<< Our Photo Pages >> St Helen's Well (Boston Spa) - Holy Well or Sacred Spring in England in Yorkshire (West)
Submitted by DavidRaven on Saturday, 28 July 2007 Page Views: 10815
Springs and Holy WellsSite Name: St Helen's Well (Boston Spa) Alternative Name: St Helen's Well (Thorp Arch)Country: England County: Yorkshire (West) Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring
Nearest Town: Wetherby Nearest Village: Thorpe Arch
Map Ref: SE45134583
Latitude: 53.906671N Longitude: 1.31455W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
Internal Links:
External Links:
Holy Well in Yorkshire (West).
Close by the Roman Road (Rudgate) to the east of Boston Spa, lies the site of the old St Helen's Well.
This votive well is recorded as Pastscape Monument No. 54717, which tells us: "(in 1958) St. Helen's Well (a Votive or Rag Well) still used as such. A chapel dedicated to St. Helen - mentioned 1429 - has now gone. An Anglian cross shaft was found near the well. It is of the Urnes style and dates from about 1100. It is now in West Marton Church [SD 8950] ... The Well, now dry and overgrown, has no associated masonry, and appears to have been a simple spring." By 1963, this entry had been updated to read: "There are no visible remains of the chapel, but the contour of the ground in the vicinity of the well, suggests a natural hillock at SE 45134583 as the probable site. The present location of the cross shaft was not verified."
The Northern Antiquarian (TNA) also features a page for this well - see their entry for St. Helen’s Well, Thorp Arch, West Yorkshire, which includes an image of the 1849 OS map showing the location of the well, a drawing of the carved cross found near the well, directions for finding this site, a brief archaeology & history, local folklore and photographs of the well in 1934 and 1935.
Note: Have you visited this site? Do you have any photographs or information to add? Do you know the current location of the carved cross found near this well?
You may be viewing yesterday's version of this page. To see the most up to date information please register for a free account.
Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.
Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
The above images may not be of the site on this page, they are loaded from Geograph.
Please Submit an Image of this site or go out and take one for us!
Click here to see more info for this site
Nearby sites
Click here to view sites on an interactive OS mapKey: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed
Download sites to:
KML (Google Earth)
GPX (GPS waypoints)
CSV (Garmin/Navman)
CSV (Excel)
To unlock full downloads you need to sign up as a Contributory Member. Otherwise downloads are limited to 50 sites.
Turn off the page maps and other distractions
Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
1.2km SE 137° Newton Kyme Henge Henge (SE45934499)
5.2km NNE 29° St Helen's Church (Bilton-in-Ainsty)* Ancient Cross (SE476504)
6.1km W 273° Collingham Crosses* Ancient Cross (SE3901546096)
7.2km SE 132° St John the Baptist (Kirkby Wharfe) Ancient Cross (SE50604107)
8.3km NW 311° Green Howe (North Deighton) Round Barrow(s) (SE38865124)
8.8km SSW 192° St Ricarius (Aberford) Ancient Cross (SE4331037170)
9.0km WSW 253° All Hallows (Bardsey)* Ancient Cross (SE3656143122)
9.8km SSE 165° Saxton Church Ancient Cross (SE478364)
9.9km SSW 213° Barwick in Elmet Hillfort* Hillfort (SE398375)
12.2km SW 230° Grim's Dyke* Misc. Earthwork (SE358380)
12.8km WNW 302° Follifoot cross* Ancient Cross (SE342526)
12.9km SSE 164° Sherburn Cross* Ancient Cross (SE488335)
13.2km WNW 285° St Helen's Well (Kirkby Overblow)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SE32354920)
13.6km NW 319° St Robert's Cave* Cave or Rock Shelter (SE3610556089)
13.8km NW 321° St Robert's Holy Well (Knaresborough) Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SE36315649)
13.9km W 259° Grey Stone (Harewood)* Rock Art (SE31474308)
14.4km N 358° Little Ouseburn Barrow Round Barrow(s) (SE445602)
14.5km ENE 72° The Hob Stone* Sculptured Stone (SE5891450417)
15.0km WNW 303° Great Yorkshire Showground (Harrogate) Rock Art (SE3245353990)
15.4km NW 317° Mother Shipton's Cave and Petrifying Well * Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SE345570)
15.5km SW 234° Gipton Wood Ancient Village or Settlement (SE32653664)
15.9km ENE 70° St Mary Bishophill Junior* Ancient Cross (SE5999751471)
16.0km ENE 65° The Burton Stone Ancient Cross (SE5960252718)
16.0km ENE 67° Yorkshire Museum* Museum (SE599522)
16.1km ENE 73° Pikeing Well Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SE6057650665)
View more nearby sites and additional images