Biddy Early

There is the old square castle Ballylee, inhabited by a farmer and his wife, and a cottage where their daughter and their son-in-law live, and a little mill with an old miller, and old ash trees throwing green shadows upon a little river and great stepping stones.

I went there two or three times last year to talk to the miller about Biddy Early, a wise woman that lived in Clare some years ago, and about her saying, There is a cure for all evil between the two mill wheels of Ballylee, and to find out from him or another whether she meant the moss between the running waters or some other herb.

I have been there this summer, and I shall be there again before it is autumn, because Mary Hines, a beautiful woman whose name is still a wonder by turf fires, died there sixty years ago, for our feet would linger where beauty has lived its life of sorrow, to make us understand that it is not of the world.

An old man brought me a little way from the mill and the castle, and down a long narrow boreen that was nearly lost in brambles and slow bushes, and he said, That is the little old foundation of the house, but the most of it is taken for building walls, and the goats have ate those bushes that are growing over till they've got cranky and they won't grow any more.

Others become part of it because people kept going back to them for help.

In 19th century County Clare, Biddy Early became one of the most famous folk healers in Ireland.

People traveled long distances to her home for cures, advice, and answers they believed ordinary medicine could not give them.

She was said to know why visitors had come before they spoke, to understand illnesses blamed on the fairies, and to use a mysterious blue bottle to see things nobody else could.

Priests condemned her.

Stories claim she could stop a horse at a crossroads, turn herself into a hare, and curse anyone foolish enough to steal from her.

And in 1865, Biddy Early was even brought before a court accused of witchcraft.

Today, we're going to County Clare to meet the woman who became known as Ireland's most famous witch, and to find out why people believed she could see inside that strange blue bottle.

There is the old square castle Ballylee, inhabited by a farmer and his wife, and a cottage where their daughter and their son-in-law live, and a little mill with an old miller, and old ash trees throwing green shadows upon a little river and great stepping stones.

I went there two or three times last year to talk to the miller about Biddy Early, a wise woman that lived in Clare some years ago, and about her saying, There is a cure for all evil between the two mill wheels of Ballylee, and to find out from him or another whether she meant the moss between the running waters or some other herb.

I have been there this summer, and I shall be there again before it is autumn, because Mary Hines, a beautiful woman whose name is still a wonder by turf fires, died there sixty years ago, for our feet would linger where beauty has lived its life of sorrow, to make us understand that it is not of the world.

An old man brought me a little way from the mill and the castle, and down a long narrow boreen that was nearly lost in brambles and slow bushes, and he said, That is the little old foundation of the house, but the most of it is taken for building walls, and the goats have ate those bushes that are growing over till they've got cranky, and they won't grow any more.

There is the old square castle Ballylee, inhabited by a farmer and his wife, and a cottage where their daughter and their son-in-law live, and a little mill with an old miller, and old ash trees throwing green shadows upon a little river and great stepping-stones.

I went there two or three times last year to talk to the miller about Biddy Early, a wise woman that lived in Clare some years ago, and about her saying, There is a cure for all evil between the two mill wheels of Ballylee, and to find out from him or another whether she meant the moss between the running waters or some other herb.

I have been there this summer, and I shall be there again before it is autumn, because Mary Hines, a beautiful woman whose name is still a wonder by turf fires, died there sixty years ago, for our feet would linger where beauty has lived its life of sorrow, to make us understand that it is not of the world.

An old man brought me a little way from the mill and the castle, and down a long narrow boreen that was nearly lost in brambles and slow bushes, and he said, That is the little old foundation of the house, but the most of it is taken for building walls, and the goats have ate those bushes that are growing over till they've got cranky and they won't grow any more.

There is the old square castle Ballylee, inhabited by a farmer and his wife, and a cottage where their daughter and their son-in-law live, and a little mill with an old miller, and old ash trees throwing green shadows upon a little river and great stepping stones.

I went there two or three times last year to talk to the miller about Biddy Early, a wise woman that lived in Clare some years ago, and about her saying, There is a cure for all evil between the two mill wheels of Ballylee, and to find out from him or another whether she meant the moss between the running waters or some other herb.

I have been there this summer, and I shall be there again before it is autumn, because Mary Hines, a beautiful woman whose name is still a wonder by turf fires, died there sixty years ago, for our feet would linger where beauty has lived its life of sorrow to make us understand that it is not of the world.

An old man brought me a little way from the mill and the castle, and down a long narrow boreen that was nearly lost in brambles and slow bushes, and he said, That is the little old foundation of the house, but the most of it is taken for building walls, and the goats have ate those bushes that are growing over till they've got cranky and they won't grow any more.

And I mean, there's quite a mixture.

We touch on some of the legends that people are so familiar with, like Moira Rua and Biddy Early.

But we're kind of looking more at the who was the woman behind the legend, you know, so.

The reality of it.