Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Category: Wells

Ancient Sites / Wells

Ffynnon Fyw (Well of Life)

Ffynnon Fyw is a well within a stone wall enclosure of about 7.3m squared. There is evidence of steps for bathing access. It is said the well was dedicated to Curig and tradition credits it with the belief that it restores sight to the blind and health to the sick.

Ancient Sites / Wells

Ffynnon Arian (Silver Well)

Ffynnon Arian in the village of Mynytho on the Llyn peninsula, Gwynedd is an ancient wishing well. It is a natural spring without traces of a structure according to ‘Holy Wells of Wales’.

Ancient Sites / Folklore / Wells

Chibbyr Undin & Chibbyr Unjin Holy Wells Of Malew

Chibber Undin (Chibbyr Undin) – The Foundation Well or Chibber Undin when written about in the late 19th century was described as being close to the remains of an ancient Keeill which a Manx word for cell or chapel and these remains are often quoted as measuring 21 feet long by 12 feet broad.

Ancient Sites / Wells

St Margaret’s Well, Edinburgh

During the 1860 St Margaret’s Well was moved to its present location from the crossroads between Holyrood and Restalrig. It was described in 1852 as ‘a spring well, enclosed by an ancient vault over which part of the railway workshops had been built.’

Ancient Sites / Early Christianity / Folklore / Wells

St Mary’s Church, Barnetby-le-Wold

The church of St Mary’s on Church Hill in Barnetby-le-Wold dates from Saxon times though the current building is rebuilt during the Norman era. The church was actually declared redundant and closed in 1972 soo you cannot visit it without making special arrangements. One special item of note regarding St Mary’s was its lead font which dated from the early 12th century.

Ancient Sites / Folklore / Wells

Healing Wells at Healing

The village of Healing near Grimsby has two notable healing wells, though they are probably not the source of the villages name. In the Domesday Book, Healing is shown as being Hegelinge, an Anglo Saxon term, possibly similar to Hægelingas meaning ‘the sons or followers Hægel’.

Ancient Sites / Early Christianity / Wells

St Alkelda’s Well, Middleham

St Alkeda was a chaste Saxon maiden, sometimes described as a princess, noble woman or a nun. On 28th March 800AD, somewhere close to the site of St Mary’s and St Alkelda’s Church, she was strangled to death for her faith by two Danish women involved in a Viking raid. It has been suggested that they killed her by twisting a napkin around her neck.