Toberbarry

Site of well recently re-discovered in rough grazing on W-facing slope. Some stone-facing and spring uncovered c. 2m below present ground level; a local group propose to restore the well. MacCarthy (1937,17-8) suggests that this is the 'site of the first church in Cork....Barre's Church' which he thinks likely to have been in 'a scrubby untilled patch twenty yards to the east of the well' (ibid.); this area remains as described by MacCarthy. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 2: East and South Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1994). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009 Images provided by and copyright of Amanda Clarke 2016-2022 https://holywellscorkandkerry.com/

Linked to St. Barry (Ciarán), an early Irish saint associated with several sites in Munster; the well may have been used for healing and baptismal rites. Local tradition holds that the water was especially efficacious for curing eye ailments and was visited on St. Barry’s Day (24 November).