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At 11:27 AM 6/24/99 -0400, you wrote: (concerning the cursing well at Ffynnon Elian) > I guess this proceeds from the notion that if you neglect a well, >its power decreases or goes dormant? This also sounds like continuing faith >in the efficacy of wells, positive or negative. I think what the locals would *say* is that they don't want the well to have the publicity which a restoration would bring. The owner's idea was for a major restoration scheme partly funded by the Sacred Land Project (from whom I first heard about it), which would have meant media attention &c. But there is also the aspect that the well was still being used for cursing in the late 19th century so there may still be people about whose relatives suffered from being cursed there. > > Are there any landmarks that customarily accompany a well site in >Wales? For example, in Ireland there's often a very large or prominent tree >of some sort and either a hill or a standing stone. The three items--well, >stone/hill, and tree--seem to have formed a ritual complex in those cases. > > Francine > > My friend Chris Buckley is working on correlations with trees. I would like to think there was something - FfynnonnElian is surrounded by ash trees, for instance - but trees do tend to grow by wells anyway. Maddy %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%