Holy well, Kilmoylan Upper, Co. Limerick

Co. Limerick |

Holy Sites & Wells

Holy well, Kilmoylan Upper, Co. Limerick

What appears on the 1840 Ordnance Survey map as a "Rag Well" in Kilmoylan Upper, County Limerick, is not actually a well at all.

It is a bullaun, a natural or worked hollow in a rock, roughly ten inches across and five inches deep, sitting in a stone that protrudes from beneath the roots of a large oak tree. Bullauns are cup-shaped depressions found across Ireland, often associated with early Christian sites and attributed with curative or ritual significance. Here, the water that collects in the hollow has long been credited with healing ailments, warts in particular.

The folklorist Caoimhín Ó Danachair recorded the site in 1955, noting that it had formerly been known as Tobar na gCeartach, meaning roughly "the rag well", a name that describes a once-common practice at holy wells and sacred trees across Ireland: visitors would tie strips of cloth, or rags, to a nearby tree as part of a devotional act, each rag representing a prayer or an appeal for healing. The oak beside this bullaun presumably carried many such offerings. The site is said to be dedicated to Our Lady. By the time Ó Danachair visited, formal devotions had ceased, though local memory of the well's purpose and its curative reputation had clearly persisted.

The site sits in Kilmoylan Upper, and the oak tree rooting itself around the rock is the main thing to look for. The bullaun itself is easy to miss if you are not expecting something so modest; the hollow is small, barely a handspan wide, and the rock it occupies is partly obscured by the tree's roots. There are no formal facilities or signage associated with the site. If you visit after rainfall, the hollow may still hold water, which is really the point of the thing.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Holy well, Kilmoylan Upper, Co. Limerick. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement