Ritual site - holy well

The National Monuments Service's description

Possible holy well dedicated to St. Anne situated in woodland area 17m ENE of the E shoreline of Askive Lough. Location of well indicated on 1892 ed. OSi 25-inch map. A small lake, titled 'Askive Lough' on the OS maps but known locally as Hollywood Lake, is located in Askive Wood on the N side of the main Sneem-Kenmare road. It occurs in low-lying ground SW of Knockanamadane and is virtually inaccessible due to heavy overgrowth around its shores. A pattern was formerly held at the lake on July 8th, beginning on the preceding evening (Ó Cíobháin 1984b, 17-18). The rounds, which consisted of making three circuits of the lake while reciting prayers, began and ended at a holly tree whose shape resembled a woman. It was customary for the pilgrims to stick pins and coins into the trunk of the tree, as well as to tie rags to its branches. They also brought home some of the lake water. The pattern day was known as 'the morning of the lake'. Graves noted that pilgrims travelled long distances to avail of the lake waters' 'miraculous power', which was particularly efficacious in curing 'sores' (1930, 117).
Folk tradition associates 'floating islands' with the lake, a connection shared with Loch Mackeenlaun at Kilmakilloge, on the opposite side of Kenmare Bay. This was also the location of a pattern held on July 8th, and large numbers of people crossed the bay from the Sneem district to attend it (Lyne 1989, 31-33).
Askive Lake is alternatively known as Anne's Lake (local information) and a nearby holy well, now closed in, was known as St Anne's well or Hollywood well. According to one of Ó Cíobhain's informants it was here, and not at the lake, that the pattern was held (1984b, 19). Local tradition relegates Anne to penal times and associates her with a nearby mass-rock called Com an Aifrinn. There are numerous versions of the tale of her encounter with Redcoats hunting a local priest, and of her subsequent drowning at their hands (local information; Lyne 1989, 31-2; Ó Cíobháin 1984b, 18). Lyne suggests that the lake's association with St Anne may evidence a pre-Christian veneration to the goddess Áine (1989, 32). The Hollywood pattern may have originally been a Lughnasa festival.

See attached colour photographs courtesy of Amanda Clarke.

The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 1064. 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: 4 May 2022

References

O'Sullivan, A. and Sheehan, J. 1996 The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry. Cork University press.

Ó Cíobháin, B. 1984 Toponomia Hiberniae III. Baile Átha Cliath

Graves, A.P. 1930 To Return to All That. London.

Lyne, G. 1989 The pattern of Kilmakilloge. Journal of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society 22, 5-34.