So, until the ‘80s the bank staff used to live in the bank. I wonder if they ever felt like they were stepping into Narnia as they opened that back door with its remarkable holy well and mysterious Sheela na gig. These stories are really interesting ….wardrobe doors in themselves, ushering us into Narniaic lands…
"Until the '80's the bank staff used to live in the bank."
I find that remark extremely important. I have noticed that the Machine's ideology promotes people NOT LIVING in the same place where they work. They are supposed to live in either independant apartments, with individual.. CELL rooms, or in little anonymous little boxhouses, with individual CELL rooms in them too. Cell rooms... everywhere for individuals, basically. The people who... work for money, in any case.
A good deal of the Machine ideology is a fight against any kind of.. DOMESticity, as in "domestiques", the French word for servants who are housed and fed BUT NOT FOR SALARIES. But it's good to remember that "domesticity" also goes with "domestication", and we seem to be universally ? very ambivalent about being domesticated...
It’s remarkable how recently working for a bank was like joining a monastic order. Reading about how Fred Goodwin took Royal Bank of Scotland to the clouds and crashing back down to earth, I was really struck with what a closed brotherhood the bank was when he joined. It was rare enough for anyone to have been to university (most joined straight from school), much less to have worked anywhere else. No doubt they feel history proves the old ways were better.
I’m sure someone at AIB must be thinking, “it’s time for a new logo”.
I like it! A Bank (well of money) with a sacred well in its hidden and guarded back garden, the well of fertility/birth adjacent and the old church opposite, offering Christ, the Living Water....
Fascinating history of a well, hidden behind a bank. Makes me wonder how many other holy sites are kept semi-secret on private land. The sheela-na-gig is certainly an odd twist on Christian history, whatever role it played...
The holy well hidden in the back garden can't help but remind me of the first chapter of Lewis's That Hideous Strength. Perhaps you'd find Merlin down that tunnel?
"Liquid Asset's " thats a great title for this one. "Financed by the Church " is a phrase our ancestors would understand so I guess a well at a bank is fitting. The little statue of the woman sitting next to the opening of the well looks fitting as well. Both an opening to creation, healing, life etc..
I discovered the Sheela-an-gig image as a teenager and loved it….but eventually moved on and didn’t pay it much mind until I was pregnant with my first daughter and reading Ina May Gaskin in preparation for giving birth. Ina May suggests that it is not obvious to women in the modern era what our bodies can do, but images like the Sheela-na-gig remind us how big we can get (I’m paraphrasing from memory). I found this a confidence boost.
Another piece of wise advice from Ina May is to not try to think through everything with your brain and trust what your body knows. Good advice for birth but also in general. It is good to be in your body, experiencing granular, complex, even contradictory reality.
I loved the piquant juxtaposition of banks and holy wells in this latest entry. Reading it makes me wonder why so many spiritual seekers in the 60's traveled thousands of miles to experience the mysterious religions and exotic cultures of the East. If they had a thirst for strange religious practices and ancient monuments, they could have just gone to Ireland. It's a lot closer, and Ireland has pubs and faeries.
I'm glad they still have a local branch ... and people ... ours in southern Scotland has been closed a few years now.
The reference to the Anglican Cathedral caused me to look up Wikipedia for Christ Church and St Patrick's, the two medieval (and Anglican) Cathedrals of Dublin. For me this has added to the continuing story. Christ Church Dublin goes back to 11thC Viking King Sitric. I didn't know he was Christian. In the 19thC a Celtic Cross was found which it is thought could have marked the site of the Holy Well.
It has been fascinating reading of this unusual circumstance and as it has turned out, a potted history of Ireland, including now the history of the Republic, and not least the careful respects and observances of the modern State.
St Patrick's was rebuilt by Guinness in the 1860s and there is a nice gentle joke in the Wikepedia text. And Swift was Dean of course, which also seems appropriate.😊
I didn't know where you were going with "liquid assets"... but now, a nice choice! (Send the clerk a copy of you book when its published..). Oh, Happy Fathers' Day from America!
My worry would be that AIB, in common with the other bank, in Ireland's effective banking duopoly, the Bank of Ireland, will continue to close high street banks at an alarming rate. If that bank branch in Killaloe closes, and an awful lot have over the past 5 years, it would be hard to imagine that a successor operation, a restaurant? a Starbucks/Costa, or the ubiquitous private apartment development, will maintain the well, and retain access. It's gratifying that this place remains accessible however, and hopefully this will continue to be the case in the future.
An ancient Christian well at a bank! I couldn’t be more surprised. Another good read, Paul. Makes me want to come and have a look myself.
So, until the ‘80s the bank staff used to live in the bank. I wonder if they ever felt like they were stepping into Narnia as they opened that back door with its remarkable holy well and mysterious Sheela na gig. These stories are really interesting ….wardrobe doors in themselves, ushering us into Narniaic lands…
"Until the '80's the bank staff used to live in the bank."
I find that remark extremely important. I have noticed that the Machine's ideology promotes people NOT LIVING in the same place where they work. They are supposed to live in either independant apartments, with individual.. CELL rooms, or in little anonymous little boxhouses, with individual CELL rooms in them too. Cell rooms... everywhere for individuals, basically. The people who... work for money, in any case.
A good deal of the Machine ideology is a fight against any kind of.. DOMESticity, as in "domestiques", the French word for servants who are housed and fed BUT NOT FOR SALARIES. But it's good to remember that "domesticity" also goes with "domestication", and we seem to be universally ? very ambivalent about being domesticated...
It’s remarkable how recently working for a bank was like joining a monastic order. Reading about how Fred Goodwin took Royal Bank of Scotland to the clouds and crashing back down to earth, I was really struck with what a closed brotherhood the bank was when he joined. It was rare enough for anyone to have been to university (most joined straight from school), much less to have worked anywhere else. No doubt they feel history proves the old ways were better.
I’m sure someone at AIB must be thinking, “it’s time for a new logo”.
Every indie musician of my generation can tell you what Sheela-na-gig is:
https://youtu.be/xkS_R7RDuMc
and lyrics:
https://genius.com/Pj-harvey-sheela-na-gig-lyrics
I like it! A Bank (well of money) with a sacred well in its hidden and guarded back garden, the well of fertility/birth adjacent and the old church opposite, offering Christ, the Living Water....
Wells are mysterious, indeed......
Ireland certainly seems to be opening herself up to the world as of late.
Fascinating history of a well, hidden behind a bank. Makes me wonder how many other holy sites are kept semi-secret on private land. The sheela-na-gig is certainly an odd twist on Christian history, whatever role it played...
The holy well hidden in the back garden can't help but remind me of the first chapter of Lewis's That Hideous Strength. Perhaps you'd find Merlin down that tunnel?
"Liquid Asset's " thats a great title for this one. "Financed by the Church " is a phrase our ancestors would understand so I guess a well at a bank is fitting. The little statue of the woman sitting next to the opening of the well looks fitting as well. Both an opening to creation, healing, life etc..
Money,banks,business....the modern temples..what we workship these days... what a juxtaposition... maybe a little cosmic joke on us?
How unexpected and awesome!
I discovered the Sheela-an-gig image as a teenager and loved it….but eventually moved on and didn’t pay it much mind until I was pregnant with my first daughter and reading Ina May Gaskin in preparation for giving birth. Ina May suggests that it is not obvious to women in the modern era what our bodies can do, but images like the Sheela-na-gig remind us how big we can get (I’m paraphrasing from memory). I found this a confidence boost.
Another piece of wise advice from Ina May is to not try to think through everything with your brain and trust what your body knows. Good advice for birth but also in general. It is good to be in your body, experiencing granular, complex, even contradictory reality.
Keep Ireland weird!
I loved the piquant juxtaposition of banks and holy wells in this latest entry. Reading it makes me wonder why so many spiritual seekers in the 60's traveled thousands of miles to experience the mysterious religions and exotic cultures of the East. If they had a thirst for strange religious practices and ancient monuments, they could have just gone to Ireland. It's a lot closer, and Ireland has pubs and faeries.
Lovely story ... good for the Bank!
I'm glad they still have a local branch ... and people ... ours in southern Scotland has been closed a few years now.
The reference to the Anglican Cathedral caused me to look up Wikipedia for Christ Church and St Patrick's, the two medieval (and Anglican) Cathedrals of Dublin. For me this has added to the continuing story. Christ Church Dublin goes back to 11thC Viking King Sitric. I didn't know he was Christian. In the 19thC a Celtic Cross was found which it is thought could have marked the site of the Holy Well.
It has been fascinating reading of this unusual circumstance and as it has turned out, a potted history of Ireland, including now the history of the Republic, and not least the careful respects and observances of the modern State.
St Patrick's was rebuilt by Guinness in the 1860s and there is a nice gentle joke in the Wikepedia text. And Swift was Dean of course, which also seems appropriate.😊
What a story! Why I subscribe and remain a fan of Paul!
I didn't know where you were going with "liquid assets"... but now, a nice choice! (Send the clerk a copy of you book when its published..). Oh, Happy Fathers' Day from America!
My worry would be that AIB, in common with the other bank, in Ireland's effective banking duopoly, the Bank of Ireland, will continue to close high street banks at an alarming rate. If that bank branch in Killaloe closes, and an awful lot have over the past 5 years, it would be hard to imagine that a successor operation, a restaurant? a Starbucks/Costa, or the ubiquitous private apartment development, will maintain the well, and retain access. It's gratifying that this place remains accessible however, and hopefully this will continue to be the case in the future.