Reaching for my trusty copy of francis Jones (I've cursed him in the past
for his muddled work on landscape and settlement in the St David's
peninsula but *Holy Wells of Wales* is a fine piece of analysis of folk
custom) ---
No correlation that I can see from the sites I can identify. The most
famous cursing well at Ffynnon Elian near Colwyn Bay is in a small valley:
we visited it last summer. Most of the sites quoted by Jones were
dual-function, and Ffynnon Elian itself had been a healing well before it
acquired the cursing function. The present owner is trying to restore it
and have it reconsecrated to return to its original focus, but there has
been considerable local hostility to the idea of doing anything to it at
all because of the fear that it might again become a cursing well. (This is
why I haven't put anything about it on Katy's website!)
Maddy
At 11:20 AM 6/22/99 -0400, you wrote:
>> Does anyone know whether there's a correlation between location and
>> purpose with wells? For example, I've heard of a Welsh cursing well
>> located high on a hill while the local "holy" well was deep in the valley.
>> Is this a regular pattern?
>>
>> Francine Nicholson
>>
>
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|