Holy well, Derreenkealig, Co. Cork
Co. Cork |
Holy Sites & Wells
Some sites earn their place in the record precisely because they no longer exist.
On a south-east-facing slope in the pastureland of Derreenkealig in County Cork, there was once a small holy well dedicated to St Brigid, one of Ireland's most widely venerated saints. Holy wells are typically natural or hand-dug water sources that acquire sacred associations over centuries, often becoming focal points for local pilgrimage and devotion. This one had its own modest architecture: a small round well fitted with a rectangular flag roof, set within a compact triangular enclosure, its entrance oriented to the south-east.
The well was documented in 1998 by a researcher named Myler, whose record captured it at what turned out to be almost the final moment of its existence. Shortly after that survey was completed, the well was removed, leaving no visible trace in the ground. The timing gives the 1998 description an accidental quality of witness, a record made just in time, though no one could have known it then. Whether the removal was deliberate clearance, agricultural work, or simple neglect is not recorded.
There is nothing to see at this site today. What remains is the place itself, a slope in pasture, and the knowledge that something was once carefully built there, roofed with flat stone, enclosed on three sides, and considered significant enough by the local community to carry a saint's name into the twentieth century.