Tommy Tack Well, Gilcrux

No trace of Tommy Tack now exists though the following two 19th century accounts refer to the wells medicinal properties.

“This Parish is perhaps the most remarkable of any in England for the fineness and number of its springs. In the village a fine spring rises at almost every door, and when united form a considerable stream. In a field a little eastward from the village are two springs about 40 or 50 yards asunder, the one fresh and the other salt water, having medicinal properties; the salt spring is denominated ‘Tommy Tack’.” [The Gazetteer and Directory of Cumberland, 1847].

‘In a field a little to the east of the village of Gilcrux there are two springs some fifty yards apart; one has fresh water, and the other salt and of medicinal qualities. The salt water well is named the “Tommy Tack,” but by some “Funny Jack.” [The Legendary Lore of the Holy Wells of England by Robert Charles Hope (1893)]