A quick round up of some of the more intriguing wells visited in 2019. It’s been a busy year for I officially completed my research on the holy wells in County Cork: 310 wells visited and recorded, and then ventured forth into County Kerry. A long visit to New Zealand followed by a horrible bout […]
Mount Brandon
St Macadaw’s Well: yet to be discovered
Kerry Head is a tiny peninsula jutting out into the Atlantic, the very limit of North Kerry. It is incredibly scenic and remote but home to several interesting holy wells. Today’s destination was St Macadaw’s church and holy well in the townland of Glenderry, a place of much folklore and tradition connected with one particular […]
Two wells & a whole lot more at Cill Mhaoilchéadair
The western tip of Corca Dhuibhne, the Dingle Peninsula, is remarkable for the sheer density of early Christian remains: ecclesiastical enclosures, early crosses and holy wells abound. Passing through these clusters is Cosán na Naomh, the Saint’s Path, which is surely no coincidence.This pilgrim path starts in Dingle, Ventry or Kilmalkedar and wends its way […]
Tobar Fláinn: on the edge of the World
Whilst up Mount Brandon and chatting with Mícheal he asked me if I had been to St Flainn’s Well. I confessed I had not, mainly because the Archaeological Inventory is rather dismissive: Toberyline/Tobar Flainn: Located at the base of the sea cliffs immediately S of Brandon point. It is a ‘clear spring in a rock […]
A Mountain Well for Lughnasa
Some wells are more challenging than others. Tobar Bréanainn, St Brendan’s Well, on the summit of Cnoc Bréanainn, Mount Brandon, has to be one of the most dramatically positioned holy wells and one of the most fiendishly difficult I’ve ever attempted to get to. But it had to be done, and on the correct day, […]
Tobar Manacháin agus an Madra
I’m back in the Gaeltacht having finished an intense but rewarding week on an Irish language immersion course in Baile an Fheirtéaraigh, Corca Dhuibhne; Ballyferriter, Dingle Peninsula. (There’ll be a lot of Irish in this blog, hopefully mainly spelled correctly, but it seems only right to give names in Irish first). The course was very […]