Brigid’s Well, Tully, County Kildare, Ireland
This page features photos of Brigid’s Well in County Kildare, Ireland. This well is a lovely example of the ongoing practice of water veneration in the Celtic world. Many wells and springs are dedicated to Brigid in Ireland; this one is especially lovely because of its location, within walking distance of the town of Kildare (“the church of the oak”) where priestesses of Brigid, and later nuns, kept a sacred flame burning until the sixteenth century (and where, even today, Brigidine sisters keep a perpetual fire lit in honor of Brigid).
The well is located just off a country road, on a small parcel of land in the midst of pastures where cows and sheep graze. The well produces so much water that the rushing sound of the flowing stream creates a meditative ambience where it is easy to enter a contemplative state of consciousness. Leading up to the well is a row of five small standing stones, which according to local tradition represent virtues of Brigid: meditation, hospitality, charity, peacemaking, and reverence for nature. At the head of the stream, a small stone arch has been built, above the concrete “shoes” through which the water flows in two streams. Some observers have suggested that the “shoes” actually look more like breasts, the water flowing through them like milk through a mother’s breasts.
The well itself is surrounded by a short round wall, emphasizing its feminine symbolism. Next to it is a clootie (prayer rag) tree, where supplicants offer coins and strips of cloth, tied to the tree as “time-capsule” prayers. The entire site has a feeling of deep holiness that transcends the religious differences of Pagan and Christian; this is a site of universal peace and love.
Here are some pictures taken at Brigid’s Well in the summer of 2002.
This handpainted sign is as fancy as it gets.
The emphasis here is on spirituality, not “polish.”
In this picture you see the well in the background,
the five standing stones,
and the stone arch where the stream begins.
This photo was taken with my back to the well,
looking toward the carpark. Notice the Brigid’s Cross
on the arch, and the “shoes” beneath it.
A better look at the five stones.
They stand for five qualities associated with Brigid:
meditation, hospitality, charity,
peacemaking, and reverence for nature.
A closer look at the arch and the “shoes” beneath it.
This picture (taken at a different holy well)
shows how the water flows through the “shoes”
in a way that has made some observers suggest
that they represent breasts: the breasts of the
Divine Feminine, nurturing us with her healing waters?
Two photos of the holy well itself.
Notice how someone has superimposed a
Brigid’s Cross on top of the Christian cross.
Traditional customs do not die easily in the Celtic world.
The clootie, or prayer-rag tree,
located next to the well (which
is seen in the foreground of this picture).
Marvellous. I feel the same way about the Chalice Well in Glastonbury – also a place where differences between Pagan and Christian are transcended.
I love the Chalice Well! And what lovely gardens. I’ve only been there twice, but both times I felt so close to heaven. Truly a thin place.
From whence cometh the design for the brigid cross?
It’s woven from rushes. Possibly pre-Christian in origin, some folklorists speculate it may have been a solar symbol, similar to the pre-Nazi swastika. Irish folklore today attributes the cross to St. Brigid herself, however; stories vary but one version has her preaching to her druid father as he lays dying; needing a visual aid to her pitch she grabs the rushes and makes the cross. Dad repents before dying so all ends well (gotta love those deathbed conversions). The crosses are typically made on St. Brigid’s Day, February 1, which incidentally corresponds with the old pagan festival of Imbolc, sacred to the goddess Brigit. When hung (typically over doorways) they are said to provide protection: kind of like the Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs.
Dear Mr. McColmanm ,
St. Brigid is my patron saint. I LOVE this beautiful page you made. I love the photo showing the Brigid’s cross. I haven’t been to Ireland, but plan to one of these days. Someone from my church who did go there brought back a jar of water from the well for me, so I have a wee bit of Brigid’s Well at my home. Thank you for sharing the photos and the information. I just ordered one of your books from Amazon.com.
Thanks. Your compelling photographs and stories feed my longing to visit Ireland and experience the magic and mystery for myself.
Thanks for this website and for posting on livejournal, where I initially found you. I have been browsing through your site for hours and finding much to contemplate.
The photos of this well are lovely. Everything is so startlingly green to these Australian eyes.
Blessings,
Sr Meg
These are magnificent pictures of the Holy Well. It is the holiest place I know of, and on the occasions I’ve gone to see the Well, it brings a fulfilling serenity to my spirit. Your pictures communicate very well what it is like to stand within in various spots. Did you get to meet the kind and welcoming Brigidine sisters while you were in Kildare?
One of my favourite things about the Well enclosure is seeing the two horses in the surrounding yard…sometimes they put their heads over the fence to get at some of the grass or rushes near the Well! Do you have any pictures of them? ;>
I did go to Solas Bhríde and meet the sisters, but I’m afraid I haven’t any pictures of the horses.
When I was in Ireland driving through Co. Kildare we searched for this well, following the signs and never could find it. It wasn’t the first time signs in Ireland led me astray, but it was one of the more disappointing times! This happened after being locked in the grounds of Briget’s Abbey by the grounds keeper who didn’t realize we were there and thought, the weather what it was, he may as well lock up and go to the pub. And by the way, there is no way to get out of that Abbey when the gate is locked! Luckily, after calling to a man exiting the pub (which is just a short walk from the gate) he went in and retrieved the groundskeeper.
Anyway, thanks for the photos, it’s good to see what I missed, it looks so peaceful and mystical.
Next time you’re in Kildare, be sure to visit the sisters at Solas Bhride. They can give you good directions. It’s only about a mile from the town center — a nice walk, actually. If you found Brigid’s wayside well (what the locals call “the pagan well”) which is located adjacent to the car park at the National Stud, you were practically within shouting distance. When I was in Kildare for the Festival of Brigid on 31 January 2005, we began with a bonfire at the National Stud Car Park and processed past the pagan well to the Christian well — where an even larger bonfire was lit.
Thanks for the information, I’m going to save that for future reference! I didn’t even realize that was so close to the National Stud. You mentioned visiting the sisters at Solas Bhride, is that a convent? They aren’t bothered by people stopping by? Being a non-Catholic myself, I wouldn’t have known that visiting a convent was OK, I would have felt like it was an intrusion. Is it open to the public?
Here is the Solas Bhride website: http://solasbhride.ie
It is a “convent” in the sense that nuns live there, but it’s really an ordinary house in Kildare which they use as a center for their ministry, which includes putting on a festival every January/February to coincide with Imbolc/the Festival of Brigid, as well as other events throughout the year. Visiting them is like visiting any other private home: a phone call or a letter in advance is the polite thing to do. But I’ve found that they are very kind and have gracious hospitality and are truly delighted to share the wisdom and spirituality of Brigid (and of the Celtic saints and wisdomkeepers in general) with anyone who happens by. They are Catholic, but truly have a sense of the universality of Brigid.
Thanks for the information, I’ll be sure to stop there next time I’m in Kildare, which hopefully will not be too far off in the future.
I’m creating my own webpage on Holy wells and water legends for college credit for a study abroad class I took in Ireland, and I was wondering who is the publisher of this webpage? I love the information and pictures on this page, and I was wondering if I could use this page as one of my sources, giving credit to it of course!
Hi Merry – I’m the author of this website, my name is Carl McColman. Please feel free to link to this site and use a picture or two, or a quote of up to 200 words, as long as you acknowledge me as the author/photographer and link back to this page. Please don’t use more than that amount of content: if you really want people to read the whole thing and/or see all the pictures, please just send them to this page. Thanks for your interest, and do let me know when your site is up – I’m quite devoted to holy wells, as I’m sure you can sense from my site.
Blessings,
Carl
Disturbing. New Age Pagan and heretical
Well, Claire, sorry you find this disturbing, but let’s be clear: something that has been around for centuries could hardly be called “New Age.” And if you listen with an open heart and a non-judging mind to a heated conversation between a devout Baptist and a devout Catholic, you’ll quickly discern that one person’s heresy is another person’s orthodoxy. Now as for holy wells having a pagan origin, I can’t really argue with you there: just like the names of the days of the week (or the months of the year), most of the symbolism around Christmas and Easter, are all “pagan.” If you’ve ever kissed a loved one under the mistletoe, then you’re as pagan as someone who prays at a holy well. And if you’re the kind of person who refuses to kiss someone you love under the mistletoe just because it offends your purist religious sensibilities… well, we won’t go there.
I have found your webpage while doing a web search under holy wells. I visited the Kildare well some time ago while travelling between Kerry and Glasgow. It gave me a brief physical rest during that journey and the spiritual experience of a holy, peaceful place has remained. Since then I have completed a small project (book) on some local holy wells in North County Kerry. Even though small it is multi-faceted and tentatively tried to link the wells and nature themes to todays world. Thank you
Claire, if people in the world of today, the new age, want to pursue paganism and disregard that Christ is the Son of God, then there is not much other advice you can give one if there hearts are solid as stone in their beliefs in these false rituals.
Paganism and witchcraft are old traditions used to worship false Gods, in fact, according to what I have read, it was considered gothic by nature. Why these people want to linger their beliefs in death and Hades is beyond me. What really matters is that Christ came and went. Even in death, Christ was NOT destroyed, and through His example in Christ, we can all be saved from death into everlasting life only if we accept Christ as the one and only Son of God and no other.
The real Holy Well in my opinion is Jesus Christ himself… he is the Well of Everlasting Life.
And the good things to always remember, is that Christ sits on the right hand of God the Father in the Kingdom of Heaven.
- Daniel
Looking back on the history of salvation Paganism has a chapter of its own.
It is an expression of mankind that there is ‘something’ beyond our senses that calls for ritual and community response. This sustained famlies for generations and kept the human spirit pointing UP.
And then there was REVELATION. God revealing his love and calling us forward.
Paganism is part of our Archaology
Hello and thank you for a beautiful web-site.
I have a question- you describe the five standing stones as representing the virtues of Brigid- one being meditation. That really surpised me. I had always imagined her to be very practical, earthy, political, war-like when necessary etc. I’ve heard her described as a midwife of Christ, which I guess must hint at a mystical dimension, as I think it would be fair to say she wasn’t actually at the birth of Jesus. Or maybe mystically she was? Anyway, I would love to know more about Brigid as a meditator.
Once I had the mumps. My mother was an RN and did all of the appropriate things. My grandmother, from Ballyshannon in Donegal, went to Mass, lit candles, said the Rosary, then came home, cut up a potato in four pieces and buried a piece in the North, South, East and West corner of the backyard when the moon waa dark.
One Memorial day many of us were gathered at her house for a party. My great uncle, grandma’s brother, died suddenly. In a furied rush, my grandmother ran to each child and put a pinch of salt in our pockets to ward off the banshees that were there to steal my uncle’s soul. (Children’s souls are particularly vulnerable.) Still, may God have mercy on anyone who said that my grandmother wasn’t a devout Catholic. My mother, even unto her death in 1994, in times or trouble, said seven novenas for seven successive days. If she was babysitting, before the new baby arrived, she walked around the room three times, sprinkling the door, the floor, then the bed with holy water, saying the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be three times, once for each time she circled the room. Every night, I say a very defnite set of prayers a certain number of times in a very certain manner because this was what I was taught in parochial school, and this by approval of Rome. At Mass every Sunday, the priest circles the altar and the entire congregation three separate times, blessing us first with water then with incense. Ritual? Paganism? I know, beyond all contradiction, that water has a spirit all its’ own. In my life I have never had a single dream in which water was not present in some form. Celtic mysticism was extant long before St. Patrick drove the snakes from Ireland. It will remain so long after the priest has given his last absolution .
I am going to be in Dublin in July and may finally get the chance to try again to find Bridgid’s Well. You mentioned above the Wayside Well (pagan well) and the Christian Well. Are these walking distance to each other?
Yes, they’re practically just across the street from one another, and about a mile from downtown Kildare — a nice walk. Try to get your hands on a copy of Rekindling the Flame: A Pilgrimage in the Footsteps of Brigid of Kildare by Rita Minehan — copies are expensive here in the USA, but hopefully it’s still available in Kildare (I bought my copy at a newsstand there, in 2002). That book gives you directions on how to walk to all the Brigid-related sites in and near Kildare. Go visit the sisters of Solas Bhríde if you have the chance, they’re lovely.
Thank you, I will look for the book and do my best to look up the sisters as well.
Thank you for this beautiful page and photos. I visited the Kildare shrines in August of 2008 and they are indeed holy, peaceful, and accessible. The book that Carl mentions is available at the tourism officein the square.
I’d like to return in late January for the feast of Brigit. I’ll be looking for a hostel or other cheap accommodation. Does anyone have suggestions for where to stay?
The sisters seek donations for a visitors center which will be built halfway between the cathedral and the well. See their website.
The book Red Haired Girl from The Bog by Patricia Mongnahn has a chPter about Kildare, Brigit, and the wells.
Hi Carl,
it seems your photos are a bit outdated. There’s a statue of St. Brigid with a torch in her hand near the arch at present. I can send a photo to you if you like.
I was there at the end of August with my daughter.
Mary kindly invited us to have a cup of tea with her. She and Rita are really nice, it was a pleasure to talk to them.
The well is a marvelous place where one can see and feel a lot if he keeps his eyes and heart open.
For some reason I was unable to find the wayside well, probably it wasn’t the time. May be on my next visit to Kildare…
You’re right about the statue; these pictures were taken in the summer of 2002; when I returned to Kildare in the fall of 2003, the statue was there. So it was installed sometime within that 15-month window.
The Wayside (or “Pagan”) well is between the main road and the carpark for the horse farm. It’s about a five minute walk from the Christian well.
Hi Carl,
You may be aware of this, but you don’t have to travel to Ireland to visit a holy well. According to an article I read there is one in your state of Georgia! It is at the site of the former civil war prisoner of war camp at Andersonville. Thousands of Union prisoners were crowded together in poor conditions. There was no clean source of water just a small stream poluted by human and animal waste, it was a real torment during the hot Georgia summers and a cause of disease. After concerted prayer by the prisoners for relief in the summer of 1864, a storm cloud appeared, a lightning bolt struck the ground and a spring broke forth at that spot. It is called Providence Spring and still flows today at a rate of ten gallons a minute and can be visited. Anyway this is what I read in the article. Whether the water has any unusal properties besides quenching thirst I don’t know.
Thanks, Jeff. I’ll look it up. For those who want to learn more, I found this link: The Miracle of Providence Springs
Hello,
I stumbled across this site while researching the tradition of tying strips of cloth for St. Brigit. As I am writing a paper on traditions carried by Irish immigrants to australia, can I link back to this page for the pics? They are some of the best I’ve seen.
Hi Ruby, I’d be honored to have you link to my site. Just be sure to mention on your site or in your paper that this is http://www.anamchara.com and that the photographs were taken by Carl McColman, and used by permission.
Cheers,
Carl