Ireland – St. Flannen’s Holy Well (& the Unusual Tree)

It was the day before Father’s Day and an early surprise was being planned by my daughter (and her mother). I’d been told no more than ‘you need to be home by 1pm’ and so I fired up Google Maps and looked at the nearby dropped pins for some inspiration for what to do in the two hours I had available.

One of those pins was St Flannan’s Holy Well and the Unusual Tree, near Maurices Mills in County Clare. I’ve enjoyed gathering pictures of these ‘quirky’ (that’s as polite as I can be) religious sites and their accumulated Ex-Voto, but the addition of an ‘unusual tree’ only made it more interesting.
From the satellite view, it didn’t look straight forward to get to, but in reality is very easily reached. The site was looked after for many decades by a local man who is now remembered by a plaque attached to the well.

You can read all about the magical powers that the well and nearby rock have here. As for the ‘Unusual Tree’, it’s actually a 120 year old ash although in fairness, it is quite unusual…