Blog Archives
Holy well or mineral spring? St Catherine’s Well near Southwell
The small hamlet on the edge of Southwell called Westhorpe, has the supposed remains of St. Catherine Well. I state supposed it because this is one of those sites which may have been a post Reformation pretend holy well. There is evidence of the site having a chapel; earliest record of a religious institution here being in 1482 when a chapel was erected dedicated to the saint. When researching the site for my book on Holy wells and healing springs I was unable to locate this source
’to build a chapel close to the well called St. Catherine’s Well in honour of St. Catherine the Virgin and an indulgence for five years to all those helping to build the chapel’.
Of its post-Reformation history William Dickinson in his 1819 the Antiquities and history of the town of Southwell notes that a Mr. Burton of Norwood Park built a house and bath at the site in 1720. This is found down Bath Lane which remembers the fact that it site was once developed as such. He appears to have used the saint as support for its properties as:
“Over the head of the fountain was a plate, on which some Latin verses were inscribed, much to the honour of the tutelary saint, and the reputation of the water.”
Its waters were said to be a cure for rheumatism being particularly cold as noted by Richard Shilton in his 1818 History of Southwell:
“This water, which was peculiarly cold, was renowned in the days of yore, for its many virtues ; perhaps it did possess and doubtless would have retained them to this day.”
It is thought that the cottage and barn at the site may be the remains of this spa venture, although, I was informed by the occupant that the barn had mediaeval features such as moulded features, suggesting perhaps this was the remains of the chapel. When Robert Morrell in his 1988 Holy wells of Nottinghamshire visited he was also told that a bath-like structure with steps down was located nearby, but an exact location was unknown, and the current occupants were similarly unaware of it when I visited. However, I have subsequently learned that it is just below the well head but I have not returned to check. This was probably a relic of its Burton’s exploitation. This appears to have been a brief period, for as Shilton (1818) notes:
“…would have retained them to this day, had there been the due accompanyments (sic) for luxurious lounge, intrigue and scandal commodiously attached.”
St. Catherine’s Well itself is found between Bath Cottage and the barn. It arises in a brick-lined square structure capped with a broken slab. This sits on an older has the appearance of calcareous rock; although any petrifying properties are not noted by previous authors. When first visited the well house was dry, however, a more visit in spring showed a considerable flow (despite a dry winter). It flowed from a clay pipe within the well house and leaves through a smaller pipe set into the calcified part and then down to the dumble below. In this dumble appear to be some dressed stone which may have been part of the original structure. Beside the well on the bank above is a small slate monument which records:
“A chapel dedicated to St. Catherine existed here in medieval times but it is thought to have fallen into disuse at the dissolution. A spring and well with reputed healing properties near the chapel was still patronised in the 1800s by those seeking relief from rheumatism. The present bath cottage was erected on the site of the chapel. D.J Hall Southwell.”
The grounds are private although I was welcomed when I visited, there is a path the other side of the site of the well which may give a better view of the site however.
The mysterious Powdonnet Well, Cumbria
Powdonnet Well is a curious site, a large clear and deep pool lined by a wall of rocks, full of spring water beside a fast flowing stream and cloaked in the shadow of a copse of trees marked by a modern monolith which records its name, the relic of a Millennium cleaning up, although other sources suggest 1995! It is an evocative site, but its history is challenging.
The pool lays on the edge of the small settlement of Morland. The church it is claimed lays upon a pagan site and boasted a shrine within. The relics of St Laurence were laid in 666AD in a stone altar within giving the Saxon church a religious focus. This was apparently lost at the Reformation but local tradition records that it was buried somewhere in the churchyard.
Powdonnet derives from the Irish-Gaelic “pow’ meaning pool and donnet referring to a saint called Donat meaning the ‘Pool of St Donat’. Smith in his Place-names of Westmorland 1967 cites that the earliest form was in 1637 as Powdonet and is not mentioned as Powdonnet Well until 1859.
Who was St Donat?
St Donat was a little known French saint and there are dedications to him in Wales such as St Donats castle,in Glamorgan the church guide referring to:
“The church (St Donats) had originally been dedicated to the Welsh, St.Gwerydd, but in Norman times the dedication had been changed to St. Donat, or St. Dunwydd, as it is written in Welsh.
He was a ninth-century saint who is said to have been born in Ireland and who later became Bishop of Florence. For a long time he was very popular on the north coast of France as a patron saint of sailors.”
But how is this saint associated with a spring in Cumbria? This is particularly problematic as there are no local churches so dedicated nearby and the church does not share its dedication. However, it is possible that it records a Celtic dedication lost to the Anglo-Saxon expansion; the last relic of the saint’s association locally. Certainly, it is a primitive site one might well expect associate with the early baptism of a Celtic evangelist. Was this St Donat? What is more remarkable is that unlike many other well sites which have been enclosed in brick and stone, this site retains what it must have been like back in those early years.
The ancient and holy wells of Chollerton Part one – the wells of Colwell
The large parish of Chollerton in Northumberland perhaps has more named wells than other – a survey done in the 19th century recorded the following: Drop well, Level well, Dan well, Deadwood well, Dalla well, Madge’s well, East well, Hollywell, Coppies well, Margaret’s Well, Kate’s well, Crow well, Bank well, Nine wells, Tone well, West well, Bore well, Prickie’s well, Coley well and Robin Hood’s Well. Quite a significant number of wells it appears.
Charles Hope in 1893 in his Legendary Lore of Holy Wells notes of the village or rather hamlet of Colwell:
“This village, in the same parish of Chollerton, derives its present appellation from a well-known spring, not far from the now almost forgotten site of another early capella. With this an interesting relic of primitive worship used to be associated in a popular pilgrimage, and the bringing of flowers, to dress the well on or about Midsummer Sunday.”
It is reported by Northumberland Federation of Women’s Institutes in the 1994 The Northumberland Village Book that:
“where Colwell now stands. There were also three springs – Prickie’s Well, Robin Hood’s Well, and Coley’s Well which was almost certainly the most revered of the three.”
The spring he appears to refer to is Coley’s Well which appears to have associated with a fairly unique custom or rather uniquely named. A report in 1891’s Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne states:
“The well used to be celebrated as the ‘Bridal of Colwell’:”
A name which has a slightly pagan feel to it perhaps, This time the customs is said to have moved to the 4th, although those familiar to calendar customs will be aware that this is Old Midsummer’s Day, the day it would have been before the calendar change:
“The annual festival was held on or about the 4th of July (St. Ulric’s Day), and consisted of a popular pilgrimage to the well at Colwell and dressing it with flowers. This ‘Bridal of Colwell’ is no longer remembered, but it is probable its observance may have been transferred to the ‘Borewell’ in the same district, a sulphur spring at which the local ‘hoppin’ is still held at the Sunday next after July 4th.”
Thus Peter Binnall and Madeline Hope Dodds in the 1941 -1944 in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne, 4th series record that:
“Once called the ‘Bridal of Colwell’, but now ‘Coley’s Well’. It is the only well in Northumberland connected with the custom of well-dressing.”
The custom would appear to have been similar to Spaw Sunday when a certain day was chosen for visiting the well, when the waters were auspiciously more powerful and as a result a social event would develop around it. Interestingly, it appears to have been associated with a significant local history event:
“By the Middle Ages a traditional celebration of one of the wells had been established. This celebration, during which the well was blessed and decorated with flowers, was known as The Colwell Bridal and was held around 4th July on St Ulrich’s day. It was the object of popular pilgrimage and, on one such day in 1534, the good knight Sir Thomas Dacre seized three of the infamous Charlton clan who had travelled many miles to attend the Bridal. The Charltons had attacked Tarset Castle eight years earlier, burnt it and dispatched Sir Ralph Fenwick with his 80 horsemen out of North Tynedale. Their apprehension at the Colwell Bridal not only created local excitement, but also went down in history.”
Why this custom ceased is unclear, perhaps the water failed or the landowner denied access but it would have appeared to have moved to another well called the Bore well, which I shall cover in another future post. Of the Coley Well it still exists. It is noted by a low stone wall which encloses it on three sides and gives access for a large number of individuals and cows (!) suggesting it was indeed constructed for this function. The water flows from one side of the chamber and forms a very muddy pool, but a rectangular basin set into the ground can be seen, however a modern brick building nearby doubtlessly taps the spring.
Of the three other wells very little seems to been recorded other than their names in italics on the early OS map. Pricky’s Well is enclosed in a concrete structure and although flows considerably there is little old remaining and nothing appears noted about its name or traditions other than it was a copious spring. The final well of the three which lay in a line is the Robin Hood’s Well. This is an interesting named site and although modern Robin Hood devotees may visit the area to see the site of the famed Prince of Thieves tree (now sadly gone) few would visit this. But does it have a true association with the outlaw? Probably not, I would suggest that it more likely records an elemental and indeed the springhead, the most undeveloped of all, is very evocative of mysterious water beings. It arises to fill a boggy hole with a single stone to mark it. Again little is know of it but from the pipe leading off it it still has a use.
A Lincolnshire field trip – the Holy wells of Castle Bytham
The name Holy well can often be seen as evidence of an ancient site. The Holywell parish is the only such place-name in Lincolnshire and many years back I had the opportunity to examine the grounds of the delightful Holywell Hall with its now private chapel. J C Walter in their 1887 ‘Holy wells’ in the Lincoln Diocesan Magazine describes it as:
“a well standing in a garden, within a few paces of a lake, yet entirely unaffected by it, for when the lake was cleaned out a few years ago, the well remained at its usual height.”
Wild notes in their 1871 The history of Castle Bytham: its ancient fortress and manor, its feudal lords, Vaudey Abbey, &c., &c notes:
“Local tradition tells us that near this well there was formerly a religious house, that holy women lived here, and that by bathing eyes of the blind in its waters, sight was restored… an ancient well still exists.”
In the book the author gives an interesting argument over the name attached to the well. He notes:
“In Bredestorp was a well, which for some reason or other became notorious, and was known in conjunction with a personal name, then represented by the dissyllable Ade. Ade is a Saxon prefix which enters into the composition of female names, and signifies noble, as Adeleve noble wife ; Adelfleda, &c. Hele (in Helewell) is the representative of the Anglo-Saxon verb hielariy to cure. We thus discover in these names the probable groundwork of every part of the local tradition connected with the holy well.”
This would appear to be Bredestorp was the earlier name of the Parish, but it was also called Adewell. Thus, it is surmised that it was associated with the Saxon Ade who presumably was some holy women who founded the religious house but unlike other who may become canonised has been largely forgotten. Ekwall in their 1960 Placenames of Lincolnshire notes that the site derives from O.E hæl for ‘healing’ rather than O.E. halig for ‘holy’.
Although the spring-name Holy Well first appears on the 1887 Ordnance survey map so the current well could be a replacement. However, the parish was called Helewell at least under Henry III However, E Gutch, and M Peacock in their 1908 Country Folklore Vol. VI: Folklore of Lincolnshire found stated that they:
“a “holy well” encased with stone of a polygonal form, shaded by yew trees and within the precincts of the burial-ground”
This spring itself appears dry, but the structure a polygonal stone basin still stands. There are two holy wells here in fact. Antiquarius Rusticus 1926–7 in Some Lincolnshire holy wells: I, in Lincolnshire notes and queries states an another site called St. Winifred’s Well, relating that the springs constant action caused the church to be moved. And indeed the present church is not a medieval one giving some credence to this idea.
Closer to the river is another circular well, this time full of water which may be St. Winifred’s Well, described above, although as this is clearly full may the one referred to by Walter (1887).
Interestingly Ian Thompson in his 1998 Lincolnshire wells and springs notes the main site as St Winifred’s Well at Holywell near Castle Bytham suggesting that there might have been some confusion over the exact site. It is also worth noting that there is an Angel Wells farm in the parish, no springs or wells are recorded in the area and it is a dedication unknown elsewhere which suggests it may not record a holy well but possibly derives from Angles suggesting the Saxon foundation of the Parish
Taken and amended from R. B. Parish Holy wells and healing springs of Lincolnshire.
Springs and wells of the South Downs by Bruce Osbourne Source New Series Issue 6 (Summer 1998)
Shoreham – The Magic Cave TQ 213054
On the A 283 approximately 100 metres north of the Worthing-Shoreham railway bridge, near the town centre, is the site of a lost grotto containing a chalybeate spring in the former Swiss Gardens. In the second half of the 19th century Shoreham by Sea was a popular tourist resort for day trippers and holiday makers. One venue for the pleasure seekers was the renowned Swiss Gardens. They were opened in 1838 by James Britton Bailey, a local ship builder. The Gardens and Assembly Rooms quickly became popular. The success was further enhanced when the Gardens were sold to a Mr Goodchild in 1863. A whole range of leisure activities were on offer including boating on the lakes, rifle shooting, bowls, fishing, dancing etc. Everything was contained in the taste-fully laid out gardens which included a chalybeate spring. A grotto containing a chalybeate spring surrounded by fragrant roses and overflowing with sweet smelling honeysuckle and other odiferous plants and shrubs lay in a secluded part of the garden, the en-trance to the grotto being guarded by large effigies of those legendary British gi-ants, Gog and Magog; cleverly apt perhaps, as these huge guardians of the overgrown entrance to this ‘magic cave’ were supposed to be the wicked daughters of the Emperor Diocletian, who were captured and kept chained and hidden by Brutte. However, if the visitor baulked at the thought of entering the grotto it could at least be externally viewed to some extent from the pictur-esque ‘Bridge of Steps’ spanning the stream. Close by, those who wished could pass through a low door covered with more mystical characters to consult with the discreet and esoteric ‘Lady of the Oracle’ – but only between 11.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m. and 2.00 p.m. and 6.00 p.m. In the 1890s the Gardens changed hands several times. By 1903 the Gardens had gained a bad reputation and were not the place to be seen in. Eventually they closed in 1905. Today the area is still identifiable as a lake and gardens behind the Swiss Gardens public house. The smaller of the two lakes is now gone and a large part of what was once the gardens is now a modern housing development. The grotto has disappeared together with the spring. References: Sharp R, 1992, ‘The Swiss Gardens, Shoreham by Sea’, Sussex Industrial History, Issue 22, Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society, pp.2-8.
Willingdon – Bone Well TQ 588021
On the side of the road through the village of Willingdon is the Bone Well or Wish Hill Pump. Erected in 1880, the building incorporates cows’ knuckle bones set in flints and is the only example of such decoration in Sussex. Other buildings incorporating bones can be found in such places as Cley, Norfolk. Originally the panels were filled completely with bones but have largely been replaced with flints over time. The present bones came from the village slaughterhouse and include both metacarpals and metatarsals coming from the feet of the fore and hind legs respectively. Bones of both male and female animals were used. The pump is located on the junction of the Lower Chalk and Upper Greensand where a spring rises. The water, besides being collected in the traditional buckets, has also been collected frequently in bottles. The water which flowed from the pump also fed nearby watercress beds, the stream eventually flowing to Hampden Park about one mile away. The pump is sited on what was once the dipping hole spring. There are varying accounts of how bones came to be associated with the spring before the erection of the present pump house in 1880. A box of ephemera, some of which were over 100 years old came to light in the loft of the former home of Augustus Alfred Haylock, once headmaster of the village school. An item detailing the pump read: Visitors passing through Willingdon no doubt have noticed the ‘Bone Pump House’ [the 1880 structure]. In the early part of the eighteenth century a couple resided in a cottage [since demolished] behind the present pump house. The wife sold soup made from ox-heels and used the bones to build a well in her garden.
In 1880 William Broderick Thomas Esq had built the pump house, which he presented to the village. In its gable were the initials and the date, constructed from sheep’s knuckle bones. Others were employed to adorn the walls at each side, all arranged in tiers to complete this unique structure (Vine 1978, pp. 70-71). It was noted by Mr Haylock that the provider of the report was the great-great-grandson of the couple who lived in the cottage and who once made the ox-heel soup. An alternative variation of the legend, supplied by Lady Willingdon, is that an old woman once lived near the dell in Willingdon. She collected knuckle bones of sheep which were acquired from local butchers. In time she had collected sufficient to build a well and eventually a well house. Whichever of the above legends is true, when the new well house was built in 1880, cows’ knuckle bones were collected from the local slaughterhouse to perpetuate the use of bones in the structure. The bone-built walls rise to about three quarters of the total wall height, above this there being open timberwork supporting a tiled gabled roof. The building was lined with Minton blue- and yellow-glazed bricks with a D-shaped trough to collect the water. Col. William Broderick Thomas, mentioned above, was born in 1811 and died in 1898. He was the brother of Freeman Thomas and a successful landscape gardener. His initials once appeared in the front gable together with the date of construction. ‘The Townlands’ was his local address but he also held property in London. Today several nearby names testify to the once-important water source. ‘Spring Cottage’ exists above and opposite the pump, and ‘The Well Acres’ is a local house name derived from nearby field names.
References: Stevens P. 1988, Willingdon Village Pump’, Sussex Archaeological Collections V, 126, pp. 253-4. Vine W. J. 1978, Old Willingdon, Webb and Read, pp. 70-71.
Holy, healing and ritual waters of Catalonia: Caldes de Montbru
One of the most significant healing water sites in Catalonia is Caldes de Montbui which has a considerable pedigree its name Caldes clearly indicating its importance as a spa site. The Romans are believed to have been attracted to the site because of the hot thermal waters; the hottest apparently in Europe. They established thermal baths with areas dedicated to various treatments and treatments continue in a modern fashion. These baths were believed to have established in 130BC and continued until the middle of the 17th century.
The Roman baths
At this time the plague was raging and so to curb the spread all bath houses were closed and it was never reopened and was used in the 17th century as a prison. However, fortunately the pool was preserved in the basement of the University of Caldes which was removed in the 1950s and the bath restored. During the excavations, a statue of Apollo was discovered. What remains today is the remains of a thermal pool which is only a section of a greater complex of thermal baths which extended over a wide area where the old hospital now called Thermalia, the Rius and Broquetas Spa hotels exist. Overall, there were eleven areas of the complex. The pool is dry, and is stepped all around and and is surrounded by red brick stone arches some worn and origin others added during its restoration.
The spa revival
Although the Roman bath house was forgotten, the town revived its thermal waters in the first half of the 19th century when the town was a major spa town and the leading spa in Catalonia and second only in the Iberian peninsula in terms of facilities. The museum retains features from this stage of the town’s spa heritage and one can see the old spa equipment, the treatment rooms and the pool and baths.
Hottest spring in Europe?
The main spring is called the Font del Lleó (the Lion Spring) so called because the water issues from a lion’s mouth. It is one of a number of springs in the town and by far the best known. It was built in 1581 and was renovated in 1822 with the base being the oldest part. It was restored again and improved in 1927 when a Manuel Raspall introduced the lion, those giving the spring its current name and it became a symbol of the town. Whatever its previous name was I have been unable to ascertain. It is certainly one of the most ornate well heads in the region and a prominent feature of the old town centre. The spring water is enclosed in a trapezoid enclosure with steps from each side and then a single flight to the springhead. The spring flows at some speed even at high summer and flows out of what looks like a fish and is so worn it may be one of the earliest parts. Two ionic columns flank each side and above the whole structure is a prostrate lion.
The water is indeed remarkably hot, flowing at great speed at a temperature of 74º C and is so hot that it steams considerably. The water being so hot that it is conveyed to “safareigs públics” which are 19th century, communal washing houses which are still used although on my visit I did not witness it as apparently it happens early in the morning.
THE SPRINGS AND WELLS OF THE SOUTH DOWNS by Bruce Osbourne Source New Series 6 Summer 1998
LYMINSTER – KNUCKER HOLES
Knucker Holes in Sussex are said to be bottomless. Knucker comes from the Anglo-Saxon “nicor” – a water monster. There are various spellings including Nuck Hole. The one in Lyminster apparently never freezes, even in the most severe winters and was once reputed to be haunted by a dragon. The dragon, whose fiery breath kept foes at bay, would prey on the unfortunate residents of the locality and their livestock. The victims would be carried off to the marshy regions of the Arun, there to be consumed. The monster was eventually slain and the tomb of the dragon slayer lies in Lyminster Church. On the lid of the tomb is carved a sword, lying across the ribs of the monster. Clues to the scientific explanation of “Nucker Holes” can be gleaned from Whitaker writing in 1911. He notes that near Arundel, pits or depressions occur. These are partly natural but some have been enlarged artificially for mineral extraction. Their origin is swallow holes in the chalk and they occur in many places on the Downs.Where streams pass over the impermeable Tertiary beds they are occasionally swallowed into the chalk in well marked depressions. Sometimes after wet weather, water is emitted from such holes forming springs, depending on the state of the water table. Two swallow or “Nucker Holes” are reported by Whitaker at Patching and Clapham at the northern side of Jewshead Wood, west of the village with a further hole just west of the Wood. The name is probably similar to the “Nicker Pits” of East Kent.
References: Bord, Janet and Colin. Sacred Waters. London: Granada, 1985, p.81. Meynell, E. Sussex. London: Robert Hale, 1947, p.6-7. Whitaker, W. The Water Supply of Sussex, Memoirs of the Geological Survey. HMSO, 1911. p.146-7.
FULKING – RUSKIN’S FOUNTAIN AND THE SHEEP DIP (Map ref. TQ 247113)
Fulking as a name originates from the Saxon suffix “ingas” and means “people of Folca”. The village is noted for its attractive setting at the foot of the Downs and it was in Fulking that John Ruskin once enjoyed seeing the sunsets. The spring that once was the focus of the village, lies back from the main village street. It flows via an open stream to the Inn and then erupts into a stone block basin at the roadside. This was once used as a sheep wash by local shepherds, an event commemorated in the name of the local inn “Shepherd and Dog”. Alongside the basin is a Victorian Well House with a tiled inscription which reads as follows:
“HE SENDETH SPRINGS INTO THE VALLEYS WHICH RUN AMONG **THE HILLS** OH THAT MEN WOULD PRAISE THE LORD FOR HIS GOODNESS”
The text comes from Psalm 104 v.10 “He sendeth the Springs into the rivers which run among the hills”, and Psalm 107 v.8 which reads “0 that men would praise the Lord for his goodness”. It appears to have lost some of its accuracy in the reproduction! The spring flows from the Lower Chalk and Upper Greensand, and in 1928, there was a ram pump to the village reservoir. The pump was located in the Victorian Well House according to Howe.’ The principal of the ram pump is that it uses the force of water to propel a small percentage of the total supply to a higher level. The reservoir overflow supplied Perching Farm and cottage. A few yards up the main street on the opposite side of the road to the Well House is an impressive brick and tiled public fountain, alas now dry. This is Ruskin’s fountain. John Ruskin was born in London in 1819 and died in 1900. Not only was he a renowned author, he was also a keen geologist and was instrumental in organising the water supplies for the village. The decorative public fountain with its inscription is the edifice that is particularly linked- with him. He was probably acquainted with Fulking through his friend Willett who had introduced Oliver Wendell Holmes to the district. The public fountain inscription reads:
“TO THE GLORY OF GOD”
Axom2 reports a red marble tablet with an inscription which is not now apparent, as follows: “To the glory of God and in honour of John Ruskin Psalm LXXV111 That they might set their hope in God and not forget but keep his commandments who brought streams also out of the rock”
Something of a mystery surrounds this inscription, both in its location and content. Howe3 notes that two contemporary newspaper accounts detail the inscription on the “pump house” but also suggests that the inscription may never have been put up in its entirety. The reason for this supposition is a letter from Ruskin dated 16th June 1887, to his friend Willett who composed the inscription.
“Dear Willett: Sincere thanks for your kind note and message from Dr. Wendell Holmes, but I am too sad and weary just now to see anything, and I was grieved by your inscription on the fountain, for it made my name far too conspicuous, nor did I feel that the slightest honour was owing to me in this matter.”
An alternative possibility is that much of the inscription was removed or concealed after Ruskin’s death in respect of his wishes. This would explain why Axom was able to report a tablet in 1897, three years before Ruskin died. A substantial area of plain red tiling may well have been where the original inscription was intended. If this is so the suggestion, noted by Howe, that the inscription was on the pump house where the ram pump was located, by the sheep wash, is misleading. The inscription “To the Glory of God” suggests that the remainder of the Ruskin inscription was on the public fountain and it may be that it still exists behind the tiles. Behind the fountain and spout there is a substantial chamber measuring about 3 metres high, 3 metres in depth and 2 metres in width. The chamber is built of brick and barrel vaulted with an access trap in the top. In the chamber there are assorted pipes and valves in a state of dereliction. The chamber is similar to cisterns behind public spouts found elsewhere. West Malvern has a comparable ‘structure, dated 1844, which acted as a storage tank for the public spout. It may well be that the chamber at Fulking was the village reservoir or just a valve chamber linked to the ram pump. Also adjacent to the spout is half of an iron plate with a partial inscription which once read, “C A Wells, Engineer, Lewes”. The spout, when running flowed onto an open gully which in turn supplied an animal trough a few feet away. Unfortunately all is in a sorry state of repair. Ruskin’s fountain is a modest example of -Victorian neo-gothic exuberance, a style which subsequently became less than fashionable, although with the revival in interest for Victorian architecture, should today be’ considered a treasure of great value. The elaborate design was clearly a celebration of the role that the water supply had played in establishing Fulking as a thriving village. The fountain did more however; its water refreshed the body and its beauty refreshed the spirit. The message was one of temperance and uplifting of the populace. They too could enjoy the magnificence of art and beauty while refreshing the body. Many Victorian philanthropists went further, not only advocating a message of temperance and toil but also calling on the scriptures to project a missive of evangelical morality and Christian principles. At the other (eastern) end of the village, beside the road are two iron pumps, one either side of the road. One is marked with a small plate with the familiar inscription, “C A Wells, Engineer, Lewes”. This company once operated the Etna Iron Works at Eastgate Wharf, Lewes. A similar pump is situated in a nearby garden. Also in another nearby garden is a well and bucket.
References: 1. Howe, F.A. A Chronicle of Edburton and Fulking. Crawley: Hubners, 1958, p.62. 2. Axom, L. Bygone Sussex. 1897. p.142. 3. Weaver, C. and Osbotrne B. Aquae Malvernsis, 1994, p.46-7.
Bibliography: Edmunds, F.H. Wells and Springs of Sussex, Geological Survey Memoirs. HMSO, 1928, 1V / 3.
Unusual happenings Mary smiles in the Ukraine Source Source New series No 1 Autumn 1994
From time immemorial, the Ukrainian nation has shown a tender and filial devotion towards the Mother of God. In 1037, the grand prince of Kiev, Yaroslas the Wise, consecrated his capital and his country to Mary, and thousands of churches, monasteries and chapels were placed under the protection of the Ma-donna. They sheltered hundreds of miraculous Icons. The Virgin is the Queen of the Ukraine. After the occupation of the western territo-ries of the Ukraine in the course of the Second World War, in March 1946 the Russians mar-tyred the whole Ukrainian Catholic Church, by blood and the sword. Those who remained lived on in the catacombs. Driven to fury by the active and passive resistance of the Ukrainian nation, they unleashed a new attack against the centres of the Marian cult, and destroyed many venerated images of Our Lady in the Ukraine. However, for a long time they did not dare to attack the miraculous icon of Our Lady of Zarvanytzia. They had closed the sanctuary, but they had not touched the icon. So the local inhabitants spontaneously decided to keep watch over the holy image, day and night. In the summer of 1957, a detachment of armed police entered the village, invaded the sanctuary, and despite the lively opposition of the inhabitants, carried off the icon by force. The church bells were rung to summon the help of neighbouring villages but it was too late. However, underneath the chapel of Zarvan-ytzia there was a source of water known as “the well”. On the same day that the icon was confiscated by the authorities, an absolutely identical image of Our Lady was seen reflected in this spring. Everyone saw the face of the Madonna in the water, marked with the deepest sadness. The news of this miracle rapidly spread throughout the whole of the Ukraine, and thousands of pilgrirhs began to pour into Zarvanytzia from all parts of the country. The authorities were disturbed by this enormous upsurge of faith in the people, and despatched a commission of enquiry to the shrine from Kiev. The replica of the miraculous icon re-appeared in the water of the spring, and the members of the official commission of enquiry were com-pelled to testify publicly that they had seen the reflection of the said icon on the water.
During the summer of 1958 a second commis-sion of enquiry was sent to the shrine, this time direct from Moscow. Not long after this visit, the Communist authorities ad-vised the people that the icon would be restored to its place. The pilgrimages of the faithful became even more numerous. Eventually, on 14 October 1958, the long-awaited day arrived when the Soviet authorities returned the icon to the people. The Ukrainians re-installed it in its place of honour in the church of Zarvanytzia, and the Catholics considered this restitution of the icon as a great victory of their faith which the Madonna confirmed by a prodigy. This information was sent to us through the Ukrainian emigration centres of Europe and America. We know some people in England and Philadelphia who have in their possession pho-tographs, sent to them directly from Zarvan-ytzia, which were taken on 14 October 1958. (B.Kurilas, C.SS.R., Notre Dame des Temps Nouveaux )
Extracted from Miracle of Mao; 1988. By kind permission of Augustine Publishing Company, Chulmleigh, Devon.lX18 711L.
The curious case of the dragon, the sunken church and the petrifying spring – the Dragonbury Dragon
It may seem an odd site to describe in a blog about holy and healing wells and springs, but this natural feature is a curious by-product of a possibly a significant spring. 
This dragon is a natural feature formed by the build up of limestone from a spring. Two local traditions give the reason for its existence one that a local wizard turned a dragon to stone and another bizarrely that it is the top of a church which sank into the ground with its congregation still within. The earliest reference to the dragon is by the antiquarian Abraham de la Pryme (1671–1704), who visiting in July 1696 said in his diary:
“The 18th instant, being Saturday, I went to see a place, between Sanclif and Conisby, called the Sunken Church, the tradition concerning which says that there was a church there formerly, but that it sunk in the ground with all the people in it, in the times of popery. But I found it to be only a fable, for that which they shew to be the walls thereof, yet standing, is most manifestly nothing but a natural rock, which lifts itself out of the ground about two yards high, in a continued line, like the wall of a church, etc.”
The sunken church legend is interesting and obviously reveals more indeed a footnote in Pryme’s diary written by Charles Jackson (1809–1882) in 1870, says:
“Sunken Church at Sancliff (sic) yet exists, and is known by that name. The story is that the church and the whole congregation were swallowed up by the earth, but that on one day in the year (the anniversary, it is believed, of that on which the church went down), if one goes early in the morning he may hear the bells ring for Mass. The legend cannot be accounted for. A similar tale exists, I understand, about various other places in Britain and Germany. There has clearly been no church here. The stone is certainly natural. It is not so high now as Pryme reports. The earth has probably washed down the hill and raised the ground about it. There are some marks or furrows on it, which may be very rude carvings, but this is doubtful. As large stones are a rarity thereabouts, and as this is visible at a considerable distance, it may have had heathen rites connected with it, which have given a weird memory to the spot.”
In 1900, Henry Preston. F.G.S. (1852–1940), one of the founders of Grantham Museum, wrote :
“In a field on Sawcliffe Farm, in the parish of Roxby-cum-Risby, North Lincolnshire, there is a deposit of uncommon character and singular beauty. It is particularly interesting to the lover of natural objects. Locally it is known as the “Sunken Church”. An ancient tradition informs us that it was a church attached to one of the monasteries, and was buried by a landslip; or, according to Abraham de la Pryme, the Yorkshire antiquary, who visited it in 1696, the tradition is that the church sunk in the ground, with all the people in it, in the times of Popery.”
It would be more likely that the concept of a church is more ancient that the Christian interpretation and it is probably a record of pagan practices at the site. Indeed it is interesting that at the ‘head’ of the dragon is natural basin, akin to a bullaun often seen in Ireland associated with holy wells, which may suggest religious rituals happened there and indeed there is also a channel which runs down from the basin. One immediately thinks of libations which could be poured into lit which would flow down the dragon. Certainly, Harold Dudley in his 1931 The history and antiquities of the Scunthorpe and Frodingham district thought so
“Standing within a short distance of a notable prehistoric settlement, this isolated rock may well have been the object of heathen veneration and the scene of early worship.”
Ian Thompson in his 1999 Lincolnshire springs and wells that:
“It was even said that if you went to the place on the anniversary of its disappearance you would hear the bell ringing for Mass!”
What is interesting is that the site was never Christian, as a settlement it continued through the Roman period and possibly into Saxon times when it apparently disappeard. Thompson suggests that:
“The most likely explanation for the evacuation of the site c.700 A.D. is that it was too powerfully pagan. Most pagan sites could be ritually cleansed and their altars destroyed, but there was no way of destroying the dragon. Instead the spot seems to have been shunned, at first perhaps with horror, and later no doubt as a place of ill-omen. It is easy to see how, in the aftermath of the Reformation, a legend associating the site with an old and distrusted religion might come to be re-interpreted in terms of ‘popery’, and its cultic centrepiece explained as a sunken `Romish’ church.”
Interesting, local landowner, Lady Winifride Elwes, a noted Catholic, decided when she built the cottages nearby in 1912 chose the name Dragonby in honour of the dragon when the area was resettled for iron working. Sadly, the days of the dragon are numbered as Ian Thompson records:
“Dragonby subsequently acquired a drift-mine and water had to be pumped from the area in massive quantities to keep the galleries dry. Mining operations ceased in 1981 but pumping continues for health and safety reasons and the spring no longer flows. Some indication of the drastic effects of water extraction can be gauged from the existence, 50 yards downhill, of a large depression in the landscape. It used to be a brimming pond.”
This has obviously dried up the spring and those made it more vulnerable, he adds:
“I have been paying friendly visits to the dragon for most of my life and am sad to see, each time I come, some further deterioration in his shape and texture. No doubt acid rain and chemical vapour are the chief culprits for 40 years ago he was still in a good state of preservation, looking much as he must have looked when a group of Iron Age migrants first viewed him with awe, and decided to adopt him as their tribal god.”
Despite what Ian Thompson states the site is still a remarkable and unique one and deserves to be better known.
A May day blessing – dressing and blessing St John’s Well, Harpham, Yorkshire
This blog post was originally posted in Traditionalcustomsandceremonies.wordpress.com
“In days of old in country ways, In Yorkshire woods, John sang they praise. Each year on the springtime wold, he saw the primroses unfold, the bleating lambs, the breaking sea. God gift to man eternally. Mist-laden nights, the shepherd’s crook, he left for cloister and for book, Through psalm and vigil, fast and prayer he grew in soul and found the three. But as he served n land of Kent. His winging thoughts still northernly.”
St John of Beverley’s anthem
It is a quiet village. Bypassed by a major room which brings excited tourists from York to Bridlington. Harpham lies to the south perhaps sleeping, except on the Thursday nearest the 7th May when the village and nearby town Beverley celebrate the village’s famous son, Saint John of Beverley. Indeed apart from the fine pub named after the local landowners, it is the relics of the saint which draw people to the village – the fine church and down a lane his old holy well. Although the well is one of two ancient ones in the village, itself unusual, this one is dedicated to the saint. Indeed it is claimed that the saint who was born in the village is said to have struck the ground with his staff and this spring arose
Well established tradition
Despite a claim that the visits to the well go back a 1000 years, the current custom dates back to the 2nd of May 1929, when the Minster at Beverley decided it was time to celebrate their own saint once encased in a fine shrine in that church, by visiting the place of his birth and paying homage to the spring. The date now moving to the Thursday nearest to the Saint’s feast day, the 7th of May. John born in Harpham in AD 640, would become an Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Hexham and York, being educated at St Hilda at Whitby and retiring back home at Beverley where he was buried and until the Reformation a fine shrine housed his relics. A number of posthumous miracles are associated with the saint in particular his ability to tame wild bulls brought into the church yard. As William of Malmesbury records in his Gesta Pontificum Anglorum:
“Savage bulls are brought up, tied fast, by strong men sweating profusely; but as soon as they enter the churchyard they lose all their ferocity and become, you might suppose, no more than innocent sheep. So they are untied and left to frolic in the yard, though previously they used to go for anything in their way with horns and hooves.”
Well dressed
St John’s Well, the very one said to have been made by his staff is the focus of the ceremony held on this evening. In the nineteenth century the spring was enclosed in its current stonework and surrounded by a circle of railings. During the afternoon St John’s Well is dressed. However, this is not one of those Derbyshire well dressings made of clay and petals, it is sometime for simpler but just as impressive and pleasing to the eye. Around the base of this well are placed primroses and on top of the railings
Blooming Hawthorn crowns the top of the railings, beneath the hawthorn, are three wreaths of mixed seasonal foliage and flowers mainly rosemary, gorse and forget-me-not on each side with another just above the small opening. In other years ivy and adorned with a cross and garlands of tulips and daffodils had been used but the year I went the simple adornment was most effective in the evening sunshine. Similarly in previous years had meant only a slight representation of primroses making the well dressing a little lacking in impact. The year I went it was a glorious attempt. Primroses were still a little short in number in May and so much of the yellow was provided by mimulus.
Well remembered
Inside the church people were gathering excitedly. Dark clouds had threatened all day but as soon as the choir appeared from the church the sun started to shine. This choir which come from Beverley Minster, consisted of 27 men and boys of all ages enthusiastically were gathered beneath the church tower. They were running hither and thither; it looked like getting them to be in an orderly row would be difficult – but the choir master called out and they arranged themselves ready to go. The crucifer appeared and clutching their hymnals they were off through the churchyard down the lane to the church and then across the main road. Unlike similar processions there were no police in their bright jackets obscuring the spectacle. No cars appeared in the time they processed, it is an obscure village after all or was it the miracle of John taming the bullish motorcar. Behind the choir were the rest of the congregation which was added to as the procession went as curious onlookers, photographers and locals who had not managed to get to the church joined in.
In such a small village such a procession was quite a spectacle: with its crucifer holding their cross up high and proud, snaking down the lanes to the well, with the white tunics of the choir shining in the evening sunshine.
Soon the choir reached St. John’s Well and they arranged themselves on the bank opposite and opened their hymnals ready to sing. The rest of the congregation arrived at the well and a silence descended as they prepared. Previous years one of the congregation, a young boy or girl, stooped down and placed a small pot of primroses at the base of the well to add to the others. As the well was fully decorated perhaps this was missed. Once the congregation was in position, appropriately the vicar started with John 7:
“Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”
The followed the Collect for St John of Beverley
Afterwards the choir sang St. John of Beverley’s Anthem:
“In days of old in country ways, In Yorkshire woods, John sang they praise. Each year on the springtime wold, he saw the primroses unfold, the bleating lambs, the breaking sea. God gift to man eternally.
Mist-laden nights, the shepherd’s crook, he left for cloister and for book, Through psalm and vigil, fast and prayer he grew in soul and found the three. But as he served in land of Kent. His winging thoughts still northernly.”
It was a short but evocative ceremony remembering this local Anglo-Saxon saint and the gift he gave to the village…once they had done their service they turned around and processed back to the church were a sung eucharist uplifted the spirits more. A delightful event which is nearing is 100 years and long may it be celebrated.
holyandhealingwells 