Kvidcnce for the veneration of water can be found back in prehistoric times. Stone circles and avenues were often located close to a water source, and ritual shafts or wells were dug during the Neolithic period and the Bronze Age. Objects found in these wells may have been offerings to the deity of the well, or of the underworld, into which the well was an entrance, d'he custom of throwing offerings into wells continued through Roman times, and in fact has never ceased - today people still respond to the impulse to throw coins into ‘wishing wells’. Water was of great importance in the Celtic religion, which was an outdoor religion, and in addition to their sacred groves of trees they had sacred rivers, streams, pools and springs. N’e have already mentioned the Celtic head cult (see Chapter 11), and this seems to have had some connection with sacred pools and springs, d'he Celts venerated the head as the source of all the attributes they most admired, and they brought home the heads of notable enemies so that these could be displayed to their visitors. I'hey also used carved heads as decorative devices, and they can be seen on all types of Celtic artefacts.
.Many Celtic traditions and beliefs never died out but were perpetuated in various ways down the succeeding centuries. .Among reminders of the head cult are the carvings of heads which decorate Christian churches, especially in Celtic areas, though for many centuries the carvers have been simply following a tradition without being aware of its gruesome origins. One good example of carved heads, the Clonfert cathedral doorway, was illustrated in Chapter 11. 'The lore and practices of holy wells also contain various reminders of the head cult. .At St Teilo’s Well, Llandeilo (Dyfed), the water had to be drunk from the skull of St Teilo, if a cure was to be effected. .A similar practice was followed at other wells, but so far as we know none of these skulls has survived to the present day, although that at St 'feilo’s Well was only lost in this century. Some wells were associated with decapitation stories, in that the water was said
The heart of St Winefride's Well at Ilolyuell (see ‘Places to Visit’) where the water swirls up strongly. Many pilgrims still visit this shrine seeking cures.
To have started to flow where a severed head fell. In Scotland, the decapitated heads of seven men, killed in revenge for murder, were washed in the water of a well, d'his event is now commemorated in the name of the well, d'he Well of the Heads (at Loch Oich, Inverness/Highland Region), and in a monument erected in 1812 which is topped by a hand holding a dirk and seven heads.
Water worship was also clearly an aspect of Roman religious practices. number of pagan temples were sited close to water, and sometimes special wells were constructed within the temple compound, d'he best-known example is Coventina’s Well at Carrawburgh (.Northumberland) which was only a few feet from the. Mithraeum described and illustrated in Chapter 10. When excavated the well was found to contain a great variety of objects - stone and bronze heads and a human skull (possible relics of a head cult), models of a horse and a dog, jewellery, pottery, and 14,000 coins (offerings?) and twenty-four altars. 'I'he altars were probably hidden in the well when danger threatened. They were in good condition and some were carved with water nymphs and goddesses. That some Roman wells were visited in order to cure illnesses is known from the evidence at Lydney (Gloucestershire) where the Temple of
Stone heads project from the eleventh - or twelfth-century font in Llanicrthwl church (Powys), an echo of the Celtic head cult and its association with water.
Nodens and associated buildings were used as a healing centre on quite a large scale. In addition to the temple, there were a square courtyard house, a suite of baths and a long building divided into cubicles, where patients may have spent the night in the hope of being visited by the god. There was also a healing centre at the famous Roman baths in Bath (Avon).
Water worship was still practised widely in Britain and Ireland when Christianity was first introduced, and it must have been evident to the missionaries and religious leaders that this and other pagan practices could not be easily eradicated. Far better, therefore, to adapt them to Christian usage, and this did indeed work very well in the case of the water cult. Many wells were used for Christian baptisms, and small chapels and baptisteries were built close by, these often being replaced later by larger churches. Today many churches still have holy wells near to them, and some are illustrated in ‘Places to Visit’. In some places the water from holy wells is still used for baptisms, being fetched to the church specially for this purpose. But although the wells were now Christianised, and dedicated to Christian saints, the simple people who were accustomed to visit them had no desire to change their old ways, and so they continued to practise rituals whose origins lay deep in prehis-torv. They could discern no essential difference between the pagan deities and the Christian saints.
'The rituals were usually performed in an attempt to cure an ailment, for this is the most important reason why holy wells continued to be visited through the centuries. Many wells were said to cure all illnesses, but others were good for only specific ailments, eye troubles being one of the commonest. Others often mentioned include childhood ailments like rickets and whooping cough, infertility, rheumatic ailments, skin complaints, indigestion, deafness, headache, toothache, madness-in fact all the afflictions suffered by mankind, d'he rituals which had to be performed were sometimes quite time-consuming and complex, but they usually ended with the pilgrim leaving an offering, often a pin, a pebble, or a piece of clothing fastened to a tree or bush. No one is absolutely sure of the significance of the offerings, whether they represented a gift to the saint or deity, or whether the pilgrim expected that his disease would be transferred to the rag which he fastened to a nearby bush, and that as the rag rotted away, so too would his affliction disappear. I'oday people still leave offerings at holy wells (see the Cloutie W ell in ‘Places to Visit’), but usually from custom and not with any understanding of what they are doing.
Because of the important role they played in people’s lives over the centuries, holy wells have accumulated a rich body of folklore, especially relating to how the wells came into existence. Some were formed in answer to the prayers of a saint who needed water; sometimes water flowed where the saint’s staff struck the ground. We have already mentioned the springs which appeared where severed heads fell. Sometimes a spring appeared where a dead body was briefly laid. 'I'wo Herefordshire wells resulted from the death of Ethelbert, king of East -
glia, in the eighth century. He was first buried at Marden, and a spring began to flow in the empty grave when the body was removed to Hereford, d’he well can still be seen, inside the church, d'he body was briefly rested not far from the place where Hereford Cathedral now stands, and there a second spring flowed. This no longer exists, but a plaque marks the spot. I'he cathedral stands on the site of a shrine erected to the memory of the dead king in 795 by King Offa of Mercia, who had been responsible for Ethelbert’s death.
Phe folklore of holy wells also includes tales about the water divinities who were venerated. The divinities could take a variety of forms, including ghostly women in white, fairies, mermaids, and also animal forms, usually fishes or eels. large number of wells contained one or two sacred fishes or eels, which were treated with great respect by the people who visited the wells. They would watch the movements of the fish or eel, and by these movements they could predict future events.
Usually the course of a love affair, or the outcome of an illness. W hatever form the divinity took, it was greatly revered by the pilgrims as embodying the spirit of the well, and was to be placated and not angered, hence the importance of the rituals and the leaving of offerings.
At the height of their popularity there were literally thousands of holy wells being actively used throughout England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Many survive to this day, but except for Ireland and some of the more remote areas of Scotland, they are rarely visited by pilgrims, but rather by people fascinated by their history. Too many holy wells have been lost by neglect, and with the hope of arousing people’s interest in this intriguing aspect of Britain’s heritage, we have recently compiled a book on them. Sacred H aters: Holy Wells and Water Lore in Britain and Ireland. W e included a gazetteer of two hundred wells still surviving, from which we have selected just a few of the best preserved and most atmospheric for ‘Places to Visit’.
This carefully can ed inscription of ISO years ago testifies to the widespread fame of St It inefride s Hell.
World History
