Charlotte Cargin is on an ambitious mission to get every ancient well in Ireland flowing again.
The mother of three has already uncovered and restored more than 100 in her hometown alone. Her hope is that Kinsale in Cork can now live up to its former name Fan na dTubraid, which translates as “Slope of the Wells.”
Charlotte developed a passion for the history of local wells after her fashion business Charlotte and Jane which she co-owned for 13 years, shut in 2020. However, the covid-19 pandemic led the history lover to reassess her passions and values.
In the last two years, Charlotte has unearthed more than 100 wells and restored 30 of them to full working condition. All of the work is undertaken on a voluntary basis, with Charlotte enlisting friends and Kinsale locals to help.
Describing how the project began, she said: “I was spending a lot of time in nature while homeschooling my children.
“One of the projects involved working with water and learning about it. As humans, we exist largely as water. The average adult is 70% water, yet we know so little about it. I realised that knowing little about water means we know so little about ourselves.”
An ordnance survey map gifted to her only fuelled Charlotte’s interest in the topic.
Charlotte working on the restoration of a well in Kinsale. ‘We did it! We saved this well and old tower from demolition.’
“I had an old ordnance survey map from 1932 which mapped out the location of each well. These were wells that I had never heard of. It transpired that no one else had heard of them either, at least no one who was living anyway.
“It made me wonder where, after less than 100 years, all these wells were. After discovering that Kinsale was formerly named Fan na dTubraid — ‘Slope of the Wells’ — it occurred to me how significant these wells were. Sadly, their whole history had been completely forgotten.”
Charlotte decided to investigate.
“While I was pregnant, I started looking for these wells based on this map I had. That brought me into an ever deeper observation of the land and the waters and where the springs were running to and from. I started to find so many wells that were on the map but also ones that weren’t. This was just by following the channels of this stream and observing the water.
“I started to knock on doors where I knew the channels were running through the land of the properties. People undoubtedly thought it was strange when I asked them if I could take a little look in their gardens.
“At the same time, they were very intrigued. It was amazing how many old wells I found that were either completely buried or hidden in plain sight. People had no idea these wells were in their gardens.”
Charlotte’s passion for wells dates back to her youth.
“I live in the house that my grandparents once owned called the Grove, which in the past was a meeting place for druids. When I was in my 20s, my grandfather died. We were restoring the garden after his death because it had been years since he had been able to do any work on it.
“I uncovered and restored this amazing ancient well in the garden. It had this amazing sort of arched vaulted stone structure over it. That was the first well I ever restored. To this day, I still drink from it and it’s always full of ever-flowing pristine spring water.
We have had the water tested and it’s absolutely perfect. Each morning I visit the well with my copper bucket and fill it up and that’s our drinking water. When I started drinking it, it completely transformed my wellbeing.
After trojan efforts around Kinsale, she has been continuing her work all over Ireland and is encouraging other communities to seek out hidden wells.
“These days, our water is so heavily chlorinated and fluoridated that a lot of people simply can’t and won’t drink the tap water. As a result, they are buying plastic bottles. We already know that plastic is devasting to the environment but in addition to this, the micro plastics are extremely bad for our health.
“Meanwhile, we have all of these wells with ever-flowing spring water which remain forgotten about. If we only acknowledged their presence we could be drawing our water directly from the wells again, eradicating the need for expensive filter systems and plastic bottles.”
A map from 1932 which has reference to well locations in the town of Kinsale.
Away from health benefits, there are heritage ones as well. Charlotte had no idea the history she would uncover when starting the project.
“There are only 30 wells marked on the 1932 ordnance survey map, but I’ve now found 100, so I had to add in an extra 70 or so. I’m now drawing up my own map. Many of them have no documented history. It’s very hard to find out the history of the majority of them. In these cases, I’ve written from my own observations like how I found the wells and a description of their structures.
“These are spring wells built by our ancestors with naturally rising spring water. That’s not to say that the spring is always rising exactly where the well is. Sometimes, it’s a channel of a spring that is feeding into them and the spring is rising elsewhere. I’ve mapped out where the springs are rising and where the wells are located along the channels of those springs.”
She plans to continue the work for as long as she can.
“Our ancestors during pre-Christianity times worshipped water as the divine. It is the life force of our existence that is flowing through all of us. Before, I had this really high-flying successful career. Obviously, I loved that, but everything I’m doing now is on a voluntary basis and it’s become fulltime. The work has swept me away. It’s an absolute devotion.”
Charlotte is now raising funds for the printing costs of a book she has penned about her experience restoring wells. The book, which is titled Restoring well-being through the wells of Éiru, is being made possible through a GoFundMe campaign. Further information can be found here.