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I have some notes on St Modwena's well somewhere. I'll search them out and e-mail them on. Regards Ross Incidently anyone in the Notts - Lincs- Derby area. There is a lecture on the 10th Decemeber at 7.30 about HolyWells I don't know the person doing it personally but it may be a way of Midlands Wellies of getting together. Ross >From: Bob Trubshaw <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: [log in to unmask] >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: Holy Wells or Holy Springs >Date: Sat, 4 Dec 1999 10:43:30 +0000 > >At 19:02 03/12/99 -0000, you wrote: > >Yes, I think St Modwen's Well at Burton-on-Trent may have had something >to > >do with the brewing industry, but Staffordshire isn't my county and I > >haven't looked at it so far. Can anyone help? There was certainly a >large, > >important abbey at Burton. > >St Mordwen's Well is not associated with the post-medieaval brewing at >Burton. However the brewing industry at Burton grew because of the large >number of wells (none to my knowledge known to be regarded as 'holy' at any >time) ideally suited for supplying the water needed for brewing. > >The growth of the huge brewing industry at Burton is a result of the >location on the River Trent which enabled cost-effective export of beer to >the British Empire once a long 'shelf-life' bottled beer (India Pale Ale) >had been developed sometime in the later 19th century (before this botled >beers had a short shelf life and would have been 'off' long before they got >to India or wherever). > > > > > >----- Original Message ----- > >From: David Nicholas Harley <[log in to unmask]> > >To: <[log in to unmask]> > >Sent: 03 December 1999 16:37 > >Subject: Re: Holy Wells or Holy Springs > > > > > >> A further thought: I would be perfectly prepared to accept the > >possibility > >> of some mediaeval wells not being dedicated, in domestic situations for > >> example, but in what sense would they then be regarded as holy? It >would > >> also be interesting to know if the high quality water sources >associated > >> with some of the early commercial brewers had had religious >associations. > >What modern (19/20th centruy) writers intend/mean by 'holy well' is >probably >quite different from, say, what people 1000+ years ago intended/meant by OE >'halig welle', which is probably quite different from, say pre-Reformation >ideas of 'holy wells', which will be quite different from, say, >post-Restoration 17/18th century ideas. ( Karen Jolly's book on 'Popular >religion in late Saxon England' [University of North Caroline Press 1996] >is >perhaps the best starting point for revealing just how different religious >attitudes of that time are from modern 'assumptions'. Ron Hutton's books >such as 'The rise and fall of merry England - the ritual year 1400-1700' >[OUP 1995] deal with the radical transformation of popular English >religious >beliefs in the 17th century, although neither Jolly or Hutton have much to >say specifically about holy wells.) > >Specific wells were clearly regarded in some way as 'special' (perhaps for >no better reason than such 'functionalist' reasons as being the most >reliable source of clean water - think how often 19th century folklorists >record that 'such-and-such holy well never dries up in the driest summer'. >Given the serious problems for humans and livestock if a village lost all >sources of water in a hot summer, I for one would feel inclined to venerate >a source of water that proved to be reliable!) > >However, the answer to questions such as ' in what sense would they then be >regarded as holy?' is that there would be *many* senses in which they were >regarded as 'holy' as such ideas would evolve over time (often quite >rapidly >i.e. over just a few generations, even more so if major events such as the >Reformation and English Civil Wars arose). Equally, ideas would have a >great geographical variation (think how Irish attitudes to holy wells >differ >from English attitudes in the present day!). And at any one time and place >there may have been significant 'variation' in attitudes between >individuals >(modern day 'pluralism' is not exclusive to the modern day!). > >David Harley's question is valid if the word 'sense' is changed to 'senses' >- and one accepts that they will be a rich profusion of answers to the >question. A however a 'true for all people at all times and all places' >answer is no more likely for holy wells as it would be, for instance, for >churches or churchyards. > >Bob > > > > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%