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 […]
St Brendan
St Fursey & the Holy Mountain
It’s been three years since I started this project to visit every holy well in County Cork and record what I found. I have visited approximately 300 wells and apart from a couple, think that the remaining 50 can mainly be classified as no visible trace. I have changed the introduction to the website and […]
A tale of Saints & Sheep: Tobar na Molt, Ardfert
A trip to Kerry and a chance to take a quick excursion to a well I have long wanted to visit – Tobar na Molt, Well of the Wethers, in Ardfert just north east of Tralee. I have always been intrigued by the name and this entry from the Schools’ Folklore Collection offers an explanation: […]
Motorway Madness: 9 possible wells off the M8
Back on the road again and heading down the east side of the M8 today – apologies if this is a bit of a ramble in all senses of the word! First a quick detour west to Ballyhooly to inspect St Brendan’s Well just glimpsed yesterday as the light and myself were fading. Ballyhooly by […]
A brief encounter …
… But what an enjoyable one. I’m in Kerry collecting Himself who has just completed the Sli Chorca Dhuibhne – excellent walking though the weather was sometimes a little challenging. Whilst he finishes some drawings I go off to explore for I know there’s a well in the townland in which we’re staying near Ceann […]
Two incredibly hard to find wells on the Mizen
I knew these two wells might be a little challenging, but the sun was shining, they were fairly close together and it seemed a great excuse to drive out to the very end of the Mizen Peninsula. Well of the Saints, Tobar na Naomh, Tobaraneeve,Dunlough The drive out to Dunlough Head is stupendous. The roads get […]