Well hunting off the N22

A trip to the airport always offers an opportunity for a bit of exploration. This time as slight detour was taken to visit a few wells off the N22.

Sunday’s Well, Tobar Riogh an Domhnaigh, Rooves Beg

This little well is signed and can found right on the roadside: incidentally this quiet, scenic, road was once the main butter route between Kerry and Cork. We visited shortly after May Day, the start of Bealtine, and everywhere was looking immaculate! A neat stone wellhouse is surrounded by two curved benches and an array of potted shrubs, giving it a cosy and intimate air.

A concrete cross lies on top of the structure, draped with a rosary; and a pretty plaque depicting the Mother and Child is pinned to the front.

Above the well a little shelf is painted in BVM blue and adorned with all sorts of offerings, blue being the predominant theme. Fresh bluebells mingle with wooden blue tulips. In the centre a statue of the BVM herself is enclosed in a blue painted niche, flanked by statues of Jesus and St Patrick. An array of candles, some of them still burning, spoke of recent visitation.

In front, an ingenious kneeler made out of a wooden stool complete with gardener’s kneeling pad – painted blue – makes life comfortable for pilgrims.

Steps lead down into the water, a stone slab at the front. The water is fresh and abundant and a rather jaunty red cup with a heart-shaped rim is available for drinking the water. I think it had come from a German Christmas market.

Another name for the well is Tobar Ri an Aifrinn, Well of the King of Mass, and Mass was held here during Penal Times – what look like the Mass Rock lies close to the well, also beautifully kept.

The well was traditionally visited on Good Friday and Easter Sunday when rounds were paid, a drink from the well being included. Today the Rosary and prayers are said on August 15th but May is obviously also a popular time to visit. The water was considered efficacious and three  visits were required for a cure – two successive Sundays and intervening Friday. This article from In the Steps of St Finbarr by Kieran McCarthy (now out of print) gives more information:

Doing ‘the rounds’ involving walking around the well house clockwise and comprised saying seven sets of seven ‘Our Fathers’, seven ‘Hail Marys’ and seven ‘Glory Bes’. After the seven sets, one drinks the water from the well and blesses oneself. One then makes seven crosses on the side of the well and ties a piece of cloth on a whitethorn tree. Whatever ailment one has is supposed to blow away with the cloth on the tree. No one touches the cloth for fear of getting the ailment. The rounds are completed over three days on a Sunday and again on the following Friday and Sunday. Extra powers were granted on Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. In particular, the well is said to cure toothaches and headaches. One of the legends attached to the well is that St Olan from Aghabullogue gave tuition to St Finbarre at the well as he walked down the Lee. Another legend is that the water of the well does not boil. When I asked Finbarr if he ever tested this, he was quick to note that ‘it is tradition’ and that he accepts the well’s powers.Mass has also been said at Rooves Well since Penal Times and the tradition is carried on today every August. Indeed a specially created Mass rock was moved near the well in 2000.

Kieran McCarthy: In The Steps of St Finbarr, 2006. Taken from Facebook page River Lee Valley Stories:The Well of Walshestown

This is obviously a much loved and still revered well. It has a very pleasant feel and some spectacular views out across the valley.

Lady’s Well & Sunday’s Well, Walshestown

These wells are situated in Walshestown. One is covered in a complete arch. The relics of crumbling arches shelter the other wells. Remains of an altar, upon which Mass was celebrated in Penal Times, is still in a fair state of preservation.  Upon a stone plate on one of the arches the letters IHS are quite discernible still. The Cromwellian destroyers knocked down two of the arches. The ‘Mass’ arch escaped destruction though; the group of wells is known as ‘The Blessed Wells’, yet the water of two are used for domestic purposes. The water of the well beneath the Mass arch is only used to obtain cures. Almost every storyteller in the district has an incident to relate about the peculiar properties of the water. It will not boil, and is said to assume certain shades and volumes, each change indicating a cure or the likelihood of some disaster occurring in the neighbourhood. The most remarkable cure vouched for is the healing of wounds of a priest – Father Walsh. The surrounding district takes its name from this miracle.

SFC:356/357:0345

The is an interesting description of the wells, recorded in 1937. If I’ve understood this correctly it seems there were three wells originally, each covered by an arch of stone. The central niche that now contains the statue of the BVM seems to have also had a well underneath it, the most potent and significant well. This has now disappeared. cement steps where it once was, leading up to an altar. Sunday’s Well lying to the left and Mary’s Well to the right still remain, minus their arches.

The wells are paved in a roughly octagonal shape approached by two steps down; empty niches lie in the surrounding curved walls. As mentioned, they both once had arched roofs, and also doors. The rounds were precise with nine stations or stopping points:

Rounds: 1 Rosary at each station, Stations: (1) begin at central arch or ‘altar; (2) Sunday’s Well (3) foot of the steps to the left of Sunday’s Well (4) top of steps (5) top of central arch (6) top of steps leading to Mary’s Well (7) foot of the steps to right of Mary’s Well (8) Mary’s Well (9) finish off at central arch or ‘altar

PJ Hartnett: Holy Wells of East Muskerry, Journal of Cork Historical & Archaeological Society, 1947, Vol 52, No 172

The water in both was abundant but mucky, and the containers scattered around didn’t look as though they had had much use recently. The wells seem oddly neglected compared to the central niche containing the BVM. This is cared for and adorned with statues, flowers, candles and offerings. She has a rather baleful expression though.

Three carved stones are of interest, all in the central niche. One is a limestone slab set into the back of the recess. The letters IHS are just be discernible with what the Archaeological Inventory describes as an inverted heart beneath. IHS is a Christogram, the first three letters of the Greek name for Jesus: IHΣΟΥΣ. To the left another stone is visible behind an array of offering, a clear cross inscribed upon it. To the right another stone lurks, apparently containing a rough depiction of the crucifixion and another inscribed heart but this is very difficult to see and unfortunately I didn’t get a good photograph of it. They are said to have come from Inisluinge Abbey. 

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The water from the central well, now vanished, was considered  good for cures of toothache, earache and affectations of the head, and it’s interesting that the two other wells were allowed to be used for domestic purposes. They both have something a little special though. A trout is supposed to reside in St Mary’s Well, and an eel in Sunday’s Well. I saw neither, sadly. This story makes interesting reading, did the fish once live in the central well and is this why it vanished?

The story is to the effect that a local woman carried water home from the well to boil potatoes. Unfortunately the eel had been drawn out at the same time. To her amazement the water remained cold after hours of boiling until her husband found out what had happened and returned the eel and water to the well. But this did not appease the offended spirit which caused the water to dry up and it has remained dry to the present day.

Cordner, from Carmichael Watson Project based at Edinburgh University , centred on papers of folklorist Alexander Carmichael (1832-1912)

The water obviously worked well for the wounded priest too, Father Walsh, mentioned in the first extract; was he a priest injured whilst celebrating Mass during Penal Times? The area is now called Walshestown, after his miraculous recovery.

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The whole site is shaded by the most magnificent lime tree. Steps are cut into the cliff on each side of the wells, and were presumably once incorporated into the rounds. Another very pleasant site.

We attempted to find two others wells just beyond Ballincollig. The first was in Ballynora where we were distracted by a rather fine grotto.

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Sadly there was no sign of the well, a Sunday’s Well, which sounded interesting:

 In pasture, on steep hillside. Water-filled hollow under sycamore tree; roots of tree exposed and enclose well; filled by water dripping through roots. Some water now drains into trough to SE.

Archaeological Inventory, County Cork

A second well, the Dark Well, Tobar Dorcha, once lay in the nearby townland of Ballinveiltig, but the area was too heavily overgrown for us to get anywhere near.

Edit: A further explore in August 2021 has revealed a little more information.

The Dark Well, Tobar Dorcha, Ballinveiltig

The Archaeological Inventory mentions that this well, situated on a steep slope, once had a stone surround but was unable to be located when they visited. I found the site, now heavily wooded but there was no sign of any structure, nor any well.

What was interesting was this small, rectangular basin on the road, water flowing down from the wooded area. Was this the well? Was this where the well now flowed into? Was it simply a drain?

Sunday’s Well, Ballynora

A little further on into Ballynora (the grotto still very well cared for) and some rootling around in the hedgerow provided an unexpected delight. Amongst the tangled trees was a small gap.

Further investigation revealed a large sycamore , it’s trunk more or less hollow, literally dripping with water.

At its base the roots were exposed and water was collecting.

The interior of the tree was mossy and damp, little droplets of water everywhere. Some girls from the nearby house wondered what I was doing. I tried to explain but they look rather perplexed! A very satisfying find though.

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