Category Archives: Oxfordshire
The Holy Wells of Holywell, Oxford (part one): The Well of Saints Winifred Source Issue 6 (Summer 1998) & Margaret – David Stone. Source
We continue the updating of the Source new series archive with this very useful article by David Stone. David and I corresponded during the 1990s and I was aware he was working towards a guide to the holy wells of Oxfordshire. What happened to that I am unaware and I have subsequently lost contact over the years.
Holywell Parish is aptly named, since it contains no fewer than four of Oxford’s eight holy wells. There has been a fair amount of scholastic dispute over the years as to exactly which well is the Holy Well which gives the parish its name. For instance, Anthony Wood, a 17th century historian, thought it was the well beside the manor,’ as did Plot in the 1700s2 (though Wood misunderstood him), while a map made in 1578 marks Crowell as “Holiwell”.3 The remaining two have also been marked as Holy Well on various maps – see below. Personally, I suspect they were all holy wells and the parish was named for them all. Whether any one is older than the others and had been in use for longer will probably never be known. Although the well of SS. Winifred and Margaret is known to have been in use since at least Anglo Saxon times, there is no evidence to suggest the others are any less ancient. James Ingram also shared this opinion. Although he felt SS. Winifred and Margaret’s Well was the holy well, he wrote, “all these wells were much esteemed by the inhabitants, and it was found useful to hold them sacred.”4 Whichever well, if any is the holy well, the parish has been so named for centuries. The Domesday Book says of the parish, “The church of St Peter of Oxford holds of Robert d’Oilly two hides in Haliwelle.”5 Therefore the parish has been known as Holywell since at least 1086. However, Haliwelle is derived from Old English “halig weille” – holy well or stream6 so the area had been known thus for an indeterminable time before Domesday.
WELL OF SAINTS WINIFRED AND MARGARET (SP520066) This well is in a private garden between Holywell manor and church and I obtained permission to view it. It was simply a rectangular hole covered by an ornamental grille, alive with heart’s tongue fern. Following further research I discovered that the hole was actually the entrance to an underground chamber. Returning to the well I lifted the grille and at once saw what I had previously missed – that it was a chamber with a set of moss covered wooden steps leading down into it. The chamber was quite small, only about 12ft. north-south, 6ft. east-west and about 4ft.6ins. high (very approximately). The floor was mud. The whole place was dark, cool and damp. I saw a little toad down there and was told that several live in the chamber. The walls were built of a combination of brick, concrete blocks and stone, testimony to the work that has taken place there – more of which later.
The well itself is filled in now but it is easily possible to see where it once was. A square block of stone or concrete (it was dark down there!) sits in the north west corner with smaller stones on top. Resting on these is an ancient-looking stone cylinder about 2ft. in diameter -though a little wider at the base – and about 1ft. tall. Looking into this, it is possible to see the earth and rubbish that is filling the well which actually goes down into the square block at the bottom. The cylindrical stone on the top was proclaimed to be of Anglo Saxon origin by architect C.C. Rolfe, who discovered it in 1896. He mentioned that it was “monolithic and very rudely made” and that it was “the work of the old Anchorites who lived on the spot in Anglo Saxon times.”7
The stone was set upon three unworked stones in Rolfe’s time and he said in a letter to the Warder of Merton College that “the mystical numbers 1, 3 and 5 were important factors in all the Anglo Saxon churchmen did. Here appears to be a singular confirmation of it – the one stone set rudely but designedly upon the three.”8 These Anchorites, according to Wood, who was writing in general, “lived in a place, joining to a church built around with a wall having a hole therein for light (and a hole underneath for their ordure). They were commonly frequented by people that had nothing to do, who would bring them food and perhaps be converted to holiness by their speeches.” Wood further comments, with regard to Holywell, “we may safely say that this place was so called from certain holy men or hermits that lived here.”‘” Although we cannot place an exact date on when the Anchorites lived there, the stone well-head and the name Halywell give testimony to this well being venerated since at least Anglo Saxon times. Veneration at this well continued into the advanced Middle Ages for in 1488, Dr. Fitzjames, Warder of Merton College, built a well house over it of freestone with his coat of arms above the door.”
It is not certain when this house was demolished though it was probably during the Civil War when the one above Crowell was destroyed.” Unlike some of the Oxford wells, this one seems to have escaped the persecution of the Reformation, but it appears to have lost its public appeal, at least temporarily, for in 1678, it had become a place to keep bottled ale cool in the summer.” However, it is possible that this apparent abuse was a “front” for its real use: Wood, who wrote in the mid to late 1600s, Plot who wrote in the early 1700s and Hearne, who was writing diaries in 1718, all said that the well was in use by many people,” who obtained cures,” and brought money to the manor.” It was interesting to see this theory aired in a previous issue of Source where it was suggested that during the Reformation when Catholicism and religious shrines fell victim to persecution, Catholics re-dedicated existing holy wells and other places for use as private shrines.17 A number of points suggest this may have been the case with the Well of Saints Winifred and Margaret. First, it has already been shown to have been in use during the Reformation period yet also seemed to have been used for mundane purposes, thus masking its real use. Second, the Napier family who were in residence during the midst of the Reformation period, between 1558-1671, are known to have been Catholics and to have used the manor as a refuge for persecuted fellows.” There is or was a priest hole in the house.” Third, a cold bath connected to the well came to light when the manor stopped being used as a residence and became a workhouse in 1765.20 Bathing is often part of the ritual use of holy wells and this may have been installed as part of this shrine. The fact that it was unknown while people were in residence perhaps indicates that it had been deliberately kept hidden. Fourth, according to this theory, the dedication to Saint Winifred was a common dedication during the Reformation for this purpose. However, this is conjecture on my part since the earliest reference I have found to it is 183721 and it is noticeably absent in Wood’s book from the 1660s where he always refers to it as “the well beside the manor” or in similar terms. The bath associated with the well continued to be used into the 1820s and attracted such notables as Captain Wood and (later-to-become) Cardinal Newman. Captain Wood is reported as bathing as early as 5.00am “for fear that someone would bathe before him and take the chill off the water.”22 In both instances these gentlemen reported improved constitutions but the account makes no record of specific cures. Cures connected with this well are rather vague. Plot mentioned the water was used for the eyes “and in some other cases” and described it as having a “kind of active friction! that “invites the patient to rub on the tersive water”.” He also said it was good for curing distempers.24 Wood says that “it might be beneficial in the curing of wounds or aches and the like” and that he found “persons yearly relieved by these wholesome waters”.25 The well itself appears forgotten at this time. By 1837 even the pool was rarely visited.26 In 1862, the manor was leased to the sisterhood of John from Clewer who used the manor as a penitentiary dedicated to the social reform of fallen women.27 They had a chapel built on the site of the well, though access to the pool was still possible down some steps from the chapel nave.” The well by this time was lost though the sisters held that it ‘had existed on the site of the chape1.29 The Sister Superior maintained that it had been under the chapel alter and said she had been told this by the Rev. Canon Noel Freeling, who wanted the location preserved, as it had once been a place of pilgrimage.” That might have been the end of the story but in 1896, the sisters commissioned an extension to the chapel and in the process, the well was rediscovered. C.C.Rolfe, the architect in charge wrote that the chamber was 20ft.3ins. E-W and llft.11ins. N-S. (The present chamber is much smaller on the E-W axis.) The ashlaring (square stone for building or pavements) was in very good condition and its character led him to the conclusion that this was much older than 1488 when Dr. Fitzjames had built the well house over it.31 He also observed that no ashlaring joined it to the manor house so the two were originally separate. The workmen had been instructed to report if a well was found but, “as the walls of the existing chapel stood on the well walls, which were taken to its foundation, the matter did not come to our attention until after, a quantity of earth and building rubbish had been thrown in. However, as no actual damage had been done, it was decided to leave the rubbish and earth as a protective barrier while the work was done.”32 The intention to unblock the well and perform a thorough examination remains, to this day unfulfilled. It is not yet clear when this chapel was demolished though it was probably around 1935 by which time the manor had been leased to Balliol College. Drains were laid and the well was rediscovered for the second time. It is unclear whether the walls which reduced the chamber size were built during these works or those of 1896.
Today, the only sign of the chapel is in the garden wall a few feet south of the entrance to the well chamber. This wall has window mouldings containing geometrical tracery which demonstrates it was the south wall of the chapel. Now dry, blocked up and largely forgotten, the well is a sad echo of its once proud bearing.
References:
1.Wood, Anthony, Survey of the Antiquities of the City of Oxford. Composed 1661-6 with additional footnotes written in later years. Reprinted with further footnotes, updates and comments 1889 by Oxford Historical Society Vol.1, p.388.
2.Plot,R, Natural History of Oxfordshire, 1705. Re.pub. Paul PB Minet, 1972, p.49.
3.Agas’ Map of Oxford,1578.
4.Ingram, James, Memorials of Oxford, pub. Charles Tilt, 1837, Vol.3, Holywell Parish, p.8.
5.Memorandum of Holywell Manor, printed by John Johnson, Oxford University Press,1932, (written 1920s) p.3.
6.Gelling, Place Names of Oxfordshire, pub. Cambridge University Press, 1953, p.36.
7.Durham, Nancy, The Mystery of the Holy Well, Friends of Holywell Cemetery Newsletter, 1990. 8.Durham, ibid.
9.Wood, op.cit., vol.2 p.503.
10.Wood, op.cit., void. p.389.
11.Ibid., pp.389-90.
12.Ibid., p.386.
13.Ibid., p.390.
14.Ingram, op.cit., pp.7-8.
15.Plot, op.cit., p49.
16 Memorandum op. cit., p.6.
19.Ingram, op.cit., p149.
20.Memorandum, op. cit., p.7.
21.Ingram, op.cit., p.7.
22.Wood op. cit.,vol.1, p.616.
23.Plot, op. cit., p.149.
24.Ibid., p.365.
25.Wood, op.cit.,vol.1, p.389.
26.Ingram, op.cit., p.8.
27.Holywell Parish Register 1854-1900, Introduction.
28.Information from County Sites & Monuments Record.
29.Rolfe, C.C., Letter in “Proceedings and Excursions of the Oxford Architectural and History Society,” 1896, p.10. 30.Jackson’s Oxford Journal, Nov.21, 1890, p.6.
31.Rolfe, op.cit., p.111.
32.Ibid., p.111.
Visiting the Wychwood Forest healing springs on Palm Sunday
“Walkers enjoy day in ‘Hidden’ forest. Hundreds of ramblers and conservationists converged on the secret Wychwood Forest on Sunday to walk through its leady glades. It was the one day of the year – Palm Sunday – when Lord Rotherwick the owner of the 2150 acre medieval woodlands, allows public access.”
To which I might add just! This is a curious custom where part of the tradition remains, but aspects of it appear to have disappeared. The custom apparently was established to provide access of the local parishes adjacent – Leafield Five Ash, Charlbury and Finstock particularly – for the collection of wood and the visiting of the springs and wells of the estate. It is the latter of which is of considerable interest.
If you go down the woods…..
My aunt and uncle did not live far from this area and I have always been fascinated with this woods and their privacy. Apparently, I was not the only one. Large numbers of visitors could be found wandering the woods; their cars lined the narrow streets around the forest. It was not just for local people. In an excellent article by Roy Townsend on the Finstock Local History Website records the memories of a Mr Pratley of nearby Finstock. He notes the widespread nature of the visitors:
“It was possible to meet people from Cornwall one minute, then a family from Durham a few yards later.”
But why? The name the ‘Secret Forest’ was part of the appeal no doubt. It was a forest which could only be visited on Palm Sunday each year. Any other time of the year it was strictly out of bounds. Everyone loves a mysterious place and getting access to it was part of the allure.
Well wishing…
One of the major reasons for the access on Palm Sunday was for the local community to visit the springs and wells, which were thought to have a healing tradition on the day. A local historian, John Kibble, noted in 1928, recorded that prayers were said at the springs:
“Hast then a wound to heal; The wych doth grieve thee?Come then unto this welle, It will relieve thee:Nolie me tangeries, And other maladies”
This was one of the main reasons also why the estate and its curious access tradition fascinated me. Wells and springs were often visited on this date, but this one appeared to have the longest surviving tradition and from some accounts some people still did it. The main aspect of this tradition undertaken was to make Spanish Water, using liquorice, brown sugar or sweets often black peppermints. Mr. Pratley again notes:
“This tradition took place all through the 20th century, and probably before, although the liquorice may have originally come from the root of the plant, rather than being shop bought.”
Three wells can still be found in the estate – the Cyder, the Wort and the Spa or Iron Well. The Wort Well or another lost well called Uzzle were the most popular apparently around them would grow wild liquorice. The name wort derives from healing suggesting its health giving properties. Of the Iron Well, Roy Townsend notes:
“Spanish Liquor is made up with some pieces of hard liquorice with two to three black gobstopper type sweets and white peppermints which were crushed, made up on Saturday night and shaken well on Sunday Morning. You take your bottle with the mixture in down to the well behind the kennels called the Iron Well. If it’s still there behind the fencing. We were forbidden to drink much of it on the way home.”
A poster in the Finstock Local History website, called Fabulous Flowers notes:
“I remember walking to the Iron Well on Palm Sunday with my great Aunty Vi and Molly and mixing the water with our Spanish liquor. Before the footpath was opened through the Wychwood forrest (sic) as it is know this was the only day you could walk down to the lakes and I remember lots of people doing this.”
The date of this visitation is unclear but this aspect tradition appears close to extinction or is extinct. An account noted that:
“a man from Leafield, who used to take his bottle of mixture to the well up until a few years ago.”
On entering the estate I still noticed that the route outlined still made a bee-line to the Iron Well. The route had been diverted and I easily found my way in courtesy of a man who did the walk every Palm Sunday. I made my way at first to the Iron Well. I wasn’t convinced to drink the water..it certainly lived up to its name, having a reddy-orange scum on the edges – it didn’t look very appetizing. Entering the park I first made a slight detour to see the Cyder Well, which poured out a considerable flow of clear fresh water. However, I thought I would leave my Spanish water experience to the main well which was associated with the tradition – the Wort well. This was the less impressive of the springs but the easiest to determine the spring source.
The name wort is suggestion of a long tradition of healing – wort is said to be a healing source, more frequently the end of a herb such as woundwort! Its other name Uzzle is suggestive that it derives from the Anglo-Saxon greeting Wæs þu hæl, meaning “be in good health” and thus again suggests it was a general cure-all.
Thus I lowered my bottle and filled it. Popping in my liquorice and giving it a shake I took a slip…it was refreshing but I could detect no real flavour. However as I progressed back along the path regular sips revealed a more flavoursome experience. By the end it was rather delicious and I regretted not filling more bottles or having more liquorice.
One wonders how old the Palm Sunday access is as Briggs refers to an Easter Monday tradition:
“on Easter Monday the Leafield people maintained, and still believe that they have the right to go into the Wychwood Forest and make Spanish Water which is made from one of the sacred springs in Wychwood Forest. The bottle is then shaken till the liquorice is dissolved. This is believed to be not only a tonic but a sovereign remedy for all kinds of disorders. It is grievance to the Leaford people that Wychwood is now closed to them.”
However, talking to local people they stated that they had had 100s of years of access on the date. In the church at Charlbury, I fortunately met Mrs Fowler. She informed me that visiting wells for Spanish Liquor was still very common up until in the 1980s. She and her husband remembered that a Royston (Dobber) Scroggs, a Cotswold Warden, would stand by the well and tell people the history. This is no more. However, small groups do formally visit the springs such the Green Friends of the Hindu spiritual leader Mata Amritanandamayi who undertook a walk in 2014 and the Wychwood Forest church in 2017 who visited the Iron and Wort Wells.
Wandering around I watched a number of people on my journey around, of which only one came near to the springs…although they did fill a bottle and drink it. They did not have any liquorice though…Fortunately I did and it tasted rather nice.
Cannot see the wood for the trees.
Ironically the popularity of the custom appeared to lead to its decline. An account from 1984 tellingly records:
“And the Council for the Protection of Rural England took it as an opportunity to promote its campaign to have the forest opened all the year around. Walkers and ramblers were asked, and were willing to sign a petition supporting the campaign. They were signing at the rate of 100 an hour.”
And so that signing lead to the opening up of a permanent footpath, from Patch Riding, Finstock, to Waterman’s Lodge, near Charlbury, through the estate in 1990..the one I used to access the permissive path. It may be only one, but like any incision, it allowed greater access and so the mystic began to fade…but not quite yet. It was clear that Palm Sunday I went that a considerable number of local and not so local people were still keen to see the vistas and green swards generally unavailable. The estate covers a considerable area and the footpath only crosses a very small section.
Walk on the wild side
The Palm Sunday Walk is a curious survival but one still under threat. Many years ago the clergy tried to bribe children by offering free crucifixes to keep them in church. Even today a poster to the Finstock History page notes:
“The last time I tried to visit it on a Palm Sunday, the gate which would have given access to the iron well was locked. I suspect it is only ignorance that keeps us out: if the local history society asked, they’d probably let a group in next year.”
But local people are determined to keep the Palm Sunday Walk open. Mr Pratley writes:
“I walk this permanent footpath regularly but also try to do the Palm Sunday walk as often as possible, as that’s still the only day the Five Ash Bottom route is open to the public.”
He remarks he saw few people despite doing a complete circuit! Indeed, when I arrived I found the traditional route sadly blocked and plenty of walkers appearing and then turning around scratching heads and moaning. However, at least access remains whether people take the waters or not…plenty enough people were happy to ensure that the custom of walking the path remained.
However it would be nice to see more Spanish Water drinking. The is especially significant when if you visit many wells you can find the tradition of tying objects, called clooties to the trees, a tradition foreign to many places it is now found. It would be better to see the revival of more native traditions such as Spanish Water drinking – at this site I can safely vouch for its safety of drinking its water. So if you are in the area please keep the Spanish water alive!
Ancient and holy wells of Oxford part one
Oxford’s ancient and holy wells are well-recorded, Charles Hope in his 1893 Legendary Lore of Holy Wells dedicates a considerable amount of space to the subject. However by his time many of these wells had already vanished. Hope (1893) records:.
“Ulward’s Well called soe from John Ulward who held lands there of Dionisia Burewald, which she gave to Godstow.”
It has vanished, so too has:
“ARISTOTLE’S Well is not far from Elmer’s (and Wolward’s) Well in the north suburbs, neare or in the fields of Walnercote or Ulgars–or Algar’s Cote. It was anciently (as by some now) called Brumman’s Well, together with that at Walton, because Brumman le Rich or de Walton lived and owned lands about the said wells, most, if not all, of which he gave by the favour of Robert D’oilly, his lord and master, who came into England with the Conqueror, to St. George’s College in the Castell at his first foundation, A.D. 1074.”
He continues that in the Anthony Wood’s 1661 Survey of the Antiquities of the City of Oxford:
“After his time, if not, be likely, before, it was christened by the name of Aristotle’s Well, because that it was then–as now ’tis–frequented in the summer season by our Peripateticks.”
Hope notes that:
“In the present summer (1888) it was built over by the garden wall of a house erected on the south of the road leading to the canal bridge,”
And so it apparently remains. A lane remembers the well but there is no trace of its fabric
Aristotle’s Lane named after the lost well By Jpbowen – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22337417
Aristotle was not the only philosopher remembered in a well in Oxford. Stoke or more Plato’s Well
“The reason why it was soe called was from a well situated therby called Stoke well, being the same which is to this day apparent to the beholders under the wall of Cornwall Close, and called beyond the memory of man by the students of this University Platoes Well, and Cornish Chough Well. It was on the north edge of the path which ran from the end of Thames (now George) Street to Hythe Bridge.”
The Plato well again is lost. However, the next well survives, this being Walton’s or Bruman’sWell. Hope (1893) again records:
“Still remembered in the name of Walton Well Road, and having on its site a fountain, erected in 1885 by the liberality of Alderman Ward. The inscription is as follows: 1885. Drink and think of Him who is the fountain of life. With the consent of the lords of the manor, this drinking-fountain is erected by Mr. William Ward, to mark the site of a celebrated spring, known as Walton Well, adjacent to the ancient fordway into Colt Meadow, now called Walton Ford.”
This fountain remains although it is now dry but remains. However, whether it has any significance is unclear. The last spring is this part of the survey is the Child Well
“Child’s Well, by the holyness of the chapleynes successively serving there, had vertue to make women that were barren to bring forth children.”
This spring still exists in a form feeding a fen in a nature reserve in the Chiswell Valley. Its name is more likely to be derived from Old English chald meaning cold as found in other childwell types. What is interesting is that the area was called Happy Valley for being the site of picnics the most popular day being Good Friday. Was this a remembrance of taking the waters from this spring on Good Friday as was traditional in other places?
The Lady Well at Wilncote
“Just over the boundary, in the parish of Wilcote, is an old well of beautiful clear water, surrounded by a wall, with stone steps going down to it. It is called the Lady’s Well, and on Palm Sunday the girls go there and take bottles with Spanish juice (liquorice), fill the bottles, walk round the well”
Violet Mason, SCRAPS OF ENGLISH FOLKLORE, XIX. Oxfordshire Folklore, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Dec. 31, 1929), pp. 374-384
My first visit to the Lady or Lady’s Well at Fincote was on a misty cold December walking down from the village I was struck by the old gnarled elms which lined the way to the well and the feel of an ancient processional route to it. Back then in the 90s I was unaware of the folk customs associated with it as hinted above.
The well itself is a small affair enclosed as stated above in a high wall. The gate was locked and so sadly I could not access the water directly. However, it followed from beneath the wall and nearby was what appeared to be a trough or perhaps even a bath half sunk into the ground. It is known that the water was used by Wilcote Grange for water and filled a series of ponds nearby now gone. Interestingly there is a Bridewell Farm nearby so was the well originally dedicated to St. Bridget or the pagan Bride? What the well lacks in structure is made up by its association with the curious custom noted above which existed until recently and may still do locally. On the Finstock Local History website it is recorded:
“Mrs. Ivy Pratley, describes the making of the Spanish Water. “On the Saturday evening before Palm Sunday, we children would crush humbug sweets and white peppermints together and to this we would add some pieces of chopped liquorice stick, the mixture was then added to a bottle of water and we would sit around the room shaking the bottles until it had dissolved”.
The correspondent notes that:
“This bottle of liquid was drunk the following day while walking to Ladywell. They also carried with them, in a paper bag, some of the dry mixture, which was mixed with water from the well to drink on the way home. Early on Sunday afternoon the walkers would set off, one group using the footpath by the Plough Inn and another group near the top of High Street using the path to the left of the road about 50 yards east of Gadding Well. The groups then merged to follow the path through Wilcote Field Longcut or the Longcut as it was known locally. Most of the girls were given a new straw hat for the occasion and these were filled with primroses and voilets on the way through Sumteths Copse. They then crossed the field to the front of Wilcote Manor and followed a route past St. Peter’s Church to the Ash Avenue which leads directly to Ladywell.”
The custom was still current when Violet Mason in 1929 recorded it but little beknown to her it was soon to disappear. The Finstock Local History society record that it died out at the outbreak of war in 1939. However, Janet Bord in her excellent Holy Wells in Britain a guide (2008) received correspondence which suggests later. She notes:
“The one-time vicar of Wilcote, J.C.S Nias, informed me that when he first went there in 1956, ‘numerous members of county families used to go to that well in Palm Sunday with jam jars containing crushed peppermint and (I believe) liquorish.”
Interesting the vicar then goes on to suggest what might have been the original reason for the Spanish water:
“they pour water from the well on to this mixture which, they believed, would then be a specific for certain ailments during the following year.”
Another correspondent noted:
“Local historian Margaret Rogers noted in a letter to me in 1984 that ‘local people do not any longer visit it on Palm Sunday’ she added; Occasionally one elderly lady visits it, but way back in 1934 there used of a substantial number of people going down on lam Sunday to make liquorice water.”
Bord’s correspondent may give another reason for the custom’s demise:
“Quite a few elderly members of the village remember with indignation that they did not get Sunday school stamps for going down there.”
Now that’s a way to kill a custom off! Perhaps some people still make their private pilgrimage but whatever there is something otherworldly about the Lady Well. It’s a recommended walk.
An Oxfordshire Field Trip- some holy wells in the county
Oxfordshire is not a county synonymous with holy or healing wells, but a number still survive in the county. A good gazetteer was produced by fellow enthusiast James Rattue in Oxenensia.
St. Margaret’s Well, Binsey
This is perhaps the most famous of the county’s holy wells. Its waters despite the dedication being association with the local saint and patron of Oxford, St. Frideswide, the reason being that the saint prayed to St. Margaret for her sight to be restored and the spring arose, the event occurring in either the late 6th or early 7th century. Her shrine became an important site, but her well was regularly frequented in the medieval period. It is said pilgrims would first visit the saint’s shrine in Oxford and then went on to visit the well which was enclosed in a stone well house. The water was thought to be so valuable for curing infertility as well as eye complaints that it was sold at a guinea a quart. One of the well’s most famed pilgrims being Henry VIIIth who came with Katherine of Aragon in hope of fertility luck! Hope (1893) in his The Legendary Lore of the Holy Wells of England notes:
“Over St. Margaret’s Well was a covering of stone, and thereon on the front the picture of St. Margaret (or perhaps St. Frideswyde), pulled down by Alderman Sayre, of Oxon, a little before the late war, 1639.”
For many years the well lay overgrown and forgotten. Hope (1893) notes:
“The well is now in better condition. When I visited it on 25th October, 1887, the churchyard was tidily fenced and very neatly kept. At the well a descent of some five steps brought one to an arched vault, beneath which, in the centre of the flooring, was a round basin containing the water of the well, the surface of the water being about six feet below the level of the ground. On the wall above the arch was this inscription:
‘S. MARGARET’S WELL. S. Margaretae fontem, precibus S. Frideswidæ (ut fertur) concessum, nquinatum diu obrutumque in usum revocavit T. J. Prout, Aed. Xti alumnus, Vicarius, A. S. MDCCCLXXIV.’
This structure seen by Hope was erected by 1874 when the Reverend Prout and happily it remains much as described. The antiquarian also notes that:
“At the time of the restoration of this well, an Oxford wit, having regard to its proximity to the church, suggested for an inscription: Ariston men hydor, When you open your pew-door, This may comfort supply, Should the sermon be dry”
More famously is the involvement of Reverend Dodsgson, or Lewis Carroll, who suggested that the inscription should read ‘leave well alone’, and that he based the treacle well in Alice in Wonderland on this site. Fortunately, progress has left this ancient spring well alone and it continues despite the busy A34 nearby flows peacefully on.
Holy Well, Tadmarton
Not so this ancient spring. For here on the golf course, in a small copse, is all that remains of a possibly quite significant site. Any actual structure is difficult to trace as a number of pipes draw its chalybeate water off for domestic use. Roman coins were found in the location suggesting that the spring was well known in those days.
Fair Rosamund’s Well, Woodstock
Here is another famed well, named after the lover of King Henry II, Rosamund Clifford. Despite the local legend which recalls she was poisoned by Eleanor, Henry’s queen, in reality she retired to Godstow Nunnery dying around 1176. Interestingly, her tomb became a shrine and as such the spring may have become a holy well, indeed water, called Rosamund’s water, was sold suggesting it may have had a sanctity. It is significant perhaps that there is another Rosamund’s well, in Shropshire. The age of the present structure is difficult to date but it is unlikely to date from either the 12th century or from the last incarnation of the old royal palace before the building itself was torn down by Vanburgh in the landscaping of the modern Blenheim. A sketch in the Bodleian Library by John Aubrey refers to Three Baths in Trayne, the first of which is perhaps the Rosamund’s well It appears likely that the large virtually swimming pool sized well was constructed when the park was landscaped in the 1700s. Although the name Rosamund being only traceable to the 16th century, the well itself is certainly very old and the name Everswell, possibly from its reputation that it never dries, is recorded in the locale.
An overview of Royal wells
Much has been written regarding holy wells culminating in Harte (2008) magnus opus but no survey has attempted to record all those wells and springs named after monarchs as far as I am aware. With Jubilee fever all around I thought it would be fitting to start an overview of this aspect of water lore in England. Starting with King well, a generic name, is by far the commonest with sites recorded at Chalk (Kent), Cuffley (Hertfordshire) (although associated with James I), Chigwell (Essex) (although probably cicca’s well)), Lower Slaughter (Gloucestershire), Kingsthorpe (Northamptonshire), Orton (Northumberland), Cheltenham (Gloucestershire), Ellerton (Staffordshire), Wartling (Sussex), and Bath (Somerset). Some of these such as Chigwell may be a etymological mistake being more likely derive from Cicca’s well and some such as Orton are thought to be associated with Iron age sites.
However, English wells and their associations with monarchs starts perhaps starts with King Arthur’s Well (Cadbury ) but taking this probably mythical king aside, and not considering those monarchs associated with the Celtic and Saxon Kingdoms (after all a high percentage of these early saints were the sons of Kings (such as those begat by King Brechan) or early kingly Christian converts for example St Oswald or St Ethelbert ) which are better known by their sanctity rather than their majesty, I start with sites associated with who is seen as being the first King of England; Alfred.
King Alfred’s Well (Wantage) is of unclear vintage arising as it does in a brick lined chamber although his association with the town is well known. However as Benham (1911) notes in his The Letters of Peter Lombard:
“a clear and bright spring, but I fear that the evidence that King Alfred ever had anything to do with it is not forthcoming. The site of his birthplace is not very far from the well”
Although that did not stop a procession to the well in the year 2000! St Peter’s Pump at Stourhead (Wiltshire) too has become associated with Alfred and it is said he prayed for water her before a battle, there is again little evidence if any of this. In East Dean (Sussex) there is another well named after him. Interestingly the direct descendents of Alfred do not appear to have gained any association with wells, perhaps being a measure of either their impact on folk memory. The next king is the rather tragic figure of Harold. Harold’s Well laying in the Keep of Dover Castle (Kent) is an interesting site, it is a typical castle well and unlikely to be the site where Harold is said to have according to Macpherson (1931) (MacPherson, E. R., The Norman Waterworks in the Keep of Dover Castle. Arch Cant. 43 (1931)) been were the King swore he would give with the castle to William of Normandy, later William I. (Wartling’s King well may record Harrold or William)
I can find no wells associated with the Norman Kings or Queens and the next monarch to appear is King John. He is interestingly the monarch with most sites associated with him, being in Heaton Park (Newcastle), Odell (Bedfordshire), Kineton (Warwickshire) and Calverton (Nottinghamshire) (although the later is recorded as Keenwell). This may be the consequence of his infamy and association with Robin Hood sites taking on his name in the telling and re-telling of Robin Hood tales. However, in most cases it would appear to be sites associated with a castle although surely King John was not the only monarch to have used such sites.
The next monarch associated with a well is a prince, a man who despite being heir apparent, never reached the throne. The Black Prince, a very romantic figure and with an evocative name, his spring is perhaps the most well known of those associated with royalty: the Black Prince’s Well, Harbledown (Kent). Legend has it that he regularly drank from the well and asked for a draught of it as he lay sick and dying of syphilis. However, the water’s powers did not extend to this and he died never becoming king. The well has the three feathers, sign of the Prince of Wales, an emblem captured at Crecy although the origin and age of the well is unknown it is the only such spring with any insignia of a monarch.
The subsequent centuries saw a number of squirmishes and conflicts which also created some springs associated with royalty. Perhaps the most interesting well associated with a monarch is King Henry VI’s Well, Bolton in Craven (North Yorkshire). It is interesting because the King’s reputation was that of sanctity and as such any well would have pretentions to be a holy well. Indeed the local legend states that when a fugitive at Bolton Hall he asked for the owner to provide a bathing place. No spring was available and one was divined with hazel rods and where they indicated water the site was dug. The king prayed that the well may flow forever and the family may never become extinct. The site still exists and is used for a local mineral water firm!
The years of conflict between the Lancastrians and Yorkists ended at Bosworth field and here a we find King Richard’s Well, Sutton Cheney (Leicestershire). Traditionally Richard III drank from a spring that Lord Wentworth in 1813 encapsulated in large conical cairn shaped well house with an appropriate Latin inscription. Curiously both wells of course mark the losers of the battle and no wells record the victors of such conflicts. One wonders whether this records our interest in the underdog and lament for the lost. The strangest extrapolation of this is a well found in Eastwell (Kent). Here generations have pointed to a circular brick well in the estate grounds and a tomb in the derelict church and associated them with the lost son of Richard III. The Plantagenet’s Well may indeed have some basis in fact although the only evidence is the account of the legend during the building of Eastwell Manor in 1545, the landowner, Sir Thomas Moyle, was amazed to find one of his workman reading a book in Latin. Naturally curious, he decided to ask him about this ability. Thus the man informed him, that in 1485, at Bosworth Field, he was the illegitimate son of King Richard III, who had previously clandestinely acknowledged him as sole heir. The following day, fearing reprisals after Richard’s loss, the boy fled, avoiding being recognition by disguising himself as a bricklayer and thus was years later, employed in the manor’s construction. Sir Thomas, believed the man’s story, and being a Yorkist sympathiser, adopted him into his household. This story of Richard Plantagenet remained a family secret, until it was revealed in Gentleman’s Magazine, as a quotation from a letter written by Thomas Brett, of Spring Grove (near Eastwell) to a friend Dr. Warren. He had heard the story from the Earl of Winchelsea at Eastwell House about 1720. This story is further enforced by Parish records showing that on December 27th 1550 V Rychard Plantagenet was interred, the notation V being a notification for a royal personage. However, having never seen the record myself I am unsure of its validity.
The next monarch encountered in a well dedication is a surprising one perhaps. In Carshalton (Surrey), we find Anne Boleyn’s Well, which is an perplexing dedication considering her unpopularity and association with a monarch who would have seen holy wells another trapping of the papist money making machine he had excluded from his realm (although there is little evidence that Henry VIIIth had any real direct effect on holy wells as would the newly established Scottish Kirk). The legend of its formation related that when the King and Queen were out riding from Nonsuch Palace, her horse’s foot hit the ground and a spring arose. No reason for is given and it is probable that the spring was re-discovered and perhaps dedicated to St. Anne. Bedford’s Park is not far from Pygro’s Park which has an association with Henry VIII so one assumes the Queen Anne’s well is again Boleyn although I know nothing more and indeed missed it from my survey!
Unlike her mother, Elizabeth I was a popular monarch, much as the present monarch is, especially in the strongly protestant counties, hence Queen Elizabeth Wells at Rye and Winchelsea (Sussex). In the case of Rye, the spring was part of a water improvement system which provided water via a conduit system. It was so named after her visit to Rye in 1573, when she drunk the water and met the town dignitaries, or Jurats, there, before they processed into the town. Amusingly the well was also known as Dowdeswell, from O. E. dowde for a plain woman, a scold or shrew a fact which may have tickled some recusant families in the vicinity no doubt. so like many a holy well the name was changed for the monarch. Interestingly, Winchelsea’s site was and still is called St. Katherine’s Well so perhaps the monarch’s name was used to remove Catholic associations (especially considering Queen Katherine of Aragon), although St. Leonard’s well remained intact. Bisham’s Queen Elizabeth’s Well (Buckhamshire) is even associated with miraculous cures which certainly predate the monarch and perhaps her visit and taking of the waters when visiting Lady Hoby her cousin may have been the opportunity to move away from the holy well name? Queen Elizabeth also gave her name to a well in Friern Barnet (Middlesex) and Blackheath (Surrey)
Perhaps in the day when the site of the monarch was an extremely rare occasion folk memory has preserved it. This may explain King James Well Mickley (Yorkshire) whose only reason for the dedication was that he stopped to drink at it! This well does not appear to have then developed any note as a consequence. However, a spring at Cuffley (Hertfordshire) was visited by the King and developed into a minor spa called the King’s Well.
Interestingly, if England had not broken from Rome we may have seen those associated with Charles I develop in the same fashion, after all he does have churches and chapels named after him. Charles is often associated with wells, in some cases such as Carles Trough, (Leicestershire) where he is said to have watered horse here after Naseby. Ellerton’s (Staffordshire) King’s Well and Longhope (Gloucestershire) Royal Spring are both associated with the monarch.
However, stopping to drink is a common theme. A well in Appledore (Kent) is called Queen Anne’s Well because she is said to have stopped there and asked the landlord for a sip. It is possible that such associations may stem from a desire for a local land owner to support a developing spa trade, Queen Anne’s Bathhouse exists in Lullingstone (Kent), however there is no record of such an attempt at Appledore. Furthermore, it is unclear which Queen Anne is recorded at Appledore and it is possible considering the age of the brickwork in the cellar and around the well at this site that it was once St. Ann’s well. This is probably true of Lincoln’s Queen Ann’s Well, Chalvey’s Queen Ann’s Well (Buckinghamshire), Queen Anne’s Wishing Well (South Cadbury) and Blythborough’s (Suffolk) site now known as Lady Well! However of that of Chalvey, perhaps not as there is no pre-18th century record, although if it did not it soon attracted a reputation for healing and was called a spa. Interestly Queen Charlotte is also noted as being involved and as such according to the Mirror, of 1832,:
“a stone was placed there in 1785 by her illustrious consort, George III”.
An accompanying woodcut to the piece showing the stone with the royal monogram carved in the centre. In 1698 Anne of Denmark gave money to create a basin at Tunbridge wells and well was called the Queen’s well.
Of course in the next two centuries, the rise of the spas saw many mineral springs develop the patronage of the monarch such as George IV, yet despite this times had changed and the wells did not take the monarch’s name directly. By the reign of Victoria, her name was then applied to fountainheads and pumps, as old wells were filled in and channelled away amidst growing concerns for the need for clean and freely accessible water. A few sites such as the confusing named Coronation or Jubilee Well (so marked on the 1844 OS map so difficult to record which monarch and which jubilee or coronation is referred to) in Wessington (Derbyshire) buck the trend.
In summary it is interesting that despite a large number of memorable and in some case not so memorable monarchs, there is are a limited number of them associated with wells. Why? Is it due to these particular monarchs having pricked the public’s folk memory, or in some cases inherited some sort of pious notion akin to that associated with holy wells.
Wells associated with Royalty can be divided into the following categories:
a) Those drunk before a battle or whilst on the run from a battle. This could include the Battle Well Evesham (Worcestershire), with its associations with Simon de Montford is out of the scope of this blog but shows this trend, the water becoming curative.
b) Those associated with their castles, palaces, hunting lodges. But why these particular monarchs is unclear?
c) Those made by miraculous events such as that associated King Henry VIs well. It seems perhaps these sites had developed in anticipation of the eventual sanctifying of the individuals which of course never happened.
holyandhealingwells 