Tomb - unclassified

The National Monuments Service's description

This is marked on the 1841-42 and 1898 OS maps as 'Tobernamolt' (Tobar na Molt - well of the wethers).
Situation and Description: This well is approached by a path through the fields. This site consists of a small rectangular enclosure (KE021-115001-) which surrounds the well's small clear pool. There is a small building and an altar with a slab depicting three figures: St Brendan, St Erc and St Ita. The site is the reputed burial place of St Ita (KE021-115005-). Rounds/Offerings: The well is visited on the Saturdays before May Day, 24 June and 29 September. Three rounds of three rosaries are recited: the first around the 'grave', the second around the well and 'altar', and the third around the well, 'grave' and 'Altar' (KE021-115003-). The water is said to cure all ailments, whether drunk, bathed in or taken away.

Tomb surround described by Hunt (1974, 152-3) as; One and a quarter miles north-east of the
old railway station at Ardfert is a holy well, known as Tober na Molt [KE021-115002-]. There, part of a tomb-chest, perhaps an end, thirty-nine inches [1m] long and twenty-three inches [0.58m] high, is built into a rough stone 'altar' close to the well. It is alleged to have been brought here from Ardfert Friary [KE020-047----]. It is carved with three ogee-headed niches with foliate spandrels, containing figures. That on the dexter side is an ecclesiastic with a mitre holding a crozier and blessing with his right hand. The sinister figure holds a book and could be female. The central figure is indeterminate. The robes fall in tubular folds. The carvings are much worn and eroded, but it is possible to recognize that they are very provincial in style and primitive in execution. The date must be somewhere in the sixteenth-century, but it is interesting to note the presence of the schematized 'C' shaped ear found constantly in the Western carvings persisting'. Cross-reference with KE020-047013-

See attached colour photographs courtesy of Amanda Clarke.

Revised by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload: 9 May 2022

References

Harbison, P. 1973 Some medieval sculptures in Kerry. Journal of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society 6, 9-25.

Hunt, J. 1974 Irish medieval figure sculpture 1200-1600, 2 vols. Dublin. Irish University Press.

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

Talbot-Crosbie, B. 1908-12 Tober na Molt. Kerry Archaeological Magazine 1, 421-36.

O'Donoghue, Rev. D. 1893 Brendaniana: St. Brendan the Voyager.