History
HOLY WELLS Cindy Chant and John Drabik
W
hen our ancestors changed their habits from hunter-gatherers to farming and settling in small communities, wells, springs and rivers took on huge importance. Without a continuous supply of water, life would be very difficult, so great reverence was placed upon this important sustainer of life. Special places where fresh water gently emerged from Mother Earth were considered sacred and given names. They were venerated and worshipped and were often used for sacrifice and for healing rituals. In Roman times, wells and springs were dedicated to their gods and goddesses. Coins, and other votive objects, were sacrificed to the sacred waters to supplement prayers and requests – a custom which still exists today. Several Roman coins and offerings were found during excavations at the base of a well in Winterbourne Kingston. But why stop at coins? There is a legend that a golden table lies at the bottom of a well near the Iron Age hill fort known as Dungeon Hill near Buckland Newton and any recovery attempt will cause earth tremors in the vicinity. Another golden table is reputed to be submerged in a well, in the nearby hunting grounds of King John, at Ryme Intrinseca, although it is not clear why you should put a table into a well. With the coming of Christianity, wells were often 56 | Sherborne Times | October 2021
named after Saints, retaining and often increasing their curative properties. Dorset is rich with holy and healing wells and springs. Not far from St.Augustine’s Well (ref. August edition), near to the little church of St. Mary in Hermitage, there is a small bubbling spring called ‘Lady’s Well’. It is on the edge of some woodland on a hill, interestingly named on an old map as ‘Remedy Hill’. The well fills a small stone chamber and may have been first used by a long-forgotten hermit, and later in 1315, by a small community of Augustine Friars who lived in the priory they built nearby. There were many accounts of healing waters giving rise to miraculous cures and they soon became shrines and attracted pilgrims. There are ancient villages nearby with names such as Holwell, with its little chambered well behind the church, Hallwell in Hazelbury Bryan, has a recently discovered ancient well, and Holywell near Evershot, where a number of Bronze Age objects were found. Even our own settlement, Sherborne, was named after its source of water, Scir-Burn which means clear brook or stream. Further south at Morcombelake, there is a healing spring said to have been used by the 7th century Saxon Martyr, St. Wite (also known as St. Candida). She lived nearby in prayer and contemplation and was known to
