Monthly Archives: March 2015
Sorgente Su Gologone – a remarkable Sardinian karst spring
Su Gologone is a considerably important site on the island. The site’s arrangement is reminiscent of a spa, with an entrance fee, gardens and a nearby hotel. Also for those familiar with the UK, in a way one is reminded of Mother Shipton’s cave and petrifying well in the set up – but cheaper. 
Paying one’s entrance fee and following the track around one reaches of the most incredible springheads on the island is that which arises in Oliena muncipal area. A platform is raised over it and one can see down to the rocks below. Like many sites on the island, it is well signposted as well, courtesy of a nearby hotel. The sheer captivating beauty of this spring is hard to ignore, yet it does appear to have made any major cultural or rather religious impact. Which in an island such as Sardinia quite bizarre.
The spring arises from a deep rift in the rock being a Karst spring, being the most important in Italy providing around 300 litres a second of clear, ice-cold and beautiful mineral waters erupting from a great chasm in the rock, the water turning into a stream which joins the Cedrino River below. A Karst spring is one which arises from the permeable limestone, dolomite or gypsum and often erupts from a cave system. This spring is one of the most dramatic and beautiful. The water of the spring is certainly valued and when I was there a large number of individuals travelled some distance it appears to take the water.
Has the spring been ever culted?
As far as I am aware no prehistoric cult artefacts have been found at the spring head however only a few yards is a small church dedicated to Nostra Signora della Pietà, a lady well perhaps? The presence of a church may be significant, particularly one which is so inconvenient in its construction set upon a rocky crag and with a very uneven floor…my bottle of water rolled some considerable difference. The church is very simple, consisting of one chamber focused on the altar of course. How much significance we can read into this little chapel so close to a great spring is unclear but as there is no evidence of a settlement in the proximity perhaps a bit. I hope this brief piece will find someone who knows!? There is so little known of its significance.
Searching for the Lady Well of Wombourne
One of the great pleasures in researching our sacred springs is the field work. In a world where the internet is said to have all the answers and this blog is just as responsible for forwarding the information, it might be surprising to find that not all the information is available. As I am close to completing my work on Staffordshire Holy Wells and the weather is getting nicer I thought it as a good idea to share one of the more interesting sites.
A few years back at the beginning of my Staffordshire research I came across a site a Wombourne. The site according to Hope’s Legendary Lore of Holy Wells (1893) was a spring was ‘known by the name of “Our Lady’s Well” or “Lady Well”. Hope (1893) states:
“Another famous local well, which has fortunately escaped the destructive hand of time, is that near Wombourne, known by the name of Our Lady’s Well, or Lady Well. It is cut out of the solid rock, which crops out at the top of a lofty hill, situate between Wombourne and Lower Fenn. The well is of considerable antiquity, and several species of cryptogrammic plants give to the surface of the stone a venerable appearance. It is supposed to have been sacred to the virgin in mediæval times, and its waters to have possessed curative properties. Here, ages ago, a holy hermit is said to have dwelt, and to have been visited by many persons in search of consolation and instruction. The well is still a favourite resort of local pleasure-seekers, who go to drink of the cooling and delicious beverage, and ruralize in the adjacent wood.”
Of course in the last 130 odd years quite a lot has happened. Wells drained, filled in or absorbed into the domestic supply. Land urbanised, agriculture changes boundaries and forests torn from the landscape…so it can be very unlikely for a well to survive.
The first place to look is always the current ordnance survey map however, no well is marked on the current OS one but the name Lady Well Wood is still marked. This concurs with the field-name Ladywell Hill on the 1840 Tithe map. Being a wood is a good sign as the pressures of building and agriculture are less likely to have had an impact. Better still on the 1883 OS map W is marked beneath Ladywell cottages on the escarpment. However, there might propose an issue. Clearly the cottages were built to utilise the water as a domestic source. Such an activity can often result in destruction as the source is tanked and modernised. I hoped for the best.
Field research
There appeared to be a footpath which based close enough, if the land was not enclosed to be useful. However, it could not be seen whether the land was enclosed in someone’s garden. This path lay up Orton Lane beside a house called Orton Springs house (although it is not signed) which passes up the hill. The name sounded promising but I think it was more likely woodland spring rather than water spring.
The ruins of Lady well cottages
I climbed the hill which provided great views of the valley. Taking a right hand path I followed it as it appeared to lead to what could be the cottages. As moved closer it was very evident there were not any cottages, but the foundations were to be seen by the path. Was the well similarly destroyed? Looking at the 1883 OS the well appeared to be down the slope from them and my eye was cast that way. A few yards away was something which did not fit into the general scene, for the hill was covered by a mix of deciduous trees but there in front was a yew. A solitary yew. This appeared to be very significant was this where the well was?
The solitary yew…a sign for the well perhaps?
I scrambled down a muddy slope, nearly losing my footing at one point and got closer to the yew. The yew was growing romantically on a rocky ledge, the only rocky ledge I could see, I scrambled closer and could see some evidence of water flowing from beneath the rocky ledge. There was definitely some water source here but would be a brick municipal structure, a simple spring or something a bit more interesting.
look up into the yew
Peering around the rock, the spring appeared to flow into a small square brick built chamber, which appeared to probably date from before the time of Hope’s account. It was full of clear water, the stream is currently constant running from a fissure in the rock; around it are the cryptogrammic plants, mosses, growing in profusion. The spring over fills the chamber and forms a small stream which flows down the hillside. A number of names, possibly dating back from Hope’s time are carved into the rock and sadly the site has fallen afoul of graffiti artists.
A lost pagan site?
A lot of commentators construct the view that many Christian sites derive from pagan ones. Sadly, the evidence is lacking. However, here I was struck by the circumstantial evidence which appeared to point in the direction of the well being depicted to a female deity. The first piece of evidence is perhaps the name of the settlement, Wombourne, deriving from bourne meaning a stream or river but the first bit is more elusive, officially it derives from ‘valley’ but could it have a more feminine origin? Could this be the spring entering from the mother earth’s womb? The only problem being that the wom brook, thought to be the origin of the name is somewhere else. Interestingly, the VCH (1908–1984) suggest that this site is to be identified with a Wodewelle recorded near Orton in the thirteenth century, but this might easily have been a different well. If it is the same of course the name easily derived from wood, which explains its location, however it might be from Woden? Unlikely though. The second piece of evidence is the presence of the Yew tree with its roots entering the spring. Neo-pagans would see it as Yggdrasil, the sacred tree and it’s certainly significant as it is the only one, although Wombourne is a Saxon not Norse foundation. Yews were also sacred to the Celts as well. The third piece of evidence is that a holy hermit lived there, perhaps descending from some pagan wise man? The fourth that the festivities were possibly ancient in nature although Hope give no clues on dates and what actually went on.
Whatever the conjecture, the Lady’s Well is a great survival and a taster of what fascinating sites exist in the county. My work on Holy Wells and Healing Springs of Staffordshire is hopefully out this year!
A well for Richard? How old is Dickie’s Well at Bosworth?
As the world’s cameras pour upon a curious funeral ritual of a long lost King, it is appropriate perhaps to examine a noted well associated with the monarch and the event which resulted in his demise. For in the grounds of the supposed Bosworth Battle field is King Richard’s Well, (SP 402 000) and here lies a mystery. Why celebrate a well associated with a loser?
Early records
The name first appears on the Ashby Canal Company map of 1781, 1784 Montague Estate survey of Sutton Cheney Dixie Estate map of 1788 notes simply as Ambion Well after the Hill The earliest written descriptive record of the well I have uncovered appears to be Ireland (1785) who notes in Picturesque views on the Upper of Warwickshire Avon:
“near the scene of the action is a Well, which still retains the name King Richard’s Well, there were formerly a flight of steps leading down to it; it is now long overgrown with rushes and running to waste.”
This would suggest the existence of an older structure, but how old this is unclear. The statement ‘long overgrown’ suggests some age before the date of the publication but how much we cannot know for sure. The description of the structure is too little to date it, although a similar structure was to be encountered in the county at based on a legend dating from….but that along gives no support for antiquity. Certainly, Nichols *() fails to mention the well, which is unusual considering his interest in holy and ancient wells elsewhere in the county, was it an oversight or was it not very well known then.
Hutton in the Gentleman’s magasine Vol 83 part 2
“ I paid a visit in July 1807 to Bosworth Field; but found so great an alteration since I saw it in 1788, that I was totally lost. The manor had been inclosed: the fences were grown up; and my prospect impeded. King Richard’s well, which figures in our Histories was nearly obliterated; the swamp where he fell became firm land; and rivulet proceeding from it lost in an under-drain, so that future inspection is cut off.”
Dr. Parr visited the site in 1812 found in drained and closed up since he had visited in six or seven years previous. He organised a subscription with a suitable Latin inscription. Of course as Peter Foss (1990) notes in The Field of Redemore the cairn may not mark the exact one as there are a number of springs there. Nevertheless the site was repaired in 1964 with limestone rubble.
Folklore
A local legend records that it was from the spring which Richard drank before the battle. This might suggest that the well was already noted and perhaps a holy well? Another legend records that on a hawthorn tree near the spring King Richard’s crown was found which would be very coincidental if the former legend was correct. This seems likely to be a piece of folklore later adapted to support the well rather than vica versa.
Why commemorate the King’s well at all?
The association of royalty with springs is an understudied aspect of the subject and I have already given an overview here. It appears such dedications fall in three groups: Holy wells (such as those associated with saintly kings), true historical associations and antiquarian musings! But which one does Richard’s Well belong to? Certainly the later two, but is there another tradition hiding beneath that?
His burial in Greyfriars suggests that the community perhaps wanted to capitalise on any cult which might developed. Kings after all did develop into cult figures, England has a number from Edward II to Henry VI although only pre-Norman Kings have ever been canonised. Perhaps, as I have hinted those who die could be considered martyrs and the church attempted to develop a cult around them. Was this one still born due to the Reformation?
Interestingly, Dickie’s Well is not the only well associated with the unfortunate king, in Warwickshire at Kineton, perhaps giving more evidence. More significantly perhaps is King Dick’s Hole, a deep part of the Anker where local tradition Richard bathed before the battle, may have stationed his troops at Mythe Hall.
Again all this supposition especially as the name appears only the late 1700s it perhaps more a romantic notion than record any cult tradition.
In the right place?
This is an obvious question, as in 2011 archaeologists and historians cast serious doubt over the belief that Bosworth field was the location. However, a number have used the well to support the view. In support of his for example Daniel Williams (1985) in A place mete for twoo battayles to encountre’: the siting of the Battle of Bosworth, 1485 cites the local tradition of King Richard’s Well, near the top of Ambion Hill on its western side, from which Richard is supposed to have drunk before the battle. There is also the discovery of cannonballs on Ambion Hill.
A number of historians have placed the marsh to varying degrees south and south-westward of Ambion Hill. Hutton located it on the slopes of the hill itself, created, he argued, by poor drainage of the spring at Richard’s Well. Others have tended to site the marsh nearer the Sence brook, regarding this as the probable source of waterlogged ground. Peter Foss (1990), however, in keeping with his theories about Redemore, has the marsh over half a mile to the south-west at the Fenn Lanes crossing.
Whatever the truth, Richard’s Well is one of the most famous springs associated with a King and a great part of the battlefield landscape.
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