Monthly Archives: April 2019
An abecedary of Sacred springs of the world: Portugal’s Fonte do Ídolo Braga
In Braga can be found a fairly unique sacred spring called the Fonte do Idolo or Fountain of the Idol. Often it is claimed that springs have a pagan origin but little evidence of it can be seen. Here is a rare example of such a site.
The fountain flows from the base of a three metres wide and 1.20 metres high granite structure upon which is a carved human figure possibly a male with a beard dressed in a toga who appears to holding some undecipherable object in ‘his’ left arm possibly a cornucopia. Above appears a Latin inscription, CEL) ICVS FRONTO / ARCOBRIGENSIS / AMBIMOGIDVS / FECIT, which can be translated by “Celico Fronto, of Arcóbriga, Ambimógido fez (this monument) and to the right of the figure is a rectangular building cut into the rock with the worn figure of a human head, crowned with a triangular pediment engraved with a dove and a packet and other Latin inscriptions are engraved into the shape’s side. At the base of this niche sprouts a small spring. .
It is the combination of the carvings and the Latin inscriptions which makes the site of significance indicating they date back to the era of Emperor Augustus in the 1st century.
What does it represent?
In 1895, archaeologist Jose Leite de Vasconcelos visited the garden where the spring was found and completed a study examining the inscriptions, although they had been encrusted in lime and deciphered the inscription to read re- TONGOE and hypothesized that the human figure on the left was the religious practitioner and the image within the structure the divinity. Now it is clear that the inscriptions read: CELICVS FECIT, which follows in the lower part of the niche : FRO (NTO), that is the name of the dedicator. To the left can read the name of a deity: TONGONABIAGOI.. In 1980-1, archaeologist Alain Tranoy examine the image and thought that the images were reversed in what they showed. Finally, António Rodríguez Colmenero firmly established the fact that it was two deities, a plural sanctuary and that it represented Tongo Nabiago and Nabia. Part of the Lusitanian divinity, that is indigenous indo-european people of western Iberia who were typically adopted by the Romans once the area was colonised. .
Of Tongo Nabiago it is clear he was a local cult and interesting his name by derive from Celtic root*tenge(o)- (Old Irish tongu “I swear”) and so he may have been associated with the swearing of oaths. This is particularly interesting as the swearing of oaths is not an unusual practice associated with springs. Nabia by comparison was part of the main pantheon and was associated with sacred springs being identified with Fortuna, Diana, Juno and Victoria being associated with health, wealth and fertility. There has been thought that near the spring was a temple associated to Nabia.
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1220233
Recognition and restoration.
The site was first marked in modern time on a map of the town from 1594 by Georg Braun and by 1695 the land was owned by the vicar of Sao Joao de Casteloes suggesting it had been adopted by the Catholic church and indeed a view was that it was Bishop of Urianópolis, Alves de Figueire who made it. Its first written description was in the 18th century, when the accountant Jerónimo Contador de Argote, noted in his records that:
“behind the church of São João Marcos is a garden, that is called “Idol”, in which is located a deep spring, which has a rock, which appears to be living rock, with a figure in long robes, that is five palms [in size]: it looks like [the figure] has a long bear, and part of his body is missing; his right hand is broken and on the left the form of a envolotório, and above the head there are letters…”
Much of the writing was obscured by encrusting lime. In 1862 King Pedro V came to examine the site and it was offered as a gift by its then owner, to be placed in a museum in the grounds of Quinta dos Falcoes, but it never happened and after going through several owners in 1936, the municipal government of Braga, acquired the land surrounding the fountain and it was then transferred this title to the State the following year, with repairs in 1952 and then in 2000-2001, a modernist building was constructed over the site with interpretation signage. Its future being secured as perhaps the most important ancient healing spring from the pre-Roman period in Europe.
The sacred spring of England’s first patron saint – searching for St Edmund’s Springs in East Anglia (part one): Old Hunstanton, Norfolk
“In Catholic times the devout clients of St. Edmund flocked to their crystal waters, as pilgrims journeyed to St. Winifred’s Well on the western side of the isle. Now, however, the holy wells of Hunstanton belong to the forgotten past. Farmers, indeed, for miles round send their water-carts to be filled at them, and one of the springs supplies the new town with its sparkling water ; but, though marvelous cures are said to be wrought at them, few recognise their miraculous power, and only now and then does a solitary pilgrim linger over the spot, and recall to memory the stranger prince who knelt there to pray for his country.”
James MacKinlay (1893) Saint Edmund King and Martyr: A History of His Life and Times with an Account of the Translation of His Incorrupt Body, Etc. From Original Mss
The ancient cross said to show pilgrims the way to the well but it didnt have a sign on it!
Who was St. Edmund
Despite being England’s first patron saint Edmund is only known only from two Saxon period sources: the Anglo Saxon Chronicle circa 877 – 899 and the minting of a commemoration coin from 890.The later suggests a figure of considerable importance but beyond of this, St Edmund’s life is full of miracles and a well-known martyrdom were written long after his death.
As a King of East Anglia he was perhaps less well-known to his people as Redwald, buried in Sutton Hoo in the mid 600s, by the late 800s, the King had been overtaken in importance by Mercia and Northumbria, but his standing up to and final death at the hands of the Vikings were an important part of the cultural mythos of the Saxon resistance perhaps. Not unsurprisingly for an early Kingly Saxon saint he has sacred springs associated with him.
The legend of St Edmund’s return
The first of the noted springs arose at Hunstanton a town proud of its St Edmund association. It is here that legend tells he arrived from Nuremberg, to claim the throne being nominated as the successor of Offa, as noted Allen Mawer, (1911). In his Edmund King of East Anglia is possibly apocryphal This note withstanding John Lydgate in his Life of Sts. Edmund and Fremund, 1434 (translated by Horstmann (1881) says that on a safe arrival on dry land of East Anglia:
“In tokne that god herde his praier, Vpon the soil, sondy, hard and drie, Ther sprong bi miracle fyue wellis clier, That been of uertu, helthe and remedie Ageyn ful many straunge malladie.”
Geoffrey of Fountains Abbey too states in the The Youth of St Edmund how when Edmund and his companions returned to East Anglia from exile, they landed about a bowshot from the promontory of Maydenebure near Hunstanton. Here the prince knelt and prayed for his country at a spot afterwards distinguished for its fertility:
“and at the very place where he rose up from prayer, and mounted his horse, twelve sparkling springs broke out from the ground. They still run today, a wonder to all who see them, and then join together to trickle with a pleasant chuckling murmur into the salt sea. Many sufferers from disease have washed themselves with these waters and recovered their health. When the water is taken for the benefit of people living further away, if they are ill or for any other reason, it retains its healing power. And it so happened that, when St Edmund had won his crown, he liked this place best of all for its memories, and had a royal palace built on the rising ground near these springs”.
Geoffrey had lived at Thetford, compared to other historians not that far from Hunstanton, so he may well have learnt this story from tradition rather than from books.
The remains of the chapel tastefully restored but no spring there!
Will the correct number of springs reveal themselves?
White (1845) in his directory of Norfolk records that:
“A well in the parish also bears the name of the name of the Royal martyr; but is sometimes called the Seven Springs”.
The number of springs varies according MacKinlay (1893) Saint Edmund King and Martyr: A History of His Life and Times with an Account of the Translation of His Incorrupt Body, Etc. From Original Mss who reports that the Gaufridus says twelve springs; Lydgate says five; Capgrave only states that “a fountain sprang up, curing many infirmities”.
The name the Seven Springs appears to have been a later name and of course seven springs are not uncommon across the British isles and have a cult significance. James MacKinlay (1893) states that Gaufridus:
“These springs, to this our own day excite the admiration of the beholder, flowing as they do with a continuous sweet and cheering murmur to the sea. Many sick wash in these fountains and are restored to their former health, and pilgrims carry the healing water to remote parts for the infirm and others to drink.”
Will the location of the springs please reveal themselves?
The site of these springs is debatable. The obvious location is the chapel near the lighthouse but if they were there there is no sign or perhaps they have now fallen into the sea. One possibly location is by the Old Church. This is a very plausible location and indeed there is a large duckpond in the location, another is a boggy woodland called the pools which may also be the source.
However, the most likely is that by the old Waterworks. Here the springs are still present in the garden of what is now a private dwelling in Old Hunstanton. The spring’s water was pumped to the water tower (now demolished) at Lincoln Street and was the town’s principle source.
The springs fill a considerable pool which flow out as a stream although a recent fence makes it nigh impossible to view them. This would fit with MacKinlay (1893) who notes that:
“St. Edmund’s springs are situate about a quarter of a mile from the ancient and beautiful church of St. Mary in Old Hunstanton.”
It would be nice to have some signage to this, perhaps historically (if he did indeed land here) the most important of Hunstanton’s relics after the chapel.
The healing springs of Hampstead
In celebration of the stirling work done by the London Springs, wells and water ways Facebook group and the Fellowship of the Springs I’d thought I would explore Hampstead. Extracted and revised from Holy Wells and Healing springs of Middlesex
In the Georgian period Hampstead was one of the playgrounds of a growing London Its clean air and open spaces was a major draw for the London society and a major addition was its waters, although compared to others their life was short.
Hampstead Wells a chalybeate water compared to Tunbridge Wells. Its water was bottled and sent to an Apothecary at the Eagle and Child in Fleet Street, although as Stanley Foord (1910) in his work Springs, Streams, and Spas of London notes the expense and difficulty of transport meant that this attempt of exploiting the spring was not very successful. The water was extracted from the head spring or pond, called Bath Pond. This was a rectangular piece of water 40 feet wide and 20 feet deep, but filled in the 1880s.
Despite the lack of success, in 1701 John Duffield erected buildings to exploit the mineral spring, which were later on the east side of Wells Walk. Finally an Assembly Room and the Pump room were established on Well Walk. Springs, Streams, and Spas of London notes that:
“The Assembly or Ball Room, built by Duffield, was of large dimensions, measuring 36 feet by 90 feet, of which a length of 30 feet seems to have been divided by a partition from the other, and known as the Pump Room; the two rooms being thus under one roof, and situated near where the entrance to Gainsborough Gardens now is.”
Furthermore, the Green Man tavern (renamed Wells tavern in 1849-50), a Chapel called Sion Chapel and gardens and bowling green were established. On the site of the Pump Room is a new red-brick house called Wellside, built in 1892, according was established. A number of medical experts gave evidence towards the springs’ efficacy. A Dr. Gibbons states that it was ‘not inferior to any of our chalybeate springs, and coming very near to Pyrmont in quality’ and he himself took the waters until his death in 1725. Dr. Soame a noted 18th century physician published a book ‘Hampstead Wells, or Directions for drinking the Waters’, calling the spring “the Inexhaustible Fountain of Health’ yet the wells were in decline. Finally, in 1802, an analysis of the water was made by Royal college of Surgeons member, John Bliss who wrote in Medical Review and Magazine (Vol. VI.) that the water:
“have been found very beneficial in chronic diseases, &c., and where there is general debility of the system.”
In 1804 Thomas Goodwin, a local surgeon discovered another medicinal spring, called New Spa at the south-east extremity of the Heath, near Pond Street describing his findings in ‘An Account of the Neutral Saline Waters recently discovered at Hampstead’. Stating the water had sulphate of magnesia, that the waters were like that of Cheltenham’s saline spa. Its exact location according to Foord (1910) is unclear but he believes it is where Hampstead Heath Train Station now stands, although Mr. Goodwin marks it farther north.
The Long Room, 90 feet by 36 feet wide, with 30 feet used as a pump-room, was converted in 1725 into a chapel being called Well Walk Chapel and being used until 1861-62, when the Rifle Volunteers (3rd Middlesex), hired the chapel for a drill hall, and during the refit basins and pipes were found in the north end being where visitors to the Spa, were supplied with water. Analyses of the Hampstead chalybeate water have been made over the years, Soame in 1734 describes it as having a taste of vitriol of iron and Monro (1770) a Treatise on Mineral Spring states it is a transient Chalybeate lighter than New River water that had been boiled, but heavier than distilled water. By 1870, water from Well Walks spring and that from the fountain on Well mark, on the west side near no 17, noted it was a chalybeate spring mixed with surface water, possibly because the original source was diverted. In around 1885 the public basin on the east side of Well Walk was removed and a new stone drinking fountain was placed by the Wells Charity on the opposite side. In Foord’s time the water could still be drunk, although a sign was on the structure warning against this. Although C.A. White (1910) Sweet Hampstead and its associations noted that in the 1850s:
“it was quite common for working men from Camden and Kentish Towns, and places much farther off, to make a Sunday morning’s pilgrimage to Hampstead to drink the water, and carry home bottles of it as a specific for hepatic complaints and as a tonic and eye-wash.”
Sadly the well is now dry and despite an attempt to connect to the mains no water is accessible at the well.
The only surviving chalybeate spring in Hampstead is Goddison’s Fountain found can be found by following the path downhill from the east side of Kenwood House outside of the house grounds. The fountain is found on the left just as a pond appears on the right. The present structure was built in 1929 as a monument to Henry Goddison who was one of the main campaigners involved in saving the Heath and Kenwood estate for the public. There is no evidence that the spring was exploited before this but it was likely. It certainly is now and it is common to see walkers slake their first there and others collect water in demijohns.
At Kenwood House there is a brick and domed Bath House, it is easily found at the steps leading to the café. This was erected in the early 18th Century, it is believed by the Mansfield family, when they bought the house in 1754. Records show that they ordered marble fittings, purple tiles and oyster shells to decorate the niches. They probably bathed weekly or monthly. A sign on the inside of the door reads:
“The Cold Bath – The Cold Bath is fed by a natural spring of chalybeate water. It was built in the early 18th century when cold plunge bathing became fashionable and was considered a healthy pursuit. The Bath was neglected for many years, and had filed up with silt by the 1980s, when excavation work started. The marble linings had been stripped out and the sides were caving in. Enough evidence was found in excavation to reconstruct the marble lined bath. The dome was restored, and the walls re-plastered. The painted finish is speculative, based on the decorative schemes popular around 1800.”
It is designed as a plunge pool, being ovoid in shape with steps descending into the water at either side of the doorway. It resembles the structure, albeit smaller, of Birley Spa, near Sheffield (see Holy Wells and Healing springs of Derbyshire). The interior walls follow the ovoid shape and have three narrow niches set into the plaster work presumable arranged for statues. The bath water is supplied by a very copious chalybeate spring and is currently very full, but where this drains to is unclear. The site was derelict restored in the 1990s with the bath being full of debris.
Finally it is worth noting that there is a modern house called ‘Lady Well’ it may record a lost holy well but there is no evidence by a modern house name.
holyandhealingwells 