2014

St. Joseph’s Well, Dulick Parish Doora-

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In Memory of the late Fr. Michael McNamara, P.P. Doora-Barefield who put forward the idea of getting historical information on the site.

St. Joseph’s Well by Mary Kearns Acknowledgements I am grateful to Edel Greene, for editing and providing relevant information in the preparation of the booklet. I would also like to thank the following for their assistance,

Canon Caimin O’Carroll, Peter Beirne and Brian Doyle, Clare Local Studies and Eddie Lough. The National Folklore Collection for scanning and photocopying images of Schools Folklore 1937/38 used in booklet. Jimmy Kearns for taking photographs of well site and

Fiona Kearns for the booklet design.

Papers- Clare Champion, 1931/1987

Fig 2: Ordnance Survey Map

© Ordnance Survey Ireland / Government of Ireland Copyright Permit No. MP 004114

ST. JOSEPH’S WELL

St. Joseph’s Well is located in the shorter.3 townland of Dulick, in the parish of The well was formerly known as Tobar Templemaley in the of Ingine Baoith, the great patroness of the Upper. The well is located in an enclosure Dalcassians. It is recorded as such in the bounded on the south-west by Lough Ordnance Survey Name Books for Girroga and on the north by the former Templemaley (Fig. 1 below) and on the first Our Lady’s Psychiatric Hospital. Access is edition 1840 Ordnance Survey Map (Fig. 2 off the old /Galway road where a page 1). On close examination of the map partially complete new stretch of road runs there is another well marked beside it, but parallel to the boundary wall of the not named; the O.S. Name Books refer to hospital. In the distance you will see a well(s) in their explanatory notes and this grove of trees on the left and on may explain the later local reference to approaching the grove keep a look out for two wells which will be discussed later in the style which leads into the well the text. enclosure. Inghean Bhaoith is best known as the The townland name Dulick has been ancient patron saint of the parish of translated as the “Black Flag”, possibly 1 Killinaboy (Ceall Inghine Baoith) and deriving from the geology of the area. devotion to her is evident in the many Another possible translation for this place- wells named after her in this area and name may be “Damliac” the Old-Irish word where her cult was widespread. There are for a stone church (similar to the at least seventeen holy wells dedicated to translation of the ancient church site Inghean Bhaoith located mainly in the recalled in the place-name Duleek in Co. 2 central parts of Clare, including two in the Meath). parish of Doora/Barefield, at Dulick and St. Joseph’s Well lies within a large Doora.4 enclosure, roughly quadrangular in shape, Despite the widespread devotion to this measuring about 24 meters on the saint she remains an obscure figure and northern side, with eastern and western even the etymological derivation of the sides of about the same length which taper name Inghean Bhaoith is far from certain.5 to the south side which is about 6 meters The name is usually translated as

Fig. 1 - Ordnance Survey Name Book for Parish of Templemaley 3 Flynn, Pat, Archaeology Project (1994), (St. Joseph’s Well measured as part of project), Local Studies Clare Collection Special 1 Ordnance Survey Name Books, Parish of Templemaley (surveyed 1840). 4 MacMahon, Michael, The Cult of Inghin Bhaoith and the 2 Edwards, Nancy, The Archaeology of Early Medieval Church of Killinaboy, The Other Clare, Vol. 24, (2000), 12,13 Ireland, (1990), 124 5 Ibid.

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“Daughter of Baoith”. It may also have Joseph’s Well. I visited the supposed site been a word referring to her vocation as which was pointed out to me by a resident groups of holy women or nuns were close by who had a recollection of the lore designated “Ingena” and figured and of the whitethorn tree which grew prominently in the early centuries of the beside it.9 6 church in Ireland. Although no trace of the well now exists When Eugene O’Curry visited Killinaboy in and historical evidence for it is sketchy it is 1839, the vigour of the saint’s cult was not likely to be without some foundation, waning, but Innerwee (Inghean Bhaoith) particularly as wells dedicated to St. had been a ‘favourite name’ for females in Inghean Bhaoith and St. Lachtin existing in the parish shortly before.7 There is also close proximity is not without precedent. the possibility that her name may have They exist in where both saints been anglicised as Winifrid, alias Winnie, a were jointly venerated, and in the parish of very common name among females in the in the far west of the county parish of Killinaboy.8 which appears to have been a distant outpost of both these saints’ cults. There was also joint veneration near Newcastlewest, in Limerick, where two churches named Killachtin and Teampulinnaboy existed. This may show the course of tribal migration from Limerick of the tribe of the Cineal Baoith into Clare10. It has been suggested that these saints’ cults in Clare were centralised in the parish of Kilnamona, which was the ancient patrimonial lands of the Cineal 11 The other well associated with Saint Baith or the “people of Baoith”. The Lachtin? reliquary of St. Lachtin’s arm was preserved in the church in Kilnamona, until According to local lore a second well in the the seventeenth century when it fell into vicinity dedicated to St. Lachtin was Protestant hands and it was later moved to situated on the opposite (western) side of Lislaughtin Friary (near Ballylongford) Co the road (now the Industrial Estate). The Kerry.12 It is now preserved in the Royal volume of people attending it was a cause Irish Academy.13 Shrines and wells for concern in regard to health and safety dedicated to the two saints amounts to and so the parish authorities decided to transfer devotion to the present day St. 9 In conversation with Patsy Cunningham, who resides beside the supposed site of St. Lachtin’s Well (2014) 10 Gaynor, Very Rev. P., Kilnamona, Called Kinelbuith, A.D. 6 Gaynor, Very Rev. P., Kilnamona, Called Kinelbuith, A.D. 500-1725, Molua, (1941), 11 500-1725, Molua, (1941), 15 11 Ibid. 7 O Riain, Pádraig, A Dictionary of Irish Saints (2011) 12 Ibid., 13 8 Ibid. 13 Ibid.

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signature occupancy by the Cineal Baith, or to celebrate the patron’s feast-day) were a a branch of the tribe, at some period.14 major feature of religious and social life in th th Re-dedication of Wells 18 and early 19 century Ireland. The patterns involved visits to holy wells and Many holy wells were re-dedicated to ancient monastic sites where rounds were saints of the universal church by the local 15 performed with the recitation of clergy from around the 1850s onwards. prescribed prayers.19 Usually the pattern A re-dedication to St. Joseph was 16 took place on the feast of the saint to common. Luckily the Ordnance Survey whom the well or shrine was dedicated.20 had recorded and mapped the wells prior The curative powers of holy wells for sore to these name changes. Devotion to St. eyes and other ailments lead to visitation Joseph, which developed in the course of at any time as well as the pattern day.21 the middle ages, gained momentum in the Worship at holy wells had its roots in an nineteenth century, and culminated in the older pre-Christian tradition of pilgrimage, proclamation by Pius IX of St. Joseph as giving it a peculiarly Celtic dimension.22 patron of the Universal church on 8 17 Following the religious observations after December 1870. In the case of the well severe penitential exercises at the larger at Dulick the re-dedication of the well to sites, celebrations became like a carnival St. Joseph is possibly linked to the event with excess drinking and other concurrence of both St. Lachtin’s and St. 18 unruly behaviour. This behaviour showed Joseph’s feast days on the 19 March. The that Christianity had not tamed the spirit of possibility of two wells close by dedicated paganism after thirteen hundred years to Inghean Baoith and St. Lachtin raises the which led to the church authorities making possibility that devotions were transferred a determined effort to stop this behaviour to Inghean Baoith’s well at the same time in the early 19th century.23 as the re-dedication and that local devotion to both saints was from then on The Schools Folklore 1937/38 perhaps focused on a saint of the universal The schools folklore records for Barefield church at the site we now know as St. and Ennis National Schools24 contain Joseph’s Well. The later O.S maps have references to holy wells including St. now recorded the site as St. Joseph’s Well Joseph’s Well. I have included a selection and the names of Inghean Baoith and of these memories which deal with the Lachtin are now all but forgotten. customs, cures and rounds: Religious festivals known as “patterns” (probably deriving from the word “Patron” 19 Murphy, Ignatius, The Diocese of Killaloe In The Eighteenth Century, (1991), 88-89 20 Ibid. 14 Ibid., 11 21 Ibid. 15 Westropp, T.J., Folklore of Clare, (Clasp Press, 2003) 50 22 Ibid. 16 Ibid. 23 Ibid. 17 Ibid., Lysaght, Patricia, St. Joseph’s Well, Dough/Annagh, 24The Schools Folklore 1937/38 (National Folklore Collection) Parish of Kilmurray , : A Photographic - Ennis schools collection on microfilm at Clare Local Studies and Oral Documentation, Béaloideas (2001), 85, Note 8, and Barefield collection available at National Folklore 18 Ibid., Collection, U.C.D.

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Scoil: Clochar na Trócaire, Inis. Teacher, Máire Ní Dhomhnalláin. Transcribed by Mary O’Riordan, Abbey Street, Ennis and told by Pako Malone and Tom Donoghue, The

Causeway.

… St. Joseph’s Well. Page 6

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Scoil: Inis (b) (boys). Teacher, P. O Fionnmhachain

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Scoil: Barefield National School Teacher : Ml Ó Riordáin

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Visitation to the well seemed to decline pious man, Thomas O’Donoghue, who, and as a result the site became overgrown unaided and alone, took charge of the and neglected. A report in the Clare place and improved it as best he could, the Champion, Saturday, October 24, 1931: traditional devotion to St. Joseph and visits Shrines of Catholic Fervour to his Shrine were perpetuated. This fervent man spent most of his time at the Shrine. “This beautiful Shrine situated on the He cared for it every way in which his shores of the little lake in historic old meagre resources permitted. By his acts of Ballycoree, about two miles from Ennis, is devotion to St. Joseph, he prepared the now visited by throngs of people almost way for and made possible the present every day of the week, but particularly on great display of confidence in the saint. Mondays and Thursdays, which are the This man sought no earthly reward. Silently traditional days of visitation. and unobtrusively he performed his labour No more edifying spectacle can be of love of God and his devotion to the witnessed than that afforded by the sight Carpenter of Nazareth. Thomas of men and women, boys and girls, making O’Donoghue has long since gone to his the rounds. One after the other they go, eternal reward, but it has pleased God that each telling the Rosary, praying to Jesus, his work should fructify; and to-day the Mary and Joseph. There in the quiet and Shrine is the scene of edification and solitude of that beautiful retreat, away sanctity, of simple faith and earnest from the world and its distractions, silent, devotion. sincere prayers are offered in supplication Within the past two years the work of to God that He may grant to each one his improvement and renovation has been or her request, and to Mary, Joseph and St. taken up by a committee resident in Ennis. Anne for their most powerful intercession. Through their efforts and the generous There was a time when this Holy Shrine financial response of the people of Ennis, was not visited or patronised to the same together with the voluntary and extensive extent as it is to-day. At one period in its assistance rendered by staff of the Clare history it was almost unfrequented and in a Mental Hospital, the place has been very neglected state. Thanks however, to transformed into a beauty spot. The efforts the fervour and foresight of a holy and of all who have aided in the noble work are

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amply rewarded by the edification of the “pray for the soul of Thomas O’Donoghue, throngs who now flock there to engage in the humble and pious man who during his prayer. life cared for and improved this place”. St. Joseph’s Well is now a link with the According to an Ennis lady who can recall past. Its very existence bespeaks the the days when the well was visited traditional devotion of our people to St. regularly by pilgrims, Thomas O’Donoghue Joseph, and we are confident that, as time was responsible for the provision of the goes on, countless sons and daughters of statues there, having made collections the Dalcassians will find immense spiritual towards that end. In later years the late Joe consolation by a visit to this devotional Casserley and his wife, Bridget, were shrine.” prominent in their attention to the Over fifty years later the well required wellbeing of the shrine but recently, the another overhaul; The Clare Champion, area was so overgrown and strewn with August 21 1987: litter as to make it almost unrecognisable. New Development Phase at St. Joseph’s Frank Kenny, a retired Roscommon native Well, by Jerry Slevin: who had spent many years in London and now lives in nearby Ashfield Park, visited “St. Joseph’s Well, nestled snugly adjacent the well shortly after he arrived in the area to Our Lady’s Hospital, Ennis, in the parish a couple of years ago and was so shocked of Barefield, was once a great centre of at the condition of the area that he pilgrimage and in the days prior to the immediately set about the difficult task of motorised age, people in their hundreds making it accessible. With the help of some travelled there at great personal neighbours and members of the Legion of inconvenience to carry out the spiritual Mary, the hard work was undertaken. It exercises. took many painstaking hours over a long Recent years saw the practice discontinued, period and in addition to the removal of resulting in the entrance from the Gort the litter, the cutting down of the Road, the pathway leading to the shrine overgrowth, the clipping of the hedges, the and the total area around the shrine, statues and their surrounds were becoming so overgrown as to make access repainted. It was a labour of love carried nigh impossible. out with a marvellous dedication and when A new phase is about to unfold in the the crowds assemble to night for Mass, history of this famed shrine and with Mass they may well be beginning a revival in the being celebrated there on (this) Thursday devotion to the Shrine that for many years was the Lourdes of Ennis”. evening, 6.30 p.m. the stage could well be set for a renewal of devotion to St. Joseph Canon Caimin O’Carroll, P.P. Doora- in Ennis. Barefield celebrated the Mass at St. The area around the well comprises Joseph’s Well on that Thursday night (See enshrined statues of Our Lady, St. Anne, Photo.) thus commencing a tradition that continues to-day. the Sacred Heart and St. Joseph. There’s also an engraving which asks visitors to

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protruding iron rod. A plaque has been placed at the base requesting prayers for the soul of Thomas O’Donoghue, former caretaker of this place. The well is surrounded on three sides by a wall and four steps lead down into the well and on either side there are flagstones, to perhaps enable those venerating at the well to rest their hands. The level of the well fluctuates over the seasons due to the proximity of Lough Girroga which in heavy rainfall floods the entire site in winter and causes much of the deterioration to the shrines and the site in general. Although now not as popular, St. Joseph’s Well continues to be a place of veneration with the annual Mass which is celebrated on the 15 August. Efforts are made every

1987- Photo courtesy of Canon Caimin O’Carroll, (Photo taken by Eamon year to clean-up the site but as stated Ward of the Clare Champion). above flooding is impacting badly on the The Well To-day site and visitation has declined due in some As you climb over the stile you will notice respects to the closure of Our Lady’s an ivy clad rusted money box encased on Psychiatric Hospital and changes in top of the wall to your right which is a religious practices. I hope this booklet will throw back to a time when offerings were be a small incentive to keep an awareness made for the upkeep of the well. Many of the site and its customs, cures and mature trees surround the exterior and rounds as remembered and recorded by interior of the site and immediately to the our ancestors. right is a wooden cross. As you walk down the defined path on the left there are four enclosed or hooded shrines housing statues venerating The Sacred Heart, Jesus, Mary, and St. Joseph, St. Anne and the Holy Family. The first shrine has a selection of religious objects, but at the base of the shrine a carving in relief of the Coronation of Our Lady is attached and is in excellent condition. Veering to the right the shrine over the well displays the same characteristics as the other shrines and once housed a statue as evidenced by a

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Annual Mass at Well 15 August 2013 celebrated by Fr. Jerry Carey, P.P. Doora-Barefield

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