On the distribution of holy wells in Britain and Ireland:
I have a suspicion that the apparent prevelance of `holy wells' in
the west of Britain and in Ireland is an artefact of later
historical processes. One of the tasks I perform as a contract
archaeologist is `desk-based assessments', which are searches of
historical maps and documents looking for potential archaeological
sites in advance of development. Although holy wells are seldom
referred to in modern (post 1750) lore and on modern maps in eastern
Britain, it is not uncommon to find a reference to one in a study
area.
It is my impression (and only an impression, as I have made no
attempt to actually study this issue) that such references begin to
become less common in eastern Britain after the dissolution of the
monastaries (1536-40), and much less common after the civil war
(1640-46). I am less familiar with the situation in Western Britain
(and completely unfamiliar with Ireland on this matter), but there
is certainly a lot more modern acknowledgement of holy wells and
springs in Wales and Scotland, and in at least some places they
appear to remain in use to this day.
I would suggest that any study of the distribution of holy wells and
springs in Britain would have to take this into account, and I
suspect that a truly detailed study would find that holy wells and
springs were once distributed quite densely over the landscape.
Indeed, I would be surprised if most people in Roman Britain were
more than a day's walk from such a site. A few springs and wells
developed a large following (eg. Bath), mainly through aristocratic or
military patronage, but the magic associated with holy springs and
wells is the kind that matters most to local people: curing illness,
helping sick animals, acting on love matters, and cursing your
enemies. Unfortunately, they tended not to leave nice durable stone
inscriptions like the military and aristocracy did, and thus are much
less visible archaeologically.
Ron
Dr. Ronald A. Ross
Archaeological Research Consultancy of the
University of Sheffield (ARCUS)
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