I’m just back from an excellent long weekend at the inaugural Skellig Coast Archaeology Festival. The weather was atrocious and many events were outside but we were a hardy lot and sallied forth anyway – and there were wells! St Crohane’s Well, Tobar Chrócháin One of the highlights of the programme for me was a […]
Archaeological Inventory
Derrynafinchin: a bullaun, Mass rock & stone circle
The townland of Derrynafinchin – Doire na Fuinseann which seems to mean rather confusingly oak wood of the ash trees – lies in the incredibly scenic and remote Borlin Valley in West Cork. Everywhere was looking Autumnal and lush in the soft drizzle as we ventured forth. First stop a wayside grotto, tucked neatly into […]
A Grand Day Out in Dunworley
Sometimes I have not visited a well simply because it sounds as though it has long gone and there is literally nothing to see. This can be a dangerous assumption for several wells have been there when eventually visited, often covered in undergrowth but still there. I was contacted by Diarmuid a few weeks ago […]
Off the beaten track in Corca Dhuibhne
Jim Dempsey of the excellent Megalithic Ireland kindly alerted me to a well on the Dingle Peninsula which he had recently cleared a path to, and he advised that I visit soon before the undergrowth took over once again. That sounded like a good excuse to nip across to Kerry for a few days. Well […]
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 […]
St Finbarr Revisited & some thoughts on conservation
I am finally back in Ireland having spent six months in New Zealand, four months longer than intended due to Covid-19! The virus continues to restrict movements so I decided to revisit two holy wells close to home and see how they were faring. Last time I visited was in 2016 and both wells, both […]