| Holy Wells
© St Brigid's Well, Cartown
St Brigid's well is located in the townland of Cartown, on land owned
by the Kennedy's. The well is nicely kept. A wall encloses the well, and
there is a stone covering over it. Statues to St Brigid have been placed
beside the well. An inscription over one of the statues bears the date
summer 1920. Rounds are still made at this well on February 1st. Danaher
tells of several legends associated with the well. The water cannot boil.
A woman cured of blindness saw a fish in the well. A man brought a blind
horse to the well; the horse was cured and the man became blind. The water
was drunk and applied to afflicted eyes and limbs.
Near St. Brigid's well lived a man called John Cleary. He lived at the
lodge at the entrance of Cartown House. He got rheumatic fever but had
great faith in St Brigid. John promised that if his life were spared,
he would do up the well. He recovered from the rheumatic fever and kept
his promise to renovate the well. John Cleary placed a statue of St Brigid
at the well and he also built a wall around the well.
When the Board of Works blasted the river Maigue to deepen the bed of
the river, it affected the spring, lowering the water level in the well.
Danaher also mentions a well in the townland of Tobermurry called Tobar
Mhuire. This well was a slow spring surrounded by a wall of dry stone.
Crowds used to gather here on August 15th, although there are no longer
any devotions here. It was believed that a fish would be seen in the well
by those about to be cured, and that the water could not be boiled. Mairtín
Ó Corrbuí tells of a story related to this well which says
that on August 15th, Lady's Day, of one year, the priest failed to show
up for devotions at the well. The local people were so disgusted that
they stayed away from the well from then on.
© St Brigid's Well, Cartown
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