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Posted:
May 1, 2000
Previously un-recorded well in north Cornwall restored
A well at the tiny hamlet of Coxford,
near Crackington Haven, in the north of Cornwall has recently been restored. The well has
not been previously recorded, but it's proximity to St Tremayne Chapel may indicate its
antiquity and dedication.
A tree had caused the
well-house to collapse and the site had deteriorated to such an extent that it could
hardly be recognised as a well at all. Funding from a Cornwall Landscape Project Grant
enabled Malcolm Ure of Capability Landscaping and local artist Jacky Allen to restore the
well to some semblance of its former glory. The offending tree was cut down and the roots
dug out. Silt and debris was removed from the site, and local stone and slate used to
rebuild the well. Jacky Allen carved the slogan 'Rest and be Thankful' into a
piece of slate on the back of a seat built alongside the well-house. Native wildflowers
were planted on the bank.
[Thanks to Meyn Mamvro, 41,
p.4]
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Posted: May 1,
2000
Worked flint fragments found scattered
around St Helen's Well, Barnburgh, Yorkshire
Fieldwalking and
resistivity surveys of the area around the Mediaeval St Helen's Chapel near Barnburgh in
South Yorkshire have possibly posed more questions than they have answered. Resisivity
surveys have shown that the chapel was once enclosed in a bank of unknown antiquity.
However, fieldwalkers have found a number of pieces of Mediaeval and Roman pottery
scattered around the chapel which lies next to a Roman road. Interestingly, some 34
fragments of worked flint were found scattered in the area, about half of which were in
the location of the neglected St Helen's Well, the water from which was renowned for it's
medicinal properties.
The evidence points to a
healing well site with a long and seemingly continuous history of activity, from
prehistory through the Roman era to Mediaeval times. It would thus appear that this site
held some particular significance even before the Church sanctified the area. The question
is, was the water from this well considered to have healing properties before the Church
Christianised the site? Or did the association appear after the church was built?
[Thanks to Northern Earth, 80,
p.12]
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| Posted: May 1, 2000 Warnings that aquifers beneath Britain's major cities are
contaminated with industrial effluents
According to David Learner from the
University of Sheffield 'virtually every underground well under Britain's big cities is
contaminated with noxious chemicals and sewage'. This conclusion was drawn from studies of
aquifers below Birmingham and Coventry which found that the majority contain
chlorinated hydrocarbons. Such chemicals are used in the dry cleaning, car manufacture and
electronics industries, amongst others, and are not only toxic but highly persistent in
the environment, often taking many decades to diminish naturally. Professor Learner was
speaking at a conference organised by the British Association for the Advancement of
Science in September 1999.
[Thanks to The Times, 15/09/1999]
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| Posted: May 1, 2000 Our Lady Well, Stirling disappears beneath new supermarket
A letter to Northern Earth
has revealed that yet another named well has disappeared. Norman Darwen located the site
of Our Lady Well, Stirling, and identified it as the 'Whisky Well' marked on a map from
1896 (see Darwen, N. (1993). Northern Earth, 54, p.6-8). In that
article he remarked on its poor state of repair and expressed concern about its future. He
has now discovered that the area has been bulldozed to make way for a new Sainsbury
supermarket.
[Thanks to Northern Earth, 79,
p.27]
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Posted: May 1,
2000
New well discovered near Padstow, Cornwall
Meyn Mamvro
reports that a holy well presumably dedicated to St George (SW 918 765) has recently been
discovered near Padstow in Cornwall. A freshwater stream which flows in to the sea at St
George's Cove just north of the town, opens out to form a pool. Steps lead down to the
pool which is surrounded by trees.
Padstow is the supposed
landing place of St Petroc, the patron saint of Cornwall, when he journeyed from Ireland
in the sixth century CE. Across the estuary from the well is Brea Hill which, not unlike
other hills in Cornwall and beyond, is crowned by a prehistoric cairn. Brea is possibly
derived from the Cornish for 'breast'. This has led Cheryl Straffon to suggest this as
another example of a Goddess landscape later Christianised with the name of a saint
[Thanks to Meyn Mamvro, 41,
p.5]
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| Posted: May 1, 2000 Sancreed well access issue still unresolved
Visitors to the beautiful village of
Sancreed in the West Penwith area of Cornwall may be left confused as to how to reach the
well. It seems that certain local residents wish to close the current footpath leading
from the church, and divert visitors across their land from opposite the church hall. The
Ramblers Association are not happy with this arrangement and wish to make the current
path, which they describe as 'the historic church path from the church to the well', the
definitive one. There is however a new permissive path to the well from the north west,
but it still awaits signposting.
[Thanks to Meyn Mamvro, 41, p.11]
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| Posted: May 1, 2000 Concern over St Nectan's Kieve, Cornwall
More troubling news from Cornwall. Parts of
Rocky Valley near Tintagel have fallen into private hands who are believed to have 'big
ideas about developing the site'. Rumour has it that visitors will be charged to see the
mazes and subjected to yet another Arthurian Gyfte Shoppe!!
The valley which includes celebrated
maze carvings and St Nectan's Kieve, was described as 'one of... the most strangely
beautiful places in Cornwall' by Paul Broadhurst and a 'place of much ancient legend and
elemental power' by Cheryl Straffon. The Kieve contains St Nectan's waterfall which
features in Maclise's 'Girl at the Waterfall', now hanging in London's Victoria and Albert
Museum. The sixth century Welsh martyr St Nectan is said to have lived as a hermit above
the falls until his premature death at the hands of thieves. At the top of the valley lies
St Piran's (or St Perran's) well, beside a Mediaeval pilgrims route to St Nectan's
hermitage. Truly a sacred site that must be preserved from capitalist vandalism.
[Thanks to Meyn Mamvro, 41, p.11]
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| Posted: May 1, 2000 Is the Virgin Mary buried on Anglesey?
'Years of investigation' have led
historian Graham Phillips to the conclusion that the Virgin Mary is buried on the island
of Anglesey, North Wales. According to Mr Phillips, Mary accompanied Joseph of Arimathea
on his now famous trip to Glastonbury in Somerset, and was later buried by him at the
church of St Mary the Virgin in the parish of Llanerchymedd.
Mr Phillips' research, detailed in his
new book The Marian Conspiracy, draws on the Bible and the writings of
St Augustine. In a letter to Pope Gregory the Great in 597CE, St Augustine claimed to have
found Mary's tomb in a church off the west coast of Britain. Mr Phillips goes further by
claiming that Mary's remains were removed from the church and reburied beside the nearby
well when the island was under attack by the Vikings in the tenth century. His theories
have been criticised by both the vicar of St Mary the Virgin and by Dr Trystan Hughes from
the University of Wales, Bangor, an expert in Roman Catholicism. Dr Hughes described the
theory as being 'very tenuous'.
[Thanks to The Independent, 16/04/2000, p.13] |
