Some Old Articles

I have had a very fortunate couple of weeks. Firstly, two documents appeared in my mailbox from Cllr. Marie Baker. The first is the article on Tobernea by PJ O'Reilly printed in the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Vol. XII, 1902. You may read it for yourself here. The photos are from 1901 and can be seen to the left. See how big the tunnel to the well was!

The second is a pamphlet that Mrs. Murphy sent over. It's from 'The Way to Dundrum' by Kevin Harrington and it talks about St. Nahi. He apparently lived in the monastery in Tallaght for many years and later became a recluse (as those local saints are famous for becoming). In 1976, when Harrington visited the well, its state is described thus:

The brick tunnels have been partly filled in with stones and clay as they run under the house on the cliff top. The entrance to the well itself is partly filled in but if you squeeze in you can still see the holy well still working. There is plenty of water from the spring. I took some photos of the well. I would very much like to see it cleaned up and open to visitors once more.

Well said, Harrington!

When I visited Mrs. Murphy, she told me to call over to Mr. John Cully. I finally did so two days ago, and the visit was fruitful! Mr. Cully is a man of seemingly infinite historical knowledge, and did indeed know a bit about holy wells and Tobernea. He brought me to the embankment to show me where the well's water empties out into the sea. Plenty of water is flowing, it's quite visible. He also tried to paint a mental picture for me of what the coastline where the well is located might have looked like before the railway embankment went in. It would have been all rocky cliffs, thus Tobernea truly was a seashore well for most of its existence.

I have since spoken to a friend of Mr. Cully's, Conan Kennedy, who is a writer with similar interests. He gave me some advice on getting the word out to the public, and he's going to send me some of his work.

Mr. Cully also put me in touch with the editor of the Blackrock Journal. More to follow.

Another interesting tidbit came from Hugh McLain of the Blackrock Scouts in an email. His brother in law said that 'the well was the end of an escape tunnel from the monestary on Tmple Hill that the Monks would use when the Monestary was being plundered. They always kept a boat at the well apparently.' This well just gets more and more interesting!

It's amazing how much information is out there. It was just a question of asking the right people.

Thanks to John Cully, Conan Kennedy, Mrs. Murphy, Cllr. Marie Baker, and Hugh McLain!