Visitors to Ballyeglish Old Graveyard‘s Facebook page will know that the site has a holy well with two aspects to it. The first and earliest concerns the original dedication of the well, which was to an early Celtic goddess named Bríghid. It’s difficult to say just how long the goddess held sway at that place as it’s likely that the well, as a sacred site, predated even her. But we can claim that worship of that pagan deity must stretch back to at least 500 BCE. Any names that were attached to her even earlier incarnations are beyond us at this time.
And then came Christianity, and with it a formidable female with all the qualities of a goddess. St Bríghid was imbued, over time, with the ability to work miracles and magic. Her legend ties in so closely with that of the deity as to almost seem to be one and the same. And that was the point. Continuity of worship for a people still moving towards monotheism, who often wear their new faith as a cloak to shelter the old.
It’s a fascinating story of cultural progression from one faith to another, all the while striving to stay the same as much as is ideologically possible. This duality satisfies the inherent pagan and superstitious beliefs still prevalent within Irish Catholicism and wider Christianity upon this island.
The following article is one we found about Ballyeglish Old Graveyard. We thought you might enjoy it.
Bígí linn
The Ballyeglish Society 
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