A place of pilgrimage for people for countless generations, Tubrid Well is forty feet in diameter and is said to be the second largest well in Britain and Ireland. During the period of Penal Laws in Ireland pilgrimages would have declined and the well was almost abandoned until the middle of the last century when it was re-discovered by a blind man from Limerick. There is a lack of unanimity as to its Patron. Some hold that the Well Patron is St. Gobnait of Ballyvourney. They say that its source is there, and that the water comes north under Clara Mountain. Others hold that the correct opinion may indeed be that the name of the well is Tobar Ide (Ita’s Well) and that in the course of time the name was shortened to Tubrid.
According to local tradition a fish appears in the well on occasions. The pilgrims who are lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the fish are sure of having their request granted. Reports from people who got cured at Tubrid include;
- A cripple who leaves her crutch there for all to see and walks away
- A girl has her hair restored by washing in the well
- An 8-year-old child begins to talk
- A woman has her finger straightened
- An American gets relief from arthritis
- A Priest with a speech-impediment was cured.
- A thirty-year old invalided person walks again after she donated the stones for the building of the Grotto.
Further information, prayers or rituals associated with the site:
In the month of May each year people travel to the holy well to “do the Rounds”.
The Rounds consist of:
- Three visits to the Well any Thursday, Friday or Saturday of May.
- Say a Rosary each day beginning at the Grotto and continue circling the well.
- Break the Rosary three times at the Grotto to ask Our Lady for the request.
- Finish with six Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glory bes.
- The ceremony ends in the drinking of water from the well.
- Receive Holy Communion the following Sunday.
If visiting only one day – say the fifteen decades on that visit, the six Our Fathers etc., and receive Holy Communion on Sunday.
In doing the Rounds, people turn sun-wise, that is from left to right.
