Holy Well (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – SE 6900 2841
Archaeology & History
Site shown on 1853 map
One of two holy wells in Barmby village which, like its compatriot St Peter’s Well, was destroyed sometime in the 19th century. Not good! It was located in the southwest section of the graveyard of St Helen’s Church and was apparently alive and running when the Ordnance Survey lads visited here in 1851 (as shown on their 1853 map). But when the site was revisited by them in 1905, it seems to have gone. However, as with the neighbouring St Peter’s Well, there are conflicting reports as to when it was destroyed, for although the Ordnance Survey lads spoke of it in the present tense when they went there, Thomas Allen (1831) told that “within the last six years (it has) been wantonly filled up.” Despite this, less than ten years later William White mentioned it in the present tense, also saying how it was “said to possess medicinal properties.” These healing qualities were, according to Allen, due to its iron-bearing or chalybeate nature, meaning that it would revive a weak and feeble constitution. Iron-bearing wells are damn good for such things!
As the years passed, St. Helen’s Well fell into folk memory. When William Smith (1923) surveyed the many holy wells in this part of the world he found how “old parishioners have said that as school-children they both drank of and washed in its water”, but little else.
References:
Allen, Thomas, A New and Complete History of the County of York – volume 2, I.T. Hinton: London 1831.
Gutch, E., Examples of Printed Folk-lore Concerning the East Riding of Yorkshire, Folk-Lore Society: London 1912.
Harte, Jeremy, English Holy Wells – volume 2, Heart of Albion press: Wymeswold 2008.
Smith, William, Ancient Springs and Streams of the East Riding of Yorkshire, A. Brown: Hull 1923.
White, William, History, Gazetteer and Directory of the East and North Ridings of Yorkshire, R. Leader: Sheffield 1840.
This holy well was one of two in the village of Barmby, neither of which seems to exist anymore — although, it has to be said, there are conflicting reports as to its demise from the word go. When it was first mentioned in Thomas Allen’s (1831) huge work on the history of Yorkshire he told us that,
“In this village are two extraordinary springs of sulphuric and chalybeate water, denominated St Peter’s and St Helen’s; the former possesses the rare virtue of curing scorbutic eruptions by external application. Both of these wells, within the last six years, have been wantonly filled up, and the site is only known to a few of the villagers.”
Their “extraordinary” waters however, were apparently found to be still flowing when the Ordnance Survey lads surveyed here in 1849, as they published it a few years later on the 1853 OS-map of the region, along with its nearby compatriot of St Helen.
Wet patch on 1907 mapSt Peters Well, Barmby 1853
Less than ten years earlier, Will White (1840) also spoke of St Peter’s Well, albeit briefly, telling that it “was said to possess medicinal properties”—but it seems that he never visited the site and was merely going on Mr Allen’s earlier description. Its exact whereabouts however, is somewhat of a curiosity. Although the Ordnance Survey lads mapped it as being SE 6885 2848 on the southwest side of the village, in William Smith’s (1923) survey of holy wells he gave us a very different location. “St Peter’s Well,” he wrote,
“is situated in an orchard about a hundred yards to the south-east of the church, and is reached by going through three fields. It is a pool about eight feet deep and fifteen in diameter, the spring now rising several yards from its original site. It flows clear and strong, and though attempts have been made to block it up, it always reappears. The water is soft and has never been known to freeze. It contains sulphur, as I can testify, having tasted the water. It is noted for curing scurvy and sore eyes, if applied externally, and half-a-century ago, people suffering from these ailments came long distances to apply the water as a remedy, and went away benefited. An eye-witness has said a man living far from Barmby, advised by his medical man, as a last resort visited the well and applied the water externally for the cure of scurvy, and so quickly did he lose the scales that fresh sheets for his bed were required each night…
“About a century ago, the owner of the orchard in which the well is situated had a son, a doctor, who commenced to practice in the district. The owner’s wife looked upon the spring as detrimental to the prospects of the son. So she said to her husband, “Tummus, we’ll hev that well filled oop. Foaks can cure thersens, an’ ther’ll be nowt fur poor Tummy ti dea.” Tummus was so convinced by his wife’s foresight that he did as she wished, and filled up the well.”
Naathen, on the very first OS-map of the village, the lads marked it at SE 6885 2848, as well as on subsequent surveys. This spot is 170 yards west of the village church wall. The location described by Smith has no “well” or spring marked on any maps, but, on the 25-inch scale map, 100 yards southeast of the the church walling we see marshland on the other side of a copse of trees in the very spot he told us about. Whether or not this was the actual spot, or whether the OS-lads had it right, we might never know. Field-name surveys may help; the existence and location of the orchard may help; other literary accounts might also be useful. But, one final query that may be important relates to Tom Allen’s (1831) words when he told us that “the site is only known to a few of the villagers.” By that, did he mean that the local folk kept its position quiet from outsiders? Even today, in our numerous inquiries with local people in the glens and mountains when seeking out lost or forgotten places, we still come across some olde local folk who are still quite hesitant, with that serious quizzical look in their eyes…
Folklore
St Peter’s day was celebrated on June 29. He was one of the so-called “major saints” due to him being one JC’s Apostles. His symbol was a key.
References:
Allen, Thomas, A New and Complete History of the County of York – volume 2, I.T. Hinton: London 1831.
Gutch, E., Examples of Printed Folk-lore Concerning the East Riding of Yorkshire, Folk-Lore Society: London 1912.
Harte, Jeremy, English Holy Wells – volume 2, Heart of Albion press: Wymeswold 2008.
Smith, William, Ancient Springs and Streams of the East Riding of Yorkshire, A. Brown: Hull 1923.
White, William, History, Gazetteer and Directory of the East and North Ridings of Yorkshire, R. Leader: Sheffield 1840.
In times gone by there was a singular St.Giles’ Well in the old village of Lightcliffe, but the only reference we have of it is from one of James Parker’s works (1904) where, in his description of St. Giles’ House, he tells, “It derives its name from an ancient well, called ‘St. Giles’ Well,’ which once existed near to the house, and was dedicated to St. Giles”: an 8th century Greek prince who left everything to become a hermit. He lived on wild herbs and developed the ability to cure rheumatism (perhaps a curative aspect of the well), cripples and help beggars. He is the patron saint of woodlands and his symbol is the arrow gained after he healed a wounded doe shot by one (the mass of Robin Hood folklore in this area may have something to do with this symbolism). His date is September 1.
A.H. Smith (1963) cites the “local tradition that it is named from a well dedicated to St. Giles,” but thinks this attribution to be an unlikely one. As can be seen on the accompanying map, a great number of wells are in this area, none of them named, with one just below the said Giles House.
References:
Parker, James, Illustrated History from Hipperholme to Tong, Percy Lund: Bradford 1904.
Smith, A.H., The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire – volume 3, Cambridge University Press 1961.
Acknowledgements:Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.
Standing Stone (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – NT 074 698
Archaeology & History
A few hundred yards west of the commemorative Wallace Stone monolith could once be seen a standing stone of considerable size. It was described by James Primrose (1898) in his description of the standing stones of the Strathbrock region; but even in his day, remains of it were fragmentary. He wrote:
“On Drumshoreland Moor, within the grounds of Pumpherston Oil Company, there is a stone, popularly styled Bucksides — its correct designation being Backsides — from its position at the backside of Pumpherston. This stone, a huge whinstone boulder about 12 feet long and 8 feet broad, was blasted in 1888, to make room for the site of a bench of retorts; a few fragments of the stone, however, yet remain by the roadside. The ancient name of this stone was Ballengeich — apparently the Gaelic for “the township towards the wind”, — as if a croft once stood here, near Pumpherston Mains, in an exposed and windy situation.”
A visit to the local history department of the local library might prove fruitful in giving us more information about this place—that’s assuming the filthy tory central government’s theft of taxpayer’s money doesn’t close it! (does that sound a bit harsh? 😁 )
Folklore
The same historian told of a “tradition…that round this stone in days gone by the Broxburn folks, along with their neighbours, used to assemble at Fair time, in the month of August, in order to witness their favourite sport of horse-racing; but whether there was any more ancient custom associated with it, we have never learned.”
References:
Primrose, James, Strathbrock; or, the History and Antiquities of the Parish of Uphall, Andrew Elliot: Edinburgh 1898.
Holy Well (lost): OS Grid reference – SW 3550 2626
Archaeology & History
The springs of Chapel Idne
Highlighted on the 1888 Ordnance Survey map of Sennen Cove are the remains of Chapel Idne, just above the coast. Across the road from the chapel on its south-side, and also next to an old inn to its immediate west, springs of water are shown and it would seem more than likely that one of these two would have been the forgotten holy well of Sennen that was described, albeit briefly, in the great Mr Blight’s (1861) literary tour of the area. He told us that:
“At Sennen Cove was an ancient chapel, called by the people Chapel Idne, the “narrow chapel” being forty-five feet long and fifteen feet wide. It is now converted into a dwelling. Tradition says it was founded by one Lord of Goonhilly, who possessed dome portion of the land of Lyonesse. There was a holy well of some repute here also.”
The waters of St. Sennen’s Well were used in an act of ceremonial magick in the Arthurian tale known as the Battle of Vellan-druchar, as told in Robert Hunt’s (1865) great Romances. An attempted invasion by the Danes was met with by Arthur and nine other kings and the foreigners were slaughtered.
“A few had been left in charge of the ships, and as soon as they learned the fate of their brethren, they hastened to escape, hoping to return to their own northern land. A holy woman, whose name has not been preserved to us, “brought home a west wind” by emptying the Holy Well against the hill, and sweeping the church from the door to the altar. Thus they were prevented from escaping, and were all thrown by the force of a storm and the currents either on the rocky shore, or on the sands, where they were left high and dry. It happened on the occasion of an extraordinary spring-tide, which was yet increased by the wind, so that the ships lay high up on the rocks, or on the sands; and for years the birds built their nests in the masts and rigging.
Thus perished the last army of Danes who dared to land upon our western shores.
King Arthur and the nine kings pledged each other in the holy water from St Sennen’s Well, they returned thanks for their victory in St Sennen’s Chapel, and dined that day on the Table-men.
Merlin, the prophet, was amongst the host, and the feast being ended, he was seized with the prophetic afflatus, and in the hearing of all the host proclaimed–
“The northmen wild once more shall land,
And leave their bones on Escol’s sand.
The soil of Vellan-Druchar’s plain
Again shall take a sanguine stain;
And o’er the mill-wheel roll a flood
Of Danish mix’d with Cornish blood.
When thus the vanquish’d find no tomb,
Expect the dreadful day of doom.”
References:
Blight, J.T., A Week at the Land’s End, Longmans Green: London 1861.
Hunt, Robert, Popular Romances of the West of England, 1865.
Straffon, Cheryl, “Chapel Idne and the Holy Well,” in Meym Mamvro no.34, 1997.
Weatherhill, Craig, “A Guide to Holy Wells and Celebrated Springs in West Penwith,” in Meym Mamvro no.4, 1997.
Acknowledgements: Big thanks for use of the early edition OS-map in this site profile, Reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.
You can take the same directions to get here is you follow the route for the Hawksworth Spring (01) carving, or take this alternative route. Take the standard road from Guiseley along Hawksworth Road. When you reach the first row of old houses in the village, a couple of hundred yards on you reach the village school and, shortly after the footpath is sign-posted. Walk left (downhill) through the field for half-a-mile until you reach the woods. 100 yards into the into the trees, walk to your right and follow the line of walling straight for 400 yards, then veering right up the slope and it then slowly bends round, keeping to the wallside all along. It then starts heading back downhill. As it does so, 10 yards from the wall into the woods you’ll see the broken triangular rock of the Hawksworth Spring (01) carving. Walk another 10 yards where the large holly bushes are and you’ll see the large sloping stone in front of you.
Archaeology & History
This carving is similar in nature to its companion 10 yards away, inasmuch as each of them possess two small arcs of cup-marks almost in the same format, very close together, one above the other near the top of the stone. It’s possible that the mythic nature/function of this particular element of arcs is the same on each stone—although fuck knows what it might be!
Clear line & faint line of arcsClear arc of cups
Below this double arc (only one of which is clearly visible in the photos) we see a scatter of other cup-marks—perhaps six, perhaps seven—one of which appears to have a very faint incomplete ring round it. When Liz Sykes and I visited the place, the light of day and the shadows across the rock didn’t help to convince us one way or the other, so we await news from other visitors who get better light conditions to tell us whether our hopeful eyes were deceiving us or not. There are a number of other marks on its surface, but these are much more recent and very obviously cut, or rather scratched, by metal artifacts with no bearing on the prehistoric design.
References:
Boughey, K.J.S. and Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock of the West Riding (Supplement), Shipley 2018.
Acknowledgements: Huge thanks to Liz Sykes for her renowned cleaning skills!
Holy Well (destroyed): OS Grid reference – SX 3285 8477
Archaeology & History
Site of well on 1884 map
Very little is known about this holy well on the north-western side of town that was apparently destroyed sometime in the 19th century; for when the Ordnance Survey lads visited here in 1882, they found no running water but only the location of where it had been and they indicated this on their 1884 map of the area, marked as “Site of.”
It was first mentioned in a short topographical notice in 1582, which told that the “Magden Well in the Quarrie Haye”—along with another well—was “found to be in decay.” (Peter 1885) Then, when the Ordnance Survey lads resurveyed the area again in 1951, once more they could find no trace of it.
References:
Peter, Richard, The Histories of Launceston and Dunheved, W. Brendon: Plymouth 1885.
Acknowledgements: Big thanks for use of the early edition OS-map in this site profile, Reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.
Highlighted on the 1882 OS-map several hundred yards north of St. Michael’s church, this site seems to have fallen back to Earth as no remains of it have been found in recent visits. It was described in Charles Henderson’s (1914) notes as the “holy well at Barton Farm”, and was visited by J. Meyrick (1982) in April of 1980, who told that it could be found by taking “the track immediately east of Lawhitton church which runs through the farm of Mr Lancaster… After going through the yard proceed ¼ mile down track to the valley where you reach a stream and the Well is on the right.” It was sought after by Cheryl Straffon (1998) but following her visit to find the Well she told that “there was nothing now to see except a kind of natural basin by the small bridge.”
References:
Henderson, Charles, Notebooks of Parochial Antiquities, Unpublished MS 1914.
Meyrick, J., A Pilgrims Guide to the Holy Wells of Cornwall, Falmouth 1982.
Straffon, Cheryl, Fentynyow Kernow: In Search of Cornwall’s Holy Wells, Meyn Mamvro: Penzance 1998.
Acknowledgements: Big thanks for use of the early edition OS-map in this site profile, Reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.
Cup-Marked Stone (lost): OS Grid reference – NN 8866 5320
Also Known as:
Sunday Well
Tobar an Donich
Archaeology & History
Tobairandonaich stone, c.1920
Located some 30 yards south of a holy well known (in English language) as the Sunday Well, this carving was rediscovered shortly before John Dixon (1922) wrote his survey of petroglyphs in the Strathtay region. It would seem to have been a large “portable” cup-marked stone that had been placed, face-downward, into an old doorstep at the stable at Easter Tobairandonaich and forgotten about, long long ago. Then, at the beginning of the 20th century when the people living here had to clear a drain beneath the stable, the stone was moved and the cup-markings were noticed. The carving was a pretty simplistic design, as you can see, which was described by Mr Dixon as follows:
“The stone…has nineteen cups all on the same face. The largest cup is 3¾ inches in diameter and 2 inches deep. The next largest has the same diameter, but is 1½ inch deep. Other five of the cups are very nearly the same size. The smallest cup is 1¾ inch in diameter and ½ inch deep, but weathering has effected much towards almost obliterating some of the smaller cups. The stone is of whinstone with slight veins of quartz. It is oval in form and varies in thickness from 2½ inches to 4 inches. Its greatest diameter is 3 feet 2 inches, and its least diameter 2 feet 8 inches.”
Tom MacLaren’s 1921 sketch
The stone would seem to have disappeared as no one has seen it for fifty years or more. It may (hopefully) be in one of the walls, or perhaps buried somewhere under the soil. Or maybe, tragically, some fuckwit has destroyed it. Twouldst be good to find out one way or the other. The photograph above, taken by Mr Dixon sometime around 1920, is the only thing that remains of the carving.
In this small part of Strathtay we are fortunate in finding a cluster of petroglyphs with folklore about them relating to our faerie and witch folk. Some larger man-made stone “bowls” in the area were also used as “praying stones.” I have little doubt that the people who originally used this carving as a doorstep were fully aware of the cup-marks—and I’d suggest that they even put it here on purpose, probably as a form of protection from the fairies who might have stolen or caused sickness to the horses.
References:
Dixon, John H., “Cup-Marked Stones in Strathtay, Perthshire,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 56, 1922.
Kennedy, James, Folklore and Reminiscences of Strathtay and Grandtully, Munro Press: Perth 1927.
Yellowlees, Walter, Cupmarked Stones in Strathtay, Scotland Magazine: Edinburgh 2004.
Holy Well (destroyed): OS Grid reference – TQ 3337 8245
Archaeology & History
Holywell Lane on 1877 map
First described at the beginning of the 12th century as “fons qui dicitur Haliwelle“, these sacred waters were thereafter described in a variety of documents before eventually, in 1382, giving its name to the road on which it was found. When the topographer John Stow (1603) described the well—along with those of St. Clement’s and Clerken Well—it was once “sweet, wholesome, and clear” and “frequented by scholars and youths of the city in the summer evenings.” However, in his day it was already in decline, as he told that the “Holy well is much decayed and spoiled, with filthiness purposely laid there, for the heightening of the ground for garden plots.”
The history of the site was mentioned in John Noorthouck’s (1773) survey, where he told us:
“In the parish are two prebends, and part of a third, belonging to St Paul’s cathedral, in the city of London: The first dominated by Eald-Street, or Old Street, received that appellation from the Saxons being part of the Roman military way: the second, which had been a separate village for many years, by the name of Hochestone, vulgarly Hoxton, likewise itself to be of a Saxon origin: the third called Haliwell, had its name from a vicinal fountain, which, for the salubrity of its water, had the epithet Holy conferred on it.
In King John’s Court, Holywell-lane, are to be found the ruins of the priory of St. John Baptist, of Benedictine nuns, founded by Robert the son of Gelranni, prependary of Haliwell, and confirmed by charter of Richard I in the year1189. It was rebuilt in the reign of Henry VII by Sir Thomas Lovell, knight of the garter; who was there buried: and the following ditty was in consequence painted in most of the windows.
“All the nuns of Holywell,
“Pray for the soul of Thomas Lovell.”
The complete demise of the well occurred in the early part of the 19th century and efforts to locate its original position have proved troublesome. Indeed, the modern Holywell Lane would seem to be little more than an approximation of its whereabouts. It was an issue explored at some length in the great A.S. Foord’s (1910) magnum opus, who wrote:
“In recent times efforts have been made to locate the well, and some of the results communicated to Notes and Queries. A Mr. R. Clark drew attention, through the medium of that publication, to an article in The Builder of September 19, 1896, which states that ”the ancient holy well should be looked for in the area between Bateman’s Row and New Inn Yard and behind the Board School in Curtain Road, that is to say, west of New Inn Street.” This is all very circumstantial, but the writer bases his statement on the survey by Peter Chassereau, taken in 1745, in which the supposed position of the well is marked by a cross and the words “Ye well from which the liberty derives its name.” It should be borne in mind however that, as pointed out by Colonel W. F. Prideaux, Chassereau did not make his survey till more than two hundred years had elapsed from the date of the dissolution of the Nunnery (1539); the position of the well could therefore have been only a matter of tradition. Another contributor to Notes and Queries (8th Series, May 22, 1897), quotes an article in the Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects (vol. iv., 3rd series, p. 237), by Mr. E. W. Hudson, who says that the well of the priory was situate on the south side of what is known as Bateman’s Row, but was formerly (before 1799) called Cash’s Alley, near Curtain Road. This agrees substantially with Mr. Clark’s statement. Mr. Lovegrove, writing in 1904, says: “The well itself is to be found in a marble-mason’s yard in Bateman’s Row, but is covered over.” The same writer notes that of the Nunnery buildings only a piece of stone wall about 50 feet long, in a timber yard at 186, High Street, Shoreditch, is now left.”
References:
Foord, Alfred Stanley, Springs, Streams and Spas of London: History and Association, T. Fisher Unwin: London 1910.
Gover, J.E.B., Mawer, Allen & Stenton, F.M., The Place-Names of Middlesex, Cambridge University Press 1942.
Lovegrove, G.H., “Holywell Priory, Shoreditch,” in Home Counties, volume 6, 1904.
Mills, A.D., A Dictionary of London Place-Names, Oxford University Press 2001.
Noorthouck, John, A New History of London, Including Westminster and Southwark, R. Baldwin: London 1773.
Stow, John, A Survey of London, John Windet: London 1603.
Sunderland, Septimus, Old London Spas, Baths and Wells, John Bale: London 1915.
Wood, Alexander, Ecclesiastical Antiquities of London, Burns & Oates: London 1874.
