More pics from afternoon walks

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 1:50 pm

The weather held well this week, crisp, sunny and clean skies. Yesterday a walk was on the cards but it was nice eather, there was grass to cut and things to do so we left it for sunday. It was nice but the sun was gone and things were a bit flat for pictures. And we ended up doign a series of walks around North Clare rather than going up one of the Burren mountains near Ballyvaughan.

Anyhow, first stop was outside Corofin, maybe following up on an exchange with Cranberry on the blasphemous board, to look at a Sacred Tree, it turned out there was a Holy Well there too:

nice spot, at the foot of the hills looking towards Lough Inchiquin. Holy Wells often have trees associated with them but rarely they are used as this one is

A bit North of Carron we walked to an eccelstical site, Teampaill Chronain:

A 12th century (although there are older features in the building, as well as later ones) church founded by St Cronan, the shrine in the fore ground is St Cronan's bed, possibly his tomb although it is believed the two shrines pre date the church itself and may have held the bones of Holy men and were as such a place of pilgrimage. Nice, if weathered, carved heads :

A few miles away, near Glencolumbkille, we stumbled into another Holy Well, it didn't show signs of any rituals carried out there still but a nearby house pumped it's drinking water from it:

Fro mthere we drove around towards Mullaghmore mountain, past Glenquin House, which was used as the setting of the Parochial House in Father Ted. Scared the life out of the hungry teenager in the backseat by threatening to go for tea with Mrs Doyle. Ah g'wan g'wan g'wan..

Walking a few miles onto a 'Green Road' we stumbled into yet another Holy Well (this one had a little sign at the entry, we would never have found it otherwise). A beautiful setting on the side of a limestone mountain, deep in the hazelshrub the greatest feature was an underground waterfall (the Burren has only one or two rivers, all water travels underground) making a great roar of falling water without being seen unti lit emerges at the foot of the hill:

this well had no signs of any Catholic imagery but as usual a few mugs to drink the water showed local people do visit and use the well:

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 2:09 pm

The second to last photo is stunning.

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 2:32 pm

It was a lovely magical spot covered in inches of moss with shamrock growing in it and the pic doesn't do it justice at all I think, I didn't bother with a lot of good subjects today because of the flat light, will definitely have to go back to one or two spots on a good day. Walking into that little valley and hearing the water stream underground was magic though.

Innocent Bystander · Post by **Innocent Bystander** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 3:30 pm

Lovely pictures there. They look like really interesting places. I'm sorry I've never been there.

dubhlinn · Post by **dubhlinn** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 5:09 pm

An excellent little set of photos, and a delightful description of the background to them all.

The Marian (if that's the right word!) shrines, are marvellous.

A glimpse into another world, even another era.

The Church are losing their grip on society but the Faith is as strong as ever.

The final shot of the mugs on the trees..

'Nuff said.

Slan,
D.

susnfx · Post by **susnfx** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 5:18 pm

Beautiful, Peter! I found myself staring longest at the photo of the carved head. What incredible history!

Susan

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 5:33 pm

susnfx wrote:Beautiful, Peter! I found myself staring longest at the photo of the carved head. What incredible history!

Susan

Yes, I like that one too. Interesting to think about who made it.
(and furthermore, it's covered with lichen.)

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 7:31 pm

Fantastic pictures, as usual. Thanks for posting these.

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 7:39 pm

Yes, thanks indeed! Brightened my day.

alurker · Post by **alurker** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 8:57 pm

Thanks Peter, as ever, for the wonderful photos. There's nothing quite like a fine day in Ireland at this time of year.

Cynth · Post by **Cynth** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 10:44 pm

I like to look at the wooden shrine on the Sacred Tree. If I were at the well in the last two pictures I would have to invent a ritual for myself to perform I think. I am not sure what it would feel like to hear water roaring and not be able to see it---it sounds almost a little scary, but I'm sure it isn't really. It's always a treat to see the photos of your weekend walks!

s1m0n · Post by **s1m0n** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 11:40 pm

I sometimes ponder the ways in which ancient well-gods have survived into the modern world.

Everywhere I've lived, there has been a nearby spring, usually coming out of a hillside beside the road, at which people come every day to fill jugs and water-cooler bottles.

If you talk to them, they'll tell you it's because this water is 'healthier' than tapwater, but it's clear to me that this is an ancient urge: we want to see springs as magical places.

Around here the spring I see is one on the way to Lynn Canyon park, which always has a car or two pulled over beside it. Every time I see it, I think that this is a scene straight out of JG Frazier's Golden Bough or Joseph Campbell.

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 4:13 am

Yes, the carved heads are wonderful, there were a few more on that particular church, animal heads as well, but so weathered all the features were gone. There are some very well preserved ones in Kilfenora Cathedral and particular lovely stonecarving, heads, flowers, in Corcomroe Abbey.
I found a lovely one in an antique shop last year, the man wanted 1000 for it. not an amount I have to spend on a whim and I thought it a bit dodgy too so I walked away from it. Here's another one I shot yesterday on the way back, it's in the wall of Corofin Church, but I suppose it was part of a previous, much older church:

Some of these old carvings are really great, I particularly like this one which is over the door of Inish Meain Church and was taken from the medieval church they knocked to build the present one. It must get at least someone wondering if your man was an alien

:

The Holy wells and places like that do take you into a different world, one of a more private religion, they are usually in lovely spots and you can feel why they were thought of as spiritual places. A lot of them are well cared for. This one is just outside Ennistymon on the Kilfenora road, and someone is keeping the holy ones warm:

This is another spot, near Moy towards Lahinch. I must have passed it hundreds of times before spotting it, it's in the middle of the fields and not that easy to get to:

The Holy Wells in general are not really used for drinking water, there will be mugs or cups to take a little drink and people will fill a bottle but most wells have specific cures associated with them, a lot of eye cures, cures for backprobblems and one we found way up in the Valley of the Seven Streams in the Burren uplands provides a cure for diabetes. Or so it is believed. Specific rituals would be prescribed for each well for the cure to work.

The Well in the first post, with the mug tree, was well out of the way too about three miles from the main road up a laneway onto private land and then a small track for a few hundred meters through hazelshrub, someone had made lovely hazel gates to keep cattle out.

On the way back from that well to the car the sun dipped very briefly through the cloud, putting a bit of light on Mullaghmore mountain, which had been sitting there all the time as a dull grey hulk, too dull for a photograph. It's not the greatest of pics but if the composition wasn't there at least the light was. 'The Burren' means 'a stony place'. :

Roger O'Keeffe · Post by **Roger O'Keeffe** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 6:35 pm

It's not the greatest of pics but if the composition wasn't there at least the light was.

And, for the moment, the semi-detached suburban holiday-home blight wasn't either. Give it about five years of building-trade/politics interface. Sorry, I'm already bitter-nostalgic about the country that I plan to move back to in a few years' time and that already scarcely exists any more.

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 2:13 am

Well, as far as that pic goes, it took quite a battle to keep a 'visitor experience' from being build there so that spot is safe for the moment (it's the Burren National Park). Other than that, the country isn't even what it was five years ago so it's hard to keep up with some things.

There's good things too, even in the remotest place you can get a decent capucino thesee days, the days of the styrofoam cup of milk and nescafe heated in the microwave are gone. The coffee is invariably, even in the remotest places, served by an Eastern European girl.