Guest blog post: Meath Holy Wells an overview and focus on St. Patrick by Noel French

It is pleasing to say that this bi-monthly guest blog post is from Noel French, author of the Holy Wells of Meath, an excellent book on the county’s holy wells.

The introduction is from his book and attached are some very interesting notes of the wells dedicated to St. Patrick. Images copyright noël French 

A holy well is a source of water where there is a tradition of veneration or has a religious dedication. They are sacred sites. There are many holy wells in Meath, a good number of them still having a regular pattern or pilgrimage. I have recorded more than one hundred and thirty holy wells and sacred places in the county. Many wells are located in secluded and beautiful areas, well away from the madding crowds of modern life.

Wells had both material and spiritual importance to our ancestors. Water is a basic necessity and while today water is on tap it was not so for our ancestors. My mother had to obtain water from a well for the first five years of her marriage until electricity arrived. Our ancestors made sources of good clean water holy and these wells had to be respected. If something untoward was done to the well it might move.
Holy wells acquire their spiritual importance not only from current and recent worship but also from the pilgrimages made to the wells year after year by generation after generation of ordinary people. These wells have a strong connection to our Faith. Pilgrimages, patterns and holy well are an important part of our heritage.
Holy wells are visited at special times of the year usually on the patron’s day but also on days connected to the major Celtic festivals, in particular the Lughnasa festival in August. This suggests the pre-Christian origin of many of these wells. With the arrival of Christianity the wells were re-dedicated and their water used for baptism and for curing people’s ills. Many Meath wells are dedicated to St. Patrick but many are also dedicated to the other two great Irish saints, Brigid and Colmcille. Many parochial saints had wells dedicated to their honour.
The holy wells were believed to be places of cures, with different wells having unique healing properties. Drinking from one well would restore sight to the blind or cure a headache or bathing in the stream of another would cure ague. In almost all cases, rituals were required in order for the healing to occur.
Visitors to the wells said certain prayers and followed a defined route at the well. The rounds were always made to the right, in a clockwise direction. Patterns involved saying the Stations at the well but there was also a social side of the celebrations and in many cases these non-religious aspects led to the festivities being prohibited by the Church. In the light of opposition by the government, the established church, the Catholic Church, it is somewhat surprising that so many wells have survived and are treasured by their adherents. Holy wells have endured because they were regarded as sacred places by the community.
The wells do not exist alone; they are often associated with a tree and or a stone. The most common trees are hawthorn, ash or oak. The tree may represent the timber of the Cross and the Crucifixion and trees were also worshipped by the Celts. The trees are usually festooned by offerings of rags or ribbons. Leaving votive offerings such as cloth or pins was a common custom and still survives at many of the wells today. This tradition is associated with wells in other countries throughout Europe and western Asia.
The stones at the wells often bear the mark of the patron saint’s knees, fingers, thumb or some other bodily part. Many wells are said to contain a sacred trout.
Many holy wells have slipped into obscurity, having been ploughed over, clogged with rubble, overgrown, or fallen victim to natural erosion. They continue to be lost to farming, drainage work, development or neglect.
The Meath Archaeological Survey does not mention holy wells. There are only three wells protected in the County Development Plan: St. Colmcille’s, Kells, St. Brigid’s, Ardsallagh and Tober Rua, Moymet. In recent years there has been a revival of interest in holy wells and a number have been restored.
The earliest reference to a holy well in Meath is that of St. Patrick’s nephew, Loman, baptising a chieftain’s son at Trim in the fifth century but the well tradition stretches further back to the story of the origin of the Boyne River at Trinity Well. The wells recorded in my Meath book are usually holy wells or have cures associated with them.

St. Patrick’s Wells
There are many wells dedicated to St. Patrick in Meath. The saint’s journey from the sea to Slane, from Slane to Tara and onto Trim may be traced through the occurrence of major and smaller wells. There are also wells dedicated to the saint dotted throughout the rest of the county, each recalling a similar story of how Patrick and his followers became thirsty and the saint struck a rock and fresh cool spring came forth. Many of the wells also have stones marked by the saint’s knees, fingers or handprint.

Enter a caption

Carlanstown
St. Patrick’s Well (above) is located on the Green at Carlanstown, opposite the National School. The well is recorded on the OS maps from the 1830s. The well is covered by chiselled blocks of granite, forming a dome, and the stones placed so as to form a cross at the centre. Cogan noted the well in the 1860s.
St. Patrick blessed the well at Carlanstown on his journey from Meath to Cavan. The water is cold in winter and in summer. There was a red coloured flagstone in the well and it is said that St. Patrick cut his foot on a stone and this is where the red colour comes from. On another stone there are two tiny holes, one is where the holy man stuck his thumb and the other is where he put his big toe.
There was a story relating to the well recorded in Jack Fitzsimon’s ‘The parish of Kilbeg.’ A Tipperary jobber attended Carlanstown fair, regularly buying and selling cattle. He missed the fairs for a year and was asked why when he returned. He explained he had lost a large amount of money at the previous fair. Having sold cattle he had the sum of 20 sovereigns and placed them on the wall near the well and forgot about them. When he tried to locate his money he could not. Not having the necessary finances to continue to trade he had to leave the profession for a year to raise funds. The jobber showed his audience where he had placed the money at the well. To his and their surprise there were the twenty sovereigns on the wall exactly where he had left them a year earlier.

Kilmainhamwood
The well at Shancor (below), Kilmainhamwood, has a number of names and dedications. The well is also known as Kilfannin Well. The well is situated in a beautiful valley on the side of a glen. A tiny waterfall runs near the well and is marked ‘St. Patrick’s Cascade’ on the OS maps. About one mile along the Glen Road on the Bailieborough road from Kilmainhamwood, the well was the scene of a pilgrimage and pattern each year on the first Sunday of August. There was an altar erected near the well. St. Patrick said Mass at the rock near the well. This was also described as a Mass Rock from the Penal Days. There was a prophecy “that the wagons of war would pass by within a pistol shot of the holy well.” This prophecy was deemed fulfilled when lorries of Black and Tans travelled on the nearby road night and day during the Troubles.

Mosney
At Mosney there is a well dedicated to St. Patrick, one kilometre north of Ben Head. A natural spring, St. Patrick’s Well, is just east of the railway embankment about one hundred metres south of Mosney railway station and on the foreshore of the sea.
In the 1830s John O’Donovan recorded that Julianstown had its pattern day each year on 8 September. The procession began at Moorechurch, passing through Keenogue Cross, Moymurthy and Sarsfield Cross to St. Patrick’s Well. The pattern was last held in 1912.
When St. Patrick was travelling from the mouth of the Delvin River to Tara he dispatched his boats by sea from the Delvin to the Boyne and he himself travelled overland. Between Laytown and Gormanston the saint met a young man named Benignus. The young man fell at the saint’s feet and begged Patrick for permission to be allowed to follow him. St. Patrick baptised Benignus at the well now known as St. Patrick’s Well. Ben Head between Laytown and Gormanston is said to be named after St. Benignus. St. Benignus was the son of the High King of Ireland and later became Archbishop of Armagh and Archbishop of all Ireland. St. Patrick is the patron saint of the parish of Stamullen. The railway bridge near the well is called Peterswell Bridge but there is no record of a well dedicated to St. Peter. St. Peter’s Chapel was in the nearby townland of Irishtown.

Oldcastle and surrounding area
Although the parish of Oldcastle is dedicated to St. Brigid, the main holy well in the parish is devoted to St. Patrick. The well is recorded as far back as the 1830s and was still being visited in the 1960s. St. Patrick’s Well is situated in a secluded valley in the townland of Boolies. A nearby house is named Patrickswell House and is marked on the Ordnance Survey maps. The field in which the well is to be found is called the ‘Door field’. The adjoining field was called Church field and there was a local tradition that there was a church there but no traces remain. Sir William Petty’s map of Meath in the 1660s shows the townland of Boolies and the neighbouring area is labelled Tibber Patrick with the well indicated..
It is said that one night Patrick slept close to this well. While he was sleeping a man came and stole his shoes. The man had no luck during the rest of his life. Another story provided by the School’s Folklore collection said that the day St. Patrick was passing this well on his horse, the horse got thirsty so Patrick brought him over to the well, and the horse knelt down on one of the stones to take a drink. The track of the horse’s knees is still to be seen in the stone. A toothache might be cured by rubbing the stone against your face. People suffering from stomach trouble or morning sickness drink water from St. Patrick’s Well and are cured.

Slane
The Hill of Slane is the traditional site for the lighting of the Pascal fire by St. Patrick. In the 1830s John O’Donovan recorded the presence of St. Patrick’s Well midway between the ruins of the seminary and the ruined church. This well had stonework as high as the surface of the ground and was called Tobar Patrick. Its waters ran dry every summer.

Tara
A stone covered well (above) stands by the roadside on the eastern slopes of Hill of Tara. This well is one of the sources for the Gabhra stream. The well recently named St. Patrick’s Well was originally a pagan well.

Trim
One of the earliest recorded wells in Meath is the one used by St. Loman to baptise Foirtchern at the Ford of Trim in the fifth century. According to the Book of Armagh, which was completed in the ninth century, a well opened in Trim so that St. Loman could baptise Foirtchern. This well was named after Loman’s uncle, St. Patrick.
Today there is a well dedicated to St. Patrick on the banks of the river Boyne upstream from the town of Trim. It is said that the well was originally in the middle of the large field on the Kildalkey Road but that soldier’s wives washed clothes in the waters and the well disappeared only to spring forth near the river. The well had the cure of the headache and pilgrims left behind a piece of cloth on the thorn bush over the well. Sr. Assumpta revived the pilgrimage to the well in 1995 and since that year an annual ecumenical pilgrimage takes place at 12 noon on St. Patrick’s Day.

Happy slightly belated St. Patrick’s Day to everyone – there are two type of people in the world on March 17th – those who are Irish and those who wish they were Irish!

More can be read in Meath Holy Wells by Noel French available from the author. A review is here https://insearchofholywellsandhealingsprings.wordpress.com/book-reviews/

Veneration of water in 12 objects…..number 11 the Bullaun

At many Irish holy wells particularly can be found stones typified with depressions within them, which are often water filled. These depressions often have round stones within them. What are they?

Wilde (1955) makes a mention in his book on Loch Corrib, a stone called Leac na bPoll:

“takes precedence of all other stones in Cong. It is a large triangular red grit flag, two feet thick and eight and a half feet long in its greatest diameter, from under which a never-failing limpid spring issues. Its upper surface is hollowed out into five basin like smooth excavations, averaging twelve inches wide and four and a half deep and usually known as Bullauns from the Latin bulla a bowl; and which from their being invariably found in immediate connection with the most ancient church and may have been regarded as primitive baptismal fonts.”

This description neatly sums up the use of bullaun stones.  In some cases the water collected in the bullaun hollows was rain filled and in the main said to cure warts, although St Kieran’s Well, Kilkieran has one for headache.

Noted bullaun and holy wells

Glendalough has the greatest amount around 40 but many are disassociated with holy wells. However, bullauns are found across the Irish countryside from St Gobnait’s holy well, Cork to St. Machan’s Well, Lemanagham Offaly, from St Berrihert’s Kyle and Well, Glen of Aherlow, Co Tipperary to over the border to St. Patrick’s Well, Aughnacloy Ulster Tyrone as well as Ullard’s well, Leinster, Kilkenny and St Attracta’s Well, Ballaghdereen, Connacht, Roscommon, but of course this list is nowhere near exhaustive.

Origins of bullauns?

The origin of these impressions is debatable. Folklorically, reasons have been given. A story is given of the 6th century Bishop St Aid who at birth is said to have hit a stone making a hole whose rainwater cured all illnesses. Realistically, they may have been natural features exacerbated by rain or in some cases the action of those stone within it. One idea was that they were primitive baptism fonts as suggested by Colby (1837) in Ordnance survey of the county of Londonderry:

“that stones of this description are found in the vicinity of most of the Irish churches, and usually bear the name of the founder, or patron saint: they are always held sacred, and the rain-water, deposited in their hollows, is believed to possess a miraculous power in curing various diseases.”

However, this must be discounted as there are around 40 in the area of Glendalough, Wicklow, alone. Certainly there associations date back to the 11th century and appear associated with the recanting of saint’s lives as above. Another theory is that they begun as corn grinding basins or more likely herbs whose healing properties may compliment the spring water.

It appears that the main theory is that they may be cup and ring marks which are found throughout northern Europe, but bar some found in Scotland, Sweden, Lithuania and France, they are lacking in much of the area where cup and ring stones are found..so why bullauns are found in some areas and not others we may never know.

 

The veneration of water in 12 objects…number one the clootie

Every month this year I am covering the veneration of water in a different item, 12 in all. This month it will be the clootie or rag. As the title suggests. 

Many years ago when my interest in the subject was first piqued I visited the famous Madron Well. To be honest I was not very impressed with the well; a square concreted hole in the ground, if  I remember devoid of any atmosphere. No what impressed me was what was attached to the trees; hundred and thousands of bits of cloth. I had no idea why they were there but clearly there was significance to them. Soon after I purchased the Bord’s influential Sacred Waters and all was explained.

Basically, the custom would involve the piece of rag, traditionally although rarely now, a piece of clothing, being dipped upon the well’s water rubbed on the afflicted area and then hung on the tree. As this cloth rooted, so it was thought the ailment would disappear. A word on nomenclature the word clootie commonly used for the rags is a recent spread it is originally limited to Scotland.

As far as I am aware no countrywide study has been made of the distribution of the custom, but it appears largely to divided into two blocks in the British Isles. From my research, I have found no evidence of the custom in the south –east. It is traditionally absent from all the counties south of the Thames i.e Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire. Similarly there appears no record in the home countries of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire or Hertfordshire, although only two of these counties have been fully studied. As we travel westward it is encountered in Somerset with Compton Martin’s Rag Well and Cornwall as well as parts of Wales, although Devon is lacking any evidence and that for Dorset appears modern (see below).

It is absent from East Anglia, which is interesting because in Lincolnshire, a county boarding Norfolk it is frequently read about. Here there are eight seven such sites and one is simply called the Ragged Springs. For example at Utterby the:

“Holy Well, on the east side of the parish, is in repute for medicinal virtues, among the vulgar, who, after using it, tie rags on the surrounding bushes, to propitiate the genius of the spring”.

Of the traditional pre-20^th century sites none continue the tradition and ironically another, probably non-holy well, the Ludwell has become the focus of a modern rag leaving tradition. Interestingly, it is recorded in Nottingham, but absent from the rest of the county. Do is there any record in Derbyshire, Leicestershire or Staffordshire.

The record in Nottingham is interesting as there is confusion between the sites of the famed St. Ann’s Well and that known as the spring is called the Rag  Well. To the west only Cheshire has a record.  Hole (1937) noted that at Audley End a holy tree:

“those who came to the well hung rags or other offerings upon.”

Yorkshire has a number of sites, as noted above. St. Helen’s Well, Great Hatfield near Hull has a plaque reading:

“Before the sunrise, dear Helen, I stand by this spring and intreat thee, sweat saint, good health to me bring, for with eyes firmly fixed on this ancient hawthorn, see I place thee a rag from my dress today”

An early reference of one is for one is in 1600 work of A Description of Cleveland in a Letter Addressed by H. Tr. to Sir Thomas Chaloner  which describes St. Oswald’s Well, Great Ayton that

“they teare of a ragge of the shirte, and hange yt on the bryers thereabouts”.

Most famed Yorkshire rag well was that almost lost at Thorpe Arch, where photos from the turn of the 19^th century show it festooned with torn strips. Haigh (1875) says that:

 “twenty years ago the Rev E. Peacopp, curate of Healaugh, informed me that shreds of linen were to be seen attached to the bushes which overhang this well”.

Bogg (1892) refers to it as:

 “St Helen’s or the Wishing Well, which is often visited by young men and maidens… In a clump of trees near the river, hanging on the roots of the trees, are some scores of gewgaws left by anxious lovers, who suppose the well holds some subtle efficacy or charm”.

The ritual was described as having to be done before sunrise where the cloth would be dipped in the well and then tied to the tree whilst making a wish. Of St Swithin’s Well Stanley, in his Ancient Wells of Wakefield, 1822:

“when the well was open it was near the hedge on which used to be hung bits of rag with which people had washed. These were left hanging under the delusive idea that as the rags wasted away so would the part affected, which had been washed, therewith proceed to mend and become sound”.

In Durham Jarrow’s Bede Well and in Northumberland the Lady Well, Cheswick were both rag wells. However, Scotland has three of the most famous rag or cloottie wells. The most famed is that which despite the given name of St. Curidan is better known as the Clouttie well and is the one which has attracted the greatest controversy. Found in Munlochy on the A832, here rags festoon every mm of the surrounding trees and became so unsightly that the decision was taken to remove many of them and surf the bad luck! The well is particularly visited on Beltaine, the day before the 1^st of May and traditionally children were left over night to cure them much like Madron’s Well.

This distribution would suggest an association with our Celtic heritage, although that perhaps is not strengthened by the Lincolnshire sites. Another theory is that it may have been a tradition associated with the Gypsy community and certainly Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and the West Country are certainly traditional grounds. However, this does not explain the absence from areas such as the New Forest in Hampshire.

An ancient tradition?

The placing of clooties is linked to Patronal days or the Christianised pagan Gaelic-Celtic feast days: Imbolc (1^st February), Beltane (1^st May), Lughnasadh (1^st August) and Samhain (1^st November). It is possibly that the clootie was an offering to a deity at the spring.

 A modern tradition

Visiting holy wells across the country one is struck by the presence of rags on a wide range of sites, many of which would not have had them before I assume. I would imagine that few of the people attaching the rags or more often ribbons are doing it for memento reasons rather than healing ones, to leave something there as a token. Yet by doing so they are continuing an ancient tradition…only spoilt by the use of modern non biodegradable fabrics. This is clearly what is going on at St. Kenelm’s Well where there are clothes on a nearby bush and similarly at St. Augustine’s Well, at Cerne which according to Thompson & Thompson (2004) book on Wells of the Mainland had:

“a few coloured ribbons hang from neighbouring trees – evidently an attempt to perpetuate its memory as a rag-well”.

And so it continues.  Many wells and springs beyond the natural range appear to be growing in their clottie collections. A quick look on the internet even shows a few which I have done and I can still see the ribbon, sadly it wasn’t as biodegradable as I thought! How to confuse the researcher!!

 

A well for May – Our Lady’s Well and a pilgrimage to Our Lady’s Island, Wexford

May is a month dedicated to Our Lady or St Mary and of course across the British Isles, there are a number of Lady Wells. Ireland is a country which is rich in such wells and in County Wexford is perhaps the most famed of all of them, a well which is part of a larger sacred landscape. This is a sacred landscape which doubtlessly dates back beyond the times of pre-Christianity. Indeed, a natural formation at Carnsore Point is believed to be a Druid Altar, and the name Cluain-na-mBan translating as ‘the meadow of the women’ suggests the site could have originated as a Druid community ran by women and as such Our Lady would be a natural dedication.

Perhaps more a peninsular than an island, the supposed island covers around thirty-two acre plot sitting a tidal lake, reached by a causeway. Beside the modern altar encased in class is the leaning barbican tower of a medieval Norman castle which once protected this area. Beyond it, the ruins of a church, where tombs and graves lie in sad desolation and shamrock grows from their bones. Both were built by a de Lamporte and the church was used up until the 18^th century.

The island’s Christian heritage begun in the 7^th century A.D, when a St. Abban founded a community there and dedicated it to Our Lady.  Saint Abban’s Vita is well recorded in both the Codex Dublinensis and Codex Salmanticensis, and he is recorded to have travelled to Rome and been well educated by a number of saints such as his uncle St. Ibar. It does seem strange that no well is dedicated to him on the island.

Little is recorded of early pilgrimage to either the island or the well. However, its importance can be hinted at when a leaden Bula of Pope Martinus V (1417-31) was found suggesting that papal indulgences were made to those who visited the site. In 1607, Pope Paul V gave a plenary indulgence to those who after Confession and Holy Communion would visit the church of Our Lady on the Island on the Feast (8^th September) of Our Lady and the Assumption (15^th August).

After the severe prosecution of the Cromwell period, although Pope Benedict, between 1740 and 1743 tried to suppress pilgrimages he had the only official permissible locations being one being Our Lady’s Island and Lough Derg. The Bishop of Ferns was involved with a large procession of the Blessed Sacrement around the Island and high mass was said at the newly consecrated parish church. However, it was not until 1897, that a regular Pilgrimage Procession by local Parish Priest, Father Whitty. This has grown over the years and thousands now attend.

Bob Embleton [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Two wells exist in the area. The more famed and interesting is that of Our Lady’s Well, whose whitewashed chamber overlooks the island below. It is found by passing over a stile and through a couple of fields, look for our lady on the wall on the lane…and a sign! The spring fills an oval chamber and empties into a ditch through a pipe. Overlooking the spring is a small figure of the Virgin and steps go down to the water. Perhaps the most unusual feature is a metal turn-stile. A number of claims are made for its waters, but I know of no specific cures. From its position it is clear that pilgrims would start their journey from the well and after having refreshed themselves would process down to the island.

On the island is another well. The provenance of this well is unclear, it does not appear to have been present in the 1900s when the shrine was constructed nearby and is probably either a domestic farmer’s well or else drains off the farmland; consequently a sign warns of not drinking it. Around this well can be seen a number of figurines probably given as offerings, including a snow globe and a Buddha. It appears that this well probably because of proximity to the pilgrim’s procession vies to replace the most venerable Lady’s Well.

Even on a fine summer’s day, one can both experience the peacefulness of the site and imagine the hoards of pilgrims as the process around it, sometimes with one foot in the water! A romantic and wonderful place and highly recommended.

Interested in Irish holy wells follow this excellent blog

http://Irelandholywells.blogspot.com

Note my hard drive isnt working so I have had to use a wikicommons image.

A cold draught…the holy wells of Nova Scotia

I recently picked up a postcard which had a circular arched holy well which had carved across the arch Holy Well. It appeared to resemble sites found Cornwall and Devon, indeed it had Truro as its location. I was unaware of such a site in the Cornish capital and I had never heard of a Victoria Park in the town too. However, searching on the internet it revealed itself to be in Nova Scotia and such I was intrigued to find out more.

The Acadian influence

The Acadians is the name of the French colonists who settled in Canada in the 1600s around Nova Scotia in a separate colony from those of Quebec put were expelled from the region after the British conquest in the 1710. They clearly brought with them their traditions and customs and finding themselves in need of true holy well blessed this spring.

Confused tradition

Local legend states that the well was blessed by Celtic saint. This obviously is a little paradoxical to say the least as we are several 1000 miles from the Celtic homeland. It is more likely that the Celtic wells were used to explain the dedication, with an obvious Breton association, unless of course the site claims a connection with the legend of St. Brendan. Nevertheless, the site was used to baptise infants and as a wishing well.

The site today

The Victoria Park website refers to the holy well as a replica of one on Bible hill. There is still a Holy Well Park Bible hill is there a holy well there? The question being does the original survive? I have yet to discover the answer. The site itself looks old, sitting below the rock face and reached by a small number of steps. Sadly a cover is now placed over its entrance which appears to prevent access to the water.

Other holy wells

 Research reveals other holy wells in the country and the author would be keen on hearing about more. In the park itself there is an interesting spring called the Brandy spring, so named because soldiers in the Fenian raids kept their bottles cool there. It was until recently used by locals as drinking water. One holy well is associated with the legend of Oak Island and another at Point Pleasant Park Halifax, although other than having clear water I have been unable to find more information.

More interestingly is St. Patrick’s Well, Mount St. Patrick, Ontario an area colonised by Irish Catholics.  It is said that a Father McCormack was responsible for the holy well in 1869 after finding the spring and blessing it in the Irish tradition. As can be seen from these photos from waymarking.com the spring arises in a square deep well associated with an altar with iconography in the enclosed whitewashed wooden building with blue roof. It is pleasing to see that the European holy well tradition manifested itself in the far reaches of their colonies and surely there are more wells to discover..if anyone knows of any such I would be interested to hear of more.

Some holy wells in and around Dublin

For Christmas Gary Branigan’s excellent and invaluable Ancient and Holy wells of Dublin arrived and a great book it is to. A real detailed field guide revealing how many fascinating sites there are in the Dublin area, and hopefully this will be the spearhead for similar studies in all the Republic’s counties. Until then here’s some of my explorations in the city, which however brief revealed some interesting sites.

St Patrick’s Well, Dublin St Patrick’s Cathedral

 

Despite being the site of a well, this is an interesting site and worthy a visit. The site of the well is marked in a garden in the south-west corner with a plaque reading:

“near here is the reputed site of the well where St Patrick baptised many of the local inhabitants in the fifth century AD

The site was found during road widening when a large upright cross slab was discovered which is believed to have been over the well. This cross slab can now be found in the cathedral which berars a wheel cross and Maltese cross. Below the now prostate cross reads:

“This stone was found on 18^th June 1901 six feet below the surface on the traditional site of St. Patrick’s Well ie 91 feet due north from the north-west apele of the tower.”

Lady Well, Tyrelltown

This is a delightful well sadly spoiled by its location beside a busy Church road. The building’s core is thought to date from the fourteenth century and was originally dedicated to St Cuthbert changing in the 1300sew. In the reign of Henry VI it was looked after by an order, called the Guild of the Blessed Virgin Mary, dedicated to repairing Marian shrines and when this was finally dissolved at his death, the Gracedieu Nunnery looked after the site. A pattern was established here on the 8^th September, and according to some sources continues still, where it was tradition to crawl on your hands and knees and thus lying on one’s stomach place your hand in the well chamber and drink directly from the well. With such a busy road I cannot image it being done with any degree of sanctity or safety. Its waters were said to good for sprains, cuts and rheumatism and like many other wells those attracted turned to drunkenness and violence and in 1790 a death occurred.

The well is painted white and blue, Mary’s colours, and above the well chamber is a figure of Mary in one of the finials at the end. The back finial has a cross and the front one has written upon it:

“I H S Holy Mary pray for us

O blessed mother and ever Virgin glorious queen of the world make intercession for us to our lord   Amen

Vouchsafe that I may praise thee O sacred virgin obtain for me force against thy enemies”

Legend has it that once the spring was offended and it moved to the other side of the road.

St Winifred’s Well, Eustace Street

Sometimes the best intentions do not always come best and the rediscovery of this ancient well clearly has not been welcomed by all. The plaque reads:

“St Winifred’s Well

…St Winifred’s Well was a medieval well known to have been in Eustace Street, perhaps further up towards Dame Street. St Winifred…was revered in North Wales in the middle ages and like St Bridget in Ireland, her name was associated with wells and springs. It is not clear how a well in medieval Dublin came to bear her name. It is known that Dublin had trading contacts with North Wales from the 11th century onwards and settlers from there probably came to live in Dublin after the Anglo-Normans captured the city in 1170. One of these may have given the well its name…

The present well has been covered over by the Street at some point in the past. It has been restored to expose the ground water resource that flows all the time below the foundations of the city…

Joint project involving Dublin Corporation & Temple Bar Properties Ltd.”‘

Its rediscovery in 1990s has not really created a circular well head monument but rather a good vestibule for litter!

These three sites are only the tip of the iceberg and I heartly recommend this excellent book Ancient and Holy Wells of Dublin

Ardmore’s St Declan’s Well and its Pattern day

There were present at Ardmore several thousand of as fine people as exist. I have no hesitation in saying that the peasantry of the Counties of Cork and Waterford, surpass any people I have seen in Ireland, Scotland, or England.”

A recent visit to Ireland allowed me to visit a fair number of the country’s evocative Holy wells and investigate a Pattern day. Pattern days are when the town or village celebrate a local saint and their sites and often pilgrims do ‘the rounds’ a special ritual associated with the site. With this in mind I was very interested to visit the town on its Pattern day.  Ardmore Pattern day is one of the country’s most famed. As the festival website notes, for many generations, this was looked forward to the day, people would tidy up and whitewashed there houses and children would get presents and enjoy the stalls and rides which would line the streets. The Pattern Day has now become a festival and I was interested to see how a village celebrated its special day and whether any traditions continued.

The village

A strange and eerie mist surrounded all roads to Ardmore, a small seaside town in County Waterford. As the road dived down to the coast, the mists slowly lifted and the town revealed itself, a few shops, restaurants and a large Victorian Catholic church. Despite this being its big day, its Pattern or Patronal Day, the town appeared rather empty and quiet. There was no sign that anything different was happening today; but this was the 24^th July, St. Declan’s Day, and the day when traditionally large numbers of pilgrims descending on the town.

Historical accounts

As noted Ardmore’s Pattern is perhaps one of the most detailed of all Irish events and many accounts have been given. Over the centuries, it has waxed and waned, even the stations have changed with pilgrims no longer going to see St Declan’s crozier or skull, but still the Rock, Grave, Round tower and well. Hardy-Dixon (1836) noted in his Holy Wells of Ireland:

“This annual scene of disgusting superstition is exhibited at Ardmore, in the County of Waterford, on the 24th of July, in each year. Several thousand  persons, of all ages and sexes, assemble upon this occasion. The greater part of the extensive strand, Which forms the western part of Ardmore Bay, is literally covered by a dense mass of people. Tents and stands for the sale of whiskey are placed along the shore. Each tent has its green ensign waving on high.”

The surviving stations are the Stone, Well, Round tower, St Declan’s Bed. I did not see any evidence of devotion at the Tower or Bed, eerily as they were wrapped in a misting hiding any signs of modernism.

The Stone

“The Stone, is on the sea shore, is of the same quality as the neighbouring rocks, and weighs, perhaps about two or three tons; it is said to have floated on the sea from Italy, crowned with nine bells, which came most opportunely, as at the period of its arrival the Prst, being about to celebrate Mass, was in want of a bell, upon which he sent some of the people to the spot in question, who, to their astonishment, found the stone and bells as already stated, since which time the stone has been highly venerated for the performance of miraculous cures, &c.”

The only sign that this was a special day was encountered on the beach, where I encountered St. Declan’s Stone, a large and immovable rock set upon others like a natural dolmen. Here was the clear sign it was Pattern Day, for the stone was wrapped in a blue and white blanket (blue and white being the flag of County Waterford). Hardy-Dixon (1836) described the devotion at the stone as:

“At an early hour in the day, says a correspondent of the Roman Catholic Expositor, those whom a religious feeling had drawn to the spot, commence their devotional exerciser in a state of half nudity, by passing under the holy rock of St. Declan. Stretched at full length on the ground on the face and stomach, each devotee moved forward, as if in the act of swimming, and thus squeezed or dragged themselves through. Both sexes were obliged to submit to this humiliating mode of proceeding. Upwards of Eleven hundred persons were observed to go through this ceremony in the course of the day. A reverend gentleman who stood by part of the time exclaimed, ‘0 great is their faith.’ This object of so great veneration, is believed to be holy, and to be endued with miraculous powers. It is said to have been wafted from Rome, upon the surface of the ocean, at the period of St. Declaims founding his Church at Ardmore, and to have borne on its top a large bell for the church tower, and also vestments for the saint himself.”

A correspondent to the author noted:

“Devotions had commenced at the stone previous to my arrival. But it is only at low water that people can go under the stone, and perform their devotion there; they must always take advantage of the tide. On the Saint’s day, it is always necessary to remove some of the sand which accumulates under the stone to make a sufficient passage for a large man or woman–as the little rocks on which the stone rests form irregular pillars, it is necessary to have the surface under the stone lower than the front or rere. In order to begin here, the men take off hats, coats, shoes, and stockings, and if very large, waistcoats – they turn up their breeches, above the knee, then lying flat on the ground, put in hands, arms, and head, one shoulder more forward than the other in order to work their way through the more easily, and coming out from under the stone at the other end, (from front to rere perhaps is four feet,) they rise on their knees and strike their backs three times against the stone, remove beads, repeat aves, &c. They then proceed on bare knees over a number of little rocks to the place where they enter again under the stone, and thus proceed three times, which done, they wash their knees, &c. &c. dress, and proceed to the well. The women take off bonnets, shoes, stockings, and turn their petticoats up above the knee, so that they may go on their bare knees. I saw but one woman who put her petticoats under her knees – a little boy took off his breeches; the women proceed in the same manner as the men, excepting indeed that they appeared less careful of saving their knees from being hurt by the rocks than the men. The knees of one man bled, others were bruised, and all were red. I need scarcely notice the indelicacy connected with such scenes as those described..”

Despite Hardy-Dixon’s disparaging remarks, the veneration of the rock continued unchanged until the 1940s notes:

“It laid on its side on two protruding rocks and the mark of the bell is still on it. People who are ill in  any way have great faith it. At 12.00 on the morning of St Declan’s feast day is the best time to do it and I can remember myself twenty cars and more from Ring, one after another going west along the road from about six or seven o clock the previous afternoon to reach the strand at Ardmore before 12.00 O’clock on the day…”

Indeed a report of an aged lady probably recalling this period amusingly notes:

“We watched from our drawing room window thinking someone very fat might try, and get stuck.”

Although I did not witness the crawling under, I found a small group of children with their parents beside the stone. One of the boys noticing my interest stated that he had climbed under it ‘three times I did it for good luck’….I asked whether he got wet to which he relayed he had removed all his clothes!!  So presumably at some point some people may have more seriously entertained the custom.

The well or Tubber Deglane

Highest upon the sites of veneration was the well, and this is delightful site. The approach to the well up a lane and past the rather grand Cliff Hotel above the village and is well signed. This is a classic Irish holy well, despite the proximity of modern urbanisation, is remains a quiet oasis in a stone enclosure with the ruins of a chapel probably built upon the Saint’s hermitage. It remains much of its ancient fabric, two old crosses are cemented above the well a third one shown in old photos has gone and probably date back to Celtic times. Close by the well is the ruined church of St Declan, said to be built upon his original hermitage.

Fitzgerald (1856) in jottings in Journal of the Royal society of Antiquaries describes it as:

“The most celebrated well in this province for ‘rounds’ and miraculous cures. Its powers of healing are still frequently put to the test with all sorts of sprains and mutilations of the human body, especially on the patron day, which is held on the 24^th July. There are also said to be three holy wells on the strand at Ardmore, which were formed by a miracle of st Declan, but these cannot be seen except at extreme low tides, and at low water mark; they are noted for curing inward complaints in those who are fortunate to glimpse of them at the propitious moment. At each of the wells mentioned here, except those on the strand, the visitor will find numerous coloured objects tied to the trees and briars in the neighbourhood.”

Ian Lee in Ar mo thiasteal dom, a radio show aired in 1949 described the devotion at the well stating that the first thing on entering the gate is that people go on their knees in front of the well, then a number of prayers would be said, such as the Rosary, seven Our Fathers and seven Hail Mary and then one could ask Holy Declan through the power of God any wish you might have for the good of your soul or body. He states:

“Then the Our father is begun around the well three times and on the third round saying the Rosary; people enter through the door in the southern end, go down on their knees and on completing the Rosary they take a stone and cut the sign of the cross on the eastern end-that was the custom but it is said that it’s a pagan custom. They come out then to the well after finishing the three rounds and say seven Our Fathers and seven Hail Marys and some other Prayers

The cures were varied from a deranged but beautiful young women being cured at the well having spent some time screaming at it. Bretnach (1998) Ar bother dom reports:

“A crippled man went to Ardmore on two crutches. When he had the rounds done he washed his feet and hands with the water of the well. He saw a fish in it that snapped at his hand when he put it in the water. He thought this strange. When he was leaving the well he began to feel better and he no longer felt any pain in his hands and legs. He took his crutches and threw them over the cliff and went home sound and healthy.”

The well still attracts its pilgrims. On the night before the church organised a candlelit procession to the well. Whilst I was there I encountered an elderly lady deep in contemplation with her rosary who asked me why the round was round, her answer being so that there were seasons at different points to provide year around food. An interesting consideration perhaps.

More significantly was an elderly women and her husband who was clearly doing ‘the rounds’ as it is called. I kept my distance watching from afar as she undertook three clockwise circumferences of the well and ruined chapel. Half way through she climbed with the help of her husband a stone at the ruined altar end and with a stone made a cross incision in the fabric of the building adding to the large number of crosses, many of them fresh and probably done early in the morning. At the end of the circuit she took her drink from a metal mug provided at the well.

The Pattern in modern times and now

By the 1960s the pattern was an unofficial Bank holiday and the day had tournaments such as the Murphy Cup by this point a correspondent reported that:

“all approach roads to the village would be packed with cars, with crowds from near and far. In that era could there be greater event that the Pattern Day in Ardmore”

By the 1990s the hawkers, fun fairs and numbers had dropped and the Pattern was a more solemn event with a candle light. Insurance apparently prevented some events from continuing but the town would not let the pattern die as it had in other places. Indeed, the town is to be commended for its enthusiasm in reviving the pattern in a modern style and still retaining its raison d’etre- devotion to the saint. The pattern has been extended to a longer Festival, 3 days to incorporate the saint’s day and the weekend, with concerts and theatre productions. One notable drama being a pageant detailing the life of the saint enacted on the beach. Before this was a walk from the Grange Church (or Old Parish) down to the said beach.

This walk was a strange event, I had thought that it may have been religious in nature, but no, it was simply a walk. A large number of people, more than last year I was told boarded to the coach. Being a ‘foreigner’ I asked if I could join them and there was a resounding and enthusiastic yes! The coach drove up from Ardmore to the church car park where we assembled and took off. The walk took us along the main road, and down some quiet lanes and back towards the town at some considerable pace-this was a power walk. Despite being bereft of any real religious significance it, there still sometime poignant and perhaps cleansing about the walk and although the people I spoke to really could not explain their presence, there was a clean spiritual element to it.

By the time I reached the beach, with biscuits and orange juice awaiting, I was greeted by the pageant. The sound of a flute echoed along the beach with children dressed in rags surrounding flickering fires dug into the dirt. All eyes were focussed on a rock with a bell on it and further out a shape on the horizon. This shape quickly became recognisable as a rowing boat and soon a figure in a green Bishop’s robe and mitre, that of St. Declan.  The children and assembled adults dressed as peasants congregated at the foreshore awaiting the saint’s arrival, and being interviewed by the crowd made their way to the church for mass.

Such was my brief experience of Ardmore where one can still see the relics of a Catholic past mixed with the modern twists of bands and plays. Long may it continue.