(Probably) the largest well in Ireland….

I have visited Tubrid Well in Millstreet several times and am always impressed how it is referred to with pride as being the second largest holy well in Ireland, and possibly the UK. No one seemed very sure which has the accolade of being the largest though. Popular opinion seems to suggest that it’s St Patrick’s Well in Clonmel and having an occasion to pass through Clonmel recently I thought I’d better investigate.

St Patrick’s Well, Tobar Phadraig

St Patrick’s Well, Tobar Phadraig, is clearly signed off the main road from Cahir to Clonmel in the small village of Marlfield and there is ample parking at the side of the road.

An amble down some beautifully maintained and extensive steps, bowered with leafy trees leads you steeply downwards.

Enroute you pass a statue of the saint himself, erected in 1956 by the Saint Patrick’s Day Society, more of them in a minute.

Adorned with rosaries the saint gazes out towards the water, a thoughtful and benign expression on his face. Many offerings have been left around his feet and on the wall nearby – flowers, photos, statues.

The first glimpses of what lies a little further below is startling – so much water! Arriving in the secluded glen, the feeling of space and light and sheer beauty is overwhelming. It’s busy too: a man is doing some intense tai chi ( I later discover he is a famous expert), another is bathing his legs, a few people are chatting by the well and a woman has just arrived with a picnic.

The origins of the site go back at least as far as the 5th century and to St Patrick who is believed to have visited the glen and to have caused the well to spring up:

… The water which flows from the well forms into a beautiful lake above the village of Marlfield on its course to the River Suir. It is said that St. Patrick crossed the River Tar at Clogheen, and the Suir at Ardfinnan, and so came to this place now known as St Patrick’s Well ….

… It is said while he was preaching the staff he had (got) stuck in the ground and a well spring up from the hole he had made. We are told that the seed St Patrick sowed yielded fruit one hundred fold. (Schools’ Folklore Collection, 32-36:0567)

As well as preaching here, St Patrick also used the water for baptisms. One of his converts was high born and exceptionally stoical:

…It was at St Patrick’s Well that St Patrick baptized the King of Munster. It is said that while St Patrick was baptizing the king he put the point of his staff through the King’s foot by accident. The King thinking that it was in the ceremony remained silent. When St Patrick discovered what had happened he was very troubled and healed the wound but he was at the same time pleased with the King’s faith (32-36:0567).

The site has changed hugely from St Patrick’s day, but a fascinating account exists from around 1844, written by the wonderfully named Asenath Nicholson:

I went alone to the St Patrick’s Well and was directed as many different ways as I found Paddys to direct me. At least two fine boys left their sport and directed me back over a wall, and showed me the path through shady trees, down a declivity to the dark solitude where the sacred well was sparkling. Soft and pure was the water, like most I found throughout Ireland.

Two aqueducts direct it underground a little distance; it then forms a rill. A stone cross stands near for the benefit of pilgrims, and a decayed church whose mutilated altar, with its rude inscription, carried you back for centuries, to the time when the Irish Catholic Church was in her glory.

Everything about this frequented spot is calculated to fill the mind with a chastened if not religious awe. The dark wood behind the old stone church, the rippling of the little brook, the ancient stone cross, the seclusion of the spot chosen for a place of worship, the lateness of the hours, my distance from the land of my fathers, and the thought that this is the green spot in the ocean,  where have figured and still live a people unlike all others, filled my mind with painful, pleasant and romantic ideas. But now I must leave this sacred dell,  and though neither snake nor lizard can coil about my feet, y t it was sunset; and ascending the serpentine path, I reluctantly left the enchanting spot…( From Ireland’s Welcome to the Stranger, p134/135).

Asenath was a an American woman who travelled to Ireland determined to discover why so many Irish were emigrating to America. She specifically wished to find out the circumstances of the poor. She arrived in 1844, the eve of the Famine and spent a year travelling around the country, her experiences later written up in Ireland’s Welcome to the Stranger.  She returned in 1847 – 1849 to help with famine relief and  recorded all she witnessed in the often harrowing  Annals of the Irish Famine.

This remarkable photo was taken by Robert French, one of the chief photographers for the Lawrence Collection. It dates from sometime between 1865-1914 and would probably be much as seen by Asenath. The spring emanates from the circle of stones, a spindly tree above it. It flows down into a large wet area, the lake. Notice the submerged cross.

Two other photos taken at the same time  provide a few more details, including the interesting water spouts.

It doesn’t sound as though the site had changed much by the 1930s as this account from the Schools’ Folklore Collection describes:

 The Holy Well I know around this locality is St Patrick’s well. It is situated in a most beautiful valley about a half mile north from our school. When St Patrick was passing through this valley on his way to Cashel he rested there and blessed the well hence St Patrick’s well. The water is constantly springing up from the ground in tiny bubbles like pearls at the foot of an old tree. The water flows out into two spouts and it is remarkable that the spouts become stronger every second year, and this water that flows from the well forms Marlfield Lake around the well began to give way from the constance flowing of the water so it was cemented in around and shaped like a horse shoe.  (206-209: 0567)

Today the site looks very different largely due to extensive remodeling began in the 1950s, when the statue of St Patrick was erected, funded by the Saint Patrick Day Society with the aid of Mr Sam Yorty, Mayor of Los Angeles – Yorty’s mother originally came from Clonmel. The enigmatic Irish Israeli Society of South California also chipped in. By the late 1960s the site was discreetly walled, the extent of the lake defined by more low walls and proper water courses built to contain the spring. The tree seems to have disappeared though was still there in the 1930s.

Today the source of the spring is enclosed by a stone wall, the green painted gate disappointingly padlocked. Inside the space is roughly tear-shaped, a concrete walkway around the edge.

A jaunty white plaque of the saint oversees things.

The water is fresh and clear and bubbles up from underground. It then disperses through two odd shaped granite waterspouts or flumes (also seen in the early photos), which have been identified as originally belonging to a Medieval mill. (There are similar examples at St Bridget’s Well in Kildare). .

The water then flows out into what was described as the lake, now contained within low walls. The water here is also fresh and clear and bubbling up from underground.

The water is powerful as well as refreshing and is said to hold a cure for sore eyes, sore lips and scrofula. Affected parts could be washed at the flumes for extra potency. Many other cures have also been attributed to it:

… There are great cures in the water of this well if the people have the faith. This is one which was told to me by an old woman who lives in Marlfield. About eight years ago there was a little crippled boy who lived in Cork. His mother dreamed of this well and she believed if she brought him to it he would be cured. So she brought him three times to the well, and on the third visit when his mother was bringing him to the well it was on the 15th August which is the Feast of the Assumption, Mrs Prendergast was going to mass and she met them on the Marlfield road and when when was coming home she met them in the same place and the boy was completely cured and had left his crutches behind at the well. Another cure which my mother told me was: There was once a girl who lived in Clonmel and she had a sister who was almost blind and she believed if the went to this well and made a Novena that she would be cured. So she did and went through the water on her knees every day for nine days, and on the ninth day she got back her sight. There are many other cures from this well. None of these people would have been cured if they had not the faith. The water is used from domestic purposes by the people who live near the well. When people come to make Novenas at this well they carry away bottles and cans of water from it. (206-209: 0567}

In the centre of the lake is a plain and weathered cross (TS083-004003) – possibly dating from the fifth century; seen submerged in the early photos. It is made out of limestone with small quartz pebbles inserted into it.

During the renovations the cross was elevated onto a small island. Here a pilgrim would begin her rounds, (look carefully and you can see evidence of a path under the water), first reciting the Creed. She then moved from station to station, now marked on the perimeter walls. Three Paters, Aves and Glorias were required at each. The pilgrim then went to the old church, kneeled at the altar, repeated the prayers and finally drank water from the well – sprinkling herself with holy water in the name of the Trinity. Pilgrimage occured on St Patrick’s Day, 17th March and Pentecost.

St Patrick’s Well is situated in Marlfield Village. The people always wear shamrock on St Patrick’s Day in honour of St Patrick. There was a chapel in St. Patrick’s Well and during the war Cromwell knocked it down. A great number of people got their sight back in St. Patrick’s Well. There was also a great number of cripples cured there. 32-36:0567

The chapel referred to is still here, also the subject of a renovation in the 1960s, and the Cromwell mentioned is Thomas Cromwell, he of the Reformation infamy.

This church (TS083-004001) probably dates from the 15th century. Inside there is the 17th century tomb of Nicholas White which came from the White Mortuary Chapel in St Mary’s church in Clonmel, brought here after its demolition in 1805. This building may have replaced an earlier one for the church and well originally belonged to the nearby Cistercian Abbey of Inishlounaght which was founded in the 12th century. The altar, visited as part of the round, holds many offerings and statues, in particular an evocative and laden Infant of Prague.

Although the site has been changed enormously over the years, it still retains a very special atmosphere – calm, meditative yet very accessible. One of the reasons for this must be attributed to the devoted and enthusiastic work of the well keeper, David Flannery, who just happened to be on site. We had a great chat with him and his companions, Marguerite and Bernie. David told us he had been the keeper for 15 years and obviously loved his job. On hearing about my mission to visit all the holy wells of County Cork (and quite a few neighbouring ones), he nipped up the considerable flight of stairs to his house, returning with an elegant glass, insisting I drink some water. (Oddly there are no cups to hand). It tasted absolutely delicious – cold and fresh and we filled up our water bottles. David had more information. Apparently it was traditional to visit this well every day of the week apart from Friday and for that day we had to go to another well – David gave us instructions. We thanked him, reluctantly tore ourselves away from this special spot (and I reckon it is the biggest well in Ireland) and went off in search of Toberaheena.

Friday’s Well, Toberaheena

This little well was an unexpected delight, found just before entering Clonmel – there’s even a roundabout and a townland named after it. The well lies just off the Cahir Road, and is clearly signed.

Enter through the gateway and it’s a different world, far removed from the bustle of the traffic a few metres away. The sun was shining, the bees buzzing and a little pathways led down to the stream and the well through a profusion of wildflowers. The site is recently restored and is being sympathetically renovated to become a place of quiet and contemplation for those that are recently bereaved or just need some time out from this hectic world. It is also being managed as a wildlife haven with some attractive touches.

The well itself is close to the stream – an arched stone well house, four steps leading down into the water. Although the old maps refer to it as Toberaheena it seems that it was once originally dedicated to St Bridget:

About a quarter of a mile outside the suburbs of Clonmel there is a well known as St Brigid’s Well. Long ago the people of the surrounding district used to come to the well and wash their clothes there and bring water home for the use of the house. After a while the well dried up. The people from Old Bridge then came to the well and prayed there. It is said that it was on account of the prayer of some person that the well sprang up again. A legend tells us that the well began to flow again. On the Eve of St Brigid’s Day people used put a piece of ribbon of a bush and come for the ribbon the day after. It is said that it would cure diseases. (13:002/003:0567C)

Today water is fresh and clear if modest in amount.

The well is surrounded by mature trees, hawthorns and willows and many have been made into modern day rag trees – little orange ribbons fluttering on them. Look closer and each ribbon has a name. Beautiful, melancholy and powerful.

It’s very different to its companion well down the road,  but a special place nonetheless

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

Many thanks to David Flannery for his enthusiasm and knowledge.