We cannot be certain how St Anne's Well at Buxton came to be so named but I
offer a piece from one of our books which gives some plausible(?) theory
"...However, it is not until 1521 that we see the name St Anne being used.
The name Anne was uncommon in England until King Richard II married Anne of
Bohemia in 1382. Anne, the apocryphal mother of the Virgin Mary was a cult
figure associated with miracles of healing in mediaeval England and the
observance of her feast was made obligatory throughout England, by Pope
Urban VI, in response to a petition, in that same year. King Richard II
may have been in Tideswell between September 1399 and February 1400 prior to
his death in Yorkshire and this has led to the suggestion that the Buxton
Well may have been named after his queen. An alternative, but less
plausible, account concerns the discovery of a statue of a Goddess by the
Cotterell family who came into possession of the land on which the chapel
and well stood in 1489. It is suggested that the statue was of the Roman
Goddess Arnemetia and the first four letters inscribed on it were misread as
Anne. Dr John Jones writing in 1572 was sceptical, however, he wrote;
...and as for Cotterellıs tale, or the vayne invencions about S. Anne found
in the well, or of the water set from flood Jordan, I reckon them not worthy
the recital. Therefore I will not detayne you with such tryfles...ı [21]
This may have been a tale, then, put out by the Cotterellıs to drum up
business, though we know there was an image of St Anne removed from the well
chapel in 1538...
>From Langham, Mike & Wells, Colin A History of the Baths at Buxton, Leek,
1997. p.15
Hope you find this of interest. The book is still available, a snip at
£7.95!
Mike Langham
----------
>From: "Janet Kaiser" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Patron Saint of Buxton?
>Date: Thu, Mar 16, 2000, 12:30 am
>
>Gordon,
>
>When was that? Do you have a date? Have you ever looked at who was behind
>developing Buxton Spa or some important building at that time? It could
>always have been the developers wife's or mother's name and the St. was
>added to infer status, venerability etc. Or who owned the land? Duke of
>Devonshire? Perhaps the Duchess at the time was Anne. Just a thought!
>
>Wasn't the increase in veneration of St. Anne one of the bi-products of the
>Counter Reformation?
>
>Janet Kaiser
>The Chapel of Art, Criccieth LL52 0EA, GB-Wales
>Home of The International Potters Path
>TEL: (01766) 523570
>WEB: http://www.the-coa.org.uk
>EMAIL: [log in to unmask]
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Gordon Thorburn <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: 15 March 2000 17:00
>Subject: Re: Hooray for Saint Callixtus !
>
>
>> From Gordon Thorburn
>> I like the idea of Saint Callixtus. What know ye of non-biblical St Anne,
>> mother of the VM, made patron saint (with nobody's permission) of the well
>> at Buxton?
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Alison Maloney <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: Wells and Spas newsgroup <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: 15 March 2000 13:56
>> Subject: Hooray for Saint Callixtus !
>>
>>
>> > The students are gone, the library is quiet, my feet have stopped aching
>> > & I muse with sympathy on the plight of my benighted colleagues who
>> > suffer a 10 week semester !! However, now that I have chance to breathe
>> > may I draw the attention of the list to the latest volume of the Papers
>> > of the British School at Rome, Vol. LXVII. New series Vol. LIV. 1999.
>> > Therein you will discover an article by Lesley Jessop entitled
>> > "Pictorial cycles of non-biblical saints : the seventh and
>> > eighth-century mural cycles in Rome and contexts for their use." Within
>> > said article lurks Saint Callixtus. Callixtus was bishop of Rome from
>> > 217-22 & was buried in the catacomb of Calepodius, his tomb was
>> > rediscovered in the mid-1960s. As Jessop points out there is nothing to
>> > suggest that Callixtus ever actually was martyred - but when did that
>> > ever stop a keen hagiographer, and his tomb was lavishly decorated with
>> > scenes of his torments. He had, apparently, irritated Emperor Severus
>> > Alexander (222-35) who got so fed up with the worthy bishop that he had
>> > him shoved down a well with a stone tied round his neck. The wall
>> > paintings in the tomb date from the eighth century & are sadly decayed,
>> > but fragmentary scenes (illustrated in the article, if you can get hold
>> > of a copy) show Callixtus being pushed into the well & the well with a
>> > pair of little hands, which Jessop thinks is the start of the pushing.
>> >
>> > Now my feeling is that anybody who was done to death down a well has to
>> > be odds -on favourite for election as patron saint of this news group.
>> > What think other list members ?
>> >
>> > Alison
>> >
>>
>>
>
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