Returning home from the City of Shrone on May Day I inadvertently passed two Marian grottoes and of course had to stop. Travelling around Ireland you may notice an abundance of grottoes! Some are discrete and tucked into gateposts or placed in gardens: private, household shrines. But the vast majority are Marian shrines depicting the […]
Marian year
North Kerry Escapade Part 2
The second part of our day trip around the tip of North Kerry and refreshed with a bowl of soup in a supermarket somewhere rural, we paid a quick visit to Lislaughtin Abbey. It has seen better days but even in a derelict state it was apparent how fine it must once have been. The […]
Two wells on Valentia Island
A couple of days staying on Valentia Island. The weather roared and howled around us with a complex mixture of snow and sleet, gales and glorious sunshine. Our comfy base was the Royal Hotel Valentia – a roaring fire and excellent food welcoming us after each hard day’s well hunt. Valentia is a remarkable place […]
On Wells 3: Saints & Sinners
All holy wells hold a capacity for healing. As far as I can ascertain, there some subtle distinctions between them: a Blessed Well, Tobar Beannaithe, holds a cure – often for sore eye or warts while Tobar Slanán, a health giving well, as the name suggest, contains water that is good for you and may or […]
Thwarted
Thwarted at every turn today by cattle, streams, briars and tiny winding roads with five rather obscure wells on the agenda, roughly between Macroom and Carrigadrohid. No great successes well-wise, but I did encounter a few things of interests and the day was beautiful. Well of the White Fort, Tobar an Rátha Bháin, Toberbaun, Tobar […]
Lady’s Well, Tobairín Muire, Kealkil
South of the old graveyard of Kilmocomoge (signed from the road as Lady’s Well) is the still much revered and beautifully kept Tobairín Mhuire – the Little Well of Mary. The site is enclosed in blue and white railings and there are some jaunty blue seats looking up towards the statue of the BVM who […]