St Colmcille’s well Disert Donegal

Jun9

Today is the feast day of St Colmcille who along with St Patrick and St Brigit he is one of the three patron saints of Ireland. In 2008 my good friend Fiona Beglane brought me to see a holy well associated with the saint. The well in question is located in the townland of Disert, in the parish of Inver, in Co Donegal. Over the last few years I have been to a lot of pilgrim sites but this is one of the most beautiful place that I have spent time.

Location

St Colmcille’s well is situated in rough pasture at the foothill of the Carnaween hill and the Bluestack mountains close to the banks of the Eanybeg river. As you can see from the photo below this is the most glorious of locations.

The site consists of a holy well located close to a small graveyard that is surrounded by a stone wall and the remains of megalith and associated enclosure. All three monuments are points in the pilgrim landscape of the site.

The Eanybeg river

Meaning of Placename

The townland name Disert (Dísert in Irish) comes from the Latin word desertum meaning desert. During the 4th century there was a movement of hermits in the East (Syria and Egypt) retreating into the desert to live a life of isolation and prayer. It is probable that the idea of living as a hermit came to Ireland from the East via Gaul and Britain. The Irish placename ‘Dísert,’ and its variants ‘Dysert,’ and placenames of which ‘Dísert’ is a component, for example, Dísert Diarmata, Castledermot, bear witness to the existence of hermits and hermitages in Ireland. There is no visible evidence of an early or late church here but according to tradition St Colmcille blessed the well here which was already of local importance.

History of the Site

The earliest references to Disert dates to the 17th century. The History of the Diocese of Raphoe mentions that Hugh Roe O’Donnell, chief of Tir Chonaill gave an estate at Disert to the Franciscans around the year 1460. Yet according to Meehan (1997, 14) the Franciscans have no record of their order in the parish of Inver. Local tradition held that the Franciscans who fled their monastery at Donegal after the Plantation of Ulster lived east of Disert in the townland of Friary and made their way between Killymard and Glenfinn along Casan na mBrathar. Local tradition does states seven monks were buried in the ‘garden’ or enclosure at Disert (ibid).

According to the Ordnance Survey letters for 1835 & the Annals of the Four Masters in the year 1611

Niall O’Boyle Bishop of Raphoe died at Gleann Eidhnighe on the 6th of February and was interred at Inis Caoil (Inish Keel).

Meehan(1994, 14) and the notice board at the site state it was at Disert that the bishop died and was carried out of the hills to his Kiltoorish for burial.

St Colmcille’s Well

St Columcille’s well is located within the enclosing fence

The holy well is fenced off by wire railing. The well covered by a trap door which need to be opened to access the water. The well shaft/hole is lined with roughly coursed stones and the well very little water when I visited it in the summer of 2008. There are two cairns beside the well which have kind of merged together and are covered with vegetation.

St Columcille’s well

The graveyard

Close to the well is a wedge shaped graveyard which is defined by a stone wall. The graveyard was used for the burial of adults until the 1840′s and for unbaptised babies until the 1930. Within the enclosure is a stone altar with a metal cross beside an old tree.

Interior of graveyard with holy well in the background

Sitting on the altar are a number of holy stones one of which is a quern stone. There are a number of low stones in the grass which act as graves marker and four low stone mounds or penitential cairns scattered about the graveyard. According to Walking Ireland Website the site was used during penal times as a safe place to say mass.

The priest was said to travel up and down the river Eany between the Alt in Ardaghey saying mass in each, on alternate Sundays. The bullaun stones were said to have been used as candle holders. Fr. Dominic Cannon was parish priest of Inver from the 1770″s until his death in 1801.

Altar within the graveyard

St Colmcille’s Arch

St Colmcille’s Arch is another part of the pilgrim landscape. The arch is what appears to be the remains of a ‘Megalith’ it consists of two orthostats (upright stones) approximately 1m high with a lintel stone resting on them. Piled on the lintel stone are small stones which form a pyramid.

St Colmcille’s arch

When you pass through the arch you enter a sub oval enclosure roughly 5m by 6m.

The Turas at Disert was noted for its cures. East of the megalith is a large slab or concave stone. The penitents lay on this flag and pressed their back into the cavity. This was a noted cure for backache. The well water was said to cure toothache. The water in the bullaun stone was said to cure warts. It was also used to cure eye complaints. In those days people came to the Turas at Dysert on June 9th – the Feast of Colmcille – from far and wide. (Meehan 1997)

Modern pilgrimage

According to the notice board at the site in former times people came here on the 9th of June the feast of the saint. In modern times mass is said in the graveyard on the first Sunday of July followed by the traditional climb of the nearby Carnawee Mountain. In the past at the top people meet those from the Glenties side of the mountain for an afternoon & evening of dancing and singing. Fiona Belgane carried out a detailed survey of the site called Disert: St Colmcille’s Well and Megalith, which states

pilgrims traditionally start at the well with prayers as they walk around the stones barefoot whilst praying. They then walk to the altar, over the hill whilst saying the rosary. At the altar they circumnavigate the stones found there before mass is said. 15 decats of the rosary are said whilst walking around the well. ( Unpublished project by Fiona Beglane)

Meehan (1997, 14-15) states

As well as prayers being said at the well the Rosary was recited and Paters and Aves were said as the pilgrim made his or her way round the heaps or cairns walking on the right hand or deiseal and placing a pebble on top of the cairn as the prayers were said.

Disert is renowned for cures, and I have already mentioned the healing stone east of the megalith where penitents lay on the flag and pressed their back into the cavity, to cure backache. The stone reminded me of St Kevin’s chair at Hollywood. Penitents would also crawl through the megalith (St Colmcille’s arch) and rub the affected part of the body against the stone. The water of the well was a cure for tooth ache. The water in the bullaun stone was a cure for warts. The quern stone was used to cure eye complaints, the pilgrim would hold the stone up to their eye and look through the hole at its centre.

Quern stone known as the “Cure”.

Local tradition has it that a test of male virility was to carry two stones from the altar in the graveyard to the well and back three times, whilst holding them from the top.

On the left of the photo are the stones carried to the holy well and back.

The soil from Disert is reputed to be holy and to have certain powers. Like other Columban sites in Donegal, such as Gartan and Tory, the clay at Disert is said to banish rats. The clay must be lifted from the right hand side of the altar and in former times great stress was laid on it being asked for and received with great reverence. Newspaper reports have suggested that uranium in the clay caused it to banish rats but these reports haven”t lessened the belief in its power. Until recently Disert clay was often put in the foundation when houses were being built (Meehan 1997, 17)

References

Anon. Information Board at the Site.

Beglan, F.(unknown) Disert: St Colmcille’s Well and Megalith.unpublished.

Meehan, H. 1997. ‘Disert in the Blue Stacks.’ Donegal Annual, Vol. 49, 12-23.

O’Donovan, J. 1835. Ordnance Survey Letters Donegal.

The Disert Circular Walk http://www.walkingireland.ie/section-2.aspx?item_id=140

The ‘Deer Stone’ a 19th century pilgrim station at Glendalough

Jun3

Today is the feast of St Kevin of Glendalough. In recent months I have been doing some work on the 18th and 19th century Patron ( pronounced Pattern) Day celebration at Glendalough. Given the day that is in it, I will briefly talk about one of the post medieval stations visited by pilgrims to Glendalough called the ‘Deer Stone’.

The Deer Stone at Glendalough

Location
The ‘Deer Stone’ is located beside the main ecclesiastical settlement at Glendalough. It sits on the south side of the Glenealo River, directly opposite ruins of St Ciarán’s church,
beside the green road leading to the upper lake.

Ordnance Survey 25 ” map showing location of the Deer stone

What is the The Deer Stone ?
The Deer stone is a bullaun stone. It is one of a large cluster found around the main monastic settlement and the lower reaches of St Kevin’s road. I have explained what bullaun stones are in earlier post but just to recap. Bullaun stones are artificial basins or hollow/depressions in rocks, boulders and stones. They are thought to date to the early medieval period. The majority are found at early medieval ecclesiastical sites but some are found in isolation.

There is a lot of debate as to their original use and function. Some argue that they are medieval pilgrimage stations/monument pestles of ritual or devotional use for turning stones within the hollows. Others think they has a more practical use such as for grinding metal ores or herbs.It is interesting that an archaeological excavation carried out in 1979 prior to the construction of a car park for the visitor centre revealed large amounts of slag. Slag is a waste product of metal processing and its presence implies an iron working industry at Glendalough.

Whatever their original use many of these stones over time developed associations with the saints and were part of the post medieval pilgrim rituals.

The basin of the Deer Stone at Glendalough

The Deer Stone is a large granite boulder ( .77m by .86m by .30m) with a single conical depression or basin. It is not mentioned in medieval sources but it was a point of devotional object for post medieval pilgrims.

Where did the stone get its name?

The stone derives its name from a legend associated with St Kevin. The legend hold that the wife of one of the saint’s workmen died giving birth to twins. The workman came to the saint to ask for help. St Kevin set about solving the problem and having prayed to God for help a doe came to a certain spot and everyday shed milk into a hollow in a stone while the workman sat on a nearby boulder. Legend has it that the man’s finger prints caused the hollow in the boulder which was hence forth known as the ‘Deer Stone’.

The origin legend of the stone appears to be an adaptation of a story mentioned in the Saint’s Life. St Kevin fostered a boy child called Foelán. Fostering began when the boy was still a baby. To feed the baby a doe came down from the mountain each day and waited until she had been milked by one of the monks. The child thrived and ultimately inherited his father’s estate.

Evidence for Pilgrimage

Glendalough was a place of pilgrimage from the time of St Kevin’s death and pilgrimage is recorded sporadically throughout the early and late medieval period, it is generally expected that Glendalough was a centre of regional if not national pilgrimage during this period. Following the reformation pilgrimage continued within the valley and the main burst of pilgrimage activity were focused on the saint’s feast day the 3rd of June. Like the patron day celebration elsewhere in Ireland St Kevin’s day at Glendalough was a mix of pious devotion and boisterous merriment hat involved eating and drinking, dancing and something fighting. The day also attracted tourist who came to observe the patron day celebrations. In 1813 Joseph Peacock painted the patron day at Glendalough and it shows the secular side of the celebration.

The patron day celebration was suppressed by Cardinal Cullen in 1862 as part of a movement by high-ranking Catholic clergy to wipe out the celebration. They believed that the secular elements brought the religion into disrepute and that the religious devotions rounding, walking in bare feet or crawling in bare knees were backward and superstitious.

Accounts of the pilgrimage from the 19th century suggest that the devotional landscape of the pilgrimage was confined to the area between the upper and the lower lake ( main monastic cluster). Bullaun stones and holy wells played a central part of the 19th century pilgrim landscape at Glendalough. The Deer Stone was one of several devotional stations for pilgrims.

I am still in the process of researching this landscape and the Deer Stone but here are some comments on the stone.

Writing in 1873 William Wilde

The Deer Stone was visited by strangers and pilgrims, and always found to contain water.

Fitzgerald writing in 1906 noted

There is said to be a cure obtained from the water lodged in the hollow in “Deer Stone”; but to be effective, it should be visited fasting before sunrise on a Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday in the same week and on each occasion a part of the ceremony is to crawl round it seven times on the bare knees with the necessary prayers.

Woman in prayer at the Deer Stone (Photo taken the Roundwood & District Historical & Folklore Society Facebook page)

An exciting day out in the King’s River Valley

May27

On Saturday I gave a lecture on St Kevin’s road at the Hollywood Co Wicklow . The audience was great and made me feel so welcome. While having a cup of tea and a chat afterwards I was told about a number crosses and old roads at the northwest end of the King’s River Valley. The following morning I set off to see some of these sites in the company of four local people C.J, Ite, Francis and John, who kindly gave up their Sunday to show me around.

So armed with out maps we headed up the Johnstown road to Valleymount to the townland of Ballintubber.

View of Poulaphouca Reservoir from the Johnstown road

In Ballintubber is one of the most amazing archaeological site I have ever visited. The site is an enormous broken granite cross.

Broken high cross with Francis who is 5 ft 7″ acting as a scale

This large cross was in the process of being moved onto its side when it broke and was abandoned. As I looked at this broken cross I couldn’t help but wonder what the mason said when it broke, I imaging given the effort involved in get the cross to its semi completed state there was a lot of cursing. The cross was carved from a single piece of rock probably a large boulder like those scattered around the field.

Top of the cross

The shaft of the cross is approx. 3m in length and the head is 1.95m. This makes the entire cross approx 5 m tall. Tool marks left by the mason are on the upper face of the cross. The cross really puts into perspective the efforts involved in creating the many high crosses that are found on monastic sites around the county.

For a detailed discussion of this cross see Chris Corlett’s excellent article ‘The abandoned cross at Ballintubber, Hollywood, Co Wicklow’ (complete reference below).

The next site we visited was a set of stepping-stones on the Kings River in the townland of Walterstown. These stones could very well be part of an ancient route used by travellers and pilgrims. They are marked on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey Map of 1840.

Stepping-stones across the King’s River

Directly opposite the stepping-stones within a modern forest is a large flat top mound which may possibly be a small Anglo-Norman motte . The site is marked as an enclosure on the RMP maps but it clearly isn’t one and is a flat topped mound. If this is an Anglo-Norman motte its presence could confirm an ancient route in the area.

Possible Anglo-Norman Motte close to the stepping-stones on the King’s River

From the stepping-stones we headed on to see a standing stone also in the townland of Walterstown. This stone is directly in line with a mountain pass and may also have acted as a route marker for a prehistoric route.

Standing stone in Walterstown

After a fantastic day I said goodbye to my companions and I headed home via Blessington where I stopped to see two high crosses. Geographically these crosses are the closest to the Ballintubber cross that I visited earlier.

The two crosses were formerly located at Burgage More church and graveyard but moved to there present locations at the graveyard in Blessington when the Liffey Valley was flooded. The larger cross is known as St Mark’s cross, it is very tall and has unusually long arms and a central boss design. It stands 3.95m high.

St Mark’s cross in Blessington

The Ordnance survey letters (1840) refer to the name of the cross as St Mark’s or St Baoithin’s cross.

The second cross is broken with one of the arms missing and is more squat.

Smaller cross at Blessington

So all in all I had a great weekend and can highly recommend a trip to west Wicklow.

Reference

Corlett, C. 2011. he abandoned cross at Ballintubber, Hollywood, Co Wicklow’. Archaeology Ireland, Vol. 25, No. 2, 26-28.

St Laurence’s well Clonmult, Co. Cork

May3

A few days ago while driving to Cork, I took a small detour to the village of Clonmult. Clonmult, Co. Cork is best know as the site of an IRA ambush which took place on the 20 February 1920 during the war of Independence. On the outskirts of the village is a lovely holy well dedicated to St Laurence.

St Laurence’s well is located in the townland of Garrylaurence/Garraí Labhráis meaning Field/Garden of Laurence. It is located in a small enclosure beside a narrow road that runs through the townland.

St Laurence’s well situated beside road

The well consists of a natural spring with a circular well house, with a corbelled roof covered in concrete. The well house looks like it was built in the 19th century. A plaque over the doorway states ‘St Laurence’s Holy Well Renovated by Clonmult Muintir na Tíre 10. August 1969‘.

St Laurence’s well

The well is accessed through a narrow doorway . There is a step down into the water and inside the door on the left is a small recess. Power writing in 1917 mentions the recess kept an iron drinking-ladle attached to a chain. On my visit there was a small candle with Padre Pio in the recess.

Recess inside the well house at St Laurence’s Well

A large statue of St Laurence and a small stone cross bearing the inscription INRI Saint Laurence and the date 1824, sit on top of the roof.

The holy well looks well maintained and appears to be still in use. Beside the well is a small monument with an iron cross.

Monument beside the holy well

Past Pilgrimages

St Laurence is Laurence O’ Toole a 12th century Irish saint who was abbot of Glendalough and later Bishop of Dublin. He died in the monastery at Eu, in Normandy and his tomb in Eu became a place of pilgrimage and many miracles were attributed to his intercession. He was canonized in 1225 by Pope Honorius and his remains were translated to a tomb in front of the High Altar on the 10th of May.The nearby church church at Clonmult is also dedicated to the saint.

The saints feast day is the 14th of November , but the 9th of August was the main day for pilgrimage at Garrylaurence.

The Ordnance Survey Namebooks written in 1841 state

A holy well called ‘St Laurence Well’ where paterns were annually held some years since on the 9th of August…

In 1917 Power records that rounds were made here chiefly on August the 9th and votive offering of ‘usual character ‘ on the tree branches ‘which are immediately over the scared fountain’.

References

Ordnance Survey Name books of Cork (http://www.logainm.ie/Place.aspx?PlaceID=12246)

Power, P. 1917. ‘Place-names and Antiquities of S.E. Cork II’, PRIAI, 184- 230.

http://www.logainm.ie/Place.aspx?PlaceID=12246

St Mary’s Priory Cahir

Apr27

The town of Cahir one of the stops on the The Butler Trail, a new historical trail that links three of Tipperary’s medieval towns Clonmel, Cahir and Carrick-on-Suir and a series of historic sites associated with the Anglo-Norman Butler family.

The town of Cahir is probably best know for its magnificent castle which attracts thousand of tourist each year. The castle has also been used in the filming of movies and TV series such as the Tudors.

The town also has some beautiful medieval churches which are often overlooked. This post will focus on the impressive remains of St Mary’s Priory, known locally as Cahir Abbey.

St Mary’s Priory Cahir

The priory is located a short distance from the castle past the Supervalu and Aldi supermarkets, on the Limerick road out-of-town. The Augustinian Priory of St Mary’s is situated on the banks of the river Suir opposite Cahir Saw mills and can be approached from the main road by a small lane.

The priory was founded c.1220 by a Norman knight named Geoffrey de Camvill and given to the order the of the Augustinian Canons Regular (Gwynn & Hadcock, 1970, 162). In 1540 the prior Edmund Lonergan surrendered the monastery to Henry VIII (ibid). It appears that at the time the main monastic church was being used as a parish church so it was not taken by the crown but the surrounding monastic buildings were granted to Sir Thomas Butler the Baron of Cahir ( Hodkinson 1995, 148; Farrelly 2011).

If you want to find out more about the priory’s history see Hodkinson’s article The medieval priory of St Mary’s, Cahir in the journal of the Tipperary Historical Society (reference below).

Cloister and domestic buildings on the south side of the Church

Today the remains of the priory consist of a church with a large tower , a cloister and domestic buildings on the south side of the church. Like many medieval buildings St Mary’s priory is a multi phased, with evidence of the original 13th century buildings and further alterations and additions in the 15th and 16th/17th centuries.

Today priory church is entered through two doors in the north wall. The western most door is a simple pointed limestone door. On either side of the interior of the door are two elaborate masons marks. Masons mark are marks made by medieval stonemasons who cut the blocks, built walls, carved windows in medieval building. Each mason had his own distinctive mark and some like those at Cahir priory were very elaborate .

Western most masons mark inside the door in the north wall

There are a number of masons marks scattered throughout the building so keep your eyes peeled. Today the church consist of a large chancel and a 5 story tower, which appear to have been remodeled in the 15th -16th century. The tower is built over the crossing where the nave and chancel would have joined. The nave is no longer extant and Farrelly (2011) suggests the nave may have been destroyed when the tower was remodeled.

The windows are a mix of carved limestone and sandstone. There are two very elaborate 15th century windows, one in the east gable of the church and the other in the north-east end of the north wall. The windows are carved of limestone and decorated with hooded molding and the carved heads of clerics.

The exterior of the east window in the east gable

The east window is very ornate and the exterior has hooded molding with three carved heads and a large masons mark of a Celtic knot .

Detail of the carved heads in the interior of the north-east window of the church.

The church tower is very well-built and is accessible to the public.

Facing west view of crossing tower from within the church

The tower is entered through a carved limestone pointed doorway.To get to the upper stories of the tower you climb a finely carved spiral staircase. The steps are a late addition and are surprisingly wide and easy to climb compared to narrow steps of earlier stairs at other monastic sites and castles.

At the top of the stairs is a rounded ceiling. There is evidence of the wicker work frame used to support the ceiling as it was being constructed in the plaster.

Ceiling at top of stairs

The upper floors are accessed through a pointed doorway at the top of the stairs.

Doorway leading into the upper floors of the tower

As you enter this floor look down at the base of the door and there you will see a fine example of a masons mark.

Masons mark in door jamb

The upper floors of the building were likely used for domestic purposes and two fine examples of fire places are seen in the east wall.

East wall of the upper stories of the tower showing two finely carved fire places

The windows of the tower offer fantastic views of the church and the other monastic buildings. The monks would have had access to the cloister and its surrounding buildings through a doorway, now blocked up, in the south wall of the chancel. At present the buildings surrounding the cloister are not accessible to the public.

The following photos were taken a few years ago . Along the east side of the cloister area are a series of vaulted rooms and south of these buildings is another a barrel-vaulted room which may have functioned as the chapter room (Farrelly 2011).

Vaulted room on the east side of the cloister

At the south-east corner of the cloister is a tall narrow 4 story high tower which was used as a domestic building .

East wall of narrow tower showing elaborate fire-place.

Another building possibly a refectory was built on to the west side of this tower . Part of the south wall remains. This wall has three sandstone windows.

Tower and wall of refectory

Like the church the domestic building were also altered in the 15th century.

The priory is surrounded by a 19th century graveyard on the north and east side and it was here that I found a bullaun stone. The stone originally had three hollows, one intact and two damaged. As I have mentioned in previous posts, bullaun stones are believed to be early medieval in date and may in some case have been associated with pilgrims.

There is also a holy well know as Lady’s well a short distance away but time did not allow for a visit and I plan to return soon to find the well and will post more information then. This post has only really just touched on the story of the priory, its history and its complex architectural remains but I hope it has given you a taste of what a wonderful place it is and you might be encouraged to visit and read more.

References

Hodkinson, B. J. 1995. The medieval priory of St. Mary’s Cahir Tipperary Historical Journal, 148-50.

Farrelly, J. 2011. ‘TS075-048002- Cahir Priory’ http://webgis.archaeology.ie/NationalMonuments/FlexViewer/ accessed 25th April 2013.

Gwynn, A. & Hadcock, R. N. 1970. Medieval Religious Houses in Ireland. Dublin: Irish Academic Press.

Salter, M. 2009. Abbeys and Friaries of Ireland. Worcester: Folly Publications.

http://www.discoverireland.ie/thebutlertrail

Exciting new research on Modern Pilgrimage in Ireland

Apr11

There is some really exciting pilgrimage research taking place here in Ireland. This blog post hopes to promote the work of one such researcher Richard Scriven who is currently researching for PhD in Modern Pilgrimage with the Geography department at University College Cork. Richard is also looking for volunteer to help him with his research by sharing their experiences of pilgrimage at Irish holy wells and other pilgrim sites. The rest of this post has been written by Richard and he explains in his own word about his research and hopefully by the end of the post some of you will be inspired to help out contact him at the address below .

Pilgrimage traditions in Ireland are a unique cultural trait. A vast range of devotional activities are performed on mountain tops, on islands, on beaches and at wells, trees and rocks. These practices, that blend folk customs and Christian beliefs, are the modern manifestation of traditions that date back centuries, if not millennia. Even in the context of a general decline in religious observance and increasing secularisation, annually in Ireland, hundreds of thousands of people go on some form of pilgrimage. As well as being deeply spiritual and personal activities, they are also expressions of cultural identity that create rich lived landscapes.

Pilgrims climbing Croagh Patrick on Reek Sunday 2012.

I am interested in studying this fascinating aspect of Irish social and cultural life. My research looks at pilgrimage in contemporary Ireland by considering how and why it is performed, what it means to the people involved and the ways in which rich spiritual landscapes are forged. As a cultural geographer, I examine the complex relationships that exist between people and place. Geography focuses on how people, through their actions and ideas, shape the world around them and how environments influence and define people. I am interested in the ways in which people and places interact through the performance of pilgrimage. In the performing of devotional practices, it can be seen that people are ‘making’ holy places and that the locations are, also, defining people as pilgrims.

My research involves two main activities: studying the performances of pilgrimages and talking with people. I visit different pilgrimage sites, especially on the main feast days, and observe and record what is going on. In this way, I can capture a sense of the pilgrimages as they are occurring. Equally important are my conversations with people. These usually take the form of short informal interviews in which we discuss pilgrimages, the practices involved and motivations and experiences. By gaining insight these elements I can present a fuller more human understanding of pilgrimage in contemporary Ireland.

The study is focused on Croagh Patrick, Lough Derg and several holy wells in the South West. Croagh Patrick, or ‘the Reek’ as it is known, is one of Ireland’s foremost holy mountains that attracts tens of thousands of pilgrims annually. The island retreat of Lough Derg has been a spiritual space for centuries and is valued by a great many people who make their yearly pilgrimage there. Ireland has over 3,000 holy wells; while some have fallen into neglect or been lost, many still serve as sites of local devotion and pilgrimage. These places are usually associated with a saint and they are visited on the Pattern Day. I am particularly interested in looking at St Gobnait’s Ballyvourney, St Fanahan’s Well Mitchelstown, ‘The City’ Rathmore, St Brigid’s Well, Liscannor and Our Lady’s Well, Timoleague.

Pilgrims praying at the statue of St Gobnait as part of the rounds on St Gobnait’s Day (11th Feb) 2013.

My research is made possible by people volunteering a small amount of their time and sharing stories with me. I am interested in people’s own experiences and motivations, rather than collecting factual or historical information. If you have gone on pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick or Lough Derg, or do the ‘rounds’ at a local holy well, I would be delighted to hear from you.

Richard can be contact at 102087081@umail.ucc.ie or at +353 (0) 21 490 2709 (during office hours) and you can find out more about his research at
http://liminalentwinings.com/

Kilronan medieval church & holy well at Glebe, Co Waterford.

Apr5

A few days ago, I visited one of County Waterford’s hidden treasures, the medieval parish church of Kilronan. I am in the process of doing some historical research into this site but here are some of my initial observations.

Kilronan medieval parish church at Glebe, Co. Waterford.

Location

Kilronan church is located in the townland of Glebe, in the barony of Glenihery, close to the Tipperary Waterford country boundary. It is a short drive from the town of Clonmel (c. 6km), just off the Dungarvan-Clonmel near the crossroads at Kilmanahan. This area is in the diocese of Waterford and Lismore, which came in to existence in the later medieval period following the amalgamation of the dioceses of Waterford, Lismore and Ardmore .

Map showing Kilronan church and holy well taken from Bing maps.

Placename

The name Kilronan or Cill Rónáin means the Church of Ronan which suggests there was an early medieval church of some sort in the area. There are several saints called Ronan listed in the early medieval calendars of Irish saints, however there is no way of knowing which of them was connected to this area. There is no trace of an early medieval church at the site or anywhere else in the parish. The diocesan system in Ireland came into being in the 12th century and the present church was built after the 12th century, it may be possible it was built on an earlier church. The townland name Glebe, refer’s to church land. Glebe land was used to support the parish priest. According the Ordnance Survey Letters of the 1840′s the church was remodeled in the 15th century, when it and the parish were re-dedicated to St Laurence.

The Church

Kilronan church sits in a rectangular graveyard with gravestones range from late 1700′s to modern times. 19^th century farm buildings are built against the church on the north and west side. It is surprising that there has been little academic discussion of Kilronan as it has some very unusual and interesting architectural features.

East gable and south wall of Kilronan church

East and south wall of Kilronan church

As you can see from the photo above a layer of very thick ivy covers much of the walls of the church. It is difficult to accurately date the church as it is so over grown but it is mentioned in a document written by Pope Nicholas’s in 1291, which suggests it was constructed prior to the late 13th century. The original building was altered in the 15^th century and a number of new windows and a door were added.

The church is built of sandstone and is entered through a door at the west end of the south wall. The door way is a lovely 15th century hooded moulded doorway. If you look closely at the photo you can see the door way was inserted into an earlier larger doorway.

Doorway in the south wall of Kilronan church

It is difficult to see all the windows with the ivy. Rev. P. Power, the former head of Archaeology at UCC, writing in 1938 counted 6 windows and suggest there was at least one more. I noticed two window (one blocked) on the west side of the doorway, and a twin-light, cusped ogee-headed window at the east end of the south wall. There is a blocked windows in the north wall. All the windows have very wide embrasures.

Photo of the ogee head window at the east end of the south wall in 1938 (Power 1938, 63)

The largest and most elaborate window is found in east wall of the church. It is a three lights window with switch line tracery. Today it is covered in ivy so below is a photo of the east wall and window taken in 1938.

Image of east wall of church taken in 1938 (Power 1938, 63).

The church has a simple rectangular plan, the interior it is now filled with 18th and 19th century burials and heavy vegetation growth. There is no evidence of any internal division between the chancel and nave.

View of east wall of church

The Archaeological Inventory of Co. Waterford noted there was ‘ traces of rood-screen sockets towards the E end of the long walls’ . In the south-east corner of the church, the ivy free sections of the wall shows the upper courses leaning inwards which may suggest evidence of vaulting.

Power noted that notable individual details is the evidence of a former double roof; this is voussoirs of the inner vault plainly visible on the south side (interior) of the building. No doubt there was, as in Cormac’s Chapel, a chamber for lodging of the priest, above the barrel vault, and in this connection, note the putlog beside the entrance door, clearly the door way was fastened from within, i.e., the ecclesiastic lived in the church.

If Power is correct then the priest live within the church above a vaulted ceiling. In medieval times the priest often lived at or in the church, in accommodation above the west and sometime the east end of the church, in an upper story apartment or in accommodation attached to one side of the gable end of the church, or in residential towers attached to the church (Birmingham 2006, 169). Less commonly the priest could live in a free-standing house were also used (ibid.). The use of vaulting is not unheard of in creating an upper floor for the priest residence and examples of vaulted medieval parish churches are found at Kilbride Co. Offaly, Gallon and Raffony, Co Cavan & Leighmore Co Tipperary (ibid., 173-174).

Piscina in the east wall of Kilronan church

The east wall of the church is the least affected by ivy which is fortuitous as some of the churches most interesting features are located within this wall. At the south end is a piscina, a recess with a shallow basin used to wash the communion vessels. The upper section of the Kilronan piscina has an elaborate trefoil-head, a shelf and the basin has an incised petal design.

Modern memorial cross inserted into aumbry in east wall

At the north side of the main east window a modern memorial cross has been inserted into one of several aumbry that are found within the church. An aumbry is a fancy word for a cupboard. There is a small pointed finely cut sandstone door way which leads into a tiny room (dims. 2.03m x 0.85m) that is built into the east wall.

The room is tiny, a stone seat is built against the north wall and aumbry (cupboard) is found in the eastern corner of the south wall. The room is roofed with flat lintels and small square window is found in the center of the east wall. This is a very unusual feature which I have not found at any other church perhaps the closest parallel I can find is Okyle church and anchorite cell. I am very curious as to what the function of this room. It is a tiny room so would an anchorite be able to stay here ? Does it have a penitential purpose? I plan to look into this further and I will keep you posted on my findings.

Holy Well

Close to the church c. 60-70 m away is lovely looking holy well. The well is a semi circular superstructure with a large brick cross on top.

Kilronan Holy Well

The Ordnance Survey Letters of 1840 do not record any saint associated with the well nor does Power writing in the early 20th century. It is always simply referred to as the ‘Holy Well’. According to Power the holy well was venerated up to the 1930′s but he gives no further information. The stagnant water within the well suggests is no longer visited.

I would love to hear from anyone who knows any history of the well or its traditions and I will come back to Kilronan again and share any new findings on its history and architecture.

References

Birmingham. H. 2006, ‘Priests’ residences in later medieval Ireland’, in Fitzpatrick, E. & Gillespie, R. (ed.) The Parish in Medieval and Early Modern Ireland.Dublin: Four Courts Press, 168-185.

O’ Flanagan, Rev. M. (Complier) 1929. Letters containing information relative to the

antiquities of the county of Waterford collected during the progress of the

Ordnance Survey in 1841. Bray: Typescript.

Moore, M. 1999. Archaeological Inventory of County Waterford. Dublin: Stationery

Office.

Power, Rev. P. 1937. Waterford and Lismore; a compendious history of the united

dioceses. Cork: Cork University Press.

Power, P. 1938. ‘Some Old Churches of Decies’, JRSAI, Vol. 8, 55-68.

Pilgrimage In Medieval Ireland

pilgrim roads, rituals & destinations

St Colmcille’s well Disert Donegal

The ‘Deer Stone’ a 19th century pilgrim station at Glendalough

An exciting day out in the King’s River Valley

St Laurence’s well Clonmult, Co. Cork

St Mary’s Priory Cahir

Exciting new research on Modern Pilgrimage in Ireland

Kilronan medieval church & holy well at Glebe, Co Waterford.

Follow “Pilgrimage In Medieval Ireland”

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Follow “Pilgrimage In Medieval Ireland”