Dublin Core
Title
Sunday''s Well
Description of Well Item Type Metadata
1 Name of well and saint
Sunday’s Well, (near Banteer). Dedicated to the King of Sunday, BVM, and/or St. Abbey depending on the source.
2 Townland, County, GPS
Fermoyle, Co. Cork
3 Physical description of well and its surroundings
The well is still venerated today.
“Several tall trees lower over the well house which is roughly beehived shaped and made out of stone. A random mixture of other stones, some quite large, litter the area. On top of the wellhouse a statue of the BVM looks serenely down, covered in rosaries, a jar of fresh flowers at her feet. To the right another shrine contains statues, more flowers and offerings and a rosary-adorned holy water bottle. To the left a neat array of cups look very welcoming in a specially constructed stand, Other statues are tucked into various places around the tree and a few rags and beads have been tied to branches.”
(Clarke, 2017, https://holywellscorkandkerry.com/2017/12/03/fursey-friday-sunday/)
“Several tall trees lower over the well house which is roughly beehived shaped and made out of stone. A random mixture of other stones, some quite large, litter the area. On top of the wellhouse a statue of the BVM looks serenely down, covered in rosaries, a jar of fresh flowers at her feet. To the right another shrine contains statues, more flowers and offerings and a rosary-adorned holy water bottle. To the left a neat array of cups look very welcoming in a specially constructed stand, Other statues are tucked into various places around the tree and a few rags and beads have been tied to branches.”
(Clarke, 2017, https://holywellscorkandkerry.com/2017/12/03/fursey-friday-sunday/)
4 Cure
“Several persons have been cured after paying rounds at this well. The rounds consist of five rosaries, five decades in each. The well is particularly recommended for sore eyes and pains of all sorts. Those who visit the well drink the water and rub it on afflicted parts. Relics such as hairpins, buttons, ribbons, rosary beads and holy pictures are always left behind at the well by pilgrims. There is a frog in this well and pilgrims who are lucky enough to see the frog in the water are sure to be cured.”
(Clarke, 2017, https://holywellscorkandkerry.com/2017/12/03/fursey-friday-sunday/)
(Clarke, 2017, https://holywellscorkandkerry.com/2017/12/03/fursey-friday-sunday/)
5 Pattern day
“Pilgrims visit it on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to pay rounds. The greatest number visit on Good Friday because on that day one visit will suffice but at any other time of the year three visits must be paid on successive days beginning with a Friday.”
(Clarke, 2017, https://holywellscorkandkerry.com/2017/12/03/fursey-friday-sunday/)
(Clarke, 2017, https://holywellscorkandkerry.com/2017/12/03/fursey-friday-sunday/)
7 Prayer rounds and stations
“Prayers said at the well seem fairly flexible but this story has a humorous twist:
On one Good Friday a stranger came to the well and he was a cripple. He asked a boy what the rounds were. He said thirty-three rosaries for a joke. The man stayed all day saying the rosaries but he was well repaid for this because he was able to walk home. Beside the well are two bowls on which are written IHS and BVM. People rub the affected part with these bowls and they get cured.”
(Clarke, 2017, https://holywellscorkandkerry.com/2017/12/03/fursey-friday-sunday/)
On one Good Friday a stranger came to the well and he was a cripple. He asked a boy what the rounds were. He said thirty-three rosaries for a joke. The man stayed all day saying the rosaries but he was well repaid for this because he was able to walk home. Beside the well are two bowls on which are written IHS and BVM. People rub the affected part with these bowls and they get cured.”
(Clarke, 2017, https://holywellscorkandkerry.com/2017/12/03/fursey-friday-sunday/)
8 Stories
“Sundays well is situated in Fermoyle woods about a mile and a half from this school. It is unknown who blessed this well but this is how it was known to be a blessed well. A mason who was working at the Old Court near Kanturk had a very sore eye and a bit of lime went into it. He was living near Mushera Mountain and was taking a shortcut home and he passed through this field. He saw the well and bathed his eye in it. The next morning his eye was cured and he came the next day which was Sunday and built a stone arch around the well and since this man’s eye was cured the well is known to be blessed. It is situated in Timothy Horgan’s field.”
“Sundays well is situated in a wooded incline in the townland of Fermoyle, Banteer. The well is still visited by great numbers on Good Friday. They come from far and near to pay rounds there. St Abbey is the patron saint of this well. It is believed that once when she was on her way to Ballyvourney she saw a white deer at this well and as it was on a Sunday she reached the well she blessed it and called it Sunday’s Well.”
“Another legend tells that the well changed its position. On a certain day a woman drew water from the well for household purposes, as the usual spring was in a wet boggy place and she thought it too hard to get at. The holy well was at that time above the fence where it is now. The woman put down the water to boil potatoes but discovered that it would not boil. Next day she again came to the well to discover that it had moved below the fence”
(Clarke, 2017, https://holywellscorkandkerry.com/2017/12/03/fursey-friday-sunday/)
“Sundays well is situated in a wooded incline in the townland of Fermoyle, Banteer. The well is still visited by great numbers on Good Friday. They come from far and near to pay rounds there. St Abbey is the patron saint of this well. It is believed that once when she was on her way to Ballyvourney she saw a white deer at this well and as it was on a Sunday she reached the well she blessed it and called it Sunday’s Well.”
“Another legend tells that the well changed its position. On a certain day a woman drew water from the well for household purposes, as the usual spring was in a wet boggy place and she thought it too hard to get at. The holy well was at that time above the fence where it is now. The woman put down the water to boil potatoes but discovered that it would not boil. Next day she again came to the well to discover that it had moved below the fence”
(Clarke, 2017, https://holywellscorkandkerry.com/2017/12/03/fursey-friday-sunday/)
9 Publications
Clarke, 2017, https://holywellscorkandkerry.com/2017/12/03/fursey-friday-sunday/
10 More
“The well is obviously still much revered and was renovated in 2016 by the local community who made access much easier via the steps and stepping stones but it sounds as though it has always been a potent spot and much visited. In fact it has all the essential criteria of a powerful and vibrant well: cures, patron saint, a frog and a mind of its own.”
“Visitors can engrave names and dates of visits on a plain slab in the vicinity. The rock is certainly covered in graffiti most of it quite old – unusual behaviour if it was considered to be Mass Rock for they are usually treated with great respect.”
(Clarke, 2017, https://holywellscorkandkerry.com/2017/12/03/fursey-friday-sunday/)
“Visitors can engrave names and dates of visits on a plain slab in the vicinity. The rock is certainly covered in graffiti most of it quite old – unusual behaviour if it was considered to be Mass Rock for they are usually treated with great respect.”
(Clarke, 2017, https://holywellscorkandkerry.com/2017/12/03/fursey-friday-sunday/)