Lady's Well

Not all wells are leafy and green and charming. Today we were on the track of the holy wells in Cork city. It was the most appalling day - lashing, cold, sleety and after two wells in borne in severe conditions Himself was getting somewhat disenchanted, not to mention chilled to the bone and drenched.
Anyway - this little well was the first port of call. Dedicated to Our Lady it had been venerated for hundreds of years and was once the site of pilgrimage. It is now on land owned by Murphy's/Heineken brewery and is in a rather interesting but insalubrious area. The original wellhouse is now closed, the current well protected by stout railings and the whole area subjected to graffiti and rubbish. Sad to see.
The second well we tracked down is now actually in a pub! St Francis Well is at the back of the smoking area and two chaps were rather amused at our request to see it. They kindly removed a few beer barrels for us to get closer. This was once a holy well attached to a Franciscan Abbey which now lends itself to the pub's name - The Franciscan Well. This pub brews it's own beer and very good it is too - obviously the water is very special!

The weather was so grim, and the forecast no better, we eventually decided to come home a bit earlier than planned. I think we'd exhausted the pleasures of Blarney too.

This should be my entry for Friday and the Blarney one for Thursday so I don't know what happened there and I'm too wrecked to change it!

Kissing the Blarney Stone