On Fri, 13 Nov 1998, Ingegerd Holand wrote:
> Dear List,
> I am a new member, a Norwegian (female) archaeologist, living in England,
> and with a special interest in the interface between religion and
> archaeology.
> I was wondering whether your holy wells and springs are generally considered
> as being sacred already in pre-Christian times, or whether there are any
> definite examples of this status being added only in Christian times?
Ingegerd,
I think it's fair to say that there's plenty of speculation about springs
being sacred in pre-Christian times, and the popular thinking is that many
were christianised by the early church. This may be true - and
demonstrably is so in some cases - but I bet a lot of the holy wells we
have were added only in Christian times too. The problem is finding any
evidence either way - someone (how about you) ;-) - needs to do a
systematic trawl of reports of excavations at springs to see what the
finds indicate.
The problem is of course that many of the more traditional offerings decay
(rags, wood) so there may be no evidence from some periods left to find.
I also would recommend James Rattue's book. Although I am not always
convinced by what he writes, and certainly some of the factual information
he gives is wrong (e.g. in the list of wells at the end: Boxwell is in
Glos, not Wilts, and I think he is actually referring to Box!), it is a
very useful study and there's a lot of food for thought there.
Katy
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