Holy Wells
Name: St. Brigid's Holy Well
Irish Name: Tobar Bhríde
Meaning: Brigid's Well
County: Clare
Province: Munster
Patron Saint: St. Brigid
Traditions: Pilgrims traditionally visit on St. Brigid's feast day, 1 February, and on 15 August, the Feast of the Assumption. The pilgrimage, or turas, includes prayers and rounds around the well and its surrounding devotional grounds. Visitors leave rosary beads, prayer cards, small statues, and written petitions. Cloth offerings, traditionally called clooties, have also been tied to nearby trees as expressions of prayer and concern for loved ones.
Story:
St. Brigid's Holy Well at Liscannor is one of County Clare's best-known places of pilgrimage, where faith, folklore, and the older traditions of the Irish landscape meet.
According to local tradition, St. Brigid stopped at the site while travelling toward Connacht. The well became a place of devotion, drawing generations of pilgrims who came to pray, seek comfort, and entrust their troubles to the saint. Its importance is reflected in the offerings left by visitors, from prayer cards and rosary beads to small religious statues.
The well is associated not only with St. Brigid's feast day on 1 February but also with celebrations around the Assumption in August. Folklorist Máire MacNeill proposed that the site's August customs may preserve traces of the much older festival of Lughnasa, traditionally associated with the harvest. The well thus offers a glimpse into how Christian devotion and earlier seasonal traditions became intertwined in Ireland.
Today, St. Brigid's Well remains a meaningful part of Clare's religious and cultural heritage, a place where private prayers and inherited customs continue to connect people with generations past.