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For a fictional "unholy well" see MR James' short story "Wailing
Well". It is, however, important to note that many of James'
(otherwise excellent, IMHO) ghost stories have as their premise a
dread of "Roman Catholic superstition" and its perceived "demonic"
effects. To that extent, it may be that wells that had been adopted in
the early christian period became suspect after the reformation as
places of idolatrous or cult worship unacceptable to the
fundementalists. It is significant that several early church councils
severely condemned the veneration of stones, trees and wells but some
authorities have questioned whether this was for all cases or only for
"unadopted" (pagan) sites.
It might be worth having a look at some placenames in "well" to see if
there are any that have no dedectable "holy" or "unholy" reference. I
am thinking, for instance of names like that of Sundaywell Farm,
Dunscore, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, where early forms of the name
suggest "sound-", the old English term for a watering hole where game
was known to gather (the farm takes its name from the Sunday Well, a
spring, on its hillside).
Regards,
Henry Gough-Cooper.
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