Hi Byron, good to have you on the list. There is a
surprisingly large amount of literature on holy wells if
one is prpeared to look hard for it. I would recommend most
of what has been written for one reason or another, but it
really depends on what you are interested in knowing, what
your slant on holy wells is.
Rattue's 'Living Stream' is an excellent historical study.
Logan's book on Irish wells is fascinating for the well
cult in Ireland, especially descriptions of the 'pattern
days'. Broadhurst's 'Secret Shrines' is a fascinating look
at the wells of Cornwall. Quinn's book on the wells of the
Bristol and Bath region should imo stand as a model for
such regional guides. For Cumbria take a look at
Taylor-Pages book on the region. All of these are still in
print.
In addition there are a number of out-of-print tomes well
worth tracking down such as the Bord's 'Sacred Waters' for
the gazetteer and folklore. The Morris' book on Scottish
wells is a fascinating read if you are interested in the
region. For Yorkshire wells Edna Whelan is the name to look
out for but i believe a list member is about to bring out a
new tome on the region which sounds very promising indeed.
A very old book on the wells of Gloucestershire was written
by a chap with the splendid surname of Skyring-Waters, it
may be found via the library system.
Take a look at Katy Jordan's well bibliography for details
of these
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~liskmj/wellsweb/wellsbib/wellsbibindex.htm
and others.
If you want a taster of what is out there then take a look
at the not-quite-complete-yet Source Online Archive at
http://www.bath.ac.uk/lispring/sourcearchive/front.htm and
the Living Spring Journal at
http://www.bath.ac.uk/lispring/journal/front.htm
That should give you enough to be going on with :-)
Cheers,
Rich
On Tue, 21 Aug 2001 09:10:30 +0000 Byron Machin
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi my names Byron machin, i recently joined your list after coming on-line.
> I am very interested in the subject and have done quite a bit of local
> research, i was wondering if anybody could recomend any books on wells that
> are still available to buy, any help would be greatley apreciated, yours
> sincerley Byron Machin
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp
----------------------
Rich Pederick
[log in to unmask]
----------------------
Living Spring Journal - THE International Electronic
Forum for Research into Holy Wells & Waterlore
http://www.bath.ac.uk/lispring/journal/front.htm
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