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
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|