A clutch of wells around Castlefreke

An exploration around the Castlefreke area today. The castle itself is a massive Gothic pile built by the Freke family in 1820, replacing a much earlier castle. The house was burnt down in 1910; later sold, its valuable interiors were gutted and the building left a ruin. It was purchased once again by the Freke family in 2005. They are intending to restore it to its former glory but I think money and legal issues have put developments on hold. Enticing glimpses of the property can be spotted amongst the trees, barricaded by a fearsome array of No Trespassing notices. The surrounding woodlands though are open to the public and contain many beautiful walks. They also contain a wart well.

Wart Well, Castlefreke

We were accompanied by Hannah who was born in nearby Rathbarry and knows the area well. She could remember coming through the trees with her mother to visit the well when she was a child. The trees have since been cleared in this area but the route to the well is small and slippery and very evocative. The well itself is a large bullaun stone – a manmade scoop in a rock – and holds a cure for warts.

The basin is large and quite deep, about 20cm we reckoned- see the bracken test. The afflicted area had to be dipped into the water three times, a reference to the Holy Trinity.

None of us had any warts to test – we’ve been to too many previous wart wells – but we did dip our fingers in.  It’s interesting how many bullaun stones seem to associated with the curing of warts. Possibly they contain some special mineral.

As we were walking back through the trees we stopped to inspect some old ruins. A man went by and he stopped to chat. He was full of information and told us all about the old house. It was once lived in by a woman who made poitín, a highly potent and illegal brew. She would cycle around distributing it, the bottles kept in the basket of her sit-up-and-beg bicycle. To guard against unwanted inspection of the basket she also kept a cock pheasant in there who would peck the over-curious!

We inquired about wells and he told us about one in nearby Rathbarry which had recently been partly slabbed over by someone developing a snail farm. Apparently the snails love the water and grow fat and healthy before being sent off to France for a somewhat dismal end! Although we looked for the well we couldn’t find it but inquiries are being made. We did find another well though – with the road named after it and its own marker stone, but I have doubts as to its holiness. It’s not mentioned in the Archaeological Inventory or on the old maps but it is rather nicely restored nonetheless.

St James Well, Ardfield

The next well was in the village of Ardfield, once renowned as the home of Noel Redding, the bassist in the Jimi Hendrix Experience.  There is a sign to the well off the main road in the village but no hint to tell you have arrived: it’s on the bend in the road, slightly down from the road. The well was restored in 1989, instigated by a local man, the late Sonny Nyhan, who remembered it as once being a significant pilgrimage site. Although there was no obvious sign of the well he remembered where it had once been. A group got together and eventually the stones which would once have made up the wellhouse were identified, including one with the words St J carved on to it. The area was fully and sympathetically restored and is now a very peaceful spot.

The stone wellhouse is low, long and rectangular and the water comes out through a specially cut channel. There is a slab in the front, presumably for prayers and for collecting the water. The stone with the carving on has been placed at the back of the wellhouse. A statue of St James is in a covered box looking out onto the well, scallops, real and ceramic, surrounding him. A tray of nightlights placed by the water looked recent; some old shovels propped up to protect it from the elements. The glass of water on top of the well looked less recent. I wonder if Noel ever wandered down here for some inspiration.

St James’ feast day is the 25th July and once attracted a large crowd. It seems to have got rather out of hand and was eventually banned by the parish priest as this extract from the Schools’ Folklore Collection describes:

St James’s well is situated near John Keohanes house between Greenans and Balteenbrack. It was Patronised by St James on the last Sunday of July. Every year the people came on the last Sunday to the public house where drink was taken to excess and fighting was carried on. On the next day they visited the well and made the rounds and dropped a stone into the well for ten rounds and sometimes dropped in a penny for the Saint so that he may come and take the money in the well. On each side of the road refreshment cars were situated since early morning selling all kinds of refreshments and doing great trade. The Parish Priest Father O’Leary condemned this drinking to excess in the public houses, then the people did not continue it and year after year the crowd was getting smaller and soon it died away.

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St James was a fisherman and disciple of Jesus. He is patron saints of pilgrims and his emblem is the cockle shell. In 2010 a woman from Clonakilty, Anja Bakker, walked from this little St James well to the cathedral in Santiago del Compostela in Spain, where St James is believed to be buried.  She was raising awareness for the survivors of sexual abuse. The 2500km journey took her three months and three weeks and along the way she played her harp, called Sean, symbolically carrying Ireland and the pain of the victims with her.

Edit: In July 2024 I attended the annual Mass, traditionally held at the well on the last Sunday of the month – Garland/Reek/Bilberry/Garlic Sunday. This was a warm and welcoming gathering of around 50 people, young and old, all holding a great respect and love for their well. I met the daughter of Sonny Nyland who is still very involved with the well and several other people who had taken part in its renovation back in 1989. I was also introduced to the custodian, Mr Fitzpatrick, and his grandson, who is in training!

Both should be congratulated on keeping the well in such a pristine state, today looking especially attractive surrounded by hydrangeas.

I learned many things and was surprised to hear that several members of the community regularly made the pilgrimage to Santiago del Compostela starting from the well. One man described his long walk from Ardfield to Cork airport (55km) where he he caught a flight to France, continuing his Camino to Santiago and finally on to Finisterre. He took some pebbles from the well and placed them under the altar in Santiago. He had made this pilgrimage several times and in 2007 returned with a statue of St James, now enshrined on the site.

After Mass, tea and biscuits were miraculously produced from a car boot, replicating the parable of the loaves and fishes which had just been recounted. A true community event and one to be cherished.

Lady’s Well, Dunowen

Back in the car and down to Red Strand. If you leave the car here there is a track across the field which takes you up what feels like a very ancient boreen with its high stone walls and pebbled floors. Maybe this was once the pilgrimage path to the well.

It emerges onto a track which continue past farmhouses and pasture. The track wends its way to the left but you must peel off and follow another grassy track down to the new gate, complete with traffic cone. The first time we came here some very large bullocks were lounging against the flimsy wire and we were a little nervous. It was all quiet today. The Lady’s Well is approached through boggy pasture full of primroses and daisies and in the distance are striking views out towards the Atlantic.

The well is protected by a beehive-shaped wellhouse and a slab separates the well from the sturdily built channel of water which runs at length before disappearing into the field. There is an enclosing wall behind and an altar. A pure white statue of the BVM gazes upwards, a rosary in her lilywhite hands and arum lilies just starting to flower around her. The well is still much revered and the site beautifully maintained.

An intriguing entry in the Schools folklore collection describes how Our Lady actually visited this site:

There is a well situated in a field belonging  to Michael Feen in the townland of Dunowen not far from the sea coast. It is said that the Blessed Virgin appeared there long ago and was seen by some fishermen when fishing near the coast. She appeared as a big swan and pitched on the edge of the boat. Then she flew eastwards and flew in a circle over the well Then she knelt down and left the prints of her fingers and knees on the flag, But some 20 years ago  a young boy about 12 years who was blind from birth went to the well with his father, after being taken to the well he left a scream at his father to look at the frog. Then they both thanked god and went home cured.

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Search as I did , I could not find any trace of the  the finger and knee prints. A very similar story crops up in this rather beautiful poem and song, but here the venue is given as Inchydoney, not far from Ardfield.

The Virgin Mary’s Bank

The Evening Star rose beauteous above the fading day,
As to the lone and silent beach the Virgin came to pray,
And hill and dale shone brightly in moonlight’s mellow fall;
But the bank of green where Mary knelt was brightest of them all.

Slow moving o’er the waters, a gallant barque appeared,
And her joyous crew looked from the deck as to the land she neared;
To the calm and sheltered haven she floated like a swan,
And her wings of snow o’er the waves below in, pride and beauty shone.

The Master saw Our Lady as he stood upon the prow,
And marked the whiteness of her robe – the  radiance of her brow;
Her arms were folded gracefully upon her stainless breast,
And her eyes looked up among the stars, to Him her soul loved best.

He showed her to his sailors, and he hailed her with a cheer,
And on the kneeling Virgin they gazed with laugh and jeer;
And madly swore, a form so fair they never saw before;
And they cursed the faint and lagging breeze that kept them from the shore.

The ocean from its bosom shook off its moonlight sheen,
And up its wrathful billows rose to vindicate their Queen,
And a cloud came o’er the heavens, and a darkness o’er the land,
And the scoffing crew beheld no more the Lady on the strand

Out burst the pealing thunder, and the lightning leapt about,
And rushing with his watery war, the tempest gave a shout;
And that vessel from a mountain wave came down with thundering shock,
And her timbers flew like mattered spray on Inchadony’s rock.

Then loud from all the guilty crew one shriek rose wild and high;
But the angry surge swept over them, and hushed their gurgling cry;
And with a hoarse, exulting tone the tempest passed away,
And down, still chafing from their strife, the indignant waters lay.

When the calm and, purple morning shone out on high Dunmore,
Full many a mangled corpse was seen on Inchadony’s shore;
And to this day the fisherman shows where the scoffers sank,
And still they call that hillock green “The Virgin Mary’s Bank .

(Clonakilty District Past & Present  – A Tourist guide to the area )

Mass is still held here on the 15^th August, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

We walked down a different way, through more farmhouses, some a bit dilapidated and some being restored. All interesting.

We intended to carry on to inspect the wells around Rosscarbery but the weather changed. Instead we enjoyed a very fine lunch in the aptly named Pilgrim’s restaurant. It’s hungry work all this well searching.

Thanks to Hannah for being our guide.

The location of these wells can be found in the Gazetteer.