The Sacred Springs and Holy Wells of the St David’s Peninsula (part two) Source Issue 5 (Spring 1998) by Julie Trier

Continuing to update the Source New Series articles so finally a complete set is available digitally here is Julie Trier’s second piece on St David’s peninsula copied verbatim from the origin.

Tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord: who turned the hard rock into pools of water, and the flint-stone into a springing well. — Ps. 114: 7-8.

THE voice of Christianity was next heard in the land of Demetia (Dyfed), its advent spanning a band of time, possibly AD 400-600. The early presence of the new religion in Dyfed is evidenced by inscribed memorial stones (Thomas 1994, 101-2). Numbers of these can be seen near St Davids, at St Nicholas’ church, Tremarchog, ten miles to the north. One commemorates a lady with the British name Toncetaca, perhaps the wife of an Irish or Irish-named Christian (Thomas 1994, 92-3). Two other stones with single-name inscriptions, now also in the church but found at nearby Llandridian, are probably dedicated to sixth-century priests, Llandridian having possibly been an early Christian enclosure (llan) or churchyard (Thomas 1994, 106). It is interesting to note here that near Llandridian, at Ffynnondridian Farm, is “the consecrated well which characterizes and gives its name to the spot” (Fenton 1903, 15; Jones 1992, 5, 214; see also Part One of this article: Source 4, 18). Llandridian has also been linked with the “wife” (or perhaps more likely, a monastic companion) of St Illtud (Doble 1971, 131). A further inscribed stone, now in the Carmarthen Museum but found near Narberth (Arberth), the ancient royal seat of Dyfed, records an early Christian king, Voteporix (Guotepir). Despite the memorial acclaiming him “Protector” and according him the epitaph of a holy man, it was Guotepir, together with the other four rulers of contemporary Britain, who was angrily denounced by St Gildas, “spokesman for the ideals of the monastic movement”, in his Ruin of Britain (c. 540), for perpetuating “the evils of the age” (Thomas 1994, 82-3, 89; Thomas 1993, 26-30). However, Guotepir’s father Aircol was known as “the Generous” (Lawhir) because he granted estates to the Church. Aircol’s close friend Amon Ddu was the father of St Samson, at one time abbot of Caldey Island (Ynys Byr), where a small monastery had already been founded c. 500 (Thomas 1994, 89-90, 74). The main Christian impetus arrived from the east. Small communities, probably reflecting the first great monasteries of south-east Wales, were established in Dyfed. Royal or well-born children like Samson, David and the later “saints” were educated in such centres (Thomas 1994, 91, 102, 106). They would then set out as missionaries, initially seeking to influence the loc kings. “Adoption of the Faith in royal and noble circl is likely to have preceded any more general conversio of the people” (Thomas 1994, 101, 90). When Christianity had succeeded in percolatin down through society, “ordinary” people may hay found that the simple lifestyle of the “saints”, their clos affinity with the natural world, together with the incarnational message, offered a spirituality that the \ could readily assimilate; its symbolism echoed mu that was already familiar to the pagani, the “country dwelling” Celts. “The most important heritage which Celti Christianity received from the old religion was th profound sense of the immanence of God in the world” “Every well-spring, wood and stone took on a mystic significance” (O”Malley 1992, 8, 4). The Christian Celts in Wales continued to regar pure clear flowing water as a sacred source an symbol of life and wholeness, inG Tudur Aled’ words, coel iechyd and irder byd – an “omen o health” and “the sap of the world” (Thomas 1993 98). It is therefore likely that pre-Christian sacred spring were adapted for Christian rites in Wales befor ecclesiastical councils repeatedly and unsuccessfull proscribed “well-worship” (Jones 1992, 22-3). However, “in this western end of Dyfed conversion to Christianity [was] neither instantaneou nor automatic”; society seemed to be in a state o “spiritual flux” (Thomas 1994, 90). As I described Part One, the chieftain Boia (of the Irish Deisi tribe wh settled the area c. 400: Thomas 1994, chapters 5-7 challenged David when the saint claimed possession o Vallis Rosina, the marshy valley where the cathedr now stands. The importance of this site with its druidi religious focus of hazel grove and sacred stream (“the heart of the pagan camp”: Jones 1992, 25) may have attracted the missionaries. From other regions we hear of similar confrontations and contests of power staged to prove the strength of the Christian God. These often centred upon renowned springs whose healing properties would then be attributed to and the well called after the saint. Alternately, the origin of some springs was ascribed “to the miraculous intervention of a saint” (Bord 1985, 20, 22, 96-104; Wade-Evans 1923, 102). In St David’s case, both his birth and baptism were said to be heralded by the sudden springing of water.

 

The Celtic saints in Wales normally chose to establish their cells and churches near both a river and a spring. It seems certain that the Christian holy men and women who settled by these sacred springs…took water from them to baptise their first converts, symbolically Christianizing them in the process (Thomas 1993, 94). Very little is known about baptism in the early Celtic churches (only one Celtic baptismal rite – by sprinkling of water, rather than by immersion – has survived, in the c. 800 Irish Stowe Missal). However, it is not unlikely that water from the holy wells was used for baptism, as we find so many remains of chapels, baptisteries and indeed existing churches built close to or even over wells (Bord 1986, 94; Jones 1992, 23-8). Francis Jones states that “twelve chapels were erected” around the St Davids peninsula. Of those that can be identified or recalled through historical records or place-names, an estimated seven or eight have well-spring associations. The majority of the old well-chapels have disappeared. Some fell into decay and were abandoned and a large number were deliberately destroyed during the Reformation…It is possible that some of the structures we now recognise as well-chambers may have been in the first instance well-chapels (Jones 1992, 26, 27 n. 26). This may have been the case at St Non’s Well.

St Non’s Well (SM 751244) The story of St Non and St David as it is now known has come from translations and adaptations of the Vita Davidis, originally composed in Latin by Rhigyfarch c. 1081, some five hundred years after St David’s death. It is believed to be “not a simple historical account of the life of the Saint, but a document containing contemporary political-ecclesiatical propaganda attempting to uphold and further the interests of the old Celtic ‘Church’ against the ever-increasing power of Rome” The details contain many hagiological and miraculous incidents, following the set plan to which all the medieval saints’ Lives were written – indeed, it is considered a prototype of many of the later Lives (Bowen 1983, 16-17). “Non or Nonita was thought to be the daughter of a local chieftain, Cynir of Caer Gawch in Menevia” (Owen 1994, 288: Menevia is the Latin equivalent of Mynyw, the oldest Welsh name for the city of St Davids). It is told that whilst out walking, Non, a beautiful and modest virgin, was violated by Sanctus or Sant, king of Ceredigion (Cardiganshire), who happened to be passing through Dyfed. He was the great-grandson of Cunedda, a famous Celtic warrior. At the moment of David’s conception two large stones were said to have appeared at Non’s head and feet, as if to protect her and declare the significance of her offspring. During her pregnancy, whilst Non was praying in a church, the priest (St Gildas, according to the legend: Wade-Evans 1923, 4 – though Gildas and David were in reality exact contemporaries) was struck dumb, as a sign that her child would show great wisdom and eloquence. The story tells that the “magicians” or druids of a local tribal leader (possibly Non’s own father, or perhaps Triphun, a king linked to this region, once known as Pebidiog: Thomas 1994, 90) had foreseen the birth of a boy “whose power would extend over the whole country” (James 1967, 31; Rees 1992, 10). This tyrant was alarmed and plotted to kill Non and her unborn child. When the time came for her to give birth, she “went forth along the path where the place of child-bearing was” (Wade-Evans 1923, 6): could this indicate that she sought a midwife at the well, as I suggested in Part One? However, this line has also been translated as, “the mother sought the predicted place” (James 1967, 31-2). As if to protect her from danger, a ferocious thunderstorm then arose; but within it a serene light shone through the clouds enveloping St Non as she gave birth. Local lore attributes the appearance of the well at this place to the holy birth. During her labour the stone upon which Non supported herself was said to have received the imprints of her fingers. “On that spot a church has been built, in the foundations of which this stone ‘ lies concealed” (James 1967, 32). A ruined chapel now lies in the field adjoining the well enclosure. A large and apparently incomplete stone circle (dated to the Bronze Age) surrounds the chapel, possibly being drawn into the Christian context in the recurrence of the motif of “stones” in St Non’s story, where the circle seems to be represented by the two protective stones which appeared at the time of David’s conception. The foundations of the chapel are very early; the remains of the walls medieval.

The building was abandoned at the Reformation, and used as a dwelling, the surrounding land becoming a leek garden (Rees 1992, 14; Willis 1716, 52-3) – ironically appropriate that the national symbol of Wales should have come to be grown on the birthplace of her national saint! The chapel was demolished to its existing level in 1810, the stones being put to use in local walls (Jones 1992, 29). The upright stone that stands in the chapel’s south-west corner bears a simple incised ring-cross on a stem, similar to an Irish processional cross (Dark 1992, 19-20). In addition to the hagiological pattern, the motifs in the narrative of St David’s birth are part of a pre-Christian tradition in Wales and Ireland in which the birth of a great leader or hero is not only prophesied and threatens to usurp a presiding power, but is also recognised by signs from the natural world: in this instance the turbulence in the atmosphere (Rees & Rees 1961, 223). Equally, in the same tradition, interference with standing stones or anyone within their “sanctuary” is thought to “provoke elemental disturbance” (Rees 1992, 14). It could also be said that in the story of St Non, the well itself had a similarly protective role. This is somewhat reminiscent of the Mabinogion tale “The Lady of the Fountain”, in which a challenge to the well (by the spilling of water onto a sacred slab) produces a life-threatening storm which only those of heroic mettle could survive (Jones & Jones 1982, 143-5, 151-2). This has however been interpreted as a rain-making ritual; and indeed analogous rites were practiced until relatively recently in France (Jones 1992, 52, 117).

Legend speaks of St Non as a healer and peace-maker, as in the saying attributed to her by Rhys Goch: “There is no madness like contention” (O’Malley 1985, 22). There are churches and holy wells dedicated to her at both Altarnun in Cornwall and Dirinon in Brittany, indicating that she, like many of the early Celtic saints, travelled the western sea-ways to further her work of evangelisation. These well and church dedications in other Celtic lands are paralleled by dedications to her son. Indeed, Non and David together provide an example of the cult of two (or more) saints “constantly associated with each other and with chapels dedicated to them in close proximity” (Doble 1971, 145 n. 154). In Brittany, Non’s veneration was widespread. The medieval Breton Buhez Santez Non (Life of St Non), written in the form of a miracle play, tells that after David’s conception, Non left for Brittany to hide her shame. There her son was born and there she lived. Sh• died there on one 2 March, which is now her feastday. The sanctity of St Non’s healing well has alway drawn pilgrims aside on their journey to St Davids. Thy sick were conveyed there in a cart from Nine Wells (se Part One). There their cure was completed; and the were then carried the final three-quarters of a mile t the cathedral to be blessed by a priest (Jones 1992, 26 The water of the well was believed to be efficacious fo eye complaints and rheumatism. The Englis antiquarian Browne Willis reported: There is a fine Well…cover’d with a stone roo and inclos’d within a Wall, with Benches to si upon round the Well. Some old simple People g’ stil to visit this Saint at some particular Times especially upon St Nun’s Day – which they kee holy, and offer Pins, Pebbles etc. at this We (Willis 1716, 52-3). Another report expands upon the well’s properties: There was so much faith attached to this once celebrated well that it was said every wish mad there would be realised on making an offerin• and preserving silence. There is a tradition story of its virtues: it is said to have possessed the qualities of healing all complaints, but it wa added there must be great faith…A perso labouring under the heaviest affliction o lameness with difficulty attained the well upo his crutches; he immersed in this limpid strea and returned home with unspeakable joy, havin left his crutches behind him at the well (Manb 1891, 56-7). Richard Fenton, Pembrokeshire’s gentlema historian, born in St Davids in 1747, describes personal encounter with the well at an early age: The fame this consecrated spring has obtained incredible and still is resorted to for man’ complaints. In my infancy, as was the gener usage with respect to children at that time, I w. often dipped in it, and offerings, however triflin even of a farthing or a pin, were made after ea ablution, and the bottom of the well shone wi votive brass. The spring, like most others in th district, is of excellent quality, is reported to eb and flow, and to be of wondrous efficacy complaints of the eye (Fenton 1903, 63). The well-structure has been reduced in size sin Browne Willis’ day; the benches have disappeared a single stone ledge just below water-level is position like a seat on the back wall of the chamber. A referen• to the well made between 1739 and 1761 notes: “Here a celebrated spring over which is an arched roof, whi Mr Davies, late Chantor of St Davids, not long sin improved” (Jones 1992, 70). Yet curiously a Dr Geor Harries wrote that he “remembers that well without head or cover over it” in his school days during the 1770s, and he recalls: “The head was put on the well by Mr Williams of Trelethin who had a high idea of its waters as a medicine and used it frequently for that purpose” (Royal Commission 1925, 330). Around 1800 Fenton described the well as “arched over”; and its stone hood, which resembles numbers of other well structures in Pembrokeshire, was declared to be “barrel-vaulting of the normal type” by Jones and Freeman in 1856 (p. 233) – though their use of English poses something of a conundrum when they further state that “this covering has an odd effect from the top of the vault being seen outside without any sort of roof over it”! According to Fenton the well was cleaned out in 1810 when (not surprisingly) coins and silver pins were found. In 1951 it was cleared, restored and rededicated by its Roman Catholic owners, and a pilgrimage made to it (Jones 1992, 210). Today the water level stands on average at about two feet. The bed is always strewn with “votive brass” and silver coins, pebbles and shells, whilst flowers occasionally float on the surface. A small niche just above the water in the inner lime-washed wall, probably intended for offerings, currently contains a candle. The well is situated within a walled and paved enclosure through which a stream from a higher spring runs past a statue of Our Lady to join with the well’s overflow. This then passes through the wall, and flows through the chapel field to eventually cascade down the cliff into the sea below. Overgrown masonry close to the well but just inside the chapel field may be the “little house lately built” in the mid-eighteenth century (Jones 1992, 70). Perhaps Fenton refers to this when he states: At the upper end of the field leading to Nun’s chapel there appears to be the mined site of a house, probably inhabited by the person deputed to take care of the spring, most likely a lucrative employ in more superstitious times, when the spring was much frequented (Fenton 1903, 64). A path leading through the well-enclosure is regularly used by walkers making a short detour from the coastal path. Hydrangea and fuschia bushes line the way to St Non’s Retreat House, once a Passionist monastery, beside which stands the chapel of Our Lady and St Non. Built in 1934, its design is based upon the medieval “reception” chapels, many of which topped the cliffs at suitable landing places. Here the multitude of pilgrims, journeying at the mercy of winds and currents, would have been provided with a refuge in which to offer a prayer of thanks for a safe passage, or, on an outward journey, for protection on the waves. The holy wells adjoining several of these chapels would have been sources of refreshment and encouragement to the pilgrims as they f011owed the pathways that converged upon the city of Tyddewi and the hallowed shrine of Dewi Sant.

To be continued

References

Bord, Janet & Colin. 1985. Sacred Waters. Granada. Bowen, E.G. 1983. Dewi Sant, Saint David. University of Wales Press (Cardiff). Dark, K.R. 1992. The Inscribed Stones of Dyfed. Gomer (Llandysul). Doble, G.H. 1971. Lives of the Welsh Saints. University of Wales Press (Cardiff). Fenton, R. 1903. Historical Tour through Pembrokeshire. Davies & Co. James, J.W. 1981. Rhigyfarch’s Life of St David. University of Wales Press (Cardiff). Jones, Francis. 1992 (1954). The Holy Wells of Wales. University of Wales Press (Cardiff). Jones, Gwyn, & Jones, Thomas. 1982. The Mabinogion. Dragon’s Dream (Netherlands). Jones, W.B. & Freeman, E.A. 1856. The History and Antiquities of St Davids. Manby, G.W. 1801. History and Antiquities of the Parish of St Davids. O’Malley, Brian Brendan. 1985. A Pilgrim’s Manual. Paulinus Press. O’Malley, Brendan. 1989. A Welsh Pilgrim’s Manual. Gomer (Llandysul). O’Malley, Brendan. 1992. Celtic Spirituality – St Davids Papers. Church in Wales Publications (Penarth). Owen, George. 1994. The Description of Pembrokeshire. Gomer (Llandysul). Rees, Alwyn, & Rees, Brinley. 1961. Celtic Heritage. Thames & Hudson. Rees, Nona. 1992. St David of Dewisland. Gomer (Llandysul). Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire: Pembrokeshire. 1925. H.M.S.O. Thomas, Charles. 1994. And Shall These Mute Stones Speak? University of Wales Press (Cardiff). Thomas, Patrick..1993. Candle in the Darkness. Gomer (Llandysul). Wade-Evans, A.W. 1923. Life of St David. S.P.C.K. Willis, Browne. 1716. The Survey of the Cathedral Church of St Davids.

NOTE part three was never published Source New Series ended with this publication!

Will the real Mossy Well of Muswell hill reveal itself?

Many years ago a friend of mine claimed his mother had discovered the location of the Muswell and she had become a bit of an expert on it. I remember her claiming that it was in a cupboard which at the time I thought was odd although I did not challenge her and forgot about it until now. In truth there still appears to be some confusion over the titular well of this well-known, London area- Muswell  The name  of this well has been confused, the most obvious is the secular Mossy well, which has been interpreted as Moses Well or St. Mary’s Well. Harte in his 2008 English holy wells suggests that the site is synonymous with St. Mary’s Well at Willesden.  However, John Norden’s Speculum Britanniae of 1593. He wrote:

‘at Muswell Hill, called also Pinnersnall Hill, there was a chapel sometime bearing the name of Our Lady of Muswell where now Alderman Rowe hath erected a proper house. The place taketh the name of the well and the hill, Muswell Hill, for there is on the hill a spring of fair water which is within the compass of the house. There was sometime an image of the Lady of Muswell, whereunto was a continual resort in the way of pilgrimage, growing as is fabulously reported in regard of a great cure which was performed by this water upon a certain King of Scots who being strangely diseased was by some divine intelligence advised to take the water of the well in England called Muswell, which after long scrutation and inquisition, this well was found and performed the cure…’

John Aubrey in his Miscellanies, 1696, states that:

‘the water of this well is drunk for some distemper still’. 

Indeed it is probable that two wells are under discussion. Stanley Foord’s 1910 Springs, Streams and Spas of London records that:

“in regard of a great cure which was performed by this water, upon a king of Scots, who being strangely diseased, was by some devine intelligence, advised to take the water of a Well in England, called Muswell, which after long scrutation, and inquisition, this Well was found and performed the cure”.

The king believed to Robert the Bruce (the Bruces held land nearby) but Malcolm has also been mentioned, and the illness was thought to be leprosy. Charles Hope in his 1893 Legendary Lore of Holy Wells calls it St Lazarus’ Well, although he is the only source. The author adds that it was ‘situated behind the Alexandra Palace’. Today a private house (no 10 Muswell road) stands on the ‘presumed’ site halfway along the road. Indeed, Muswell road is located just west of Alexandra Park and the famous Alexandra Palace. However there
is also a neglected well in front of a house in Muswell Avenue which has been identified by
one website Earth Stars. Alternatively, another website, https://www.londonslostrivers.com/muswell-stream.html, states emphatically:

“The present day Muswell Road, N10 is the location  of the “Mossy Well” where the well still exists but is capped beneath a private house.”

The Hornsey Historical society, https://hornseyhistorical.org.uk/pins-or-muswell-hill/ state:

“The well survived until 1898 and a plaque on No. 40 Muswell Road marks the spot.”

To put a plaque up suggests pretty much certainty and indeed the site does correspond to marks on the first series OS.

The confusion is probably explained as Curls in his 2010 Spas, Wells and pleasure gardens of London notes that there were two holy wells in the area see Tottenham. These were described as being in good preservation at the end of the nineteenth century according to T. K. Cromwell (1823) History and description of the Parish of Clerkenwell. One well was described as producing hard, pellucid and hard water, the other was like rainwater. It is stated that in the mid-1800s, contrary to Cromwell, the landowners of one had sealed one well, prompting a civil action to preserve access for local people. The local people won in the case of 1862 and the Alexander Park Company had to provide a pump. Yet by 1880s the pump had begun to cease to function and the wells were only supplied by surface waters which was polluted. Around this time it was lost, this would appear to be the same site as St Dunstan’s Well. In 2016 workers digging Muswell Hill Broadway revealed a circular 30m deep well, which English Heritage are planning to investigate. Its location is unlikely to be the titular site but it is not impossible

The rise and fall of St Ruffin’s Well, Tamworth

Tamworth is noted for its splendid castle which dominates the public park, but once in the park was another notable antiquity St. Ruffiany’s Fountain or Ruffin’s Well (SK 207 039) The earliest reference for the site is in a 1276 Court Roll:

“Will’s Chelle  obstruxit  viam  q’  ducit  ad  fontem  S’ci  Ruffiany.” 

Or 

“William Chelle has blocked the way which leads to St Ruffianus’ Well”. 

The site is supposedly connected with a King Wulfhere may have had the site as a Mercian royal residence and so may have dedicated the well as a holy well in penitence for the murder of his sons.   

Who was St Ruffin?

St Ruffin was said to be a Saxon convert who was converted along with his brother, St Wulfhad in 670 being baptised by St Chad the Bishop of Lichfield. Both were said to have been killed whilst at their prayers. However there is some question mark over whether the saints really existed and were invented as a metaphor for martyrdom. 

Destroyed, restored, destroyed.

Robert Hope in his 1893 Legendary Lore of Holy wells notes it was destroyed by fire on June 15 1559 and its restoration took 40 years, but soon fell into disuse.

Lindsall Richardson (1928) Water supply of Warwickshire states that the site is a pool enclosed with brick walls, about 15 ft by 12 ft. It was thought to be covered by a high- pitched roof over it. This may explain the account that on the 15^th June 1559 it burnt down. A flight of six steps descends to the pool from a doorway in an adjacent building. He continues to note that the pool is filled by a spring which overflows into River Anker.

The well lay on what was the eastern side of the castle’s lower lawns, beneath the Ankerside shopping centre. The surroundings of the well were improved in 1960 to commemorate the 1200th anniversary, three years previously, of the accession of Offa to the Mercian throne. The structure is modern and does  not look much like a well, rather a raised plant bed being now situated on the south-west exterior of the Ankerside shopping centre.

A commemorative plaque reads:

“St. Ruffin’s Well. According to tradition this well was dedicated to St. Ruffin. The Martyred son of Wulfhere who was King of Mercia in the seventh century. The restoration work was carried out to commemorate the 1200^th anniversary of the accession to the Mercian throne in 757 a,d of King Offa whose Royal palace stood in the northern part of these grounds when Ramworth was the capital of that Kingdom.”

However a recent visit has found that this has been removed and all sign of the well has vanished.

To be restored again?

Then in 2012 a Facebook group was formed with its aim to restore the well. However, the following post suggested the issues about restoring

“Well, well, well (excuse the pun) – here is a long overdue update for you folks who are in support of the campaign to re-instate St Ruffins well. The campaign is still alive and kicking – the situation at the moment is:

1. Tamworth Borough Council are not opposed to the idea!!!

2. They want empirical proof that the spring is still there before we can do anything

3. Having spent the best part of a year talking to University archaeology depts, county archaeologists, English Heritage, private companies etc etc, we are in a catch 22 position –

There is no test or survey that will show whether the spring is still there, at best all that would show up is whatever they capped it with (probably a lump of concrete) – the best way to find this is to dig a hole – SO – we need to dig a hole to find the empirical proof for the council that will lead to them giving us permission to …. dig a hole – you see the problem.”

However despite a positive campaign as noted from below

1. “The Tamworth Herald say they have had lots of emails in -supporting the campaign to ‘Free St Ruffins Well’ and are publishing an update of the situation in tomorrows Herald, so will purchase a paper tomorrow with baited breathe.”

And indeed we have because St Ruffin’s Well remains unrestored and the campaign to revive similarly appears to have hit a hiatus! It is a shame because as the photos show a restored St Ruffin’s well could become a real feature in the castle grounds.

An Enfield Field trip

Enfield might not seem the most profitable for holy and healing well hunting but there were some interesting sites. Sadly searching for the first site was less than fruitful. According to Samuel Lewis’s 1831 Topographical directory) there is a spring called King’s Ring, although Hope (1893) calls it Tim Ringer’s Well, he also notes that whose waters never freeze nor dry up. Lewis (1831) notes its location:

 “To the south-west of the town, and about a mile from Old Bury, is a smaller moat, on the estate of John Clayton, Esq; and to the south of Goulsdown lane is another, separating two square fields, in the first of which are the remains of out-buildings belonging to a mansion in which Judge Jeffreys is said to have resided, and near the entrance a deep well called King’s Ring, the water of which is deemed efficacious in diseases of the eye: a celt was dug up in 1793, at the depth of twelve feet from the surface.”

G. M. Hodson and E. Ford 1873’s A History of Enfield note that it was on the south side of Nag’s Head Lane, near Ponder’s End. It was a deep well, probably the brick conduit noted in Ogilby’s roads 1698. Mr Leonard Will, local historian notes that Godfrey Maps reproduction of the Ordnance Survey map of Ponders End, 1896, shows King’s Ring (WELL) (Site of) on the south side of Southbury Road, just to the east of Churchbury Station (now called Southbury station).

The site does not appear to have survived as the area is heavily urbanised, it would appear to correspond to Poppy drive and despite some green spaces there nothing could be found!

More mysterious is the pond located in Trent Country Park called Camlet Moat, a name which first appears in 1440 A.D. The name has been thought to suggest that this was the site of the legendary castle of King Arthur Camelot. The site is also noted for a ghost of Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Sussex and Hertfordshire and Constable of the Tower of London whose ghost was apparently first recorded in the 12^th century. He is said to guard a pot of treasure he hid down a nearby well before he was arrested for treason. Local legend also records has a paved bottom beneath which the treasure would be found which is protected by a magic spell. Curiously he is also associated with guarding treasure in ‘castle’ well in earthworks at South Mimms (cf Holy Wells and Healing Springs of Hertfordshire)

A steep crater in the north-east corner of the moat has been identified as the well. During excavation in the 1920s by the then owner, a on 6th April 1924, the Zanesville Times-Signal, an Ohio, USA based newspaper, ran a full page story with the headline ‘The Ghost that Guards the Treasure  in the Well’ discussing the issues of disturbing the ghost of Geoffrey de Mandeville. According to A. Mitellas 2015’s A Concise History of Trent Country Park Version 3:

 “The February 21st 1903 issue of Country Life tells of a story about the ‘last owner of The Chase’, who, having been accused of treason, hid in a hollow tree. Later that night, he sneaked out to make his escape but then fell down the well at the north-east corner of Camlet Moat and ‘perished miserably’. The ghost of this last owner is said to haunt the moat.”          

Also associated with the site is Dick Turpin who would hide by the moat. He does not haunt the site but according to local Pagan and New Age groups, a female ghost called the ‘The White Lady or Goddess’ does. The groups who have taken to adopting the site as a significant religious. They have adorned the trees with votive offerings and make bowers from local branches in which they place shrines.  As Mitellas (2015) notes:

 “Camlet Moat is considered to be a sacred place by a Pagan and mystic network that stretches out far beyond the local vicinity, and, indeed, the country. Local Pagans who regularly visit the site occasionally build bender huts from the surrounding branches and brushwood, complete with shrines. In particular, the well is considered to be sacred. Followers have adorned a partially felled hornbeam tree that leans over the well with prayer rags, symbols and trinkets.”                                                                                                   

C. Street’s 2009 London’s Camelot and the Secrets of the Grail believes that the site was a place of healing and inspiration being a site of an ancient oracular shrine. He also notes that it is one of the corners of ‘The Barnet Triangle’ with the east Barnet’s St Mary the Virgin and Monken Hadley’s St Mary the Virgin churches forming a perfect equilateral triangle. A triangle which is claimed to be a powerful conduit of energy feeding ley lines locally.

The name Camlet is thought by many to have been corrupted from Camelot and hence theories have developed regarding a link to the legendary King Arthur, indeed it has been called ‘London’s Camelot’. A reference from May 1439 does record the demolishing the ‘manor of Camelot’ supporting the idea. Another possible origin is that the 14^th century stonemason William Ramsey who constructed Edward III’s round table for Windsor, lived here and named it Camelot out of homage.

Camlet moat attribution: Stu’s Images

In my Holy Wells and healing springs of Middlesex I believed to have located Noddin’s Well as a small boggy hole near the old Middlesex University buildings. However even more mysterious is that others appear to identify it as the ruins of what appear to be a folly building perhaps a bath house. Equally mysterious is the name local Pagan groups have attempted to associate the well with the Celtic God Noden’s who is associated with spring in his mythology. However, equally it could derive from a local land owner. No-one appears to know and it remains an enigmatic site.

Extracted in part from Holy Wells and healing springs of Middlesex

A Gloucestershire rag well – Matson’s red well

This chalybeate spring called alternatively by Bazeley and Richardson (1921–3) as Holy Well, whilst Walters (1928) calls it Holy Red Well (SO 848 153) arises incongruously now on the edge of a dry sky slope in a field called Red Well field.

“The Red Well at Matson consists of a 3ft. square limestone trough at the road-side, fed from a chalybeate spring in the field a few yards above it. The interior of the trough is 2ft. square by 1ft. deep, and its overflow is fed through a gargoyle into a semi-circular basin on the east side. Nearby are the remains of stones, which, if placed round the well, would give it the form of a Maltese cross. The spring belonged to the Canons of Llanthony, and its history dates from 1066, when Ralph de Mattesdon gave the church of Mattesdon to St. Peter’s Abbey Gloucester.”

records that it was also known as Edith’s Spring according to H. Y Taylor in 1866 who immortalised it in the Saint Harold the martyr – the Red Well at Matson or Edith’s Spring two local legends. He tells an interesting and possibly unique legend to describe its origin. Edith was an 18 year Saxon old local noblewoman from Upton St Leonard. She married an Earl, giving him a son, but soon after he was killed fighting King Harold. Fear what repercussions may occur as a result from the invading Normans she climbed Matson Hill. Here she decided to kill herself and son and as she dug a grave. As she dug, so arose the red spring water. She saw this as a sign and as a result dedicated herself to a holy living, she and her son becoming anchorites.  The well belonged to the Canons of Llanthony Priory, whose lands fell to the Selwyn family during the Reformation, whose coat of arms resembled a cross itself.

Embrey (1918–20) states that:

“the presence of iron salts is considered as conferring tonic properties.”

and its water being very ferruginous was said to be “good for the eyesight” or a cure for tired eyes.                                         Another alternative name was the Rag Well and as such it was one of only two such sites in the county and certainly the most well-known. It is still overshadowed by a thorn tree, upon which tradition asserts clothes may have been left as a form of offering. However, the tradition has not continues or been revived.

Enclosed in square railings, a reason perhaps why the well is no longer treated as a rag well. The spring itself arises in a square limestone trough of two feet by two feet and one foot deep inside and three feet deep outside. Another small receptacle, or basin a semi-circular one of Oolite stone is found on the east side. It then flows into a roadside trough. Walters (1928) notes that some slabs were located around this spring, which could be arranged to form a Maltese cross

King Alfred’s Well and Bath, Wantage

Ask anyone to name one thing about Wantage and they will tell you it was the birth place of King Alfred. When I visited the town in the 1990s I had read of a King Alfred’s Well and naturally was keen to find out more. John Murray’s 1923 A Handbook for Travellers in Berks, Bucks, and Oxfordshire:

“1/4 m. W. of the town, at the Mead, are King Alfred’s Bath and Well ; the latter a basin of clear water, in a pretty dingle, formed by a number of small petrifying springs.”

I was not the first one to visit it of course and it appears to be a popular site for school parties if this account is an example this account in the St Mary’s, Longworth, Parish Magazine, 1910:

“August 1910 On Saturday, June 25, the Sunday School children, to the number of nineteen, were taken by the Rev. T. H. Trott a little outing to Wantage. They were met at the end of their journey by Mr. A. A. Herring, who after kindly giving them some refreshments at the Temperance Hotel, took them round the town to see the principal objects of interest, such as the Parish Church, the Victoria Picture Gallery, King Alfred’s Well and King Alfred’s Bath.”

It had clearly become one of the places to see in the town and doubtless and opportunity to stress the history of King Alfred. The biggest recognition of the site’s history was for the 1000^th celebration of his birth. The Freemason’s Quarterly Journal recording:

“THE ALFRED JUBILEE A grand jubilee in honour of the one thousandth anniversary of the birth of King Alfred who according to antiquarian calculation was born in 849 was celebrated at Wantage on the October 1849 The town was decorated for the occasion the shops and business except in the hotels which were crowded generally Many visitors thronged into the place and at one o clock a was formed to King Alfred’s Well about a quarter of a mile the town and supposed to be the site of the ancient stronghold of Saxon kings.”

The Gentleman’s Magazine records that year that a speech on the:

“history and traditions of King Alfred The Rev CL Richmond from America made an eloquent speech to the concourse outside After this a procession was made to King Alfred’s Well about a quarter of a mile from the town and supposed to be at the site of the Anglo Saxon palace.”

Why here?

Some people still hold firmly to the idea that the palace  stood on the ground now occupied by ” The Mead’ (the  property of Lord Wantage).

In the 1901 Wantage past and present the author, Agnes Gibbons adds more to the rationale stating that:

“traces of Alfred’s palace are still believed to remain in the High Garden, where there is a close still bearing the name of ” Court Close,” and ” Pallett’s More ” which has been supposed to be a corruption of Palace More.”

However, they continue to claim that:

“Their chief reason for this belief is the fact that there is near the Mead a brick  “bath” or ” well ” which has for some time been called King Alfred’s Bath.”

So it appears a cart before the horse situation perhaps!

King Alfred or just Alfred’s?

It would appear that those who had made their pilgrimage to the site were possibly at best mistaken or at most deluded about the history of the site. This is stressed by Gibbons again who claims

“It is, however, extremely doubtful if the bricks which compose the bath are one hundred years old, so that no value can be attached to this argument. “

Wantage Now and Then informs us of the true origin of the well:

“It is said that in reality the ” bath ” was dug out and bricked in, by one Alfred Hazel, a former owner of the Mead (possibly for sheep dipping) and was then called ” Alfred Hazel’s Bath.’”

One can see it this became ” Alfred’s Bath,” and then ” King Alfred’s Bath.” Although how this could be forgotten in less than 100 years seems odd! The author continues:

“The bricks have a suspicious resemblance to those which were made at Challow, early last century, of green sand, many of which are still to be found in the town.”

An odd piece of folklore commonly encountered elsewhere with supposed ghostly appearance on its anniversary, is that the pond nearby which appears to have been the bath with the spring nearby being the well, was a coach. The author continues:

“The pond which is close to the bath, is said to have beneath its muddy surface an old coach, said to be the one formerly used by Mr. Chas. Price (he was Lord Mayor of London in 1802, and his family lived in Wantage) on his journeys to and from the metropolis. It was highly gilded, and minus wheels, and was at one time used as a bathing machine, by men who bathed in the pond. supposed to be the King’s bath or cellar! Both references to Alfred are equally mythical supposed to be the King’s bath or cellar! Both references to Alfred are equally mythical.”

So what was claimed and is still claimed to be his well and bath was Victorian construct possibly and a sheep wash at that. But how could its construction be forgotten about!

When I visited the site it was overgrown and a muddy morass. I could not easily trace any spring but subsequently it has been improved and tidied up to make it easier to visit.

What is interesting that what was formed as dam to clean fleeces and cloth may have also had linked with baptisms,  Alfred Hazel was a Baptist. In the late 19th century Lord Wantage VC bought the area and had it landscaped as a fern garden and it may have been around this time that the story of King Alfred became consolidated as perhaps he adopted it as a sort of folly although this would not explain the visit in 1849 unless they didn’t go to this well and there is another King Alfred Well lost in Wantage. Of course there are examples of Lady Wells being repaired by the Lady of the manor! This could be the same the springs are noted a petrifying and so it is possible that they were noted but whether it was Alfred or not is unclear. It is also confusing what was the well and what was the bath – was the bath Alfred Hazels but the springs had been called after King Alfred before that!

In 1921 a descendant, Arthur Thomas Lloyd, presented the area to the town of Wantage and such it has been ever since landscaped and improved more recently. Whatever its history the site with its improved flow is a delightfully refreshing place to visit.

 

 

 

 

Fons Scotiae – The well of Scotland, the well of monarchs

If there was a claim for the Scottish holy well visited by the most famous people it must be the suitably named Scotlandwell. It would add that it is also one of the most picturesque holy wells in Britain and very easy to find – being signposted down a lane with parking off the village that shares its name.

A Roman site

It is said that in the late 1^st century A.D the Romans named the well Fons Scotiae’ . Whilts it is known in 84 AD, Roman soldiers were marching between their camps at Lochore in Fife and Ardoch in Perthshire however, there does not appear to be any evidence especially archaeologically, but what is known that a hospital dedicated to St Mary was established in the area in 1250 by the Trinitarian Friars. It is locally said that they utilised the water. Their association may have attracted one of the most famous of Scotland’s kings – Robert the Bruce. It is alleged that he came here to be cured of leprosy. Janet and Colin Bord in their 1985 Sacred Waters note:

 “Robert Bruce, King of Scotland (1306-29) suffered from leprosy, and at least three wells were reputedly used by him in his search for a cure. He is said to have been responsible for a well at Prestwick (Ayr) which flowed where he stuck his spear in the sand while resting from his struggles with the English. He stayed for several days, and his leprosy was reputedly cured. He is said to have built a leper hospital for those who could not afford treatment. He also visited the St Lazarus Well at Muswell Hill (London) being granted a free pass by the King of England to do so.”

It is thus said to have become a place of pilgrimage. Another monarch, Mary Queen of Scots also is said to have visited it. However, the Friar’s  establishment remembered as Friar Place was demolished in 1587 probably not long after Mary’s patronage at the start of the great Reformation in Scotland.

However, the well itself must have been accessible as Bill Anderton in his 1991 Ancient Britain tells us that:

 “ records show that Charles II travelled from his Dunfermline Palace to take the waters.”

Whatever these records are, are in themselves unclear and whilst the ancient royal seat of Dunfermline is indeed not many miles from the site, I have been unable to find further details.

Restored site

The site may have slowly disappeared into obscuring if it was not for the fortitude of local landowners. When in the early 1820s the site, itself common land, could be described as:

“an almost unapproachable slough of mire and filth” and within it “a half ruinous building used sometimes as a washing house and sometimes as a slaughter house.”

This may have been some remains of the Friar’s buildings perhaps and it is impossible that some older stone in the current fabric of the well house could be from this date. The building of the ornamental well and its nearby wash house was done by a Thomas Bruce of Arnot who owned land in the aras between 1857 and 1860 after acquiring the land. He employed David Bryce an important Edinburgh architect to draw up plans for both in 1857 which consisted of a large stone lined bath like chamber covered accessing all around by covered by grill. Over which is an ornate wooden roof, akin to a alpine chalet style. All painted dark green. Water bumbles up through sandy soil in the water quite obviously and then emerges from a small gap into a small circular basin and then run off. Steps go down from both sides to reach the outflow. Using stone available from quarries nearby that the well was completed soon after at the cost of £154 in 1858. On either side of the water spout are the initials TBA for Thomas Bruce of Arnot and his wife Henrietta Dorin embossed. The nearby washhouse also bears TBA and 1860.

Thomas Bruce of Arnot stated in his memoirs:

“The improvement of the village and of its “Well” has cost me more money than some might perhaps say I aught to have expended upon them, but it has been a subject of great interest to me and I have been far more than repaid in one way at least by the gratification it has afforded to the villagers by a desire for whose moral improvement it was that I was mainly actuated in what I did and am still doing.”

Then in 1922 two years after the death of Sir Charles Bruce of Arnot the well and wash house, were handed over to the people of Scotlandwell as a gift and the site is currently looked after by the Parish council.

The bath house locally called ‘The Steamie’ was where laundry was washed, being connected to the well’s underground water source, ceased being used in 1960s but has recently been restored as a small tourist attraction and currently leaflets are given out concerning the well and the bath house

Still curing?

In Ruth and Frank Morris’s 1978 Scottish Healing Well they note:

“In October 1978 we met there a women, her husband and brother who had travelled from Edinburgh a round trip of some 80 miles which they frequently made, to fill to two large bottles with clear well water. One of the men, a cancer sufferer had been induced to take the water some time before and found it did him some good , clearing a stubborn body rash that he continued to use the water: “If it was good enough for Robert the Bruce, it’s good enough for me. ”

However, reaching for the metal cup I took myself a large gulp not noticing that the sign that he had read when Ruth and Frank Morris had visited in 1978: ‘Health giving water of Scotlandwell  was for many years used to help cure the sick…” was replaced with UNFIT TO DRINK DO NOT DRINK!

Oh well this was a few summers ago and I am still okay. Whether you drink or not, Scotlandwell is one of the country’s most attractive and perhaps oldest healing springs.

Simon de Montfort’s Battle Well – the holy well of a would be saint

A rather uninspiring pond in a field outside of Evesham is the site of perhaps one of the most fascinating healing springs in England.

A saintly Simon de Montfort?

Much is written of Simon de Montfort but it short his establishment of two parliaments during his interloping coup against Henry II and short rule he is seen as the father of parliamentary democracy. His death at the Battle of Evesham, which saw the rightful monarchy restored, resulted after miracles were reported at his shrine, to be an politico-religious saint and pilgrimages occurred through the late 1200s. Amongst the cures at his tomb Gunnell of Ketton’s son Harry who took dust from it to cure his paralysis and a hen from Sulgrave, Northants was revived to life!

The miraculous creation of a spring

Not unsurprisingly, what with the evocation of Simon and his miracles at the tomb, attention would turn to the site of his demise or in the eyes of his followers ‘martyrdom’. In the 1840 Halliwell translation of the circa 1280 The Miracles of Simon de Montfort, an account records how a Piers de Saltmarsh in 1274 was travelling in the retinue of William Beauchamp of Elmley, one of the Kings’ supporters over the site of the Battle of Evesham. This is said to have happened before June 1266 it is said. Piers doubted Simon’s saintliness and called on him to prove it by providing them, miraculously, with living waters, Piers then:

“seized a horse’s shoulder blade, and began to dig. God works wonders! Out of that dusty hard ground there shot up a spring of sweet water, high as the hills”.

An interesting precursor to this would appear have to been recorded by William rector of Warrington who is said to have taken away earth from the site of the earl’s death and was able to have a dying man by mixing this with water.

Of course the discovery of the spring need not be that miraculous as William Tindal noted in 1794 the spring was normally dry in summer and was just a depression in the ground. Of course both William and Piers were not local and thus would not be familiar with any intermittent spring in the area.

Miracles and cures at the well

Halliwell (1840) again tells how a‘ contemporary authority’ in the 1270s that:

“some say that there have been many miracles at his tomb, and that on the spot where he was killed there is now an excellent spring which has healed those suffering from all kinds of sickness; but nobody dares tell the world of this, for fear of the King and his party”.

The Miracles of Simon de Montfort tell how between 1274 and 1279 record ten miracles of healing from ‘the Earl Simon’s well’ Alice of Burton Overy Leicestershire merely kept vigil and was cured. However most cures were from drinking or washing themselves in water which was brought to them; water was taken as far as Oxfordshire, Thanet, Dunstable and London. Such were Stephen Aungevin’s young son at Dunstable Bedfordshire, Alexander of Suffolk, a citizen of London although some immobile recipients lived nearer such as Harry Chaunteler of Bretforton and a woman at Elmley Castle. Of her a supplementary miracle is recorded. . She is said to have journeyed with a jug to fill it with the miraculous water for her mistress. However, at the time there was an attempt  to stem the cult and visitors to the well. As such some soldiers sent to prevent people visiting stopped her and when they looked inside the jug saw only beer and let her pass.  However by the time she gave it to her mistress at Elmley, it contained water!

Certainly large numbers appear to have attended the site, when Ralph of Boklande of Thanet bathed his leg in the well it is said that he was cured:

“in the site of many people.”

It is recorded that people were even carried in carts from as far away as Leicestershire and even London. A ritual was established in which they would drink at the well, and either worship there or at Evesham Abbey.  Even animals were cured A winded palfrey ( a docile horse), being rode by the Countess of Gloucester being cured there. The Miracles recording:

“The Countess of Gloucester had a palfrey that had been broken-winded for two years. In returning from Evesham to Tewkesbury, the horse having drunk of the Earl’s Well and having had its head and face washed in the water, recovered of this. The Countess and all her company are witnesses”,

The 1910 Evesham Journal reports that:

“until a very little time ago… there was a belief that this water was very efficacious for weak eyes… People often visited the spring and took water away with them to bathe their eyes’

The establishment of a chapel

Understandably, the well attracted considerable trade and obviously money.  Alms being given at the spring by a follower of Simon, Robert de Vere, the Earl of Oxford around either 1273 or 1279.

Despite a decline in the cult by the 1280s the well’s famed did not die with it and it appease to have survived long after it with a chapel. In 1448 The Brut by Richard Fox, a monk of St Albans it is recorded:

“where the battle and murder was is now a well, and grete elmes stande about the well; there is over the well an hovel of stone (a canopy), and a crucifix and Mary and John”.

This appeared to suggest that something of a wayside cross or Calvary was present there but no other authority records it and there is certainly not trace. By 1457 the site was called Battle Well and in that year Abbot John Wickham’s receiver accounted for the abbots expenditure of one penny there. A flyleaf inscription in a missal of 1489 indicates that:

‘to the chapel of le Battell Welle’.

After the Reformation

The chapel appears to have continued until the Reformation, and the Battle well was still remembers long after. In 1702 a man was fined for ‘nuisance at Battle well’ suggesting either he was disturbing those visiting the site or annoying the landowner in attempting to gain access.

Richard Pococke records in his 1757 Travels records:

‘I walk’d near a measured mile to Battle Wells, in the northern road… They say the battle was in the road…and they told me that they found in the road a vault full of bones, which formerly might be under some chapel’.

William Tindal in their 1794, The History and Antiquities of the Abbey and Borough of Evesham records:

‘a little nearer the town, on the same side, is the spot called Battle-well’,

Nathan Izod names and precisely marks it on his 1827 map and it appears on the 1886 OS map as well. It then lay 120 yards west of the road about 200 yards northwest of the mile post and about 145 yards southwest of the Worcester road junction. Richardson (1927) in their Wells and springs of Worcestershire identifies it as

“simply a field-pond situate at the head of a valley that runs down to the River Avon.”

Cox in his translation of the Chronicle of Evesham Abbey provides a map, and says that:

‘examination of the site in 1961… confirmed that Battlewell at present derives its water from land-drainage, and often dries up completely in Summer. In a rainy season, however, it may be filled’.

As D.C. Cox in their Battle of Evesham a new account records:

“The apparent continuity of the name Battle well from the fifteenth century to the nineteenth and the consistency of the early written references, both with each other and with the nineteenth century maps, make it reasonable to suppose that the present Battle well is the fifteenth century one.”

However they cautiously note:

“Earl Simon’s well, according to the thirteenth century collection of Montfortian miracle stories, lay near the Evesham -Kenilworth road at the top of the hill which the battle was fought. That it was the later and present Battle well cannot be proved but cannot easily be doubted.”

Today one can trace this site quite easily although it is unclear of access rights. The site is free to observe during the annual blessing at the well each August however, A simple spring fed pool but one where history, folklore and belief are intrinsically intertwined.

The sacred landscape of Ilam Staffordshire – the Holy Well of St Bertram, his shrine and cave

Just a small distance from the highly visited Dovedale is a sacred landscape of hermitage, holy well and shrine. Ilam boasts a rarity in England a largely intact shrine with its foramina (holes in which the pilgrim could insert ailing limbs and get closer to the holy person). The shrine is that of Beorhthelm or Bertelin, Bettelin or more commonly Bertram. The patron saint of the county town of Staffordshire, Stafford.

Who was Bertram?

Bertram is an interesting local saint, dating from around the 7^th-8^th century in what was the Mercia. Briefly, he is said to be of Royal Irish lineage but after making a princess pregnant, escaped to England where he sheltered in the woods around Ilam.  The story is told by Alexander, a monk, in the 13^th century who notes:

“They were in hiding in a dense forest when lo ! the time of her childbirth came upon them suddenly ; born of pain and river of sorrow!  A pitiful child bed indeed!  While Bertellinus went out to get the necessary help of a midwife the woman and her child breathed their last amid the fangs of wolves. Bertellinus on his return imagined that this calamity had befallen because of his own sin, and spent three days in mourning rites”.

As a result he became a hermit living in a cave in the valley near Ilam.  Despite the earliest mention being Plot, the local geography is suggestive that this is the site of an early Christian hermitage site, although no mention of a well is noted in his legends it can be noted. The cave itself still exists but reaching it appears to be problematic. Only being accessible when the river Manifold dries which suggests a very useful hermitage site. However, it is worth noting that some accounts have the cave being Thor’s cave further up. Perhaps this is significant as it suggests a Christianisation of a pagan site.

Two wells?

One well up on the hillside has perhaps the greatest provena is surrounded on four sides by varying low stone walling, about two feet or so at its highest (although it appears to have been built up and down over the time I have visited the well).  The spring flows from a small, less than a foot square chamber, enclosed in stone and set into the bank through a channel in the rubble flow and out along the path towards it.

 

Since the 1990s, on the first Saturday in August, the Orthodox Church makes a pilgrimage to the site and blesses the well.

Interestingly, literature available from the National Trust shop fails to mention this well, but notes a more substantial second St Bertram’s Well. This is close by the church and surrounded by a rectangular stone wall with steps down, the water arises here at greater speed and flows into the nearby River Manifold. Visually it is more impressive and more accessible but whether there is any long tradition of this second well is unclear, but authors such as the Thompsons’s (2004) The Water of Life: Springs and Wells of Mainland Britain and Bord (2008) Holy Wells of Britain appear to have fostered its reputation.

Little is recorded of the wells, but Browne (1888) in his An Account of the Three Ancient Cross Shafts, the Font, and St Bertram’s Shrine, at Ilam, noted that the ash had gone, but the water was still being used.  He states that:

“The late Mrs Watts Russell always had her drinking water from it.”

Since the 1990s, on the first Saturday in August, the Orthodox Church makes a pilgrimage to the site and blesses the well.  Interestingly, literature available from the

 

Sacred tree

More is recorded is rather curious. Plot (1686) in his The Natural History of Stafford-Shire, the earliest reference of this fascinating site and he records that a

“St Bertram’s Ash… grows over a spring which bears the name of the same Saint… The common people superstitiously believe, that tis very dangerous to break a bough from it: so great a care has St Bertram of his Ash to this very day.  And yet they have not so much as a Legend amongst them, either of this Saint’s miracles, or what he was; onely that he was Founder of their Church”

Such ash trees are commonly associated with holy wells. It is worth noting that in North myth, the sacred Yggdrasil was an ash tree associated with divination and knowledge. In some places rags would be tied to such trees but no such record exists here. By the late 1800s as noted in A general collection of voyages and travels digested by a J. Pinkerton in 1808 that the:

“Ash tree growing over it which the country people used hold in great veneration and think it dangerous to break a bough from or his in the church which are mentioned by Plot I did not hear of it at the village.”

Thus suggesting by that time it had gone by this time

A final observation is that in the 1800s a Roman relic found there:

“In the parish of Ilam near the spring called St Bertram’s there was found an instrument of brass somewhat resembling only larger a lath hammer at the edge end but not so the other This Dr Plot has described in the XXIII Tab 6 This he takes to have been the head of a Roman Securis which the Papoe slew their sacrifices.”

Does this suggest that sacrifices were made at the spring by the Romans?

An abecedary of Sacred springs of the world: Some Swedish sacred källa

Sweden boasts a number of sacred springs or källa. Many of these are what are called in English sacrifice springs where objects of wealth of deposited. One of the commonest dedications is to St Olof and so we shall explore two of these first.

Who was Sankt Olof ?

Born in 995 in Norway, Olav, Olov or Olof II Haraldsson as the King of Norway, Christianised the country and many miracles were associated with him after his death in 1015. That he was elevated to saints was due to the miracles that were said to have happened after his death. The saint fame spread throughout the Nordic countries and St. Olof’s day, the July 29 is celebrated widely.  In the folklore, Olav appears as a patron saint against the pagan evil powers.

By I, Jorchr, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2487473

St Olof’s well Vasterlanda

The spring may have been a pre-Christian site of sacrifice with the saint’s name being applied to Christianise it in the 1100s. Its water was considered good for eyes being recorded as such in 1693 to cure eye diseases.

The site was a popular pilgrimage site with people coming on the saint’s day, although the church was uncomfortable with the mix of sacredness and drinking. People came to leave money at the spring and poorer people left meat meaning that the spring was often covered with a layer of fat

Famous scientist Carl Linnaeus writes in his Skåne journey:

“The most beautiful party is St. Olof’s day, when the people here storm to a great extent from distant places to interrogate the sermon and to sacrifice.”

By John-Eric Gustafsson / Riksantikvarieämbetet, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60833835

St Olof’s Spring, Hallaröd

The information at the site neatly describes it. Its states:

“In the Middle Ages, about 1050-1500 AD, the source cult received a boost and many and special rites were created through the direct involvement of the Catholic Church. After the Reformation, in 1536, the saint’s cult was considered superstitious and primitive. The church was now trying to eradicate it in various ways, but the interest in the sources lived partly, sometimes until the end of the 19th century. It mainly concerned the custom of sacrificing money and drinking and washing in the health-care source water. At the end of the 17th century, the art of healing also began to be interested in health sources and surpluses. The biggest holiday day was of course the day of the holidays on July 29.One offered money or perhaps food and asked for health, prosperity and about the daily bread. Olof also kept beasts, snakes and trolls away from the creature and he protected and blessed the annual growth. The journey to Hallaröd’s sacrificial source was usually concluded with a visit to the market which was held near the church. By the middle of the 18th century, the market was moved to Hörby.”

 The Hammarby Kalla

Considered to have considerable healing powers was this source just northwest of the church at Lake Fysingen in Uppland . To secure a cure one would drink seven sips on a triple evening , which is seven days after the Pentecost .Hence the spring was called a triple well. The site was restored in 2011 and re-blessed on Sunday 4^th September. People can be baptised and married at the well in the summer.

Fagertofta spring

At the Fagertofta burial ground there is a site where coins were left at Midsummer Spring . It is two meters in diameter and 3 decimeters deep and surrounded by a wooden fence. According to the saying, you drank or washed here during the midsummer night to stay healthy. This is one of the source of sacrifice or Osterkalla were objects of value such as coins would be added. These were often associated with midsummer and youths.

Karrock

Mjölnarens källa

This sacrifice spring was one of the most famed. As the source flowed north it was thought to make the water more magical and healthy and on certain times it had extra healing powers. In “Witchcraft, disbelief and house cures in Danderyd and Lidingö at the year 1783” noted: 

A source flowing to the north has wholehearted waters, than the one that flows to other directions […] Near Landsnora Qvarn is such a source, running out of the halle mountain, from there water is collected for the cure of numerous diseases, especially for sick eyes.

Av Holger.Ellgaard – Eget arbete, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34724998