Saint Brigid’s Well, Liscannor, County Clare

The cliffs of Moher

There is a wildness in Clare like no other. It is not the bitter and majestic wildness of County Kerry; it is instead a contained wildness. Parts of it look relentlessly barren, but this Burren holds many surprises and many places of beauty both small and vast. Any visitor making their way up the winding roads towards the cliffs of Moher cannot fail to notice a holy well dedicated to Brigid, one of Ireland’s most loved and possibly most visited holy wells. This well has a long history and over time has developed a complicated set of rounds or turas’.  My journey began with a trip to the famous cliffs and I stumbled on this well by accident. I knew of its presence in the area, but my OS map, recently reprinted, oddly decided to leave out all holy well markings. I passed Brigid’s shrine at speed, but couldn’t help but notice her solemn form encased in glass keeping watch over a vista that looked down on small dotted cottages and a small town.

Saint Brigid

The cliffs of Moher reach a maximum of 702 feet above the roaring Atlantic, its name taken from a fort long gone. Twenty different species of birds occupy this fearsome bastion of rock and its views are certainly spectacular. Its wildness has been tamed by a somewhat ugly concrete and stone structure to contain tourists, but it is possible to make the journey along the cliffs where the structure dissolves into crumbling paths that give way to more spectacular views. Away from this exposed magnificence, just a short distance down the road is the little vale of trees that bow in solemn reverence to Brigid’s well.

The holy well entrance

Brigid’s shrine is divided into two sections; the upper sanctuary (Ula Uachtarach) and the lower sanctuary (Ula íochtarach). From the road I pass through a small gap in the low wall into a courtyard area with a large mound in the centre topped with a statue of Saint Brigid encased in glass that sits like a great lantern in the centre with Brigid as its only flame. Various pools are exposed in the circular round, indicating the presence of the well and a white painted lintel brightly exposes the way.  It has a mysterious atmosphere as the sun begins to fall low in the sky and the great cleft in the rock feels curiously daunting. As I enter it is dark and uninviting and the smell of dampness and its embracing coldness has a penitential feel. The walls are dripping with prayer; the petitions for the sick, with expressions of thanksgiving, wails of sorrow and grief and moments of hope. Planted at their centre is a crucifix that looks hewn in hawthorn, worn down by burden and incarnationally present amidst this mass of prayer and devotion. Passing down this rock of ages a few small candles flicker towards the light rattle of water into a trough. Here is the well, said to visited by a fish – an indication that this well is truly ancient in its Christian tradition – the fish being a symbol of Christianity that predates the cross. Passing down this cleft in rock is a little like passing through time to a more ancient faith, to a purity of prayerful expression. This vale of solace is a far cry from the exposure of the cliffs.

Offerings at the well

Pattern days are still observed at this well. There are four in all: the eve of the feast of Saint Brigid, Garland Saturday and Sunday, the last Sunday of July (and its Vigil – a harvest festival to ask blessings on the crops and animals) and the feast of the Assumption in August. In the past great gatherings of many hundreds of people took place here with people from all over County Clare and the Aran Islands who covered the site in small flickering candles as they prayed. The Rite of Saint Brigid at the well is still said today, although in a slightly less demanding format. The pilgrim makes a salutation to Christ, then Brigid and Mary (this is known as a ‘rann’, or ritual verse), reciting numerous ‘Hail Mary’s’ and ‘Our Father’s’ and ‘Creed’s’ before reciting the same at various points along the path through the lower sanctuary and up into the upper sanctuary before finally entering the well.

The cross in the upper sanctuary

The upper sanctuary is accessed by a small winding path that makes its way up through the trees to a stone cross that stands at the entrance to an ancient cemetery, said to be the burial grounds of the Kings of Dái gCais and containing the mausoleum of Cornelius O’Brien. Cornelius O’Brien was an interesting local character who was highly regarded in his day.  He was a solicitor for Ireland from 1811 and became magistrate for Clare. Despite being a Protestant landlord, local Roman Catholics held him in high esteem for his political stance in relation to Ireland and for his care of tenants. He took great care of his tenants houses, ensuring they were always in habitable condition and well maintained and clearly had a great love of the area. He ensured there was ease of access to the cliffs of Moher and paid for pathways to be maintained and the erection of seating, a viewing tower and a structure known as ‘the Round Table’.  In 1840 Cornelius fell seriously ill while in England and sent for water from Liscannor holy well which he promptly drank. Attributing his recovery to the healing waters he endeavoured to restore Saint Brigid’s holy well, which was in a state of considerable disrepair at the time, and he paid for its restoration and greatly encouraged devotion at the site. He returned to Ireland during the famine years and is said to have done all he could to provide food to the starving and later he established a national school for the area. However, like many landlords of the time he was not without a sense of self importance, ensuring that a prominent O’Brien monument would be permanently present at the well after his death and that locals would also remember his presence in connection to the well with his imposing mausoleum overlooking the entire cemetery. A short distance from the well there is another well by the road. This is not a holy well, but one that locals used for washing and gathering water for cooking and cleaning. Cornelius O’Brien created a stone housing for the well, topped by his crest. History was to be unkind to Cornelius as Ireland’s political landscape shifted in a way in which he might have approved of, yet set him squarely on the wrong side of the fence. Despite his own actions and political sentiment, his denomination and his national allegiance was to unfortunately tarnish his record in an area where dreadful atrocities were committed and whose people were unable to distinguish him any longer from the newly deposed ruling elite.

Saint Anthony, to help you find what you lost

It is not difficult to understand why this holy well is so popular, quite apart from the fact that it is on a very popular tourist route. It’s sheltered spot gives a sense of relief to the pilgrim and tourist alike with a feeling of shrouded mystery to its dark cleft leading to the well and its rambling graveyard. This is a place that undoubtedly rewards return visits, yet is best frequented early in the morning or a little later in the evening to avoid the throngs.

The holy well

Rock of ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in thee;

Let the water and the blood,

From thy riven side which flowed,

Be of sin the double cure,

Cleanse me from its guilt and power.

Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to thy cross I cling;

Naked, come to thee for dress;

Helpless, look to thee for grace;

Foul, I to the fountain fly;

Wash me, Saviour, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,

When my eyes are closed in death,

When I soar through tracts unknown,

See thee on thy judgement throne;

Rock of ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in thee.

Augustus Toplady (1740-78)

Looking out from the well

How to find it:

The well is impossible to miss! One mile down the hill from the car park at the cliffs of Moher on the right hand side you will see the statue of Brigid in her glass case surrounded by a low stone wall.

The Stack at the cliffs of Moher

Saint Monnina’s Well, Killeavy, County Armagh

The shrine around the well

On the slopes of a lumpy mountain sits a well tended by numerous sheep, and beneath lies the remains of an incredibly important religious foundation complete with the saint’s resting place. The well is dedicated to Saint Monnina, who has a number of alias’; Saint Dareca and Saint Bline and a few other Irish forms of these names. Her memory is so strongly connected to the place that each new generation has kept her in a fond remembrance with their own affectionate name for her, although in recent years she has almost been forgotten. Saint Monnina is said to have been the sister of Saint Enda, daughter of King Machta and later said to be a sister of Saint Patrick (which is highly unlikely). There is another more likely tale that tells of Saint Patrick passing through the area to baptize new believers and King Machta and his wife Comwri brought the young Monnina to be baptized by him. Monnina was said to have lived and preached an austere life and this may explain why the site of her burial is not a shrine church, but instead a simple stone slab in keeping with some other Irish saint’s graves. We can be fairly certain that it is her grave though. It was tended without interruption for almost one and a half thousand years, and even after the dissolution of the monasteries the grave was a place of pilgrimage.

Saint Monnina's Grave

Monnina seems to have been more inspired by the activity of the Desert Fathers than by Saint Patrick’s diocesan church system and tales of her life are full of examples of very extreme self-sacrifice. Most of the knowledge of Monnina comes from a closely guarded text of great antiquity held in Salamanca. It’s date is unknown, but the written Life is attributed to the early scholar Conchubran. Sadly, partly because this text is so closely guarded, there is much mis-information regarding Monnina, particularly prevalent in the work of ‘Butler’s Lives of the Saints’ which quotes an enormous amount of inaccurate materials of a more modern date (mainly Archbishop Ussher) and harmonises Monnina’s tales with those of the ninth century obscure saint by the name of Modwena.  Much of the other material regarding Monnina has only been kept alive in the memory through the ancient Irish rhymers. Monnina is said to have been baptized by Saint Patrick in the ‘Pool of God’s Abundance’. It’s not at all clear where or what this is, but one could propose that it was a place of early Christian pilgrimage. It is mentioned quite a number of times in various early saints lives, but never with any accomplanying descriptive material. It’s as if the reader should know and be familiar with what this is! Monnina returned to this site to make her vows as a nun and she immediately set about the task of learning the Psalms by rote. She remained under the instruction of a priest and a few others who took instruction from him, but she soon left to become associated with Saint Ibar in the western isels of Ireland. Ibar, after a time, sent her to an island off the coast of Wexford with a number of nuns and on the way the group made a pilgrimage to meet Saint Brigid and to learn from her and her foundation. Monnina was greatly impressed by the care given by Brigid to the sick and aged and the order was to remain there for some time. It is even said that Monnina took on a role in the hospital while there. It is here that Monnina began to display a rather austere approach to life. One tale tells of how a man brought here and her company of nuns new clothing as their habits were becoming tattered and old. Monnina immediately sold the lot and gave the money to the poor, saying she and her sisters had no need of them and that God provided all necessities for them. There are many miraculous tales too. At one point, when Monnina was said to take her leave of Saint Brigid’s community with her fifty nuns, they came across an area where a great river was in flood and it looked like they could not proceed on their journey. The flood was the result of one nun having sinned and stolen an artifact from Ard Conis. After the nun was admonished, she returned the object and at the behest of Monnina that flood waters subsided. It’s fairly clear that the life and times of Monnina is being paralleled with the story of Moses and the Exodus. Maybe this tale held great significance for her community, for certainly it appears they did live in a kind of wandering Exodus for many years.

A Cross in the Graveyard

Eventually Monnina and her nuns settled at Killeavey, where the people were said to have been heavily addicted to a form of paganism and witchcraft that was deeply destructive to the local communities. The people were said to have tied themselves in knots over a desire for retribution, revenge and placing curses on one another; sometimes these disagreements went back generations and the people were enslaved to them. Monnina deliberately sought a quiet and desserted place, both suited to her own spirituality associated as it was with the Desert Fathers, and to provide a haven for the local people to come and seek prayer and relief from the binding and destructive paganism that held such sway in the area. Over time King Macloithe became deeply imporessed by these women and their type of life, although he appears to have been very concerned that none of the women ate meat (although this could be a euphemism for something else! Early Irish texts are not quite so ‘proper’ as we would be and they are not without strange little quips and innuendo).  This King became a benefactor to the group, helping them to establish the community and build a number of churches. Conchubran, in his Life of the saint, describes the church as stone dressed planks in a style that the Scottish are partial to. A small stone cross was erected at the centre of the community and the nuns became known throughout all of Ireland for their dedication in prayer. Many people made the journey from both far and near to visit the nuns and plead for their intercession. At times, various other saints and holy men and women had to come and keep Monnina in check because she had a tendency to inflict such an austere programme of fasting that some nuns were literally brought to the very edge of death! Monnina was very strict on herself and later in life she describes how she was visited by angels, but there are hints that the other nuns are skeptical and believe that this is the product of her mind after severe fasting. Despite a life of such incredible austerity, Monnina lived to a very considerable age. We are told that late in life she was to play a very considerable part in the Synod of Easdra. Some more modern accounts tell of her missionary activity in Scotland, but this is certainly not Monnina, but rather the somewhat obscure Saint Modwena. We do not know the date Monnina was born and we do not know what date she died, but all records suggest she died on 6^th July.

The pilgrim path to the holy well

Today there are a number of remaining churches in Killeavy. It was one of the most important convents in all of Ireland. It existed for almost one and a half thousand years, surviving two major tragedies – the great Viking raid in which many local monastery’s and convents were completely destroyed and tales of a great and terrible storm that was so severe that almost all of the churches in the area were either damaged or totally destroyed and many thousands of people killed by collapsing buildings. The fourth abbess of Killeavey, Sr Derlaisre, is said to have planned to build a fine wooden church within the walls of the community. She is said to have asked, by intercession of Saint Monnina for the materials and the very next morning a kind local is said to have anonymously left all the seasoned wood that was required. A chronicler of the area in 1110 records a visit to the new stone church where a gable of the old wooden church is preserved as a miraculous relic.  By the late twelfth century the foundation had become Augustinian and was to remain so until dissolved in 1542 when the last abbess Alicia O’Hanlon left with her company of nuns to seek a new place. The land was given to Sir Marmaduke, who all but ignored it, although this was good in terms of its preservation in some respects. Sadly in 1768 the magnificent round tower, having been so badly neglected, collapsed in a storm one evening and the stone was soon after removed to be reused elsewhere. Today what looks like one large church is in fact two churches which have been joined together at some point. The western church is one of the oldest pre-Norman churches in all of Northern Ireland, and the east church dates to around 1450. A number of the stones used in both churches indicate that a considerable amount of recycling went on and some materials from the older churches have been incorparted into the present ruins. To the south lies the remains of the saint herself, capped with a stone slab seven feet in length and five feet across and one and a half feet thick.

The Holy Well

From the community boundary, walking down the south side, you can see a little pilgrims path that leads up onto the slopes of Slieve Gullion. On 6^th July, a pattern is observed where people gather at the grave of the saint to say prayers and then make their way up this pilgrim path to visit her holy well. The Catholic Church, as with so many other patterns and holy well sites, suppressed the pattern during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This was done partly because of drunkenness and fighting that had become notorious at some patterns, but mainly because at that time, especially during the period of Catholic Emancipation, these practices were considered to be superstitious and part of an old Catholic culture, not in keeping with the traditions of Rome. Roman Catholic clergy at the time felt that the patterns represented an old way of life and faith associated with that period before emancipation and so in some ways it is understandable that they were keen to be rid it. The pattern here was initially suppressed by the church in 1825, revived in 1928 until 1934, foprgotten once again and then observed in the year of Pilgrimage in 1974 and marked ever since. This well almost disappeared from local memory even though it is recorded with its location in Concubar’s saint’s Life and in a number of local historians in the medieval period. If it were not for the determined and officially frowned upon actions of Fr James Donnelly, this well could have been completely forgotten about. He restored the well and with his own money constructed a shrine around it to ensure that people knew what it was. Today the shrine around the well reads, ‘Tobar Naoimh Blanthnaidh, AD 498-1929’. A walkway has been built around it recently to enable pilgrims to safely make 'rounds' at the holy well. It is a beautiful well, up a winding path that seems to go on for ever, and across a field that was full of new spring lambs when visited. A seat offers rest and a pleasant view and the water from the well contains many minerals, leaving a rusty stain on the stone where pilgrims have gathered it for years. The area is certainly conducive to the art of interior prayer, nestled as you are in the shadow of the great Slieve Gullion. Here sheep safely graze and it feels that God might indeed be listening. Sometimes there are tales told of people who see the ancient symbol of Christianity in these holy wells - the fish - and when they see it, it reminds them of God’s presence and how he hears our prayers. I didn’t see a fish in the well, but something dangling from the nearby rag tree on what was to turn into a very wet day, caught my eye. It was a little fish, but even before I spotted it this place had already invoked a special presence of God.

A wooden fish hangs from a rag tree near the well

View me, Lord, a work of Thine:

Shall I then lie drown’d in night?

Might Thy grace in me but shine,

I should seem made all of light.

But my soul still surfeits so

On the poisoned baits of sin,

That I strange and ugly grow,

All is dark and foul within.

Cleanse me, Lord, that I may kneel

At thine altar, pure and white:

They that once Thy mercies feel,

Gaze no more on earth’s delight.

Worldly joys like shadows fade,

When the heavenly light appears;

But the cov’nants Thou hast made,

Endless, know nor days, nor years.

In Thy word, Lord, is my trust,

To Thy mercies fast I fly;

Though I am but clay and dust,

Yet Thy grace can lift me high.

Thomas Campion.

The view from the well as the mist rolls in

How to find it:

The easiest way to find it is from the carriageway from Belfast to Newry. Just before reaching Newry you will see signs to Killeavy churches. It’s further inland than you might think, but eventually the road comes straight to it. Walking up the south side of the community boundary wall, follow the well-trodden pilgrim path up the slope of the mountainside, past a seat and a wooden gate until you come to an open field. The well and shrine are at the top end of the field.

Little Lamb