St Michael’s Cross Bere Island 51.63153395125984, -9.86890558204469
St. Michael’s Cross was built in 1950 for the Holy Year and celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, in 2025. There is an annual pilgrimage to and Mass at St. Michael’s Cross on the Sunday of the August Bank Holiday and there is access by road.
Source: https://bereisland.heritagecork.org/places/holy-year-cross
St. Michael’s Well, Bere Island
Situated between St. Michael’s Cross and the Hotel in the middle of the Island, it is not located on a map, but is signposted from the road near the Hotel and access is by a rough and sometimes boggy path. It can also be reached from St. Michael’s Cross, but that is a route that goes across the mountain and is more difficult than coming up from the road.
It is dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel, but there are no records of when this dedication took place. It is the site of an annual pilgrimage or pattern on the Sunday closest to St. Michael’s Feast Day on September 29th. Some locals still make the pilgrimage, but there is no formal arrangement.
Source: https://www.heritageweek.ie/projects/bere-island-holy-well
This is an extract from the Duchas Schools Folklore Collection, 1937
There is a holy well situated on the north side of Ballinakilla Hill and called St Michael’s well. The people who still visit the well do certain rounds and at the same time say certain prayers. There are white pebbles to be found in front of the well and those people who visit the well take ten of these pebbles and at every round drop a pebble. The prayers they saw are the one decade of the rosary at every round. The people do not drink that water or use it otherwise. There is a small bush beside the well and the visitors leave some relic beside it.”
Source: https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4811615/4802253/4949713