Tag: sacred sites

Slaughter’s Well, Lechlade-on Thames, Gloucestershire

megalithix

Healing Well (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – SU 215 995

Archaeology & History

Not listed in the field-name surveys of the town, the name Slaughter Well was obviously a folk-name given to it by local people.  The place was mentioned in an unpublished manuscript that Adin Williams’ (1888) managed to lay his hands on, where it was mentioned in relation to the missing pyramidal Market Cross.  Its waters were “said to be medicinal.”  The name of the well was said to derive from a battle here between Oliver Cromwell’s men and the Royalists.  At this place,

“an officer was shot, and this incident gave the name ‘Slaughter’ to the well.”

References:

  1. Williams, Adin, Lechlade: Being the History of the Town, Manor and Estates, The Priory and the Church, E.W. Savory: Cirencester 1888.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

High Cross, Elkstone, Gloucestershire

megalithix

Cross (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – SO 9674 1321

Archaeology & History

High Cross on 1883 map

First shown on a 1775 map of the region, this long-lost site is preserved in several place-names near the old crossroads a half-mile north of Elkstone village.  It is mentioned, albeit briefly in Charles Pooley (1868) county survey, where he told that, “in former times a very handsome and lofty High Cross stood in this parish.”  However, there’s the possibility that the name ‘High’ cross may here derive simply from a cross located at a high point in the landscape.

An old ‘Guide Post’ marked on the early Ordnance Survey map at the same spot has been suggested by Danny Sullivan—and not without good reason—to be a prehistoric standing stone.  He may be right.

References:

  1. Pooley, Charles, Notes on the Old Crosses of Gloucestershire, Longmans Green: London 1868.
  2. Sullivan, D.P., Old Stones of the Cotswolds and the Forest of Dean, Reardon: Cheltenham 1999.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Churchyard Cross, St Briavel’s, Gloucestershire

megalithix

Cross (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – SO 559 047

Archaeology & History

At the church of St. Mary at the northern end of the village, Charles Pooley’s (1868) county survey told that,

“There was formerly a Cross in the churchyard near the south porch, but it was removed in the year 1830, when the new tower was built.”

It would seem there is no longer any trace of the monument.

References:

  1. Pooley, Charles, Notes on the Old Crosses of Gloucestershire, Longmans Green: London 1868.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Market Cross, Lechlade, Gloucestershire

megalithix

Cross (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – SU 214 995

Archaeology & History

In days of olde, Charles Pooley (1868) told us that “an old cross formerly stood in the Market-place” in the centre of the town where the old crossroads meet—as was customary for crosses and maypoles—just outside the church of St. Lawrence.  Pyramidal in form, it was mentioned in an old manuscript cited by Adin Williams (1888), which told us,

“Leland saith that in his days there was a Piramid of Stone at ye west end of ye Church, whose foundations are to be seen near Slaughter’s Well, which is said to be medicinal water.”

And although we don’t know when the cross was erected, we know when it was destroyed.  Williams again tells us:

“About 1770, Sir Jacob Wheate pulled down this cross.  He is said to have taken the stones to the house he was building.”

References:

  1. Pooley, Charles, Notes on the Old Crosses of Gloucestershire, Longmans Green: London 1868.
  2. Williams, Adin, Lechlade: Being the History of the Town, Manor and Estates, The Priory and the Church, E.W. Savory: Cirencester 1888.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Village Cross, Deerhurst, Gloucestershire

megalithix

Cross (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – SO 870 299

Archaeology & History

In Charles Pooley’s (1868) definitive account of Gloucestershire county crosses, he informs us that,

“there was formerly a Cross erected in this village, but it has long since disappeared.”

He gives no further information about its history, but we must surmise that it was either associated with the ancient priory on the north side of the village, or in the traditional place at the centre of the the village. The grid-reference cited places the lost cross in the grounds of the priory.

References:

  1. Pooley, Charles, Notes on the Old Crosses of Gloucestershire, Longmans Green: London 1868.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Churchyard Cross, Lower Dowdeswell, Gloucestershire

megalithix

Cross (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – SP 001 199

Archaeology & History

In Charles Pooley’s (1868) definitive history on the county crosses, this monument is mentioned in passing without any known history, apart form it been destroyed sometime in the early 19th century:

“A cross formerly stood in the churchyard, but it has been removed within living memory.”

References:

  1. Pooley, Charles, Notes on the Old Crosses of Gloucestershire, Longmans Green: London 1868.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Village Cross, Powerstock, Dorset

megalithix

Cross (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – SY 5167 9622

Archaeology & History

This old cross was almost lost to history, but thanks to personal notes written by one John Banger Russell in 1780, we’ve been left with a description of the monument, which Alfred Pope (1906) published in his survey:

“In the middle of this parish are the remains of a large cross, which has been much injured by time.  The shaft, which seems to have been of considerable height, has been taken down, tho’ the base or pediment still continues in its proper place.  The ascent was by four steps but the whole is very ruinous.”

Nearly a hundred years later in the hugely updated magnum opus of John Hutchins (1863), the site had long gone:

“A mutilated cross which stood in the centre of the village at the beginning of the present century, has since been destroyed.”

References:

  1. Hutchins, John, The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset – volume 2, Bowyer & Nichols: London (3rd edition) 1863.
  2. Pope, Alfred, The Old Stone Crosses of Dorset, Chiswick Press: London 1906.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Wester Glentarken (2), St Fillans, Comrie, Perthshire

megalithix

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NN 66431 24782

Getting Here

Singe cup-mark, near the middle of the stone

Follow the same directions as if you’re visiting the Wester Glentarken (1) carving, but some 10-15 yards before reaching it, you’ll notice this smaller rock with a series of curious naturally-eroded features on it.

Archaeology & History

This rounded stone has a series of natural deep cracks and undulating geological features on its surface, some of which look like elongated man-made cup-marks—but they’re not!  The only man-made ingredient on this stone is the deep single cup-mark close to the centre of the stone, as you can see in the photo.  That’s it—nowt else!

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Wester Glentarken (1), St Fillans, Comrie, Perthshire

megalithix

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NN 66412 24783

Getting Here

Cupmarked stone in situ

1½ miles out of St Fillans on the A85 road to Lochearnhead you’ll reach the boating marina by the lochside.  A hundred yards or so past this, park up.  Cross the road and walk 50 yards to your right then follow the dirt-track up into the trees.  After ⅓-Mile (0.5km) turn left to the old house on your left and follow the green path around it, then around the right-side of the rocky knoll in front of you.  Once you’re on the level ground around the knoll, walk forward for less than 100 yards.  Y’ can’t really miss it!

Archaeology & History

4 of the 5 main cups

A simple design, but a clear one, of four deep cup-marks which can be seen on the eastern side of the stone, with a solitary one—much more faint—just over the rise on the more western section of the rock.

There are a number of other large sections of rock around the knoll with what appear to be cup-markings of various forms, but apart from perhaps one or two exceptions, the vast majority of them—as Currie (2005) also noted—seem to be natural.

References:

  1. Currie, George, “Wester Glentarken, Perth and Kinross (Comrie parish), cup-marked rocks,” in Discovery & Excavation Scotland, vol. 6, 2005.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

The Cross, Gussage All Saints, Dorset

megalithix

Cross (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – ST 999 108

Archaeology & History

In days of olde an old stone cross used to stand “at the crossroads just outside the churchyard,” wrote Alfred Pope (1906); but even in his day he told that “the cross has long since disappeared.”  He continued:

“The Rev A.S.B. Freer, vicar, informs the writer that the site is still known as ‘The Cross’, and is never called by any other name by the villagers.”

The church in the village is dedicated to All Saints, whose festival date was known in older times to be the pre-christian New Year’s Eve, or Halloween, when the spirits of the dead move across the landscape.

References:

  1. Pope, Alfred, The Old Stone Crosses of Dorset, Chiswick Press: London 1906.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian