Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

Toberbunny or Tobar Bainne is an unenclosed pool close to Cuckoo Stream, behind Toberbunny Lodge, E of Dublin Airport. It has been incorporated into a golf course. It is said to have been a station well in former times (Ó Danachair 1958, 79). No longer venerated.
Folklore collected from St Pappan's School in Ballymun, recorded the following details about 'Tubberbunny Well'; 'There is a place called Tubberbunny between Collinstown and Cloghran. In it there is a beautiful well. There is a story told about the well. Years ago a poor widow with a lot of children lived near it in Tubberbunny lane. Her children were all sick with fever and nobody would give her milk. One day the priest came in and the woman told him that she couldn’t get any milk for her children. “Never mind my good woman, God will send you milk” were the priest’s words. Next morning the woman went out to get a bucket of water at her well but she found that the water had turned into milk. So she brought in a bucket of milk instead. The milk stayed in the well until the woman’s children got better. The correct name for this place is Tobar-Bainne' (The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0792, Pages 304-05; https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4498839/4385856/4511411).

Compiled by: Geraldine Stout

Revised by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload: 14 April 2023

References

Ó Danachair, C. 1958 The holy wells of county Dublin. Reportorium Novum 2, 68-87; 2, No. 2 The holy wells of County Dublin: A supplementary list, 233-5.