School: St Columba's, Cloonagh, Granard (roll number 12813)
- Location:
- Cloonagh, Co. Longford
- Teacher: Peter O'Reilly
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0762, Page 271
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- There is a well in the townland of Toome in this district: the townland gets its name from a large amount of stunted bushwood that grows on the northern portion of the townland, near the shore of Lough Gowna.
The Irish pronunciation of the name of the townland is mostly retained by the people locally, as they say "I was in Thum" [?]
Mrs Kate Kiernan, an old woman of near 70, told me the following story about this well. Mrs Kiernan was born and lived her whole lifetime near the well. Her father often showed her the spot, where the well was first, but he told her that an old woman named Mrs Kyne, used to wash clothes in it, and the well, bush and rocks moved during the night, into another field, further away from Mrs Kyne's house, to the place where they are now.
The well is in a very lovely spot, away from any house and surrounded by the rocky hills of Leitrim - the grey ridge, from which the adjoining townland gets its name.
There is an old bush at the well, and a flat stone with a hole in it, supposed to be the track of the Saint's knee. Mrs Kiernan heard, the old people say, that the general belief was, that the Saint retired to this lonely spot to rest and pray, when he was returning from Cavan, after destroying the false god there, and that he bent down to drink(continues on next page)
