Friday 12 July 2019

Cecil Day Lewis

A short spin this evening took me past Portlaoise and Stradbally, then up over the Windy Gap before turning left and back towards home through the tiny Hamlet of Ballintubbert.


I stopped for a while at the small Church there, Saint Brigid's, where I took a photo of the plaque in memory of Cecil Day Lewis.


Cecil Day Lewis was British Poet Laureate between 1968/72. He was also the father of well known (and superb) actor Daniel Day Lewis.


It's nice to see him remembered at his birthplace of Ballintubbert in Laois.

There was a small Well at the rear of the Church with crystal clear water. Almost all ecclesiastical settlements would have been founded originally close to natural springs which could supply clean fresh water and this fact explains why we find so many Wells associated with old Church's, Abbeys, and Ruins. We generally know them today as various "Holy Wells".