Two wells on Valentia Island

A couple of days staying on Valentia Island. The weather roared and howled around us with a complex mixture of snow and sleet, gales and glorious sunshine. Our comfy base was the Royal Hotel Valentia – a roaring fire and excellent food welcoming us after each hard day’s well hunt.

Valentia is a remarkable place full of interest. Crossing the bridge from Portmagee it feels like a different world, still very much an island. It’s scenic, sufficiently populated to feel thriving with many interesting things to explore from the tetrapod tracks (an astonishing 385 million year old set of footprints in the rock left by a tetrapod; site currently closed for maintenance) to telegraph stations to grottos in slate mines to Ogham stones and megalithic tombs. And of course there are holy wells – five to be precise. Two were visited on this occasion but Sunday’s Well, Tobar Rí an Domhnaigh, also known as St Darerca’s Well, Tobar Naomh Leigion or St Helena’s Well and Tobar Bachaillín, Well of the Staff, will have to wait until my next visit.

St Fionán’s Holy Well, Toberfinnan, Tobar Fhionáin

St Finian, also written Fhionáin or Fionán or Finán, has several sites dedicated to him in this part of Kerry including holy wells. Consulting the invaluable Dictionary of Irish Saints by Pádraig Ó Riain, I suspect this might be Fionán Cam, the squinty eyed, who was particularly revered in South Kerry:

St Finian Cam was a pupil of St Brendan. He is sometimes confounded with St Finnian the Leper but the general  opinion is the latter never visited Kerry. St Finnian Cam founded monasteries at Lough Gurrane near Waterville, at Innisfallen Island in Loch Leane and at Muckross. It is also believed that it was he who founded the monastery at Aghadoe … The ruins of his cell can still be seen in Church Island in Loch Gurrane, a secret causeway connected his cell with the island, and folklore has it that he often visited the mainland through this secret causeway.

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Although this well is marked on the current OS map few people seemed to know about it. This delightful photo from Failte Ireland Tourism Photo Collection, now in the care of Dublin City Library and Archive, was taken in 1955 and shows its scenic position.

It’s a little way out of Knightstown and I don’t think we got to it the official way for we had to leap over a gate, having first knocked at the nearby house. We wandered through the field and into a woodland, almost immediately stumbling upon a path, the area much overgrown since 1955.

This looked promising and we followed the path as it wend its way through the trees, past another gate which I think might have been the official approach, then round a bend almost retracing our steps into what is known as Gleann Liaim. A circular enclosure and the tip of a cross could be seen ahead and as we got nearer the well itself was clearly seen.

The well lies underground, the well house roughly slabbed  with a channel leading from it. A cross is placed on top containing a small statue of the BVM tucked into a niche, with a pilgrim’s cross inscribed above her. Although the area is much more overgrown and wooded than in 1955, the well looks largely unchanged.

The water is fresh and clear with a profusion of watercress and other plants growing around it.

On top of the lintel lie many coins left as offerings, as well as a metal cup and a ladle attached by a piece of twine.

As always, Robert partook of the water. He proclaimed it good. Apparently it holds a cure for rheumatism and similar ailments.

The well lies in a circle of a possible 11 large stones – it looks like a stone circle but doesn’t feel quite right. According to Ireland’s Holy Wells Blogspot it seems that there were originally 12 stones representing the Twelve Apostles. When the well was restored in 2009 the stones were re-set not necessarily in the order they once were. One stone can be seen behind the bench in the image below.

As mentioned the well was restored in 2009 having previously been allowed to fall into disrepair. It sounded very neglected by the 1930s according to this extract from the Schools’ Folklore Collection:

St Fionáns Well is beside Gleann Liaim [Glanleam]. There is only foul water in it now and there is a tree growing in the middle of it. It is said that St ____ came [unfinished sentence] There is a cross-inscribed slab there and it is said that it cured a man once and that he put it [the slab] there in gratitude.

Another extract refers to a cill or cilleen existing near the well:

There is another well beside Gleann Liaim called Cill Fionáin’s well. It is called that because St Fionán made it and there is a Cill or a burial ground around it. It is said that there was a man ploughing in the field and that he violated the burial ground and that he died but when he was dying he told his sister to make a ditch around the burial ground. There is a big tree growing in it now.

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The cilleen ( KE079-109) is marked on the maps but we could see no sign of it. The well was not to be interfered with as this extract confirms:

… Several years ago the Knight of Kerry  did not like to see people visiting St Finian’s Well, and he ordered his man to close up the well. The Knight’s steward, who was Protestant and did not believe in holy wells, ordered the workmen to plough the field near the well. The Knight’s daughter, who was in England, got sick. She dreamt she would get better if her father allowed people to visit the holy well. She wrote to her father and he ordered a wall to be built around the holy well, and he allowed people to visit the well again. The steward got sick also but when he opened the well again he got better.

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Today the well is in a quiet and peaceful spot, surrounded by woodland but not far from huge views out to the wild sea. As we emerged from the trees the sun came out and warmed us up a little.

Grotto & Slate Quarry

Nearby lies another unique monument – a grotto in a slate quarry!  What a strange and unexpected sight.

This is what the Valentia Life website has to say about it:

The Slate Quarry first opened in 1816 under the direction of the Knight of Kerry and has been a working quarry on and off since that date. Famous for the quality of the slate quarried, this recently reopened quarry is famous for providing the slate for the Paris Opera House, London’s Houses of Parliament and many billiard tables, including one made for the Duke of Wellington & Queen Victoria. Today it is used as countertops, tables and roof slate to name a few. A rock fall closed the mine in 1910, it remained abandoned until the 1954 Marian Year when statues of Our Lady & Bernadette where placed high above the quarry entrance. It has since played host to various events, including a yearly community mass – a ladder was constructed to reach the statues from the ground but only those with a head for heights were able to complete the journey up!

The grotto is over 27m above the ground and was the idea of the parish priest Fr James Enright and many islanders helped in its assembly:

Jackie Clifford, who was a blacksmith based in Gortgower, made the iron to bind and reinforce the ladder and was helped in his forge by Denny Lyne and subsequently aided by other islanders. Having been transported to the quarry in sections, it was assembled there and put in place by the volunteering islanders. The ladder was over 100 feet long, being four feet wide at the bottom narrowing to a foot. and a half on top. The sections of ladder were joined at the various points with a four foot lap. The rungs were of 3 inch by 2 inch timber. Many island volunteers were enlisted with each townland taking their turns to work. The initial work involved levelling a massive mound in order to form a proper base. This was quite labour intensive, being done with pick and shovel, as the mechanical excavator was not in operation in those days. The ladder was hauled into place by means of a block and tackle pulley system with people at the ends of ropes from above and to the sides in order to control it and put it in place. As one islander succinctly put it. “The greatest miracle to happen there was the erection of the ladder”… Subsequent to the ladder being put in place, a number of daring and intrepid islanders had to climb it for the purpose of erecting the statues. The statues were hoisted up by rope with other tools and building materials also hoisted. The concrete for the base was mixed by shovel above …. The then Bishop of Kerry the Most Rev. Denis Moynihan in company with Fr.Enright, the Parish Clerk Johnny ‘Mund’ Murphy and a number of Valentia altar boys celebrated mass there in 1954, in honour of the completion of the grotto, which was attended by a huge island congregation. Today, the grotto contains a mass altar, a beautiful fountain with an impressive waterfall from above, ornate railings (originally supplied by Cotters of Cork) and the quarry industry is opened once more, operating on a smaller scale by its side.

The Kerryman, January 10th 2015

It is astonishing especially with the cascade of water falling from up high. Even more astonishing was a glimpse of the original fountain that now lies behind the railings, blocked off due to safety reasons. After a bit of discussion we came to the conclusion it represented a pelican. The pelican was believed to pierce its own breast with its beak and feed its young with its blood. It became a symbol of Christ sacrificing himself for man and is often represented in Christian art.Today the poor pelican looks rather forlorn and unloved.

Well of St Brendan’s Anointing, Tobar Olla Brenainn

We Carried on on a very scenic route towards St Brendan’s Well in the evocatively name Imleach Bog. It’s a remote, flat and windswept spot. The road peters out and you have to park  near what looks like an abandoned pub. Who on earth trekked out here for their pint? Ah, actually it was styled specifically for a Guinness advert and now sits scenically as it was left.

The next hundred metres or so is on foot, a very damp and rugged path through the bog and towards the sea, the roar of which could be clearly heard. The well is signed.

The first things noticed are crosses. Beautiful worn, hewn stones standing proud amongst the bog grasses. There are three of these scattered in the bog – once part of the penitential station that also included the well, a cross slab and a possible leacht or grave. It seems there may originally have been four crosses arranged into a cross shape but as the extracts from the Schools’ Folklore describe they were slowly becoming engulfed under the bog. in 1984, the 1500th anniversary of St Brendan’s birth, the peat was cleared around the crosses and the well was rebuilt. Does one cross still remain submerged?

Railway sleepers are arranged in a sort of horseshoe arrangement, seating for mass, offering a little respite from the bog and fine views out seawards.

And there is the well, flush with the ground, two arms of a protective stone wall around it and a large flat slab forming an altar on top.

This image, again from the Failte Ireland Collection and again taken in 1955, shows presumably a father and his daughter at devotions in front of the well. The altar has been reconstructed and the stone cross once on top of the well placed under the ledge. One cross- inscribed stone remains and lies against the wall.

There is an interesting story associated with its origins described in this nicely poetic entry in the Schools’ Folklore Collection:

The Holy Well of Brendan’s Anointing is situated in a district named Corhabeg in a lonely stretch of bog. Around the well are heaps of small stones with many tokens of the ‘Rounds’ paid there by the faithful. The old stone crosses marking the ‘Rounds’ are almost sunk into the soft boggy soil. One day when Saint Brendan was sailing in his little currach from his oratory in the Blasket Islands to visit the moanstery of St Beoanigh at the Glen in the parish of Killemlagh, he was suddenly hailed on as he drew near the north coast of Valentia, by a man on the headland who signalled to him to come without delay. The saint came at once and set his boat into a little narrow creek where he found a landing place, like that he came to on the first island he reached in his ‘Great Voyage’, where the rocks stood on every side like a wall. He drew up his boat and ascended the frowning cliff by means of steps. He learned from the stranger that two people were on the point of death and had not received the Last Sacraments. He followed his guide, who lead him into the thick of a forest, which is now an extensive bog. Here he found two men dying who desired to become Christians. These men had not been baptized nor received any religious instruction for want of opportunity. Saint Brendan having instructed the dying man, he gave him the Sacraments of Baptism and Extreme Unction and after a short time they died, holy and happy. They were buried where they died ….

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Another entry describes how St Brendan caused the well to spring up so he could used the water for baptism:

There are a couple of wells on this island, but the most important of them is in the middle of
Imleach bog on the north side of the island. It’s called St Brendan’s Well. There’s an interesting story how it got its name. Apparently St Brendan came from Dingle to the northside and upon landing, he was unable to get up the cliff. Anyway, he started climbing up; when he was half-way up he slipped and to stop himself falling, he grabbed a rock and saved himself. The marks of his fingers in the rock can still be seen to this day. He managed to reach the top of the cliff. Finding himself on safe ground, he gave thanks to God. He started to cross Imleach [= marshy, marginal, shore-land] and he saw three people dying. At that stage he did nothing but say prayers and as soon as they were said, a flow of fresh, clean water sprang up; he baptised the three, according to the old stories, they are buried there beside the well. The old people say the well is very good. Anyway, crowds of people go there to get the cure. Most commonly the days on which they go are when they are doing the turas na trí (the three- day tour), Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

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Here I am pondering St Brendan climbing those huge cliffs and struggling across the bog. You can see the waves just summiting.

This entry gives a few more details including names for the geographical places where the saint came ashore:

St Brendan’s Well in Corobeg is sometimes called Tubberolanbréannán. One day St Brendan was (on his way from) the Blaskets to Skellig Rock by boat. When he was past Imleagh he saw a man standing on the cliff, calling. The saint came ashore and he found two men lying on the ground. He knew they were dying and he baptised and anointed them. The well in which he got the water to baptise them is called St Brendan’s Well ever since. There are two pillars stones standing on the spot where the men are buried. The path by which the saint climbed the cliff is called the Staighre Breanndán and the rock on which he landed is called the Leac Bheannuighthe. He never saw the man who called him afterwards and it is thought it was no earthly man. People go on visits to that well sometimes.

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Yet another entry describes how the landing place was once blessed with an abundance of fish  but a fisherman broke the Sabbath and the little inlet was cursed with barrenness.

A cross slab, possibly one of the grave markers described above, is propped up by the well and contains a delicate solar cross (middle right) as well as many crosses inscribed by pilgrims.

Other crosses have been etched onto significant stones on the site and there are many offerings left by the well.

The water in the well itself was rather scummy today, a contrast to the watery bog around it which was crystal clear. However the reflections were  striking.

Brendan remains a very popular saint in Kerry as well as Cork. He was born around 489 AD in Fenit in North Kerry, baptised in Ardfert by St Erc and then educated by St Ita. He was ordained by St Erc and spent much time sailing around the coast of Ireland, founding monasteries as he went. One day, whilst fasting on the top of Mount Brandon, he was visited by an angel who told him to search out the Isle of the Blessed (Paradise). Having fasted for 40 days he set sail from Brandon Creek with 16 companions and three non believers who hopped on board at the last moment.They all sailed off in an exceptionally small boat – a currach and their adventures are recorded in the 9th Century Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis. Enroute (they probably went via the Hebrides, Iceland and Greenland, eventually landing up in Newfoundland) they encountered many marvels including: an island with a dog and Ethiopian devil but no people; an island of grapes (where they stayed for 40 days); a silver pillar wrapped in a net; Judas Iscariot sitting on a small rock in the sea; another island where monks the had magic loaves, never aged and maintained complete silence; and one island where they landed and celebrated Mass, only to find it was in fact a gigantic sea monster, called Jascon!  St Brendan clearly deserves his popular epithet of The Navigator.

Enjoy a small selection of stained glass associated with the saint; all photos courtesy of Finola Finlay.

There is debate as to whether St Brendan ever existed, or whether he was in fact several people. The voyage was originally considered to be a religious allegory. No one believed the voyage possible until Tim Severin proved it was when he set sail to trace St Brendan’s watery footsteps across the Atlantic in an equally tiny boat in 1976. Shaun Davey has written a wildly beautiful suite about the voyage and Christy Moore gives a less orthodox version of events.

St Brendan is commemorated by some fine sculptures in Cahersiveen, Fenit and here in my local town Bantry.

St Brendan’s feast day is the 16th May and he is the patron saint of sailors, whales and elderly adventurers.Talking of elderly adventurers I shall be away for the next six weeks so no time for well hunting. I might call on St Brendan though.

 Many thanks to Pol Ó Colmáin for translating extracts from the Schools’ Folklore Collection & to Finola Finlay for help with tricky spellings and permission to use her photographs.

The locations of these wells can be found in the Gazetteer. Please note there is now a separate Gazetteer for County Kerry.