Kilkenny County Council is appealing to locals across the county to help locate missing holy wells and mass paths for ongoing surveys.
The research by the council’s heritage office aims to collect data and raise awareness about the holy wells of Kilkenny and their associated traditions and practices, with a view to preserving their archaeological heritage significance for future generations.
Heritage officer for Kilkenny County Council, Regina Fitzpatrick said: “Similar to mass paths, we’re coming to the end of the generation that would have gone and visited these regularly so it’s heritage that’s highly at risk.
“What we wanted to do was actually go and ground truth in each of those holy wells, figure out if they exist, if they’re in the right place, photograph them, map them, record them, find out local traditions about them, and basically ensure that they’re all mapped and as much information is gathered about them for future generations,“ she added.
Holy wells
189 holy wells have been documented in the county by the National Monuments Service, however, only 110 wells were found during phase one of the survey and the council is now seeking help from locals to identify the missing wells.
A list of townlands where there are references to a holy well but where the exact location goes unknown can be found on the ‘Holy Wells of Kilkenny’ Facebook page or on Kilkennyheritage.ie.
“We’ve a list of the townlands on our website and we’re hoping people will have a look and go, oh I know where that one is,” Fitzpatrick said.
These wells were written about by antiquarians, surveyors or historians in the past, but the locations of the wells have not yet been found whereas other holy wells may be missing from the records entirely.
The holy wells purportedly occur across the whole of the county, from Castlecomer in the north to Mooncoin in the south, from Ballycallan in the west and Graignamanagh in the east.
The survey team is asking the people of Kilkenny to reach out with any information they may have about possible holy wells in their area, where they are located and any stories, events, traditions or folklore connected with them.
The data and knowledge collated will be used to establish a searchable database of heritage information on holy wells across the county.
The Kilkenny Holy Well survey will be informed by and will add to the body of knowledge gathered from other county audits undertaken by heritage officers in Clare, Monaghan, Galway, Donegal.
In 2019, the tradition of holy well visitation was added to the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage, further enshrining it as an important facet of our cultural heritage.
Mass paths
Funding has also been granted for phase two of ‘Mass Paths in Memory – A Mass Paths Survey in County Kilkenny’ which will involve the identification and recording of 10 mass paths throughout the county.
These paths serve as reminders of the challenges faced by catholics during the penal times, and also reminders of a bygone era when they were still used by people in rural areas as pedestrian routes to mass or visiting neighbours.
“If they are not recorded soon, their presence and value will fade from public memory,” Fitzpatrick stressed.
“This year, to celebrate Heritage Week, we’re also running training workshops teaching local communities how to record these heritage features in their landscape.
“We provide the support and the training and we’ll also archive, record and map everything they find. It’s just a way of getting people out in their own communities to salvage what we can of the memories of holy wells and mass paths,” Fitzpatrick said.