Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

This is marked on the 1840-41 and 1939 OS maps as 'Toberreendoney' (Tobar Rí an Domhnaigh - well of the king of Sunday).
Situation and Description: This is a small spring which is covered over by a circular concrete cover with a wooden hatch to allow access to the water.
Rounds/Offerings: No devotions held.
Legend: This well moved from the other side of the road when clothes were washed in it.

Ó Danachair (1958, 160) recorded the following details about this well; 'A small spring issuing beneath an old ash tree. No devotions now. "A holy well" OSNB ii, 343. Legend: The well was formerly on the other side of the river Galey, but moved to its present position when clothes were washed in it'.

Folklore collected from Tullamore School between 1936-37 recorded the following tradition about this moving well which was originally located in the adjoining townland of Bedford; 'There was a parson living in Bedford about eighty years ago. There was a blessed well in his field about one hundred yards away from his house, near the bank of the river. One day his maid washed clothes in it and it removed across the river over to a field of Nolans in Drombeg. It was a well for sore eyes and one day a very old man came from Knockanure to wash his eyes in the water, because he was blind. He thought that they would not get better: he only chanced it, but to his surprise his sight was restored next morning. It was called Saint Agnes's well. This is how it got its name: One day a very holy woman named Agnes came to the well to wash her eyes, because they were very sore. When she was paying her round she heard a voice saying: 'Behold Agnes Behold!' and at that moment she slipped and fell into the well. And it is believed that she was a saint. There is a rosary said for every three rounds that are payed, and nine rounds that are payed for every visit a person pays. There are special days for paying rounds, the day after Saint Patrick's day, and the twenty-ninth of December. And when a round is paid the people always say three 'Hail Marys' in honour of saint Agnes' (The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0399, Pages 161-2;https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4666571/4662914)

The above description is derived from C. Toal, ‘North Kerry Archaeological Survey’. Dingle. Brandon in association with FAS Training and Employment Authority (1995), no. 899. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Revised by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload: 17 May 2022

References

Toal, C. 1995 North Kerry Archaeological Survey. Dingle. Brandon in association with FAS Training and Employment Authority.

OSNB - Ordnance Survey Name Books. Pro-forma books arranged by Civil Parish for recording townland and other name-forms and compiled in the course of the OS 6-inch survey 1824-1841. The name books also include minor names and incidental references to antiquities. National Archives of Ireland.

Ó Danachair, C. 1958 The Holy Wells of North County Kerry. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 88, 153-63.