Ref: Nicholas Steven & Janet Kaiser's messages.
Long-standing well-enthusiasts will remember that back in the days of
the original 'Source' journal it was the issue of restoring wells that
got pushed to one side simply because it is so difficult to organise.
The title of the parent organisation of 'Source' was always supposed to
be the 'Holy Wells Research & Preservation Group' but it was the
'Preservation' bit that never got off the ground. That didn't stop small
groups of people taking it upon themselves to tidy up the odd site,
which still happens and is probably the only way to organise it, though
it would be wonderful to have some group that could provide advice on
planning law etc. - or even money ...
On the involvement of the Church, obviously the Churches do have a
degree of interest in ancient sacred sites, but as a Christian myself I
can understand if this is not uppermost in their minds! In a time of
declining membership and increasing costs, the Church of England, at any
rate, has little enough cash to support its core work, including
maintaining a network of ancient churches repairs on which aren't even
VAT-reduced. I certainly wouldn't agree that the Church is trying to
'play down' the significance of holy wells although I can see why the
Evangelical wing might be suspicious if they even realised what they
were all about. Most of the clergy I have ever spoken to about wells are
interested but just have too much else to do. The days of the gentleman
parson with the time, and often the means, to restore wells, like Sabine
Baring-Gould and the others, are long past.
That being said, there are still instances where the Churches are
involved in well-restorations. The two most active holy wells in the UK,
after all, are the Roman Catholic well of St Winifred at Holywell and
the Anglican Holy Well at Walsingham. There's also a case in South Wales
(Llanfair, I think, perhaps someone will correct my memory) where a
recently-established United Reform Church began annual pilgrimages to
the old holy well not far from the chapel. But the Church usually tries
to act as a support to efforts which come from the local community. For
instance, the restoration of St Margaret's Well at Broomfield in Kent a
few years ago was the result of enthusiasm from local people generally
rather than being initiated by the Church, although the Vicar later
decided to start a well-dressing ceremony on the Sunday closest to St
Margaret's Day, and as a result the well is kept up and looked after.
This fits in with a point Janet made. Many of the people with an
interest in wells are not likely to be Christians although in most cases
it is the Anglican Church which ends up being the organisation most
closely associated with them. In this case it makes more sense to work
through local community groups, parish councils and so forth. The
restoration of the Holy Well at Hazelbury Bryan last year, and of St
Catherine's Well in Coventry about ten years ago, were good examples of
real community effort. It's also important that the local community
takes responsibility for their wells, or restorations may not work at
all: it's no good a group of enthusiasts parachuting in from outside if
nobody cares for the well afterwards. I've occasionally tidied up the
odd well if it's been too distressingly disgusting to leave, but I've no
idea what has happened subsequently. For instance, the Spa well at
Cuddington in Bucks seems to have disappeared although it was restored
by 'Strange' in the mid-80s.
--
James Rattue
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