<< Our Photo Pages >> St Michael's Well (Well) - Holy Well or Sacred Spring in England in Yorkshire (North)
Submitted by jamesrattue on Tuesday, 21 October 2008 Page Views: 6425
Springs and Holy WellsSite Name: St Michael's Well (Well) Alternative Name: Mickey Well, Mickel WellCountry: England
NOTE: This site is 0.302 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Yorkshire (North) Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring
Nearest Town: Masham Nearest Village: Well
Map Ref: SE26338175
Latitude: 54.230788N Longitude: 1.597592W
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 |
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Anne T visited on 31st May 2021 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5 St Michael's Well, Well: Our third stop of the day, driving west out of Well village, up a shady, pretty single track road with trees on either side. With little/no traffic on this road, we pulled into the passing place/small layby immediately opposite the well. At first, I didn't think anything was here, but behind the stone wall and wooden fence to the northern side of the road, there was the very distinct sound of running water.
Behind the small stone wall are some steps which lead down to the well itself, through which copious amounts of very clear water are running. This water then leads into a small stream which runs into Well Beck.
We didn't realise until later that the actual source of the water was from the southern side of the road, which also has a stone wall structure, fronted by what is now a muddy patch (once the well pool?). The water looks as if it originally emerged from by a large tree now growing in the wall. This area of ground has been heavily churned by cattle and the small gap/stile in the wall at this point has been wired off.
A very lovely spot, well worth the visit.
Apart from the name of the village - 'Welle' in Domesday Book - the first reference to the well comes in Baines's 'History of Yorkshire' (1827), where he mentions this never-failing spring. Not far away was a Roman bath-house and the church, also dedicated to St Michael, is unusually impressive for such a modest village, with a grand Norman tower.
Edna Whelan and Ian Taylor (in 'Yorkshire Holy Wells & Sacred Springs', 1989) refer to a local legend of a dragon killed by a member of the Latimer family - and of course St Michael is a dragon-slaying saint. The well used to be dressed on occasion. In 1895 it was called Mickey or Mickel Well and had a metal cup attached for drinking the water. Whelan's reference (in 'History and Topography of the City of York and the North Riding of Yorkshire', 1859) to a well of St Michael in Masham presumably means this one.
This well is also featured on The Northern Antiquarian (TNA) - see their entry for St. Michael’s Well, Well, North Yorkshire, which gives directions for finding this well, together with a drawing of the well from 1895, a description and local folklore. For more information also see Pastscape Monument No. 52238.
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