After the enchantment surrounding the adventure to St Erc’s well in the last blog, it is only fair to reveal that not all holy well explorations are so exciting and rewarding. There are about 10 wells around Tralee that I have been intending to visit for years but it’s been hard to muster enthusiasm. Consulting […]
Schools' Folklore Project
A fairy Fort, a foxy woman & an enigmatic stone: Meenvane, Schull
Sometimes things come together in unexpected ways and at unexpected moments! Visiting my hairdresser recently, the talk of course got round to holy wells! She mentioned that she had been discussing local wells with another client and the well at Meenvane had come up. I confessed that I thought I had mis-identified this one and […]
Found, Forgotten, Revisited: a November round up
A blog highlighting some recently visited wells around County Cork and County Kerry, including some old friends and some new discoveries. It is now reasonable to assume that many holy wells date from before the Christian era and can therefore be hundreds of years old. The first well described may be unusual in that it […]
Kinsale: Fan na dTubraid, a town built on springs
I recently joined forces with Charlotte Cargin who took me on a whirlwind tour of some of the wells in Kinsale, the town originally called Fan na dTubraid: the Slope of the Springs/Wells. I had noticed that Charlotte was busy uncovering wells in the town and surrounding areas and wanted to find out a bit […]
Diversions in Tipperary Part 4: featuring some strange & colourful saints
Whilst roving around Tipperary recently, we came across some wonderful sites connected with some colourful and interesting saints – some previously visited before and some new. First up St Séadna, possibly St John, St Seona, St Sedna or even St Senan. St Séadna’s Well, Glen of Aherlow Located in the south east corner of Clonbeg […]
Diversions in Tipperary: Part 3. Tobar Íosa, Cahir
It’s been a while since we had a proper fieldtrip and this one was bittersweet – the first time we had ventured out without Robert, our dear friend, husband of Finola, and one half of Roaringwater Journal, who sadly passed away in March. Although much missed he seemed ever present and I know he would […]