Three sisters, Two wells around Cullen

The area around Cullen in North Cork reveres three saintly sisters: St Lasair, St Laitairian and St Inghne Bhuidhe – the spellings of these names vary enormously! Who they were seems complicated. Some accounts refer to them as being from the north of England for the wonderfully named St Beirechert (also spelled in a multitude of ways) is said to have lived with them for a while before heading up to Tullylease (his well to be recorded shortly). The saint who gives his name to St John’s Well on nearby Mushera mountain is meant to be their brother (his well also coming up soon) and they also seem to have connections with St Gobnait of Ballyvourney and St Croagh Dearg at the City of Shrone.  Other accounts put them back much further in time, as daughters of an ancient chieftain, Bhuide. It seems likely that their feast days once marked the start of the Celtic festivals – St Lasair at Imbolc (Spring), Inghne Bhuidhe at Bealtine (Summer) and St Latairan at Lunasa (Autumn). Was there a fourth sister since forgotten who brought in Samhain (winter)?

There is a nice story in the Lives of the Saints by Canon O Hanlon which shows how highly the sisters were regarded:

… In the diocese of Kerry there is an old church at Dromtariff, in the parish so-called, and County of Cork, where a female saint, called Inneen, was venerated on the 6th of May. According to popular tradition, she was the sister of St. Lateerin, who is likewise popularly known at Cullin in that part of the country, and to an older sister who lived at Kilmeen. The remains of an ancient paved way may be traced between the places. It is stated, according to a local tradition, that the Angels of Heaven made a road one night from Kilmeen through Dromtariff and on to Cullin, so that the three sisters might the more conveniently visit each other once every week.

St Lasair’s well at Killasseragh has since been ploughed over but the wells of the other two sisters remain, revered and visited and full of interesting folklore.

Inghne Bhuidhe’s well, Dromtarriff
This is a delightful and unexpected spot, approached through a farmyard and then down a track through fields sown with wheat. The first time we visited, the wheat was ripe and golden, the tractors passing up and down beside the well. Beautifully enclosed within a circular wall, it has the feeling and appearance of a small oasis.

A metal gate creaks open and lets you in. Inside all is green and quiet. A hawthorn tree is decorated in rags of many colours, a mossy statue of the BVM below. The well is below the ground, four steep and narrow steps take you down and it’s quite a feat to scoop up the water.  A box for donations has been customised as a mug holder. The water is cold, clear and plentiful and is said to be good for eye ailments, rheumatism and men’s problems. Three sips were required in the name of the Holy Trinity or it could be rubbed on the afflicted part of the body and taken home,

Rounds were paid on the feast day 6th May, anytime after midnight to midnight of the following day though three successive days in May were also acceptable. The rounds were as follows:

Walk three times round the well reciting the Rosary and at the same time kneeling at three places during the circuit of the well. The direction followed is that of the sun viz east to west. Each pilgrim proceeds to the churchyard nearby and prays for the souls in Purgatory.

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(The cemetery is a few hundred metres away across the fields, the remaining walls of the old church recently repointed. A notice refers to the grim burning of the church by Cromwell’s men in 1651 – it ominously notes over 400 persons perished in the fire.)

It was so customary to leave rags on the trees. This was done in thanks and recognition, or in the hope that an illness or fear would be absorbed by the rag, and when attached to the tree would decay along with the rag. Today a magnificent hawthorn trees remains liberally covered in colourful strips of ribbons, a small statue of the BVM nestling in its roots.

The well attracted many devotees to one landowner’s chagrin:

The Leaders (landlords) drained the well at Dromtariffe on one occasion.  They drained from the Blackwater up to the well, with the intention of putting an end to the custom of visiting the well.  At that time people went to the well on different occasions during the year: there was no special day of pilgrimage.  The Leaders then tilled the land and sowed corn in the area of the well and in fact over the well itself, which they had covered.  On the morning of the sixth of May the spring burst up through the ground.  It made a lake of four or five feet in depth and a few feet in diameter, where the well had been. The story went round and the people made enquiries to find out whether the well had not reappeared previous to the date mentioned. Nobody had seen it before the sixth of May however.  Water to the depth of about one and a half feet filled the bottom of the well and no water overflowed into the field.  Therefore it did not interfere with Leader in any way. The result of it all was that the Leaders did not again interfere with the well or with anybody who has occasion to visit it.

Another story dating from 1873 – is this describing the same event from another point of view or is it a different occurrence altogether?

… a most remarkable occurrence is said to have taken place, now over twenty years ago. The man who owned the land in which the holy well is situated thought to stop it by draining, as the people used to damage his place when coming from all directions to Visit the well. All the men he had employed endeavouring to stop its course refused working at it. He even advanced their wages, but this did not induce the greater number of them to continue their labour. However, some undertook the draining, and the first day they worked every workman got sore eyes. After this some continued for a few days, until they got stone blind. Then the gentleman who owned the land saw his mistake, and he got men to repair the damage he had done to the well. He got a wall built around it, and from that date he kept a man in charge of it. 

O Hanlon, Cannon: Lives of the Saints, from Grove White

The wall obviously didn’t last that long for when Colonel Grove White visited the well in 1910 the photograph he took shows a very simple hole in the ground and nothing else around it but sheep. Colonel Grove White was a British army officer and general enthusiast of all things historical in North Cork. He researched extensively and presented his findings in his book  Historical and Topographical Notes etc. on Buttevant, Castletownroche, Doneraile, Mallow and places in their vicinity, by Colonel James Grove White. Cork, Guy and Company, 1906-1915.  This is a mine of information and includes his own photographs.

Another entry in the Main Manuscript of the Folklore Collection describes the well in 1934 as being in the middle of a field under a few trees, a simple hole in the ground about three foot deep and badly kept. This extract also suggests that after the Leaders tampered with it it moved and this is not its original position.

The well was eventually restored in 1984 and when I first visited in May, 2016 was looking very attractive and well kept in preparation for its feast day on the 6th May when an open air Mass was to be held.

It’s interesting and rather nice that the land surrounding the well is still sown with corn. This is a remarkable place, removed and separate and yet still so connected with the past; you return to reality refreshed and tranquil.

St Laitiarian’s Well, Tobar Laitiarain, Cullen

Not far away in Cullen is the well dedicated to St Laitiarain, the sister of Inghne Bhuidhe. To find the well you walk down a small boreen skirting the old graveyard and there in a very lush green field is the beehive shaped well, gazing out across the rolling hills.

The well was restored in 2008, a cross placed on the top but the tiny iron gate remains from the original well, allowing access to the water. It’s quite a stoop to get down there. It feels peaceful and remote but once hundreds of people came here to do the rounds. As often seemed to be the case, the day ended in unseemly and unchristian merriment to the annoyance of the clergy. Rounds are still held here on 25^th July, making it a Lunasa site. Traditionally rounds were also held on the Sunday before the 25th July, and Good Friday.

Colonel Grove White visited the site in 1914 and mentions some of the cures that were attributed to the water:

I visited Cullen on 24 March, 1914. The Holy Well is situated in a field to N.E. and close to the graveyard. The patron day is attended by a large number of people, mostly women, who come for the cure of all kinds of diseases. I was informed that a girl named Leary, who was a cripple, was cured about 1894, and left her crutches at the Holy Well. A mason named Daniel O’Connor, who lives at Cullen, some time ago cleaned out this well and found in it some clinkers from a forge. There used to be a trout in the well.

Note the little doorway from this well remains in the current, restored well – a nice touch. And the trout referred to was meant to be golden and a bringer of good luck.

Local folklore has it that St Laitiarain came from England with her three sisters and to start with they all lived in Cullen. She was the  youngest sister and every morning she went to the blacksmith to collect the ‘seed’ for the fire ie the red hot embers. She carried them back in her apron and never seemed to get burnt. One day, as she scooped the embers into her apron, she revealed a bit of shapely ankle and the blacksmith remarked on its comeliness! She glanced proudly at her ankles and at once was burned by the coals for she had felt the sin of pride:

There are many ancient tales connected with Millstreet and its surroundings and this is one of them.This incident happened about five miles from Millstreet at a place Cullen. A certain woman lived there and every morning she used to go to the forge nearby for a few coals of fire to start her own fire. This morning she went as usual for the coals.The blacksmith admired her feet. She on hearing the praise looked down at her feet and felt quite vain of them.Suddenly her apron which contained the coals took fire and she cursed the blacksmith. Never has there been a forge in Cullen since nor I suppose never shall. This woman was supposed to be St Laterian. Neither can a forge be within a mile of Cullen except its door is turned away from that village or else the fire won’t light in it.

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As she sank to her knees to pray she disappeared into the ground and reappeared by the well in the field. The spot where she disappeared is marked by the Dallan – a large heart-shaped boulder, also known as the Cloch na gCursa – the stone of the rounds.

It is also known as the Heart Stone or the Saint’s Stone and women would genuflect in front of it before the  harvest. It was once near the village pump but has since been moved and sits rather oddly in front of a large, modern handball alley. The rounds start from here.

St Laitiarain’s Day is the 25th July, putting it into the Lunasa category, and rounds are still performed on this day. There is still no forge in Cullen!

Both wells revisited in June 2024 and both looking good. Inghne Bhuidhe’s Well was rich in colours, the wind gently whispering through the leaves.

St Laitiarain’s Well had a path cut through the copious growth of the field in readiness for the Feis or Patron day, rather mysteriously held on June 2nd in 2024.

• I have since been contacted by the great granddaughter of the stone mason, wonderful continuity. Thank you Sheila for getting in touch.

Location of these wells can be found in the Gazetteer.

Inghne Bhuidhe’s well is on private property – ask at the farmhouse.