The Holy Well of St Conall
GPS: 54.645622, -8.386191
The Well
St Conall’s Well is associated with the sixth century St Conall of Inishkeel Island.
Conall Caoil (‘Slender Conall’), who must have been a skinny man, died in the year 590AD. The Annals of the Four Masters suggest that St Conall and his contemporary St Columbkille were the aristocratic descendants of Niall of the Nine Hostages, High King of Ireland.
Wells are thought to have had significance to people of pre-Christian Ireland. With the coming of Christianity, rather than reject all the old ways, many sites were imbued with some Christian significance. This allowed people to keep emotional attachments with old sites. The well kept nature of this well suggests it has been well regarded through the centuries.​
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St Conall and the Egg
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This story is told about his sainthood.
Once St. Conall beat his father and when he went to confession the priest told him that he wouldn't get forgiveness of this sin until a fanleog would lay an egg in his hand.
St. Conall thought that this could never be, so he went round Ireland making wells and doing penance.
When he was lying in the bed in Bruckless a strange thing happened. When he awoke in the morning an egg was in his hand. He was overjoyed then when he saw the egg in his hand so he kept very holy for the rest of his life and now he is a Saint.
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The fanleog in the tale is the Gaelic name for a swallow. Fáinleog translates as ‘little wanderer’.
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Story researched by Paul Kingsnorth.​
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​​​The Reilig
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Back towards Dunkineely, about 20m on the opposite side of the road, is a wooden gate that gives access to the Reilig.
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The site is a burial ground with several penitential cairns and a small D shaped platform, sometimes called Conall's Bed. People still practice turás or pilgrimages here on St Conall’s feast day (22 May).
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The site also included a cross inscribed stone and a healing stone, although both have now been lost. The rock upon which the healing stone sat is still there.
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The story goes that an American was given permission to borrow the stone, to heal a sickly relative. But it was never returned.
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This site was also a Children’s Burial Ground. These were the designated burial places for unbaptised children. This burial practice may have begun as far back as the medieval period and continued in Ireland until well into the twentieth century.
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