Holy well, Ballynamona, Co. Cork

Co. Cork |

Holy Sites & Wells

Holy well, Ballynamona, Co. Cork

On a farm boundary in Ballynamona, north County Cork, a spring well once drew visitors from across its parish.

Today, nothing marks the spot. The ground has closed over it entirely, leaving no surface trace of what was once known as the Well of St. Paul, a source with, in the words of those who recorded it, a parochial reputation, meaning it was locally venerated, likely visited on a pattern day, and probably associated with cures or petitions in the manner common to holy wells across Ireland.

The well's existence was documented in 1908 when Canon Courtenay Moore was brought to see it, standing on the boundary of land belonging to a John Kent. Moore described it as a beautiful spring well, a phrase that suggests it was still visible and perhaps still in some form of use at the time of his visit. At some point after that, the well was closed in, whether deliberately or through agricultural change is not recorded. What remains on the same farm is a bullaun stone, a rounded boulder with one or more artificial cup-shaped hollows, which are found at early ecclesiastical and sacred sites across Ireland and are often associated with ritual use, including the collecting of water believed to have healing properties. The proximity of the bullaun to the lost well is suggestive, though no written record connects them directly.

The well itself is no longer accessible or visible to visitors, and its precise location on the farm boundary is known only to the landowner. The bullaun stone, catalogued separately, survives on the same holding, and its presence is a quiet reminder that this corner of north Cork carried some form of sacred significance long before anyone thought to write it down.

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