Picket Gate

The reason for staying up in Kinsale overnight was to drag Himself around a prodigious amount of holy wells on the way home! The weather was fabulous and first we tracked down two wells in the town - one hidden down a tiny alley way, sent on our way by a chap with dreadlocks, the other over-looking the mighty 17th century Charles Fort. Then off into the countryside . We saw a man working in a graveyard and asked him if he knew of the well. No but he did know where a woman pirate was buried. Fair swop - she had some good skull and cross bones decorating her. Next, and the roads got very small. It's not one of those that end in the sea is it? asked Himself. Er, um .... yes. We parked at a sensible point and walked the rest. St Ruadhan's Well was tiny and semi-circular, the companion well a little further down, now forgotten. We continued to the ruined church, perched on the edge of the cliff with magnificent views out into the ocean.
We lunched at Diva's in Ballinspittle - all earth mothers and free range children and good sandwiches. Revived we tackled the last well - Sunday's Well - the little red picket gate announcing its whereabouts. Beautifully green and peaceful.

And a result. Some time ago I wrote about some wells in Bandon that were completely covered over and neglected. Well I was contacted by a woman who immediately got things done and contacted Tús, a sort of jobs creation scheme and when when we went to have a look at them today, they had been cleared and cleaned up.

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