Trekking through Glens: Tobar na nGealt

 … A long time he went faring through all Ireland,

poking his way into hard rocky clefts,

shouldering through ivy bushes,

unsettling falls of pebbles in narrow defiles,

wading estuaries,

breasting summits,

trekking through glens, till he found the natural welcome of Glen Bolcáin.

That place is a pastoral asylum, where all madmen

Of Ireland used to assemble once their year in madness was complete.

Glen Bolcáin is like this:

It has four gaps to the wind,

pleasant woods, clean banked wells,

cold springs and clear sandy streams

where green topped watercress and languid brooklime

philander over the surface.

That sounds remarkably like an average day for an intrepid well hunter but it is fact taken from Seamus Heaney’s poem Sweeney Astray. Published in 1983, it is based on the ancient Irish story Buile Suibhne, The Madness of Sweeney, and was translated into English from the original Irish. (You can hear Seamus Heaney discussing it in an RTE interview in 1983: Sweeney Astray). Very briefly the story tells how Shuibhne mac Colmain, King of the Dál na Araidi in Ulster, was driven insane by the curse of Saint Ronan Finn, the pair having seriously upset each other. Shuibhne’s madness makes him leave the crucial battle of Mag Rath, an historic battle of 637 AD. He enters a life of wandering, possibly transformed into a bird, and retreats into the wilderness, living off watercress and suffering a life of extreme hardship, recounting all in his poetry. His wanderings eventually lead him to St Moling who finally takes him in and offers him salvation (not without a few more extraordinary events on the way). It’s a fascinating and complex story partly based on historical fact although there is no evidence of a real Suibhne.

I first encountered this tale at St Michael’s Well, Tobar Mhichil Naomhtha, near Ventry where Caoimhin, noticing I was interested in the watercress, told me the story and described how Sweeney went from well to well, living on the plant.

He mentioned the particular qualities of another well on the Dingle Peninsula which had associations with Suibhne and was renowned for its healing of those with mental problems. It was even called Tobar na nGealt, Well of the Mad, and this was our destination today.

Gleann na nGealt, Glen of the Mad, is on the Dingle Peninsula near Camp. There seem to have originally been two wells in the valley where those suffering from madness came to drink the water and eat watercress. The wells are clearly marked on the historic OS maps, each called Tobar na nGealt, along with another monument known as Cloch na nGealt, Stone of the Mad, but have vanished from the current OS Discovery series (map 71). However, I had seen a photograph of the Stone of the Mad, so that seemed a good place to start.

Cloch na nGealt, Stone of the Mad

Gleann na nGealt, Valley of the Mad, is long, low, verdant and utterly peaceful, the hedgerows rich with an astonishing and colourful assortment of wildflowers, including the first orchids.

My companions stretched their legs and browsed through the flowers. I nipped over a gate and into the field to search for the stone. It was easy to find, standing on its own, a large sandstone bullaun.

Near the stone a ringfort retained it impressive grassy walls (KE036-059), a fallen fairy tree lying inside.

Apparently a blacksmith and his wife once lived below the fort. She would milk the cow onto the stone and eventually a hollow formed. Milk remained in the bowl so that those visiting the wells would have something nourishing to drink. If you look closely you are meant to be able to see the handprints of those who clasped the basin as they drank, the two impressions just above the main basin.

This is not the first milk-filling bullaun I have come across – the Cloch na hEilte, or Hind Stone, connected with St Berrihert’s Well in North Cork, once regularly filled with milk thanks to a deer.

Well of the Mad, Tobar an nGealt, 1

So where were the wells?  As you can see from the Historic 25 inch map (1829-41), the ring fort, bullaun stone and well are all clearly marked. The area where the well is marked is now inaccessible due to dense undergrowth so we asked at a nearby house for information.

We were kindly directed back down the road past the field containing the bullaun, past the little fork in the road and and to an area nearby marked as ford on the map. We had walked right past the sign!

Creeping through the undergrowth, the well was in fact a spring forming a small stream, with possible remains of stepping stones scattered in the water.

Many offerings festooned the branches- rosaries, rags, bracelets – and statues were carefully placed amongst all the green.

The water was fresh and flowing and there was indeed some watercress and other succulent greens growing on its banks. Those who ate the watercress must surely have benefited for it is rich in Vitamin K, full of nutrients and has a high antioxidant content.

A tranquil site, easy to imagine finding solace here

Could the second well on the map be found? This lay several hundred metres away to the south and we jumped back in the car to investigate.

Well of the Mad,Tobar na nGealt 2

Again this well had once attracted many visitors keen to drink the water and eat the watercress. We found ourselves in a small settlement and luckily came across the landowner. He told us that a well had been on his land but was now much overgrown and that people used the well we had just come from – he also told us that it was the same spring sourcing all wells which was reassuring. He gave us permission to explore, telling us the well was sited near the tallest tree in the field behind the houses. We walked down a long grassy boreen, an attractive derelict house to the right, impossible to resist a peek in.

The boreen ended in a ford and we waded over.

In fact we had to rewade back a little further on and found ourselves in a large damp field, enclosed by the hills, yellow flags still blooming,

The trees were in a corner of the field which was exceptionally wet and rich with watercress. There was no sign of where the spring was emerging from but the GPS was satisfied that this was the spot.

Edit (June 2023)

Many thanks to Caroline Corballis for sending me the photographic storyboard of the uncovering of this well – we were obviously very close! How good to see the water percolating upwards and some offerings.

The Cure

They (the locals) give many instances of mad persons who sojourned in this valley and returned home, sane and in excellent health, as of a Mary Maher, who came into it rabidly mad and entirely naked in the year 1823 and who returned home (after spending some months there) sound in mind and stout in health. And of one O’Sullivan who came into it in the year 1839 and returned entirely cured of his lunacy in three days.

John O Donovan, ordnance Survey Letters for Kerry, 1841

The wells may not be strictly classified as holy wells – there is no association with any saint nor are the rounds paid but the water is reputed to hold a powerful cure which has been recognised for hundreds of years. The Cath Finntrágha, the Battle of Ventry, is an early Irish narrative of the Finn Cycle, dating to around the fifteenth century though the story itself may be much older and is similar to Bhuile Shuibhne in many respects. It describes how Donn, or Dáire, the World King, decides to invade Ireland in support of the King of France, Bolcáin (Vulcan), whose wife and daughter had eloped with Finn mac Cumhaill. The landing is made at Ventry where a ferocious battle takes place. Faced with Oisín, Finn’s son, in one to one combat, Bolcáin goes mad and flies off to the well where he is restored after drinking the water. It seems he knew where to go which suggests the well has a long history. It’s interesting how he seemed to fly too, just like Sweeney and of course, Seamus Heaney describes the Gleann of Bolcáin in his narrative.

Brendan Kelly, Professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College, in an article in the Irish Medical Times,  describes the connection with flying and puts the well in context:

For much of this period, there was a widespread belief that mental illness conferred lightness of body such that affected persons could move from one spot to the next at high speed by merely touching the ground here and there; i.e. essentially flying. This interesting belief persisted up to the 13th century and contributed to the mythic figure of ‘Mad Sweeney’ (Suibhne Geilt), whose remarkable tale is told in Buile Suibhne, an epic story written in the 12th century but with origins in the 9th century or earlier. The story of Sweeney was a vivid one, magically re-told by Seamus Heaney (1939-13) and brilliantly re-imagined in comic form by Flann O’Brien (1911-66). Sweeney, a chieftain, was cursed by Ronan the Fair, abbot of Drumiskin, and condemned to a life of mental illness, flying and wandering through the world, culminating in death by spearing. In all of its tragedy, Sweeney’s story reflected not only contemporary views of the dislocation and loneliness of mental illness but also tensions between pre-Christian and Christian Ireland.

In Kerry, a valley became known as Gleann na nGealt, Glenn of the Lunatics, as it was believed that all the mentally ill, like Sweeney, would, if left to their own devices, come to live there eventually. It was thought they would drink the water and eat watercress from the well, which were said to have cured the mental illness of Gall, king of Ulster, as well as that of Vulcan.

Those who lost their minds owing to being jilted in love could also seek solace there. The valley is still a site of local and tourist interest, as well as the subject of research, most notably in relation to the lithium content of its water. There is a nearby stone with a hollow in its centre, known at the ‘Mad Stone’, and a river crossing known as ‘Fool’s Crossing’.

Professor B Kelly, A Madman’s Chair & Other Mental Illnesses, Irish Medical Times

The reference to lithium has caused much interest for it is a mineral still used to cure mental disorders such as depression and bipolar. In  2012 a documentary was made by Sibéal Teo for TG4 which set out to examine the history of the well and the attributes of the water. Dr Henry Lyons, former Head of Development at IT Tralee, was commissioned to undertake a scientific analysis of the water. Frustratingly I have been unable to find the programme online but it seems that the water was found to contain slightly higher than average traces of lithium. Brigid O Connor, the custodian of the well, told me that it was found to have a level of 55.6 micrograms of lithium per litre of water.

Again Professor Brendan Kelly refers to this in his book Hearing Voices: the History of Psychiatry in Ireland. When he tested the water himself and found that it contained 5 micrograms of lithium per litre of water, an amount too low to have any therapeutic benefits but he generously concludes:

Biochemical analysis is however, neither the only nor the best way to examine the therapeutic value of Tobar na nGealt or other folk cures for mental illness, which find their true value as embedded elements of local traditions and beliefs, and reflect subtle, powerful cultural interpretations of mental illness and human suffering.

Dr Muiris Houston, Irish Medical Times, December 2016

Charles Smith, visiting in  the 1770s was less than impressed:

…I shall close my account of this barony of Corkaguiny with just mentioning a ridiculous notion that prevails among the country people, concerning a place they called Glanagalt … where they say all the mad folks of the kingdom, if left to their liberty, would run. Indeed,from the tremendous appearance of these desolate glins and mountains at first sight, one might imagine that none but the mad would enter them., but why this place… should be frequented by lunatics, no body can pretend to ascertain any rational cause; and yet, no truth is more firmly credited here by the common people, than this impertinent fable.

Charles Smith, The Ancient & Present State of the County of Kerry

Sometimes the power and potency of the place and the belief of the pilgrim may be all that is required. Make a cup of tea and listen to this podcast produced by Murt Mulcahy for Radio Kerry in which local people, an archaeologist and several of those who have taken the cure discuss the special merits of Tobar na nGealt. Better still, go and investigate yourself.

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

Many thanks to Caroline Corballis for the photographs of Tobar na gGealt 2.

Many thanks to Brigid O Connor for her information about the first scientific study of the well.