Lady’s Well, Tobar Mhuire, Sheep’s Head

This attractive little well is found next to a Mass rock and together they form a special site, still visited and venerated. The road that leads up to Lady’s Well is signed but tiny with huge views across Bantry Bay. Park where you can then go through the stile, across a very muddy field, sometimes with cattle, and then you find yourself high up on a ridge. The entrance to the site is marked by a gate painted silver but first you pass the statue of the BVM herself, gazing somewhat wistfully out across the vast expanse of bay.

Some steep and usually slippery stone steps lead down through the gate, a rail thoughtfully provided ( I was accompanied by the guardian of the well one one occasion – he’ll appear again!)

This leads into an enclosed area below consisting of the holy well and adjacent Mass Rock.

The site is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, (though St Gobnait is sometimes considered to be co-patron), and there is a story that she even appeared here. When the practice of Catholicism was severely restricted during Penal Times, Mass was often held illegally and in secret, remote open air places such as this one. A natural rock was consecrated and converted into an altar, water from the nearby holy well being used during the ritual. It was a highly dangerous undertaking, especially for the priest, and not all had such a fortunate escape as described here:

Lady’s Well, a little hollowed glen, was used as a Mass Rock in Penal times. In the Bantry area during these times the priest wasn’t hunted, provided he kept out of the way, certainly of the Landlord, and didn’t make a big scene about the religious practices. At the Penal time then, there was a story that there was a change of command of the soldiers at their headquarters in Donemark Mills. Somebody took the advantage of notifying the new captain in charge that there would be Mass in the morning at Holy Well and the new captain could capture a priest for himself. And that somebody no doubt got some money for his information. And seemingly they did send soldiers out to the Mass at the Well, and the story was that when they appeared on the high ground in front, the priest decided to take his chalice and host and hide it and began to run, but the people watching saw what they thought was a Lady with the light blue cloak on the rock behind the altar where the Statue is now. The Lady slipped the cloak down over the whole thing and blocked off the scene of the altar and the Mass from the soldiers. And when the soldiers saw this, they turned away and left….

Sheep’s Head Way booklet

It’s very easy to imagine a mist appearing around the site, the soldiers looking frustrated and bewildered on the ridge nearby. The well continued to be revered and was extensively renovated in 1952 when the steps leading down to the well were cut out of the rock, the Mass rock tidied up, the canopy of pebbles constructed over the well and the statue of the BVM erected (it took four strong men to get her up there!) The Southern Star reported on developments and noted that work was all done voluntarily by the community, donations coming in from as far a field as America:

Statue of Our Lady – Mr O Sullivan, brother of the owner of the land at Lady’s Well Beach has sent thirty dollars fro America to Miss Downey, Main Street Bantry, as a contribution towards the cost of the erection of Our Lady on the spot.

Southern Star, 21 June, 1952

Renovations were complete by August 1952 when the new statue was formally blessed. It attracted large crowds:

Statue Blessed: Upwards of one thousand people from Bantry and other centres were present at Beach on Sunday last when the newly erected statue over the Holy Well was blessed by Rev J Horgan CC who then delivered a short address and followed with the recitation of the Rosary. Members of the Bantry Parish Choir under Mrs Baldwin sang hymns. The road leading to the spot was bedecked with flags and bunting and the whole scene was a most colourful one.

Southern Star, 2 August , 1952

70 years later and the site remains beautifully kept and still venerated. The well itself retains its attractive arched canopy made from pebbles gathered at the nearby beach.

The clean, cold water gathers in a shallow basin which then filters out into the nearby field. A mug is handily placed should you wish to take the water (he looks tempted).

The two tiered stone Mass rock is always covered in offerings- statues, rosaries, crucifixes – here beautifully decorated at Christmas.

There is also a bullaun stone, an enigmatic monument featuring a manmade scoops in rock. They are sometimes considered holy wells in their own right. This one is probably not in its original position.

There are many stories of healing associated with the well and an eel is reputed to lurk within a sure sign of good fortune if spotted. A story tells of how a young girl from Drimoleague was brought here in a chair, unable to walk. She saw the eel and was reputedly cured, no longer needing the chair for her return journey home. When the statue of the BVM was put up in 1952, some of the money received towards the cost, came from the granddaughter of the girl who was said to have been cured.

I was lucky enough to be shown round the well by Johnny Crowley, a local historian who contributed the information concerning the holy well in the Sheep’s Head Way booklet, available locally. He assured me the well was still potent and gave an example of a recent cure. A young man was brought here suffering from a sore eye. He had visited the doctor and the well was almost a last resort. As he approached the well he saw the eel and at the same moment a splinter of wood fell from his eye.

Pilgrims can visit the well at any time but the traditional pattern date is the 15th August, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This fascinating sketch shows a pattern at the well and is dated to around 1820

You can see the pilgrims paying the rounds with the Mass rock and well in the centre and to the left of the image tents encamped in the nearby fields.

Traditionally 15 rounds of the well were required, the round itself going up to the right of the Mass rock in a very uneven and treacherous path (it’s him again).

Pilgrims collected 15 pebbles as an aide memoire before starting the round:

Tis a very devout place. and there have been healings attached to it. The round is done here on the 15th August. The rounds then consisted of 15 decades of the Rosary, going up one side of the path by the altar and down and round the other. The tradition was to take 15 small pebbles and as you passed the well you dropped one in. You know you had the 15 decades finished when you dropped the last pebble in the well. When you threw in the 15th stone and said your Hail Holy Queen, if an eel that was in the well jumped up in the water, the main part of your wish would be given…

Sheep’s Head Way booklet

This extract from the Schools’ Folklore Collection gives a bit more information:

There is a holy well about a mile and a half to the west of the town and it is called Lady’s Well. This well is situated in the townland called Beach. Some people go to this place on certain days, giving rounds. It is generally on the feast of the Assumption, the fifteenth of August, they go there. They walk around the well fifteen times, and each time they say an Our Father, A Hail Mary, and a Glory Be to the Father, they then say the Rosary. Sometimes people are cured of diseases by making rounds at the well, and by drinking the water out of it. When people go to the well, they always leave some token there, such as a rosary beads, medals, prayer books or a coin. There are many crutches and sticks, placed around the well, those were left there by people who had been cured by praying and by drinking the water of the well. In olden times, it is said that Our Lady used to be seen there.

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Offerings of all sorts are still very much in evidence, tucked into the hillside and on the altar.

Mass is still held here on the 15th of August when the whole area is beautifully decorated with hydrangeas and other flowers, a crisp linen cloth on the rock. After a three year absence due to Covid 19, Mass was held here again in 2022.

An intriguing site with much history, healing and presence. It has been beautifully and lovingly cared for by at least four generations of the O Sullivan family.

Many thanks to Johnny Crowley for showing me around the site.

The location of this well can be found in the Gazetteer.