Wells of County Donegal
St Catherine's Holy Well
This well is located in the western edge of the townland of Killybegs. Killybegs, in Irish, means means "small cells," referring to the small cells that monks once built who lived in the area. The well is surrounded by a white gate at the foot of grass-covered hills. The well itself is a large pool, surrounded by a crescent-shaped white wall with a glass-enshrined statue of St Catherine.
The well is believed to have a number of curative properties for people through its special air for anyone who visits, sits in solitude, and prays. The Feast of St. Catherine is held on November 25, when locals and visitors come to the well and pray over the sick and "make the station."
The prayer rounds are conducted as follows:
Begin by kneeling and saying the following:
(I) One our Father, one Hail Mary and one Gloria for those who opened the well.
(ii) One our Father, one Hail Mary and one Gloria in honor of St. Catherine.
(iii) Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary and one Gloria for the priests who blessed the well.
(iv) Begin the Rosary: Say the Creed, one Our Father, three Hail Mary and Gloria.
Take three sups of water from the well.
Go around the well three times, saying a decade of the Rosary each time.
Kneel and finish the Rosary.
End by praying for your own intentions.
The well was dedicated to St. Catherine by three monks who were caught in a bad storm and washed ashore. The monks prayed and prayed for their safety and promised God they would build a shrine for the well if they landed safe. They landed at Killybegs which is how St. Catherine became the Patron Saint of Killybegs. The well is a large spring with a stone surrounding it.
St Colmcille's Well, Carryblagh
St Colmcille's Well, sometimes spelled St Columcille's Well, in County Donegal is in the townland of Carryblagh (near Portsalon), Fanad Peninsula.
The well is enclosed in a dry stone square structure beneath a cliff. During the twentieth century, hazel bushes grew around the well site and were recipients of votive offerings until recently. In a 2010 renovation, ten metres on either side of the well were cleared and additions were made to the site. The well and turas grounds are now separated from the road by a low stone wall. Another stone structure to the left of the well enshrines two tablets, one explaining who St Colmcille is and the other noting the rounds to be performed in the wellside turas with St. Colmcille's prayer. A small statue of the saint (under 12 inches in height) is behind glass in the same structure. The well structure now has a large cairn of stones behind and on top of it as it appeared in photos from 1900 (see Nic Chearáin, 2012:25).
The well is known as a cure-all. Cures particularly mentioned in the locality include toothache and aching limbs. Brídiín Nic Chearáin notes that if a petitioner slept beside the well, a cure was assured (2012:28).
The Pattern Day is June 9 (St Colmcille's Day), but the turas continues from June 9 through the 17th (a novena). Most people asked reported visiting during one of the nine days if they visited at all, but some came to the well on each of the nine days in 2017.
Votives are now deposited on top of the well structure. These include candles, rosary beads, small religious statutes, empty medication bottles, sports trophies, limpet shells, hair ornaments, children's toys, and a water bottle brought from Lourdes.
The turas was punctuated by three cross-inscribed stones. At the first one says 5 Our Father's, 5 Hail Mary's and 5 Gloria's. This is repeated at the second station stone. At the 3rd station, the numbers of prayers are seven of each. When stations are completed, one says the Rosary at the well walking around the well cairn three times and leaving a stone on the cairn with each circumambulation. After the completion of prayers, one may access the well water to bless oneself.
St Colmcille was to have mislaid some books on one of his journeys. He prayed to find them and then spotted a deer with his books on its back. The deer managed to slide the books down into an orderly pile beside the well
More information about St Colmcille's Well
St Colmcille's Well, Disert
St Colmcille's Well is located in the townland of Disert on a slope of Carnaween in the Bluestack Mountains close to the banks of the Eanybeg river surrounded by a low fence and is covered by a trap door covering the shaft, lined with coarse stones, that leads to the well. This trapdoor must be opened to access the water. St Colmcille's well is located near an ecclesiastical enclosure and a graveyard, which was used as a cillín (for buying unbaptised infants) into the 1930s. The beautiful situation of the well makes it easy to understand why it was chosen by those wishing to seek a religious life apart from the world (a dísert, named for the desert abodes sought by early Christian hermits). The site also has an altar called a Mass Rock.
The well water is thought to have had many cures, especially for toothaches, but more notably, the soil of the vicinity was thought to rid rodents and other pests from one's home and fields if sprinkled there.
St Colmcille's day, the ninth of June, was the main visitation day on which pilgrims also climbed Carnaween (also associated with the saint). By the later twentieth century, visitation shifted to the first Sunday in June. Pebbles are often placed on a cairn located next to the well. Pilgrims would traditionally recite the Rosary as they walked barefoot around the well.
This site is actively being researched by Dr. Fiona Beglane of the Sligo Institute of Technology.
St Davaog's Well
The well is located in Donaghmore in County Donegal. It is centered on the road to Cronalaghy from Meenahinnis in town land of Lismullyduff. It is sometimes called Brigid’s Well because of a cure that occurred to a woman named Brigid at this well.
It is said the water from this well will not boil. People who come to this well will not have to worry about the water coming too hot, and using the water to help themselves for their wounds and/or burns.
More about St Davoag's Well
Doon Well
Doon Well is in the townland of Termon and is very accessible and wheelchair friendly. Placed in a small garden beside a private home, the owners voluntarily serve as the well's primary caretakers. The well itself is behind two small wooden doors on which is posted a plaque outlining which prayers should be recited to obtain its curative properties. The well is believed to have the ability to cure a variety of illnesses.
On both New Year's Eve and May Eve, large vigils are held. There are two small trees that are covered with items owned by those who have prayed on the site for a cure or a release from present trouble--anything from rosary beads, to rags, to teddy bears may be found.
The ritual of the prayer round:
“Repeat Our Father and Hail Mary five times
And apostles creed for your intention
Repeat same for each bottle of water
Our Father and Hail Mary for Father O’Friel who found it
Our Father and Hail Mary for Father Gallagher who blessed it
Our Father and Hail Mary for the person who put the shelter around it
N.B These prayers must be recited with bared feet.”
https://voicesfromthedawn.com/doon-rock-and-well/
St. Eigne's Well
This well is on the Inishowen peninsula of Donegal at the top of Mamore Gap. An engraved stone nearby indicates that the well is that of St. Eigne.
Additional shrines next to the well are dedicated to the, Virgin Mother and St. Padre Pio, whose intercessions are also considered to increase the healing qualities of well water.
The Feast day is the 15th of August, which is known as the Feast of Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
Flowers, statues and other prayer items are places outside of the well.
St. Ethne's Well
This well is named after St Colmcille's mother, Ethne, who has associations with the area in Barnes townland. This holy well had stations performed on her son St. Colmcille's feast day--9 June for nine nights.
Well of the Holy Women
The Well of the Holy Women, in Rannakilla, is dedicated to three sisters that became nuns and blessed the well.
Its pattern day is June 23 - 29, and visitors often leave items such as rags, coins, beads, etc. as offerings at the well.
There is a nearby altar that an adherent must make a certain number of rounds around before extracting water from the well. Before water can be taken for personal use, three drops must be poured out in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. Only then may the individual take a bottle of the water that can then be used for its miscellaneous curative properties. The bottle must also be corked with natural materials such as moss or grass found near the well.
Fishermen are said to have prayed at the well for protection before going out to sea.
Szövérffy, Joseph. 1955. "The Well of the Holy Women: Some St. Columba Traditions in the West of Ireland." The Journal of American Folklore 68 (268): 111-122.
Malin Well
Malin Well, in the townland of Ballygorman, is dedicated to St Muirdhealach. The well was located in front of a shallow cavern along the shore and was supplied by a spring-now moved. The well now is said to live in a circular hole in a stone only revealed at low tide.
The well is said to have miscellaneous curative properties. There are records that describe visitors dropping beads into the well as part of a ritual that is associated with the well, but most offerings are thought to be washed out to sea during high tide. Beads and other personal items are likely deposited in the well, but because of the tides, these items do not remain.
Its pattern day is August 15th.
"In 1801 McParlan observes the culmination of pilgrimage festivities into an unusual ritual with, “people dropping beads in the water…all vehemently whispering prayers....
but the ceremony finishes by a good ablution in the sea, male and female, all frisking and playing in the water stark naked and washing off each other’s sins.”
https://www.donegalcoco.ie/media/donegalcountyc/archives/Malin%20Head%20booklet%20PDF.pdf
St. Mura's Holy Well
Located in the townland of Fahan, this well was surrounded by a low, redbrick wall with a cross attached. The wall was build by Major Marshall in 1864 in order to protect the well from a nearby railway under construction. The wall was eventually destroyed by vandals, but the remnants can still be seen. A residence and restaurant are now beside the well.
The well is believed to have broad curative properties. There were reportedly numerous miracles that were performed here, though no records of the specific acts survive.
On its pattern day, March 12, there was a gathering held on St. Mura's "festival," but no historic information about the festival has been found thus far.
Ó Muirgheasa, Énrí. 1936. "The holy wells of Donegal." Béaloideas 1051.Uimh 2:143-162.
Tobar Shorcha, Doochary
This well goes by the names of Sorcha, Shorcha, or St Sarah, and is located outside of the village Doochary, on the backroad to Letterkenny.
The statue at the well is Kraljica Mira (Our Lady, Queen of Peace).
The cure of the well is known to cure certain skin conditions of people, and people seem to make the pilgrimage in order to help themselves or their family members/friends. If they are coming to the well to seek a cure for someone other than themselves, they must bring a piece of clothing, or any other item, of the person they are trying to cure.
More information on Tobar Shorcha
Tobar na Suil "Well of the Eyes"
This will is on Slieve Sneacht in the heart of of Inishowen Peninsula in the northern part of County Donegal.
People go to the well to drink the water or wash their eyes with the water if they believe they need to be healed from eye problems in hope of finding a cure.
St Ultan's Well
In Inishowen, of Culdaff about eighty yards from Falmore school there is a holy well called St. Ultan's Well and also called "The Turus" locally. St. Ultan is the patron saint of Culdaff.
People go with various complaints, mostly children who do not learn to walk at the usual age.
People can visit the well any time at all, but particularly on the first Monday of a quarter. Three consecutive visits (1st Monday) of quarters are required.
Children having trouble learning to walk can be treated at this well. The child is to be taken and carried round the well. Another person can say the prayers or the child may be taken and another person say the prayers. The sick person if possible is to say the prayers, but if he or she is not able any person will do.
The prayers and turus which begin at the well and go anti clockwise are five Our Father's, five Hail Mary's and five Glorias, ending at the well with the creed.
Learn more here.
Wart Well
Wart Well is in Stradgraddy, near Tarmon, and there is a bush growing near the well.
If you visit the well once and rub water on your wart, the wart with disappear. Three Our Fathers and Three Hail Marys have to be said each night and each morning after visiting the well in order for the wart to be cured.
Pins and medals are left at the well.
More info on Wart Well