St Canice' s Holy Well - Kenny' s Well
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(small)
Related Web Page
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
In 1244 Black Friars from nearby abbey are granted permission to draw water from this holy well.
St. Canice' s Well
The Archives of the Corporation of Kilkenny preserve among their most valuable deeds and charters the original grant made by Bishop Geoffrey, of Ossory, about the year 1244, to the Friars Preachers of the Black Abbey, Kilkenny, of a supply of water from St. Canice's well for the use of the religious of the monastery. To the stipulation is added, that the circumference of the water-pipe at the well should not be larger than that of the bishop's ring; and at the end, where it enters the monastery, it should be only of such a size that it could be stopped by a man's little finger. A facsimile of this interesting concession has been printed by Gilbert in The Irish National MSS. series, vol. ii., n. lxxii. It still retains a considerable portion of the bishop's seal. A ring of copper is attached to the seal to mark the size of the bishop's ring. The Dominican Bishop Hugh who governed the diocese from 1258 to 1260, granted to his religious brethren of the Black Abbey, the custody of St. Canice's Holy Well, which was much frequented by pilgrims and by the citizens. Lynch writes that many persons in his day continued to visit it through piety or in search of health ; and he also attests that many miraculous cures were every day effected by using this water and invoking the aid of St. Canice. There is also a beautiful tradition to the effect that any native of the "faire citie" by the Nore who drinks of the waters before leaving home for the foreign land will surely live to return to his native shore.
" For it is a tender story, and an old tradition hoary,
That in battle dread or gory, or upon the ocean's breast,
He will ne'er meet death, or never die by cold or burning fever,
Till the old land, tho' he leaves her he shall see this is the spell
Which unto the peasant's thinking, comes by simply drinking,
If his faith be all unshrinking, from St. Kenny's Holy Well."
The holy friendship between SS. Canice and Columba is proved and perpetuated in Ossory by the fact of having six old parishes placed under the patronage of St. Columbkille.Scanlan, King of Ossory, in gratitude to St. Columba, for having liberated him from the cruel treatment and imprisonment to which, as a hostage, he was subjected at the hands of Aedh MacAinmire, King of Ireland, fixed an impost of one sgrebal, that is, of three pence, on each hearth of his principality, from Bladma to the sea, which was to be paid every year to the community of St. Columba, at Durrow, in Osraidhe.
" My kin and tribes to thee shall pay
Tho' numberless they were as grass,
A sgrebal from each hearth that lies,
From Bladma's summit to the sea."
St. Columba, on his part, gave his blessing to Scanlan, his descendants and subjects, as we also read in the Ambra :
" My blessing rest on Osraidhe's sons,
And on her daughter's sage and bright ;
My blessing on her soil and sea,
For Osraidhe's King obeys my word."
N. MURPHY, P.P. THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD Volume 15, AUGUST, 1894, 925-938.
Description taken from Brigid - Under the Oak blog (thank you)
The cache is round, metal, camouflaged container. Kerbside parking is possible at the cache site although you might want to park somewhere in the city centre (Dunnes Stores, Market Cross, St. Mary's Cathedral or Black Abbey) and take a walk (+/- 7 mins) and immerse yourself in the unique climate of Kilkenny City.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
gerr va gur pbeare