The holy wells of Kinsale offer a window to our sacred past
Charlotte Cargin has already found approximately 100 historic wells in Kinsale, Co Cork. The search for wells began 20 years ago after she uncovered a well in the garden at the family home of her grandmother at The Grove, Compass Hill, Kinsale, Co Cork. Picture: Larry Cummins
On a recent homeward journey from visiting an old friend in deepest West Cork, I took a detour to the holy Lady’s Well, just outside Bantry. Happy to cruise along the tourist-free lanes of the Sheep’s Head peninsula, the route eventually brought me face to face with devout faith in its most ancient form.
Cut into the hillside and tucked underneath an intricate canopy of beautifully shaped stones, this locally famous holy well announced its venerable credentials with the scores of Virgin Mary statues dotted around its base. A tattered leaflet carried the Biblical message of John 4:14: “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but will become in him a well springing up to eternal life.”
