ANCIENT AND HOLY WELLS
Our parish is dotted with springs and wells but few of us need to
visit them now on a daily basis as earlier generations needed to. While water is
a basic necessity, essential for our own needs, our animals and crops, modern
amenities, water piped to every home means that our attitude towards it has
changed drastically from attitudes of even fifty years ago.
On average, a household might require up to ten gallons of water a day every
drop of which had to be carried in buckets, this could mean a number of trips to
the well each day and then on washdays and bath days further trips would have to
be made. But what one would have considered drudgery, walking to the well,
bailing the water and the journey back again, was re-counted by many as a very
pleasant experience, and the memory of that clean, ice-cold water is a taste
that still hasn't been forgotten. But now these wells once considered vital for
the community have fallen into disrepair and are forgotten and unwanted.
Water was a very strong symbol in Celtic lore, purifying and regenerating and
was seen as a great healer. Belief in the power of water was very strong for
both spiritual and physical needs.
With the coming of Christianity to Ireland, water worship and all other forms of
pagan worship was not tolerated. It would have been an impossible task to forbid
this form of worship and so the policy was to convert rather than destroy, so
when people came to worship their devotions were re-directed to the true God.
Water is also a very strong symbol in Christian Rights, it is used in Baptisms
and hand washing and by using the well water in this way the pagan gods were
pushed out in favour of Christian Saints.
John O'Donovan in 1840 gave us a brief description and location of many of our
named wells in the parish, these sites have been revisited 150 years later.
Prayers and ceremonies have been performed at many of these wells up to fairly
recent times, and some were famed for curing particular ailments.
Rag well or Tobar na gCeirteach in Kilmoylan Upper was dedicated to the Blessed
Virgin Mary and a pattern was held there until 1798. It was also known in recent
times as St Winifred's well and visitors left badges and medals there to obtain
favours. This is in fact a bullan, a hollow in a large rock at the base of an
oak tree. The water collected in this hollow is believed to cure warts, and the
well received it's name from the numerous rags and cloths left tied to the trees
and bushes by it's visitors as memorials.
Kenny's well in Gortavalla East had devotions performed at it, mainly on
Saturdays and it had a pattern until about 1800. Prayers were usually said while
making the "rounds" that is while walking around the well to obtain favours or
in thanksgiving. The number of prayers and rounds varied according to the needs
of the individual pilgrim, in Kenny's well the tradition was three rounds to
obtain a cure.
The prayers were usually counted on the Rosary beads or fingers, and the tally
of the rounds kept mentally, or by taking a number of small stones,
corresponding to the number of rounds, in the hand and throwing one away as each
round was completed.
The rounds were always made to the right, in a clockwise direction, rounds made
"tuathal" or anti-clockwise were believed to bring evil results.1
The custom of holding a "pattern" on a day of special devotion was observed at
Tobar Fiontan in Kilmoylan on January 3rd. This was a day for making a visit to
the well, resulting in almost a public holiday, with sports and games and
usually a very large crowd attended. This could lead to drunkness and fighting
and was never encouraged by either landlord or clergy. Indeed in this diocese
Archbishop Dr Bray suspended and condemned these gatherings in 1797.
St Fintan our most celebrated saint lived and worked in Doon at the latter half
of the sixth century. He is believed to have been of a noble race. His arrival
to Doon was prophesised by St Congall in the Leabhar Breac, translated by John
O'Donovan:
"My little foster - son shall obtain the fortress.
Fintan by whom the dun will be obtained;
His city of sacred protection shall be
That which is called Dun-Bleisc."2
The site of St Fintan's monastery is not known today, but his well is situated
in Kilmoylan Lower. It was described by John O'Donovan in 1840 as "about 2 feet
in diameter, of spring water, and is situated in a grove of fir trees."
3
"The people often made use of it's water in cases of sickness. On the feast day
the peasantry were accustomed to assemble and pray beside St Fintan's well."4
There is a clear connection between the patron of the well and
the dedication of the Christian Brother's school and various organisations and
clubs within the parish. In the last century the Rev Father Hickey PP and Fr.
O'Dwyer CC had a great devotion to St Fintan and before his death Fr. O'Dwyer
had expressed an intention to ask permission from the Archbishop "to have St
Fintan's festival observed as a half holiday in the parish of Doon."
Earlier still in 1703 during the reign of Queen Anne 3rd an Act was passed under
which severe penalties were to be inflicted on those who took part in
pilgrimages to Holy Wells, resulting in heavy fines and public floggings. An
order to demolish all crosses and inscriptions was also made this could also
have destroyed any features of that kind that may have existed at the wells.
It is interesting to compare the location of some of our well sites, many are
situated in solitary nooks, shaded by trees, near ring forts, close to churches
or old ruins.
"Tobar Geal, White Well, Situated in the centre of the townland of Lisowen was
so called because of the purity of it's water. It is a spring well, from which
flows a small stream through the townlands of Toomaline Upper and Lower and
falls into the Carnahalla River."5
The area about the well has deteriorated but the springs can
still be seen coming up through the ground.
Tobar na Heila, in the south end of Coolnamona and near the bank of the Dead
River is a short distance from Killarragon a small burial ground. John O'Donovan
in 1840 described it "as a spring well, about 3 feet in diameter,"
6 today it is completely destroyed.
Tobar na Muice, Well of the Pigs near the centre of Carrigbeg townland. "It is
placed in a cultivated field under shadow of a Hawthorn, but of the origin of
it's name there is no account."7
Near by, in the south end of Carrigmore is Tobar na Gurraun, Well of the Reaping
hooks. "This well may have been a favourite resting place at mealtime for
workers in the field, who would leave their reaping -hooks in it's proximity and
hence it's name."8
In the townland of Curraghakimikeen near Cummaun Bridge is Tobar na Gummaun,
well of the hurling sticks. John O'Donovan reported that it was anciently a holy
well, but the cause of it's discontinuation is unknown. It is a spring with a
hawthorn bush growing near it and can still be seen today.
Spa Well in Clonlusk, placed in low, miry ground, is 2 feet in diameter, said to
proceed from iron.
There are many legends and stories associated with these wells. Kenny's Well is
supposed to have moved because an infant was washed in it. Another story is of a
poor woman and her family living in
Gortavalla, her children were hungry and though her husband repeatedly asked her
to send the children to the soup kitchens she never gave in. One day while at
the well she found half a crown, locals believed she was rewarded for her
bravery and her family never went hungry again.
St Fintan's Well, was believed to have been originally in Bottle Hill, also
moved when clothes were washed in it. Kilmoylan House is said to have flooded
when the owner ordered the well to be closed, when it reopened the water
subsided.
It was believed that water taken from the holy wells would never boil, though up
to the beginning of the century well water was kept in bottles in many houses to
treat all sorts of ailments.
Today, though wells have little relevance in most of our lives, some are still
quietly visited. These wells form a valuable link with our past, as a result of
new found interest in St Fintan's well it is being restored and will again play
an important part in the life of our village. What our wells need is caring
owners, to peel back the choking ivy and weeds, to re-set the stones and allow
the water flow clean and fresh again and preserve them for future generations.
1 The Holy Wells of Co. Limerick - Caoimhfn 0
Danachair
2 John OTDonovan's Survey for Co. Limerick 1840
3 ibid
4 The Lives of Irish Saints, OUanlon
5 John OTJonovan's Survey for Co. Limerick 1840
6 ibid
7 ibid
8 ibid