressed and moved by this extraordinary experience. The Rounds, Turas GhobntanThe site is large […]