Pauper’s Well

On a whim, I decided to take a break and visit the southern county of Cork. I seldom get to visit this area since it is quite far from where I am based. I got a few days to spend in the area so I need to make the most of it. I started in the old maritime center of Kinsale. Back then there were a lot of traders that would come here. These days, people from all over still come of Kinsale but now it is for tourism. It is indeed a pretty little town and I think I understand why people even back then would be coming here. However, one thing which traders back then would be coming here for would be water.

It never crossed my mind that water would be a commodity that would be traded back then. I thought that it would have been easy to access but it doesn’t seem to be the case. Back then there were a lot of water wells in the area. Unsurprisingly, there were also public and private wells. Naturally, the private wells would be owned by the rich, while the public ones would be used by the poor. Just across the Saint Multose Church of Ireland is an example of one of these old wells. This is particular one is called the Pauper’s Well. As expected with a name like, it is use by the poor to get water. While the private ones would even be guarded tightly to prevent contamination. The well itself has a metal grate at it’s mouth to prevent stuff from falling in. This simple well provided an insight into how people back lived. As it turns out, it wasn’t that different then even though almost a thousand years have already passed.

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