A HEALING WELL

Clonaslee

The other day, the weather being fine we took ourselves on a promised trip to visit a Healing Well. Our route took us through Clonaslee (Cluain na Slí) a picturesque village in north county Laois. The name means "way meadow"(road through the meadow), the way referred to was & is an important cross-country route. Clonaslee sits at the foot of the Slieve Blooms and has been almost continuously inhabited since Neolithic times.

Fr. Graham's Well

Our destination lay approximately three kilometres to the north along narrow roads, so narrow that two vehicles would be unable to pass each other, to a sparsely populated area with few houses to be seen. Father Graham's Well was clearly signposted and on turning into the cul-de-sac access road it was wonderfully wide in comparison to most of our route.

The Roots

Five steps lead down into the well where the roots of three trees can be seen just above the level of the water; the trees being Birch, Hazel and Whitethorn, an unusual combination. The well is known for having a cure for toothache, headaches and other neuralgic problems, so may be the combination of the three trees plus the mineral content of the water have more to do with healing than the goodly Father Graham.

Research has only showed one priest of that name in Clonaslee and little is known about him other than:-

'Rev. Michael Graham had been curate for a long time before being made P.P of Clonaslee. He died on 11th August 1840 and was buried in the church where an inscription after recording the date of his death says "By his will he left £300 to improve the education of the poor of the parish."

A Happy Man