The ancient, holy and healing wells of Bodmin: Part three – the Bree Shute and Cockwell

Good eye water

Two less well known springs which have widely differing effects. Near the car park off Dennison Road is a rare survival that other towns would have culverted, this is the Bree Shute or as the sign proclaims the Eyewell. The stone tablet is a survival from 1700 and records the use of the water for those who had ocular problems, as readers of this blog will be aware, a common concern. However, the oldest record of the well is recorded as Breest in the account rolls of those tenants playing rent living on hillside east in 15th and 16th Priory accounts. Its other name from the Cornish Bree for hill.

Fever grips Bodmin

Throughout the 19th century, enteric fever was a common issue and claimed many people. In 1872 a Rivers Commission report stated that the water “a fairly good •, water”, however analysis did show it was highly contaminated and may have been a source of illness. This is certainly true of the other well, for the Cock Well had a less savory reputation. The well supplied water for the area as well as a blacksmith nearby but in 1881 Enteric Fever, hit the town and 60 cases of the fever being reported with 13 fatalities. Two fatalities were blacksmiths which was significant because the often drunk large quantities of water due to the hot conditions they worked under. For one of them it was certain that the Cock Well was the culprit but unlike in other towns it was not filled in and remains today.

Oddly enough, the name Cock may derive from the name Couch. There was a Couch’s Lane in the town where the renowned . Sir Arthur Quiller Couch author of the Ancient and Holy Wells of Cornwall lived as a boy; oddly enough he failed to include this well in his survey!

A Nottinghamshire field trip – Returning to Headon’s Lady Well

One of the first books I picked up after being enthused by Janet and Colin Bord’s 1985 Sacred Waters was Robert Morrell’s book on Holy Wells of Nottinghamshire. This was one of the first modern holy well gazetteer and a stimulus for me to start researching for my own. And indeed I did go on to research Nottinghamshire when I moved to it and discover more than 100 more sites Morrell missed. However one site I was intrigued by, mainly because of its mysterious image in the book was Headon’s holy well – the Ladywell.

The Ladywell is an ancient healing well situated in a wooded ravine just outside the village in a small hamlet called Nether Headon. The village is proud of its holy well and it appears on the village sign, a local lane which passes it is named after it, and much money was spent on making the path to it accessible in the 1990s. Until the 1930s the spring served as a source of drinking water for the village and is said never to have failed.

Only two dates can be confirmed of this site that on the arch which appears to say 1718 and one reference in County records of mending a bridge to a ‘Ladyewell‘ in the nearby Markham parish, in  1677. but this could easily be another site.

One of the most atmospheric and pleasantly situated sites, the spring is located in a small wooded dell, likely the remains of a hollow way, and arises from the rock in a small alcove or cave.  This is fronted by a red brick arch, and the water fills a trough set partly into the ground with a small overflow lip and a channel to fill it, presumably this was for animals. On the key stone of the arch are the initials ‘HW’ as well as the date.

The site was one of the few Nottinghamshire well dressing sites.  This began in 1981 and continued until 1991, and although I was originally told that 2000 was a one-off occurred it did continue until 2004 according to welldressing.com.  It was done on the weekend of the churches Patronal festival—St. Peter’s—and was used to use to pay for the church repairs.  The well dressing boards were of a Derbyshire tradition, the Southwell Churches Project records:

The HUGs character assessment notes:

“In stark contrast to the sizeable, visually intrusive character of the industrial estate, the opposite side of Lady well Lane plays host to one of Nether Headon’s most inconspicuous, understated built elements, the Grade II listed Lady Well. Comprised of a well head, archway and trough, and constructed in red brick and ashlar (Fig 178 -180), the well is said to be of medieval origin, though its current day fabric dates from the 18th and 19th centuries. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, the well is inaccessible, having been completely subsumed by dense roadside planting and undergrowth, to the point where its precise location is actually difficult to pinpoint.”

Although I’d argue that it is not difficult to pinpoint it is difficult to reach. The path has indeed become overgrown, the hand rail dilapidated and bits snapped off. And whilst the well fabric remains much as I remember when I visited in the early 2000s, in 2019 it was dry and full of silt. Ivy had claimed much of the well head arch although the plaque could be seen. The trough had been buried or else stolen…a very sorry state and one hopes that soon money can be provided to return this rare asset back to the community otherwise it might be completely lost.

A Lincolnshire field trip – the Holy wells of Castle Bytham

The name Holy well can often be seen as evidence of an ancient site.  The Holywell parish is the only such place-name in Lincolnshire and many years back I had the opportunity to examine the grounds of the delightful Holywell Hall with its now private chapel. J C Walter in their 1887 ‘Holy wells’ in the Lincoln Diocesan Magazine describes it as:

 “a well standing in a garden, within a few paces of a lake, yet entirely unaffected by it, for when the lake was cleaned out a few years ago, the well remained at its usual height.”

Wild notes in their 1871 The history of Castle Bytham: its ancient fortress and manor, its feudal lords, Vaudey Abbey, &c., &c notes:

“Local tradition tells us that near this well there was formerly a religious house, that holy women lived here, and that by bathing eyes of the blind in its waters, sight was restored… an ancient well still exists.”

In the book the author gives an interesting argument over the name attached to the well. He notes:

“In Bredestorp was a well, which for some reason or other became notorious, and was known in conjunction with a personal name, then represented by the dissyllable Ade. Ade is a Saxon prefix which enters into the composition of female names, and signifies noble, as Adeleve noble wife ; Adelfleda, &c. Hele (in Helewell) is the representative of the Anglo-Saxon verb hielariy to cure. We thus discover in these names the probable groundwork of every part of the local tradition connected with the holy well.”

This would appear to be Bredestorp was the earlier name of the Parish, but it was also called Adewell. Thus, it is surmised that it was associated with the Saxon Ade who presumably was some holy women who founded the religious house but unlike other who may become canonised has been largely forgotten. Ekwall in their 1960 Placenames of Lincolnshire notes that the site derives from O.E hæl for ‘healing’ rather than O.E. halig for ‘holy’.

Although the spring-name Holy Well first appears on the 1887 Ordnance survey map so the current well could be a replacement. However, the parish was called Helewell at least under Henry III However, E Gutch, and M Peacock in their 1908 Country Folklore Vol. VI: Folklore of Lincolnshire found stated that they:

“a “holy well” encased with stone of a polygonal form, shaded by yew trees and within the precincts of the burial-ground”

This spring itself appears dry, but the structure a polygonal stone basin still stands. There are two holy wells here in fact. Antiquarius Rusticus 1926–7 in Some Lincolnshire holy wells: I, in Lincolnshire notes and queries states an another site called St. Winifred’s Well, relating that the springs constant action caused the church to be moved. And indeed the present church is not a medieval one giving some credence to this idea.

Closer to the river is another circular well, this time full of water which may be St. Winifred’s Well, described above, although as this is clearly full may the one referred to by Walter (1887).

Interestingly Ian Thompson in his 1998 Lincolnshire wells and springs notes the main site as St Winifred’s Well at Holywell near Castle Bytham suggesting that there might have been some confusion over the exact site. It is also worth noting that there is an Angel Wells farm in the parish, no springs or wells are recorded in the area and it is a dedication unknown elsewhere which suggests it may not record a holy well but possibly derives from Angles suggesting the Saxon foundation of the Parish

Taken and amended from R. B. Parish Holy wells and healing springs of Lincolnshire.