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A holy well or sacred spring is a well, spring or small pool of water revered either in a Christianity or Paganism context, sometimes both. The water of holy wells is often thought to have healing qualities, through the numen presence of its guardian spirit or Christian saint. They often have local associated with them; for example in Christian legends, the water is often said to have been made to flow by the action of a saint. Holy wells are often also places of ritual and pilgrimage, where people Prayer and leave . In Celtic nations, strips of cloth are often tied to trees at holy wells, known as .
The earliest work specifically devoted to holy wells is Philip Dixon Hardy's Holy Wells of Ireland (1836), a Protestant attack on Catholic observances at Irish wells bearing the names of Christian saints, or otherwise considered sacred. By the late 19th century, the term had evolved to its current usage. Robert Charles Hope's The Legendary Lore of the Holy Wells of England (1893), the first comprehensive survey of its kind, featured several named wells not dedicated to saints, along with rivers and lakes associated with folklore, as noted in Hope's subtitle.
In England, examples of reverence for wells and springs occur at a variety of historical periods. The medieval traveller William of Worcester saw a 'holy-hole, or well' within the cave at Wookey (Somerset), a site of human habitation in the Palaeolithic era and the source of a river which had been the site of ritual activity. The proximity of named springs to Neolithic or Iron Age monuments, such as the Swallowhead Springs, close to Silbury Hill (Wiltshire) or the Holy Well near Tadmarton Hill (Oxfordshire), suggests that reverence for such sites continued without a break. There is abundant evidence for the importance of wells and springs in the Ancient Rome and sub-Roman period, not just at temple complexes such as Bath (Somerset), Chedworth (Gloucestershire), Living Spring Journal 2, 2002. and Blunsdon Ridge (Wiltshire). which have medicinal springs at their centre, but a variety of smaller sites, and at wells and ritual shafts used for Superstition and sub-religious rituals.Merrifield, R. (1987) The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic. London: Batsford; pp. 23–50.
Christianity strongly affected the development of holy wells in Europe and the Middle East. Aside from the spring that issued from the staff of Moses and the Well of Beersheba, there were already a number of sites mentioned in Jewish and Christian folklore, including Moses' well near Mount Nebo, visited by the fourth-century nun Egeria and many other pilgrims. St Athanasius' Life of St Antony, written about 356–62, mentions the well created by the desert hermit Antony. It is unclear how many Christian holy wells there may have been, as records are very fragmentary and often a well appears only once, making it impossible to tell when reverence for it began and when it ceased, but by the Reformation England, for instance, probably possessed some hundreds. As they were closely linked with the cults of the saints, many wells in countries that converted to Protestant forms of Christianity fell into disuse and were lost, the Holy Well at Walsingham (Norfolk) being a good example, which, having been an integral element of the pilgrimage to the shrine of the Virgin Mary in the village, vanished completely. Nevertheless, this particular holy well at the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham was restored nearby the original site and its water is known for its faith healing properties, thus making it a popular site of Christian religious pilgrimage. Visiting of wells for therapeutic and entertainment purposes did not completely die out, however, as became fashionable in the 17th century and later. Eventually, antiquarians (from the 17th century) and folklorists (from the 19th) began to take notice of holy wells and record their surviving traditions.Rattue, J. (1995) The Living Stream Woodbridge: Boydell, chapters 7, 8, and 9.
More than a hundred holy wells exist in Cornwall, each associated with a particular saint, though not always the same one as the dedication of the church.Henry Jenner (1925) "The Holy Wells of Cornwall". In: Cornish Church Guide. Truro: Blackford; pp. 249-257.Quiller-Couch, Mabel & Lilian (1894) Ancient and Holy Wells of Cornwall. London: Chas. J. Clark.
Several holy wells also survive in Turkey, called ayazma in Turkish language, from Greek language ἁγίασμα ( hagiasma), literally "holiness". Examples of hagiasmata are found in the Church of St. Mary of the Spring and the Church of St. Mary of Blachernae, both located in Istanbul.
A related argument was over the nature of the influence of the on the well cult. The late Francine Nicholson, an independent student of Celtica, argued forcefully and controversially that the Celts had a unique sensitivity to sacred wells, but never elaborated this in any published work. WELLS-AND-SPAS Archives – January 2003 (#23) . More recently, radically minded scholars have begun questioning the unity of concepts imposed by the term 'holy well'. In a paper in the Living Spring Journal, Jeremy Harte distinguishes between early Anglo-Saxon 'holy wells' and those Christianised in the Late Middle Ages, and argues 'apart from being venerated and being wet, they have little in common'; Harte has also stressed that limited evidence may mean scholars are considerably overestimating the number of holy wells which were active at any one time. Harte, op.cit. .
The most active holy wells in Britain are those linked to Christian pilgrimages, at Walsingham, Fernyhalgh (Lancashire) and Holywell (Wales), or popular tourist sites (Bath, Somerset). The Chalice Well at Glastonbury (Somerset) is at the centre of a Modern paganism- and New Age-orientated spirituality and retreat centre. Other wells, however, are often visited on an informal basis for religious or sightseeing reasons. New forms of holy well reverence continue to emerge now and again, notoriously the so-called Well of the Triple deities at Minster-in-Sheppey (Kent). Sacred waters . In 2001 Channel 4's archaeological television programme Time Team was responsible for exposing the infamous archaeological fraud of Llygadwy, a site which included an alleged holy well. Channel 4 – Time Team .
Historiographically, the publication of Janet and Colin Bord's Sacred Waters (1985) was influential in reviving interest in the history and folklore of holy wells in Britain. The same year saw the foundation of the journal Source by Mark Valentine. Attempts to maintain a regular journal for the study of holy wells have been erratic ( Source enjoyed two runs from 1985 to 1989 and 1994 to 1998, and the web-based Living Spring has had only two issues to date).
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