Tobairin Holy Well, Co Kerry, Eire

Comments Off on Tobairin Holy Well, Co Kerry, Eire | Living Myth, Religion, Sacred Sites Tags:, , , , ,

Tobairin Holy Well
Coomanaspig, near the Cliffs of Kerry, County Kerry, Ireland

Just past the parking area of the Cliffs of Kerry, up the hill, along the Ring of Kerry, is a holy well and Mary shrine embedded into the hillside along the road just as you cross the mountain to St. Finian’s Bay. Dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, sits the small well locally known as “Tobairin Holy Well.” It was stated to have been built in 1994 so is more modern than most of its counterparts across the Irish landscape. There are cross inscribed stones found around the well, which is a commonplace practice and offering by visiting pilgrims to the well and other similar Christian sacred sites. Small offerings are observed left by pilgrims and visitors, for devotion, respect, and prayer. This overlook has a stunning view of Valentia Island from the top of the Coomanaspig along this Seklligs ring road.   Directions: Portmagee along the Ring of Kerry, northwest on the R365, along the Skellig ring road, 4 kilometers on the right. Longitude: 10° 22′ 26″ W, Latitude: 51° 51′ 31″ N.

The inscription at the Base reads: Tobairin, Our Lady of Grace Coomanaspig, During the 1st Mass on Oct 31st 1994, concelebrated by
Fr. P Sugrue P.P & Fr. E. O’Carroll C.C., This grotto was opened & blessed on May 17th 1998 by Bishop of Kerry, Bishop Bill Murphy, concelebrated Mass to 500 people, with Fr. M Hussey P.P. & Fr. John Shanaan P.P. Erected Autumn 1994, thanks to generosity of many people. “May Our Lady bless you in your going, your coming and your staying, May she bless you in your thinking, your doing and your saying, May she bless you in your joys, and bless you when you weep, May she bless you in your waking, and bless you when you sleep
May she keep her arms around you, and fold you to her heart, Till you meet with her and Jesus, where you never more will part, Amen.”

References:

 


Uragh Stone Circle and Famine Cottage

Comments Off on Uragh Stone Circle and Famine Cottage | Faerie Hills, Haunted Locations, Sacred Sites Tags:, , , , ,

URAGH STONE CIRCLE
GPS: 51.81157, -9.69532
Coordinates: 51°48′42.23″N 9°41′37.74″W
Map Ref: V8311763439
Discovery Map Number: D84
Latitude: 51.811550N Longitude: 9.695514W
near Gleninchaquin Park, Beara Peninsula, County Kerry, Ireland

While driving the Ring of Kerry and the Ring of Beara, I spied on the maps a stone circle known as Uragh, so I decided to give it a gander. After a twisty country lane drive into the hills and farmlands, following signs to the off-the-map destination, I came to the gate—opened it up—and drove on in. Crossing a raging river with scenic overlooks of lakes and an astounding waterfall in the distance, the site was nothing more than enchanting.

The stone circle is atop a plateau above the valley overlooking Loch Inchiquinn, the other side of Cloonee Upper, and is surrounded by a ring of mountains. The 8′ diameter circle consists of approximately five low small megalith locally sourced sandstone stones (1.2-1.8 meters high) with a significant 3 meter high (approx. 10′) monolithic outlier standing stone. Two of the rocks are portal stones (one leaning outwards). The standing stone aligns the circle on a NE-SW axis. Center of the circle has been dug out potentially by looters, when it was looted is unknown. A low earthen bank surrounds the circle. The Irish Office of Public Works manages the site, which is open year-round, free of charge.

The circle dates to the Bronze Age. It is estimated to have been built between 3300-900 B.C.E. It is connected to a larger typology of stone circles commonly found in Brittany, Britain, and Ireland. These are often constructed of standing stones arranged in a circle. Many believe this was used for burials, religious or ceremonial purposes, and/or community gatherings. In Irish regional stone circles, this particular circle is representative of D-shaped stone circles found in this region, with the axial stone forming the line of the “D”. This specific circle is aligned with the Winter Solstice sunset.

Down the road and up a slippery slope is a famine cottage built into the hillside. It’s crazy to think how the poor during the Irish Famine had to live in such miserable conditions. I can’t even imagine the folkways and lore that surrounded these houses. This one evoked a feeling of somberness and solitude, and the ruins echoed that feeling.

References:

  • Ancient Ireland 2024 Uragh Stone Circle And Lake Of Gleninchaquin. Ancient Ireland Tourism. Website referenced 3/28/24 at https://www.ancientirelandtourism.com/uragh-stone-circle-and-lake-of-gleninchaquin/
  • Bretgaunt 2021 Dancing stones and peeing giants: the folklore of ancient sites in Derbyshire. BUXTON MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY. Website referenced 3/28/24 at https://buxtonmuseumandartgallery.wordpress.com/2021/12/10/dancing-stones-and-peeing-giants-the-folklore-of-ancient-sites-in-derbyshire/#:~:text=Stone%20circles%20and%20standing%20stones%20were%20often%20the%20haunt%20of,otherworld%20and%20the%20fairy%20kingdom.
  • Burgoyne, Mindie 2023 Drawn to the Mystery of Ireland’s Stone Circles. Website referenced 3/28/2024 at https://travelhag.com/stone-circles/
  • 2011 Uragh Stone Circle on the Beara Peninsula – Enchanting. Thin Places Mystical Tours. Website referenced 3/28/24 at https://thinplacestour.com/uragh-stone-circle/
  • Byron, Susan 2024 Uragh Stone Circle. Ireland’s Hidden Gems. Website referenced 3/28/24 at https://www.irelands-hidden-gems.com/uragh-stone-circle.html
  • Clarice 2021 Uragh Stone Circle: Magical Ireland. Nourishing Ireland. website referenced 3/28/24 at https://nourishingireland.com/uragh-stone-circle-magical-ireland/
  • Hannon, Ed 2020 Uragh Stone Circle, Kerry, Ireland. Visions of the Past. website referenced 3/28/24 at https://visionsofthepastblog.com/2020/07/22/uragh-stone-circle-kerry-ireland/
  • Irish Archaeology 2024 Uragh Stone Circle. website referenced 3/28/24 at https://irisharchaeology.org/uragh-stone-circle/
  • Megalithic 2024 Uragh NE – Stone Circle in Ireland (Republic of) in Co. Kerry. The Megalithic Portal. Website referenced 3/28/24 at https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=3528
  • Larson, Celeste 2022 Reflections from Uragh Stone Circle, Ireland. Mage by Moonlight. Website referenced 3/28/24 at https://magebymoonlight.com/uragh-stone-circle/
  • Tripadvisor 2024 Uragh Stone Circle. Trip Advisor. Website referenced 3/28/24 at https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g4045372-d8787688-Reviews-Uragh_Stone_Circle-Tuosist_County_Kerry.html
  • Unknown 2024 Uragh Stone Circle. Megalithic Ireland. Website referenced 3/28/24 at http://www.megalithicireland.com/Uragh%20Stone%20Circle.html
  • Wikipedia 2024 Uragh Stone Circle. Wikipedia. Website referenced 3/28/24 at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uragh_Stone_Circle

 


Navajo Spring (Manitou Springs, CO)

Navajo Spring, Manitou Springs, Colorado: September 6, 2012

Navajo Spring
Manitou Springs, Colorado, USA

Just off of Main Street in historic Manitou Springs, at the back of the popcorn and candy store in front of the amusement arcade, a natural soda spring comes out of the wall in a decorated font. It is one of eight famous natural springs that put this town on the map. The spring was initially visited by Native American Indians who sought their healing and spiritual powers, which some believed were gifted by the great spirit called Manitou.

They were then frequented by white Euro-American settlers, who pushed the tribes out and commercialized the area. Legend has it that the Utes placed a curse on all whites that the Westerners could never have a successful business in this place because of the commercialization of this particular spring. By the late 1880s, the Westerners built a large bathhouse and spa, as well as a bottling plant, on this former location but did not succeed. The waters, however, were famous throughout America at that time and place.

The spring waters are fissured through rock fractures from the rainwater and snowmelt from Pikes Peak. Water reaching the depths becomes heated and mineralized, flowing up through the Ute Pass fault zone into limestone caverns that carbonate them and are tapped into by natural springs or wells. Each spring in the area has its distinct taste and flavor. This particular spring originally had a bowl-like concretion of calcium carbonate large enough to dip or wash oneself in.

From 1871-1972, Chief Joseph Tafoya – Chief Joe “Little Deer” and his family came to this spot to do authentic Indian dances and songs from the Tewa tribe of the Pueblo Reservation of Santa Clara, New Mexico. In 1889, Jerome Wheeler built a 3 story bottling plant east of the arcade. He used these waters to bottle up to 5,000 gallons of water daily, selling it worldwide as table water for the famous non-alcoholic Giner Champagne. After the collapse of the plant, the spring fell into abuse and was restored in 1991 by Manitou’s residents and donors.

Navajo Spring: “Chief Joseph Tafoya – Chief Joe ‘Little Deer’ 1891-1972: Generations of the Tafoya family have presented authentic Indian dances and songs on this site and at the Manitou Cliff Dwellings Museum since 1925. The Tafoya Family Dancers are members of the Tewa tribe from the Pueblo Reservation of Santa Clara, New Mexico, and descendants of the ancient Puye Cliff Dwellers. For 15 years, Chief Joseph Little Deer served both as governor of the Santa Clara Reservation and Chairman for the All Pueblo Indian Council. He introduced a democratic form of government on the reservation, opened his home to orphaned Indian children, and worked tirelessly to improve the living conditions of his people. Chief Little Deer married Petra Suazo, a great niece of Cheif Manitou so named for his active promotion of Manitou Springs at the turn of the century. Chief Manitou danced for 20 summers at the Cliff Dwellings museum. Navajo Spring is one of the seven natural soda-type springs that led to the settlement of Manitou. The early French trappers named the bordering creek “Fountaine qui Bouille”, the Boiling Water. Mineral deposits containing large amounts of carbonate of lime created a natural basin where the Indians bathed their sick and wounded. The white mineral basin now is hidden under the arcade floor. In 1889, Jerome Wheeler built a 3-story bottling plant east of the arcade and used Navajo Spring for bottling up to 5000 gallons of water a day. The water was sold worldwide as table water of the popular non-alcoholic Ginger Champagne. Navajo Spring was restored in 1991 by generous assistance from various donors” ~ sign outside the Spring.

(more…)

 


Stratton Spring (Manitou Springs, CO)

Stratton Spring
Manitou Springs, Colorado

From the deep fissures of the Ute Pass Fault, where the rainwater and snowmelt of Pikes Peak meet and become heated and mineralized in the deep limestone caverns where they take thousands of years to make their way to the surface absorbing numerous minerals and nutrients as well as natural carbonation. Stratton Spring was a drilled source by the Stratton Foundation to serve the town where they felt it was located along earlier Native American trails.


“Stratton Spring was drilled in 1936 by the Myron Stratton Foundation., The soda-type spring has a controlled flow of two gallons per minute and is drilled to a depth of 167 feet. This site was the junction of early Indian trails and several major mineral springs. Later it became the major access to the Mount Manitou Incline and the Pikes Peak Cog Railway and was the loop were Stratton’s Trolley Line reversed to return to Colorado Springs. Winfield Scott Stratton was a carpenter and a building contractor in Colorado Springs. He tried his hand at prospecting and became the first millionaire from the Cripple Creek Gold Strike. Stratton died in 1902 and bequethed his fortune to the care of the county’s needy children and elderly. The Myron Stratton Foundation, named in honor of Winfield’s father, still continues to serve the public. Stratton Spring was restored in 1989 by a grant from the EL POMAR Foundation and volunteer assistance from citizens of Colorado. “

~ sign outside the Spring. September 6, 2012: Manitou Springs, Colorado.

The Mountain Ute would come through this pass alongside many other tribes to pay homage and be treated by the magical waters they believe were blessed by the Great Spirit Manitou. In the late 1880s, developers and Westerners pushed the tribes out of the valley. They began commercializing the healing waters with spas, bathhouses, and other commercial ventures, such as bottled water companies. This spring, one of 10 within Manitou Springs, was believed to have healing properties to treat TB and other illnesses.

This spring flows two gallons a minute of naturally carbonated soda-type spring water. The well was drilled to a depth of 167 feet. This Spring being drilled has little folklore besides its more modern healing attributes. It was drilled by Winfield Scott Stratton, a local carpenter and building contractor who lived in the area after trying his hand at prospecting during the Cripple Creek Gold Strike, which led him to become the first millionaire from that Gold Rush. He died in 1902 and willed his fortune to care for the county’s elderly and needy children through the Myron Stratton Foundation. The Spring was restored in 1989 through an EL POMAR Foundation grant and various volunteers and donors from the region.

(more…)

 


The Magical Springs of Manitou Springs Colorado

7 Minute Spring – Explorations around Manitou Springs, Colorado.

The Magical Mineral Springs of Manitou
~ 354 Manitou Ave, Manitou Springs, Colorado ~
Article by Thomas Baurley, Leaf McGowan, Techno Tink Research

The little touristy village of Manitou Springs is most famous for its mineral springs, which well up through eight fonts (previously ten fonts, upwards of 50 springs) peppered throughout the town. These springs are free to visit, and each holds its own variation of minerals, magic, folklore, and healing properties that visitors have sought throughout the ages. Each has its unique flavor, natural carbonation, and effervescence.

This valley was originally heavily frequented by various Native American tribes who visited Fountain Creek and its natural springs for their healing magic, offering homage and great respect to the spiritual powers that dwell here. They believed these magical springs were the gift of the Great Spirit Manitou, after which the town and valley were named. They brought their sick here for healing. The aboriginal inhabitants and visitors of the area called the “Great Spirit” as “Manitou”, and felt these mineral springs was its breath, as the source of the bubbles in the spring water. This made the waters and grounds extremely sacred.

The Ute, Arapaho, Cheyenne, and many other tribes came here to partake of the great spirit’s breath. They would heal their sick here, collect the waters, stay for winters, and share in the waters as an area of peace where no conflict was allowed. There were believed to have been ten natural springs in the valley. The Euro-Americans caused conflicts and skirmishes with the Natives, pushing them out so they could utilize the valley for business, resort, tourism, and commerce. It is said that after the Natives left, they cursed the area for the Whites and that no company would ever succeed there. Some believe Manitou Springs has since been an ever-changing valley with businesses coming and going, failing and closing, and new ones coming in and replacing those that left.

Stephen Harriman Long was one of the first white explorers to record the waters in 1820. The expedition’s botanist and geologist, Edwin James, detailed the healing nature of the waters. The explorer George Frederick Ruxton wrote in his travel about these “boiling waters” as well that “… the basin of the spring was filled with beads and wampum, pieces of red cloth and knives, while the surrounding trees were hung with strips of deer skin, cloth, and moccasins”. Throughout the world, it is a common practice to leave similar objects, items, and cultural artifacts around the world at magical and healing springs, wells, and bodies of water.

Iron Spring: Explorations around Manitou Springs, Colorado.

Nearly 50 years later, Dr. William Abraham Bell and General William Jackson Palmer made plans to develop a health resort here during the Civil War with “a vision of dreamy summer villas nestled in the mountains with grand hotels and landscaped parks clustered around the springs” that they called “Fountain Colony” and “La Font.” It became Colorado’s first resort town. By 1871, white settlers had begun developing the area for tourism, health care, and profit.

A resort was soon developed here, taking advantage of the waters and incorporating them into medicinal and healing water therapies. This brought great prosperity to the region. By 1873, a developer named Henry McAllister, who worked for Palmer, spread the news about the medicinal benefits of the Springs and pushed for it to become a spa resort with an “incomparable climate and scenery” as its backdrop.

Shoshone Spring: Explorations around Manitou Springs, Colorado.

Then came various medicinal practitioners, such as Doctor Edwin Solly, who pushed the area as a resort for healing and therapy. They preached that the combined waters to drink, soak in, and breathe pure air mixed with the sunny climate would be the most effective prescription to treat tuberculosis. The commercial businesses began to claim the various springs, enclosing some of them as the village grew.

The first was the Cheyenne Spring House, established as a red sandstone brick, conical-roof structure. Immediately after, over 50 wells and springs were drilled, many enclosed. Once popularity disappeared and “dried up,” many of these springs were capped, paved, and closed. However, as the fad died, medical centers and hospitals around the United States improved.

Manitou became forgotten and suffered abandonment. The Mineral Springs Foundation was formed in 1987 as an all-volunteer 501(c)3 non-profit to protect, improve, maintain, and manage the springs. It targets the restoration of some springs and promotes their popularity once again. The Foundation hosts walking tours called “Springabouts” every Saturday from Memorial Day to Labor Day, beginning downtown. Tours can be arranged by visiting the Tourist center or calling 719-685-5089.

Upon request, the visitor center will provide maps, brochures, detailed content charts, and sampling cups. They can also be found on their website at http://www.manitoumineralsprings.org. The series of springs has been developed as a National Register of Historic Places district and is located in one of the country’s largest districts of its kind. It was initially called the “Saratoga of the West” and established as a resort community within a spectacular setting at the edge of the Rocky Mountains along the base of Pikes Peak. Numerous bottling companies moved into the area, making a profit on the waters, the most famous of which was “Manitou Springs water” and was sold globally.

7 Minute Spring : Explorations around Manitou Springs, Colorado.

Geology: The waters come from two sources in the Rampart Range and Ute Pass: “deep-seated waters” that travel through limestone caverns and drainage systems created by karst aquifers. The water dissolves the limestone and absorbs carbonic acid, carbon dioxide, and other minerals, making it “effervescent” or slightly naturally carbonated. Volcanic and inner core processes heat it. Through time, the waters return to the surface naturally using an artesian process rising to the surface, collecting soda, minerals, and sodium bicarbonate upwards. The other sources of water are Fountain Creek and Williams Canyon, snow melt, rainwater, and surface waters.

The warm water then flows into a limestone cavern, where it becomes carbonated and springs forth to the surface in natural and human-drilled locations. Most of these waters take thousands of years to complete their voyage from the mountain snow-capped peaks down to the inner earth and back up to the surface, freeing their content and solutions from being affected by industry, development, and atmospheric contamination.

Navajo Spring: Explorations around Manitou Springs, Colorado.

The Springs of Manitou:
https://wells.naiads.org/the-magic-and-minerals-of-manitou-springs/

  • Cheyenne Spring – This natural sweet soda spring comes from limestone aquifers and is believed to be over 20,000 years old.
  • Iron Spring – The Iron Spring is named after its harsh, foul, iron-tasting flavor and content. It was a man-made spring drilled in the 1800s and prescribed to patients for iron deficiency.
  • Lithia / Twin Spring – This is a combined location of two man-made drilled springs—Twin Springs and Lithia Springs. It is popular for its Lithium content and sweet taste, calcium, lithium, and potassium content. It’s popular to mix it in lemonade.
  • Navajo Spring is a natural soda spring over which commercial development was built. It is now within and beneath the popcorn and candy store. This was the most popular spring, frequented by Native Americans and early Euro-American settlers, and was the founding spring for the village. It originally fed a large bathhouse and bottling plant, bringing fame to the town.
  • Old Ute Chief Spring – is a defunct spring outside the old Manitou Springs bottling plant.
  • Seven Minute Spring – A man-made spring drilled in 1909 to enhance the neighboring hotel’s tourist attraction. Its unique carbonization caused it to erupt like a geyser every 7 minutes. It became dormant until the 1990s, when it was re-drilled, and the surrounding park was established.
  • Shoshone Spring—This natural spring had sulfur content and was prescribed by various physicians for curative powers before modern medicine became popular and effective.
  • Soda Spring – located in the spa stores next to the arcade.
  • Stratton Spring—The Stratton Foundation created this man-made drilled spring as a service to Manitou Springs village, where tourists could come and partake of its waters. It is dedicated to early Native American Trails.
  • Wheeler Spring—This is another man-made drilled spring donated to the city by settler Jerome Wheeler of the New York Macy’s. Wheeler resided and banked in the town during the mining and railroad period. His former home is located where the current post office is today.

References:

7 Minute Spring; Explorations around Manitou Springs, Colorado.
(more…)

 


Hag of Beara Stone

The Hag of Beara Stone or An Chailleach Bhéara
by Thomas Baurley, Folklorist and Archaeologist, Techno Tink, LLC
https://technowanderer.com/hag-of-beara-stone/
https://technotink.net/photography/?p=14442
https://archaeologyfinds.com/?p=305

Ring of Beara, County Kerry/County Cork, Ireland

Driving the Ring of Beara in West Cork/County Kerry, Ireland I came across the infamous “Hag of Beara” stone – also known as An Chailleach Bhéara or the White nun of Beara, The Cailleach, “Hag”, “Old Crone”, or Old Woman of Dingle. In Irish lore, she is known as the Cally Berry or Cailleach Bheara.  

This boulder is a fabled petrified stone of the Divine Hag or Cailleach, the Irish Goddess of Winter. The Queen of Winter.  Of course my visit to her was a rainy cold winter day and very tributing to that connutation.

Beara is also connected with the other Goddess/ poetesses: Brigit, Liadan, and Uallach.  She is seen as one of Ireland’s oldest aspects of the Great Goddess trinity, alongside younger incarnations as a maiden and mother. She is sometimes called the second side or winter half of the Goddess Brigid. She is said to rule the months between Samhain (around Nov 1st) until Beltane (around May 1st), while Brigid rules the summer months.  She is described to be an old crone who brings winter with her when she appears and wields powers over life and death. She could control the weather and many of her worshippers had a mixture of reverence with fear in tribute and respect for outcomes of their winter crops. She is the bringer of winter, goddess of Destruction, Goddess of Creation, and the weather witch.

Said to have been born on Samhain in the “Teach Mor” or Great House in what is now known as “Tivore” on the  Dingle peninsula in county Kerry. Her house was known as “the house farthest west in Ireland.” Cailleach Bheara was originally named “Boi” a variant of the word for a cow “‘bó’”.  The ‘Oileán Baoi’ (Boi Island), or Dursey Island, was named after her maiden image of “Bo”.  She is known as a Goddess of Creation, nick-named the hag or hooded one, and is a special Deity to the Beara Peninsula of County Cork, Ireland which her Beara name is associated. She is described as having worn a hood or a veil given to her by Saint Cummine for a hundred years. She welcomed the winter weather every winter in this area overlooking the sea. Imprisoned as petrified to stone for centuries past and to come. She holds special attribution to the countryside of County Cork (elder age) and County Kerry (childhood). Rumored to be a mother or foster mother to ancestors of many clans in these counties, including Corca Loighdhe and Corca Dhuibhne.  She has been referenced as either being the wife or daughter of Manannan Mac Lir, the Irish God of the Sea. It is said she had seven periods of youth one after another, that every man that lived with her died of old age and is why her descendants are many, making up entire tribes and races extending from Ireland to Scotland. She was also said to have had many lovers, including the Fenian warrior “Fothad Donainne”.

Originally a Pagan Deity, she was intermingled into Christian mythology with the arrival of Saint Caithighearn, who came to Kilcatherine and the surrounding area preaching Christianity. Caithighearn was seen as a threat to the Hag of Beara.  Cailleach never related to Christian wisdom but was curious about it for its threat to her. It is said that after a day of food gathering on the peninsula, the hag returned to Kilcatherine to find the saint asleep, approached her, and stole her prayer book. A cripple nearby saw this theft and awoke the Saint who saw the Hag running away. As the saint ran after her, caught up with her in Ard na Cailli, she took the prayer book back and turned the hag to stone with her back to the hill and face the sea. This is the “Hag of Beara” stone, which I visited on this rainy day of December 19th, 2023. I could feel the sorrow, the loneliness, the solitude, and the magic surrounding the stone. I could also feel the rumored “warmth” and inner dampness of the stone, which is said to remain moist despite the warmth of summer months because of the life force it contains. In her youth, she was called the “Daughter of the Sun,” and she was powerful during the summer months and weakened towards the winter months.  By spring, she loses her strength, overcome by the powers of the Spring Equinox.   She is said to visit a hidden Well of Youth that she drinks from as the sun rises, and this is how she transforms into the young, beautiful Bride or Brigid Goddess, her other half.

The Scottish also honor and tribute the Cailleach as a mother of all Gods and Goddesses in Scotland, as powerful as most Gaelic myths profess her to be. There, she is often called the Cailleach Bheur, Beira, or Carlin. She is said to predate Celtic Mythology. She has existed “from the long eternity of the world.”   Some have placed her in the realms of the Fomorians and Titans, but that is another tale.  Some have quoted her as a Spanish princess named Beara, and others have attributed her to being a bastardized version of Kali, the great Hindu Goddess brought to Britain by Indian immigrants. She is internationally seen as a crone Goddess, dressed in grey with dun-colored plaid wrapped around her shoulders, with faces wan and blue like a corpse with long white or grey hair speckled with frost. A single eye in the center of her forehead, a being who can see beyond this world and into the next – and likened to the Fomorians because of this depiction. She sometimes appears in myth wearing an apron or a creel strapped to her back and carrying a wooden staff. Other sources describe the staff as a wand or hammer, potentially a shillelagh or walking stick/club made from the wood of the blackthorn tree associated with the crone and witches. Some say we get the modern depiction of the hagly witch in our Halloween imagery as that from the Cailleach. She is well known through the mythology and legends of the British Isles.

The British called her the Black Annis and the Cailleach ny Groamch or Cailleach Groarnagh on the Isle of Man. Other names for her are said to be the Blue Hag of Winter, Bone Mother, Woman of Stones, Cailleach Nollaig (The Christmas old wife), and Cailleach Mhor Nam Fiadh (the great old woman of the deer), and Cailleach Beinne Breac (old woman of the speckled mountain).

One Scottish legend is Cailleach as the winter Goddess ushering in the cold and dark winter months beginning at Samhain, keeping the lands cold until Imbolc (St Brigid Day). It is said on Samhain that she goes to the Corryvreckan whirlpool just north of the Isle of Jura to wash her great plaid. When the plaid emerges from the clean and shining white waters, she uses it to cover Scotland in a blanket of snow. Through winter, she walks the land, striking the ground and trees with her staff, crushing any sign of growth appearing.

In one myth, she imprisons the young virginal Brid, the personification of Spring, inside Ben Nevis on Samhain. Her son Angus, King of Summer, learns about Brid’s imprisonment in a dream and consults the king of the Green Isle for her whereabouts – the king replies, “The fair princess whom you saw is Brid, and in the days when you will be king of summer, she will be your queen. Your mother has full knowledge of this, and she wishes to keep you away from Brid so that her reign may be prolonged.”   He then sets out seeking his beloved and frees her from the confines of the mountain on the eve of Imbolc. Once the Cailleach learns of this, She immediately chases after the couple, and a great fight ensues. The battle continues through the night until Cailleach escapes her son’s potentially fatal blow by turning her into a standing stone – the Hag of Beara. She is to remain in that form until the following Samhain where she will appear again to usher in the winter and imprison Brid within Ben Nevis as an eternal cycle of light and dark, changing of the seasons, and fertility of the land.

In the Carmina Gadelica, Alexander Carmichael refers to Cailleach as “the first week of April, represented as a wild hag with a venomous temper, hurrying about with a magic wand on her withered hand, switching the grass and keeping down the vegetation to the detriment of man and beast. When, however, the grass upborne by the warm sun, the gentle dew, and the fragrant rain overcomes the “Cailleach,” she flies into a terrible temper, throwing her wand into the roots of a whin bush, and disappears in a whirling cloud of angry passion til the beginning of April comes again.”

Another Pagan tale is that she encountered two huntsmen while transformed into a deer. She appears to them as the crone and points them toward the best hunting grounds, and the two young men kill an immense stag they drag home to their father. Upon reaching the cottage, the stag disappears, and the father scolds them for not having the meat as the Cailleach had instructed and let the fairies take it from them. She is associated with various creatures, including birds found in Ireland. She, in particular, is associated with the deer she safeguards, wolves, black cats, wild cattle, and goats.

She is also written as the narrator for “The Lament of the Hag of Beara,” an Irish medieval poem in which she bitterly laments the passing of her youth and her decrepit old age. She is also written about in the collection of stories within the Great Book of Lecan which is dated approximately 1400 C.E. In the 12th century, she is named the White Nun of Beare in the Vision of Mac Conglinne. In the Lament of the Hag of Beara, she narrates a world ruled by the flow and ebb of the sea tide, with the turn of which life will dwindle, as with the coming tide, it waxes to its full powers and energy, according to folklorist Eleanor Hull in the interpretation of the medieval poem. The Hag of Beara somberly reminisces about their youth when she drank mead and wine with kings and now lives a lonely abandoned life amongst the “gloom of a prayer” and “shriveled old hags.”  This is befitting for my journey here this week as I myself embrace the onsets of “old age” still working through my divinity from youth to father to old man. I embrace a solitary Winter Solstice holiday and solitude averse to my younger wild parties and adventurous days. I sat, peering over the Bay from her stone, contemplating my state of being and aging as I feel its effects on my body.

I am the Hag of Beare,
An ever-new smock I used to wear;
Today—such is my mean estate—-
I wear not even a cast-off smock.

The maidens rejoice
When May-day comes to them,
For me, sorrow is meeter,
I am wretched; I am an old hag.

Amen! Woe is me!
Every acorn has to drop.
After feasting by shining candles
To be in the gloom of a prayer.

I had my day with Kings,
Drinking mead and wine;
Today, I drink whey water
Among shriveled old hags.

~ excerpts from a 1919 translation by Lady Augusta Gregory, Trinity College, Dublin.

According to mythology, she dropped or threw stones from her apron as she passed around Ireland through Scotland. Each of these stones grew into rock formations or mountains associated with her, which are recognizable places of worship for her tribute and prayers. Her name, “Boi,” gave rise to the Oilean Baoi or Dursey Island located at the tip of the Beara peninsula, said to be her home.

She has several landmarks attributed to her throughout Ireland, Scotland, and the British Isles, such as the (1) Hag’s Head in County Clair, the Ceann Cailli rock formation on the southernmost point of the Cliffs of Moher, Co. Claire. (2) the “Hag of Beara” Rock chair, a natural boulder in Kilcatherine, Beara, Co. Cork claimed to be her fossilized remains on a chair which she sits overlooking the sea awaiting Manannan mac Lir, the God of the Sea, sometimes defined as her husband or father. (3) Sliabh na Cailli or “The Hag’s Mountain” in County Meath. (4)  This stone here, the “Hag of Beara” – a large rock overlooking Coulagh Bay, close to Eyeries in County Cork, represents her face turned to stone as she stared out to sea, awaiting for Manannan mac Lir to return to her. It’s the (5) Beinn na Caillich on the Isle of Skye in Scotland.  (6) The scarred path down the side of Schiehallion bears her name, Sgriob na Calliach, or “furrows of the Cailleach,” where she lost footing and slid down the mountain. (7) the Ailsa Craig supposed was created from a dropped boulder when a fisherman sailed his boat underneath the Cailleach, and the sail of his boat brushed the inside of her thigh, frightening her and causing her to drop the boulder. (8) the Cailleach stone on Gigha and (9) the Callanais stones on the Isle of Lewis. (10) Loch Awe on the banks of Ben Cruachan was a great well on the summit from which the Cailleach drew her water daily; it was covered by a heavy stone slab; this slab was to be replaced by sunset or the water inside the well would spill out and flood the world – one tiring evening she removed the stone slab to draw her water. She sat down to rest before walking home. Exhausted, she fell into a deep sleep on the hillside, and the water tumbled from the well in vast torrents and streamed down the mountainside – the roar of water awoke her. She quickly replaced the slab in enough time to prevent the world from being flooded, but the once fertile Vale of Tempe got covered and became Loch Awe.

(11) The House of the Cailleach, Taigh na Cailleach at the head of Glen Lyon, is situated by Glen Cailleach and is seen as a shrine to her for hundreds if not thousands of years involving a Beltane rite where the stones stacked at its entrance were removed, roof freshly thatched, and a family of water-worn stones resembling figures of the Cailleach, the Bodach (old man), and the Nighean (daughter) were brought outside for the summer months. Samhain placed the stones back inside the house before the entrance was sealed until the next summer when the rite repeated. Some say that the (12) Megalithic tombs at Carrowmore were created from stones falling from her apron. (13) The same is true of the passage tombs on the Coolera Peninsula outside of Sligo. (The stones that created these were supposedly collected by the Cailleach from the megalithic tombs at Lough crew) (14), and in the Dartry Mountains, there is even the Cailleach’s house. I’ve been to this house, and it resonates so well with her legend.

At each location, pilgrims, visitors, spiritualists, and tourists often leave coins, clooties, and other offerings for her tribute and request prayers. It is said that she is the stone “Hag of Beara” when she presides over the winter months, but come summer, when Brigid rules, she transforms back into her human shape on Samhain.

She is celebrated on various feast days, including February 1st, the Feast Day of St. Bridgit, the day the Cailleach is supposed to transfer her power to Bridgit, who brings forth the spring and summer months. Suppose this day (also known as Groundhog’s Day in the Americas) has favorable weather. In that case, this is taken as a bad omen that the Cailleach can collect extra firewood and draw the winter out, but if the weather is bad, the Cailleach will remain asleep, and winter will be shortened. Some associate this with the American celebration of Groundhog’s Day and determination if we’ll have a longer winter or an earlier spring. The American spinoff is about a bad weather day, limiting the collection of firewood to whether or not the groundhog sees his shadow based on the weather of the day.

March 25th in Scotland is the Latha na Cailliche (Day of the Old Woman), which celebrates the transition of winter into summer. This was also the atypical “New Year’s Day” in Scotland until it changed to the present attribution of January 1st during the 17th century. Competitions and festivities were often held on this day to see who could drive the winter hag away. During Beltane celebrations, around May 1st, on the Isle of Man, many competitions occur where staged battles between summer and winter take place, with summer always triumphing.

Location: Traveling from Ardgroom to Eyeries along the Beara Way Cycle route or Ring of Beara, follow south past the Kilcatherine Church. It is on the right side overlooking Coulagh Bay and is marked by a signpost. There is limited parking available. It’s a small walk down the hill. During winter, it is wet and boggy, so I recommend wellies.

References:

 


The Ballycrovane Ogham Stone of Beara

Ballycrovane Ogham Stone or Beara Ogham Stone
(Béal A’Chorraigh Bháin)
Co. Cork, Southern Ireland
Irish grid ref: V 6569 5291

At this point in my journey, I was bouncing between West Cork and County Kerry, so I apologize for any content stating that this standing stone is in Kerry – it’s in West Cork. As I spied on the map, an Ogham Stone was outside of the Ballycrovane quay, so I took a gander. It is in the backyard of a private cottage with very few parking places without blocking the residents. They have an iron gate with a 2 Euro donation box to wander up to see the stone firsthand. It is a massive pointed granite monolith atop a hillock overlooking the Ballycrovane Harbour, standing approximately 17 feet tall. The Ogham inscription purports to say, “Son of Deich descendant of Torainn” (MAQUI DECCEDDAS AVI TURANIAS). There is also a modern national monument declaration plaque below.

The monument is a carved thin pillar-stone tall granite standing stone with an estimated age of over 2,000 years before the present. It is across the Ballycrovane Quay / Kenmare Bay from the Hag of Beara along the Ring of Beara on the Beara Peninsula. It is a few hundred yards southeast of the “Faunkill and the Woods” road and the coastguard station. This has been stated to be the tallest Ogham stone in Ireland and possibly Europe at 17 feet (5.3 meters), with another approximately several feet below the ground. The Ogham inscription is at the eastern edge, which is hard to see due to weathering.

The language Ogham was known as the only written language of the early Celts, a mnemonic device with an alphabetic interpretation that existed pre-Roman times until approximately the 5th century C.E. The script consists of a series of short notches or strokes carved vertically and slanting on the edges in other instances. A Latin translation of Ogham is believed to have allowed scholars to read the Ogham script alphabet. It is 30 letters of straight lines and notches carved on the edge of a piece of stone or wood, divided into four categories of five sounds. These symbols are found mainly on standing stones, though examples on wood and above lintels also exist. Most Ogham is found in Ireland (heavy in southern Ireland), but others are found in Great Britain, the Isle of Man, Cornwall, Scotland, and Wales.

Sources:

Ancient Stones 2012 Hags, Cats, and Stones on the Beara Peninsula. Website http://ancientstones.blogspot.com/2012/02/drumlave-stones-with-hungry-hill-in.html referenced 5/13/24.

Iles, Susanne 2007 The Ring of Beara Blog: Ballycrovane Ogham Stone. Website referenced https://ringofbeara.wordpress.com/2007/11/03/ballycrovane-ogham-stone/ on 5/13/24.

Journal of Antiquities. Website referenced https://thejournalofantiquities.com/2014/09/07/ballycrovane-ogham-stone-co-cork-southern-ireland/ on 5/13/24.

Oxford Press 1998 Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, Oxford University Press, New York, 1998.

Readers Digest 1992 Illustrated Guide to Ireland. The Reader’s Digest Association Limited, London.

Roaring Water 2014 Ballycrovane Ogham Stone. Website https://roaringwaterjournal.com/tag/ballycrovane-ogham-stone/ referenced on 5/13/24.

Scherman, Katherine 1981 The Flowering Of Ireland, Victor Gollancz Ltd., London.


 


Stone Circles

by Thomas Baurley, Archaeologist and Folklorist

Stone Circles can be found worldwide but are most notorious in the British, Irish, and Scottish landscapes. Stones can be small, medium, and large, often dug into the ground as deep as they rise above the ground. A Stone Circle is a circular ring of stones, often with a defined entrance between two stones, with arrangements often related to the path of the rising and setting sun or the moon at sacred times of the year or in geographic alignment with other sites, hills, and circles.


Uragh Stone Circle and Famine Cottage, County Kerry, Ireland

Generally, however, stone circles are believed to be used by ancient peoples for magic, ritual, religion, astronomy, burials, and gatherings. Some have been used as tombs. In all reality, most of them do not know the true purpose as most stone circles belong to past people who did not leave behind written explanations or histories. Some stones have been inscribed with symbols, Ogham, and inscriptions. Much of what has been written about stone circles is from antiquarians, mystics, anthropologists, archaeologists, historians, and religious zealots. Generally, they are believed to have been used for multiple purposes – most commonly thought were religious or ceremonial, burials, and community gatherings.

Many stone circles have been recorded to possess lunar and solar alignments or astrological mapping. Some have called them solar and lunar observatories used by the ancients. Often, they are primarily a circular geometry with usually an empty center. Though altar, sacrificial, or standing stones are found in the center of many. Stones in Britain, Scotland, and Ireland have been recorded and estimated to have been erected roughly 3000-2500 B.C.E. (Before the common era) during the Middle Neolithic (3700-2500 B.C.E.). Others are dated to the Late Neolithic and the Bronze Age.

They were abundantly built in coastal and lowland areas, especially in the northern part of what is now known as the United Kingdom. Stonehenge and Avebury are the most famous European stone circles, built around 3100 BCE. There have been recorded over 1303 stone circles in Ireland, Brittany, and Britain. Largest numbers were found in Scotland at 508 sites, 316 in England, 187 in Ireland, 156 in Northern Ireland, 81 in Wales, 49 in Brittany, and 6 in the Channel Islands.

The oldest stone circle, however, is the Gobekli Tepe in Anatolia, Turkey, estimated to be approximately 9,000-12,000 years old. In Europe, stone circles are often attributed to having been built by Druids. There is faint realism there; however, although celebrants of Druidic religions have built many stone circles (even modern ones), the most notorious historic circles are pre-Celtic and pre-Druid. Still, they may have been taken over through time by those of the Druid faith. Many modern-day Pagans claim them as their spiritual centers, as many are tied to the Equinoxes and Solstices. Outside of modern recreated stone circles like Maryhill Stonehenge, there does exist indigenous stone circles even in the United States – such as the Ellis Hollow Stone Circle in Ithaca, New York, which is located in a nature preserve, consisting of 13 standing stones arranged in a circle about 30′ in diameter. It is believed to have been placed there by people from the Late Woodland period around 1000 B.C.E.

Mythology and Folklore
In British and Irish folklore and legend, stone circles are notorious for being the haunt of faeries. Some say they are remnants of people turned to stone for dancing during the Equinoxes, Solstices, or Sabbaths. Burial mounds at, in, or near them are believed to be entrances to the Otherworld or the Land of the Fae. Most stone circles, especially in Europe, have supernatural tales associated with them, ranging from sightings of beings varying from Druids, Witches, Banshees, Hobs, Giants, boggarts, leprechauns, spectral figures, and phantom black doors on the moors.

Many artifacts have been found associated with stone circles from religious, ceremonial, habitation, and/or burial. Prehistoric lithics, flints, and stone weapons are often found around these circles. In European lore, these lithics were often called Elf Shot and believed to have been made by Elves that were fired at humans in the past.

References:

  • Ancient Ireland 2024 Uragh Stone Circle And Lake Of Gleninchaquin. Ancient Ireland Tourism. Website referenced 3/28/24 at https://www.ancientirelandtourism.com/uragh-stone-circle-and-lake-of-gleninchaquin/
  • Bretgaunt 2021 Dancing stones and peeing giants: the folklore of ancient sites in Derbyshire. BUXTON MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY. Website referenced 3/28/24 at https://buxtonmuseumandartgallery.wordpress.com/2021/12/10/dancing-stones-and-peeing-giants-the-folklore-of-ancient-sites-in-derbyshire/#:~:text=Stone%20circles%20and%20standing%20stones%20were%20often%20the%20haunt%20of,otherworld%20and%20the%20fairy%20kingdom.
  • Burgoyne, Mindie 2023 Drawn to the Mystery of Ireland’s Stone Circles. Website referenced 3/28/2024 at https://travelhag.com/stone-circles/
  • 2011 Uragh Stone Circle on the Beara Peninsula – Enchanting. Thin Places Mystical Tours. Website referenced 3/28/24 at https://thinplacestour.com/uragh-stone-circle/
  • Byron, Susan 2024 Uragh Stone Circle. Ireland’s Hidden Gems. Website referenced 3/28/24 at https://www.irelands-hidden-gems.com/uragh-stone-circle.html
  • Clarice 2021 Uragh Stone Circle: Magical Ireland. Nourishing Ireland. website referenced 3/28/24 at https://nourishingireland.com/uragh-stone-circle-magical-ireland/
  • Hannon, Ed 2020 Uragh Stone Circle, Kerry, Ireland. Visions of the Past. website referenced 3/28/24 at https://visionsofthepastblog.com/2020/07/22/uragh-stone-circle-kerry-ireland/
  • Irish Archaeology 2024 Uragh Stone Circle. website referenced 3/28/24 at https://irisharchaeology.org/uragh-stone-circle/
  • Megalithic 2024 Uragh NE – Stone Circle in Ireland (Republic of) in Co. Kerry. The Megalithic Portal. Website referenced 3/28/24 at https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=3528
  • Larson, Celeste 2022 Reflections from Uragh Stone Circle, Ireland. Mage by Moonlight. Website referenced 3/28/24 at https://magebymoonlight.com/uragh-stone-circle/
  • Tripadvisor 2024 Uragh Stone Circle. Trip Advisor. Website referenced 3/28/24 at https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g4045372-d8787688-Reviews-Uragh_Stone_Circle-Tuosist_County_Kerry.html
  • Unknown 2024 Uragh Stone Circle. Megalithic Ireland. Website referenced 3/28/24 at http://www.megalithicireland.com/Uragh%20Stone%20Circle.html
  • Wikipedia 2024 Uragh Stone Circle. Wikipedia. Website referenced 3/28/24 at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uragh_Stone_Circle
(more…)

 


Mass Rocks

by Thomas Baurley: 19 February 2024

Mass Rocks: Generally, a “Mass Rock” was used as an altar in the mid-17th century for Catholic masses in Ireland and Scotland or regions where the Protestants persecuted the Catholics. In Irish they were called Carraig an Aifrinn. These were popular occurrences during the Penal times (the 1690s to 1750s AD) (or 1690-1750 C.E.). England’s King Henry VIII started a massive religious persecution of the Catholic Church in Ireland, forbidding Catholics from holding mass. This ended during the Catholic Emancipation of 1829 CE. During this time, the Irish Catholics “clung to the Mass, crossed themselves when they passed Protestant ministers on the road, had to be dragged into Protestant churches and put cotton wool in their ears rather than listen to Protestant sermons,” stated Marcus Tanner in his 2004 book “Last of the Celts.”

As a result of persecution, clergy and their congregations sought out remote, hidden, isolated locations to hold mass and other ceremonies to observe Catholic Mass. Many of these locations were marked by large stones with etchings of a cross marked into them. It was extremely risky to be caught practicing during the persecution, resulting in harm, especially during Cromwell’s campaign and the Penal Law 1695. Under the 1704 Registration Act, Bishops were banished, and priests had to register to preach. “Priest hunters” were employed and set out upon the countryside to arrest unregistered priests and Presbyterian preachers under the Act of 1709.

The Penal Act made laws and enforcements based on:

  • Restrictions on how Catholic children were educated
  • Bans on Catholics holding public office
  • Bans on Catholics serving in the Army
  • Bans on Catholics voting
  • Bans of Catholics inheriting Protestant lands
  • Bans on celebration of Catholic Mass
  • Execution or Expelling Catholic clergy from the country
  • Taking Catholic land and distributing it amongst British Lords
  • Dividing inherited lands equally between children to reduce land size held by individual Catholics

The Mass Rocks of Ireland

Again, while some occurrences are found in other places in the Western World with archaeological cross glyph remnants of crosses etched into stones, the “Mass Rock” concept is primarily found in Ireland and some occurrences in Scotland. It is defined as a “rock or earth-fast boulder used as an altar or stone-built altar used when Mass was being celebrated during the Cromwellian period (1650’s) and Penal times (1690-1750), with a recurrent use during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020-2022. Many of these rocks/boulders often possess a inscribed or scratched/etched cross into the stone. (Archaeological Survey Database of Ireland) These are found in isolated places where religious ceremonies such as the Catholic Mass would be celebrated by the congregations, often in secret. Starting with Oliver Cromwell’s decimation of Ireland followed by William the III’s victories at the Boyne and Limerick under the Penal Laws, it was a dangerous time for the Catholics.

The infamous “Cathedral Cave” at the Isle of Eigg in Scotland is a good example. In 1698, the Inner Hebrides was predominantly Catholic, and the laity secretly attended mass at a Mass stone inside a large high-roofed coastal cave known as “the cave of worship.” These sites, too, have “mass stones” or “mass rocks” called Clachan Ìobairt, meaning “Offering Stones.”. These are remnants from when Roman Catholic priests were outlawed in Scotland.

Mass rocks had symbols of the cross either carved, scratched, or drawn upon them. Sometimes, a stone would be taken from a church ruin, brought to an isolated location, and have a simple cross carved at its top. This would mark the location of these secret masses.

Often held at night, the celebrants would trek out to the Mass rock in darkness with the clergy. They would kneel on the ground before the mass rock while others stood guard. A curtain was often drawn around the makeshift altar upon which a book, tablecloth, wine, water, and bread would be placed. The curtain would hide the identity of the person offering the Eucharist.

In addition to remote locales in the woods, cross-etched stones can be found at holy wells and graveyards, other locations where mass was found to be held.

Much historical and urban lore is associated with mass rocks, ranging from miracles to ghost stories. In the story of the widow’s hunger, cures, miracles, and protestant neighbors hiding or helping priests, the priest cannot stop for any reason with mass, or they’d follow in the tragic death of being shot or killed at the moment of transubstantiation. According to author Tony Nugent, the last Roman Catholic Priest to be killed at a mass rock was in 1829 at Inse an tSagairt, near Bonane in County Kerry. He states in his 2013 book Were You at the Rock? The History of Mass Rocks in Ireland that the priest was captured by a local woman and her five accomplices who ran a nearby shebeen splitting the 45-pound bounty. They beheaded him at a house near Kenmare, taking his decapitated head to Cork, and were denied the award because the Catholic Emancipation had just been signed into law, so they threw the head into the River Lee.

Penal Mass

By the late 17th century, many were moved into thatched Mass houses. The Archaeological Survey of Ireland maintains a database for pre-1700 sites, and the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage maintains one for post-1700 sites. In 1979, the Pope recognized the importance of Mass Rocks as a historical reminder of the past persecutions that the Irish faced. After these outdoor sites stopped hosting open-air masses, they continued to have some use for pattern days and Christmas. Many of these sites were re-used when the 2020-2022 COVID-19 pandemic outlawed indoor gatherings, so many returned to mass rocks to celebrate mass. They are often used today for celebrations and Mass. Today, it is commonplace to find celebrations at Mass Rocks on June 20th for the Feast of the Irish Martyrs.

Mass Rock Sites:

Pike Woods Mass Rock, County Kerry, Ireland
A 23-hectare compact wood on the outskirts of Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland. Within a mature stand of mixed conifer and deciduous trees such as Sessile Oak, Ash, and Scots pine. Woodford River flows through Pike Wood, creating a microclimate that encourages numerous plant species to grow and critters to dwell. A “Mass Rock” can be found midway through the forest as an early 16th-17th century location for secret Catholic Masses. The 3d model sketch fab of the rock is here: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/mass-rock-killarney-pike-wood-598a95e5c6814bd189e359646eec6726

REFERENCES:

 


Tobar Ghobanatan

Tobar Ghobanatan Holy Wells and Shrine
Ballyvourney, County Cork, Ireland
https://wells.naiads.org/tobar-ghobnatan-holy-wells-st-abbans-well-and-st-gobnaits-well/

1ST WELL: ST. ABBAN’S WELL OR ST. GOBNAIT’S WELL
As you drive up to the Tobar Ghobnatan Statue, Well, Hut, Grave, Church ruins, and yard, you will see on your right a wrought iron archway with the letters spelling “HOLY WELL” along its top. Another sign labels it as the “Tobar Ghobnatan Holy Well”. When I walked through this archway, I immediately spied a 3/4 large ring of mushrooms known as a Fairy Ring. I had to walk around it 9 times to see if a gateway to the land of Fae would appear. Magical as the site was, alas, no gateway appeared that I was aware of. A short walk down the path you will find the well at the base of a wishing tree.

The tree is covered with rags or clouties, as well as many other trinkets placed there or tied to the branches as offerings and prayers. These are often cleaned up and removed by the church, occasionally, some say online. The well has steps down into it, but it can often be difficult to access without crawling on your knees to get to the magical waters.

There are two taps nearby where one can retrieve the water. This well is believed to be a lot older than the Christian occupation and creation of this monastic site, probably as a Fairy Well or Pagan Shrine. Today, visitors claim it is either St. Abban’s Well and/or St. Gobnait’s Well. From the Cult following, I would think it has more to do with St. Gobnait than St. Abban, even though technically, I’ve read it is primarily called St. Abban’s Well. The Other well is up the hill by St. Gobnait’s Hut and Statue. It’s unclear which Saint claimed which Pagan well when they took the land.

In Neo-Pagan practice and visitations of the site, the well is circled either three times clockwise, or in a trio set of three times three. It is conducted clockwise to gain something, pay tribute to the well, or weave a certain kind of magic. It is done counter-clockwise to unwind something, to banish something, or to undo a spell, curse, or action. It is common then to make an offering to the well or tree. The participant then goes to the well, collects water, offers it back to the earth, and then either takes a sip of the magical waters or splashes it on their face.

It is common to fill a bottle with the magic waters to take home. A bin of empty clean water bottles for those who forgot to bring a bottle is located along one of the rock walls. This well is a very common location for seamen to collect water from to bring to their boats used for safe passage during their expeditions.

In Christian/Catholic observation of the rounds, the “Our Father”, the “Hail Mary”, and the Glorias are spoken at each of the stations. At this station, they do a decade of the rosary and drink the water from the Well. According to the stations, the rounds, or the turas, this is station 10: St. Abban’s Well. Every year on the 11th of February, the parish priest would bring out a 13th-century wooden statue of St. Gobnait, upon which pilgrims would measure a ribbon against the statue and wrap it around the figure, then take the ribbon home to use for healing magic.

Next to the well is a large tree called a Wishing Tree, which is part of any number of such trees found on this monastic site. Covering this particular tree are offerings to St. Gobniat (and the ancestral water spirits or Naiads of this well) in the form of rags (clouties/clooties – pieces of cloth tied around its branches), prayers, trinkets, tokens, pictures, charms, and/or a variety of personal effects from undergarments, hair ties, belts, shoes, rings, jewelry, toys, prayer cards, or other effects. The belief behind pieces of cloth is that they are to get rid of an illness, and once the cloth decays, so will the illness. It is a concept of leaving something behind of themselves or their loved ones in need of healing.

Along the stone wall and around the well is an assortment of cups, jars, and/or bottles that someone can use to gather water from the well for drinking and/or blessing. As far as I know, the well water is not tested or certified, so drinking from such is at one’s own risk. Anything can get into these public wells, and a variety of items, from coins, pins, and garbage, are sometimes found thrown into them. When I visited, there was a large bin of washed-out plastic bottles for visitors to fill up with holy well water and take with them.

SECOND WELL: ST. GOBNAIT’S WELL (or ST. ABBAN’S WELL)

Again, like the well above, no one is clear on who claimed this Fairy Well, but it seems to be primarily associated with Saint Gobnait since it is located in front of her house, hut, or kitchen. Both wells are part of the pilgrimage and rounds regardless.

In Christian/Catholic observation of the rounds, the “Our Father”, the “Hail Mary”, and the Glorias are spoken at each of the stations. At this station, they do a decade of the rosary and drink the water from the Well.

To complete the pilgrimage the pilgrim walks down the road to St Gobnait’s well (Station 10). The pilgrim recites 7 Our Fathers, 7 Hail Mary, and 7 Gloria, one decade of the rosary, and drinks the water from the well. Like many holy wells in Ireland St Gobnait’s well is associated with a rag tree, and there is a tradition of leaving votive offerings at this tree.

Below is a photo of the tree taken when I last visited here in 2006, as you can see is covered with rags beads, and tokens left by pilgrims. I think it looks quite lovely. Since my last visit, most of these offerings have been removed, but a few are still to be found. This well seems a bit questionable as to the safety of the water but is still one apparently drunken from.

This well is in front of the round circular stone hut north of the statue called the “House of St. Gobnait” or the “St. Ghobnatan’s Kitchen”. Earlier evidence suggests that the site was an early pre-Medieval to Medieval bronze and ironworking site which operated out of this hut. Evidence for this comes from iron slag, a crucible, and other metalworking artifacts found during the excavation of the site. Evidence that the wells were Pagan shrines pre-dating Christianity combined with the metalworking has led some rumors to run wild that it could be the metalworking site of the Tuatha Dé Danann’s Smith known as Goibnui who share phonetic similarities to the name of Saint Gobnait.

There is no evidence found to this ‘hunch’ someone probably weaved online in a blog, but it does add a sense of urban lore to the site that would make it an exciting tidbit of the mythos. (Especially since there really exists no solid evidence of any of the Tuatha Dé Danann legend site locations except folklore) In this hut, pilgrims etch a cross into the stones atop this well as well as the entrance stones in the hut during their turas.Read more: Tobar Ghobnatan Holy Wells: St. Abban’s Well and St. Gobnait’s Well

BOTH WELLS:

Both of the wells are named after the Matron Saint of Ballyvourney and sacred Bee-Keeping mistress, Saint Ghobnatan (a.k.a. Saint Gobnait) of the holy pilgrimage site and monastic settlement known as “Tobar Ghobnatan“. This is the legendary home of St. Gobnait/Ghobnatan. It is located a kilometer south of the village of Ballyvourney where her church Móin Mór (a.k.a. Bairnech) was built. There are two holy wells at this site, both of which are believed to pre-date St. Abban and Gobnait’s arrival to the land, most likely Pagan shrines or Fairy wells. Today these wells are called “St. Abban’s Well” (most likely ‘FIRST WELL’) and “St. Gobnait’s Well” (most likely ‘SECOND WELL’).

There are several wells throughout Ireland (and other countries) dedicated to Saint Gobnait. There exists a dry well known as St. Debora, Deriola, or Abigails Well that is north of Ballyagran in a high field on the left of the road to Castletown which is believed to be the original Saint Gobnait’s Well. It is currently dry. Legends run wild of a white stag that can be seen at this well especially during February 11th, the Feast day of Saint Gobnait. There are other wells and shrines such as the church site in County Kerry at Dunquin which has a well near Dungarvan in Waterford.

Article by Thomas Baurley, Leaf McGowan, Technogypsie Productions and Research Services: technogypsie.net. © 2013, updated 2023: All rights reserved.

How to get here: Drive West from Macroom to Kerry on the N22. As you pass through Ballymakerry (Baile Mhic Ire), you will pass a church on your right-hand side and will take the first left-hand turn after the church that has a signpost. Follow the road 400 meters, and you will see the first (and main) holy well on the right. You’ll need to go up the hill a bit for parking as it is a very narrow road. Take the next right-hand road (near where you can park by a graveyard) up the hill to see the other holy well, statue, hut, church ruins, and main graveyard. There is also a modernized porta-toilet in this parking lot so you don’t have to use the bushes. The GPS coordinates are 79: W 1967 7688. Longitude: 9° 10′ 5″ W, Latitude: 51° 56′ 18″ N.

Bibliography and Recommended Reading:

 


Archives

Categories