The 25th September, is the Feast day of St Finbarr, also known as Gougane Sunday. St Finbarr is the patron saint of the city of Cork and the Dioscese of Cork. Gougane Barra, where he established a monastic cell in the sixth century, was, and remains, one of the main pilgrimage destinations in County Cork. […]
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The Case of the Missing Spectacles: All Saints’ Well, Loo Bridge, near Kilgarvan
Finally back in County Kerry and in search of a holy well that has long intrigued me: All Saints’ Well, Tobar na Naomh near Loo Bridge, Kilgarvan. This is the folklore that enticed me: There is a well at Loo Bridge called Tobar na Naomh. The people around the place go doing rounds to the […]
Trout & Tussocks: the Strangeness of Holy Lakes
I don’t know what the situation is in other counties but Cork and Kerry seem to have a fondness for holy lakes. In County Cork for example, the entire Lake at Gougane Barra was once considered sacred for it was here that St Finbarr wrestled with the resident water serpent, Tú, and of course won. […]
Holy Fish, Faction Fighting & some Meandering
Who knew an innocent paragraph could lead down so many different paths and involve so much detective work and strange stories! Browsing through Sacred Waters, I came across an intriguing reference to a holy lake in County Cork that I had not yet come across: … the sacred lake of Loughadrine (Cork) which cured all […]
Gazetteer – West Cork
Abbey Well, Abbeylands, Kinsale Bishop’s Head, Stouke, Ballydehob (bullaun) Blessed Well, Tobar Beannaithe, Killough East, Allihies Blessed Well, Tobar Beannaithe, Trafrask East, near Adrigole (bullaun) Blessed Well, Tobar Beannaithe, Roosk, Adrigole (bullaun) Eye Well, Tobernasog, Ballinadee Eye Well, Tobar na Súl, Drimoleague Eye Well, Tobairín na Súl, Lough Ine Eye Well, Tobernasool, Sheep’s Head Eye […]
Lockdown Roundup
Now confined to 5km there’s not much chance of doing any serious well hunting but we did make the most of our last days of freedom and the lockdown is proving to be a good opportunity to update on various wells (and the website). Our final day out was a ramble with with friends around […]