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Stone Worlds: Narrative and Reflexivity in Landscape Archaeology

Stone Worlds: Narrative and Reflexivity in Landscape Archaeology

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Walms Well - Holy Well or Sacred Spring in England in Worcestershire

Submitted by HarryTwenty on Friday, 07 September 2018  Page Views: 3169

Springs and Holy WellsSite Name: Walms Well
Country: England
NOTE: This site is 3.708 km away from the location you searched for.

County: Worcestershire Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring
Nearest Town: Ledbury
Map Ref: SO76053927
Latitude: 52.051295N  Longitude: 2.35067W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
3 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
3 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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Walms Well
Walms Well submitted by HarryTwenty : View of the well site. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Located in News Wood on the south western slope of the Malverns (Worcestershire) below Clutter's Cave (aka Giant's Cave). The name was believed to have come from St. Walm or Waum but is more likely derived from the Old English 'wielm', which means a spring.

One of the most ancient surviving well sites in the Malverns, used by Iron Age settlers c. 250 BC. It was apparently fenced off about 100 years ago as part of the Eastnor Estate.

For more information see Pastscape Monument No. 113485, which adds that the well is "named (Waulm) after a missionary to the Romans and Celts". One of the source documents is the "Holy Wells of Glos. (1928)" by RCS Walters.
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Walms Well
Walms Well submitted by Postman : Clutters cave, about 200m away from the well. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Walms Well
Walms Well submitted by HarryTwenty : A covered reservoir acting as a collection cistern is sited opposite the well on the other side of the footpath. It was the original water supply to Eastnor Castle and village. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Walms Well
Walms Well submitted by HarryTwenty : The well was first contained in 1889 by the Eastnor Estate and has been covered ever since. It is one of the most ancient surving well sites in the Malverns. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.

Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
SO7639 : Walm's Well by Bob Embleton
by Bob Embleton
©2009(licence)
SO7639 : Wild daffodils in News Wood by Trevor Rickard
by Trevor Rickard
©2008(licence)
SO7639 : Underground reservoir in News Wood by Trevor Rickard
by Trevor Rickard
©2008(licence)
SO7639 : Autumn colours by Philip Halling
by Philip Halling
©2023(licence)
SO7639 : Land Rovers in News Wood, Eastnor by Bob Embleton
by Bob Embleton
©2009(licence)

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"Walms Well" | Login/Create an Account | 8 News and Comments
  
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Re: The Warm well? by Hatty on Friday, 14 September 2018
(User Info | Send a Message)
I expect it wasn't particularly warm but the Victorians who were enthusiastic about water-related lore may have been a tad more resilient than us pampered moderns. At any rate the source is http://www.malvernwaters.com/nationalparks.asp?search=yes&p=7&id=261

"According to the Rev J Barrett in his guide book of 1803 the well was popular amongst the country folk for drinking and applying externally. The water, which "had a long and old fame for healing the eyes"[8] was collected by an embankment to form a large bath[9] and a small building alongside the well allowed sufficient room for one person to rest and take the healing waters, the temperature of which on 12 April 1845 was noted to be 48.5 degrees F."
I wouldn't want to bathe in that temperature but I'm impressed with the Rev's attention to detail.
No such word as 'wielm' exists in English. Does Brian Smith say how he found it?
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: The Warm well? by HarryTwenty on Friday, 14 September 2018
    (User Info | Send a Message)
    Try this:
    https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/walm
    The origin and etymology of Walm:
    It's Middle English and means 'bubbling of water', from the Old English waelm (I can't get the Anglo Saxon grapheme 'ash' on my keyboard so I've put a separate a and e) or wielm, the action of boiling or bubbling, similar to the Old High German walm (action of boiling) or old English weallan or wyllan (to bubble or well).
    Alternatively you can try this one, it's an Anglo-Saxon dictionary:
    http://bosworth.ff.cuni.cz/035801

    [ Reply to This ]
      Re: The Warm well? by Hatty on Saturday, 15 September 2018
      (User Info | Send a Message)
      Thanks for the links, Harry. Looks like wielm just means well after all. What's Anglo-Saxon got to do with it?
      [ Reply to This ]
      Re: The Warm well? by Sunny100 on Monday, 17 September 2018
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      Was St Walm an Anglo-Saxon saint?
      [ Reply to This ]
        Re: The Warm well? by Hatty on Monday, 17 September 2018
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        No St Walm existed. It isn't an Anglo Saxon name but perhaps the locals were minded to turn an ordinary English 'Well' into a 'holy' well. There was plenty of competition after all.

        We still have the word overwhelm to convey a sense of being flooded.
        [ Reply to This ]

Re: Walm's Well by Hatty on Friday, 14 September 2018
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Pastscape says "No evidence of antiquity". Whether medieval or not, the well was presumably named for the water's recorded warmth i.e. Warm Well, rather than for a putative 'Celtic' missionary saint that no-one's heard of.

The water had a reputation for curing skin conditions, scurvy and even leprosy, in the 19th century so maybe walms was conflated with worms. Locals built an embankment of mud and wood to make a large bath which would be suitable for sheep-washing (people apparently didn't willingly take baths before the 19th C) and/or de-worming.
[ Reply to This ]

The "Sacrificial Stone" by Andy B on Friday, 07 September 2018
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See nearby site on Geograph, above: The "Sacrificial Stone", below Clutter's Cave and not far from Walm's Well.
Folklore suggests the stone was the door to the Giant's Cave.
One side is curiously smooth - suggesting a sinister purpose and hence its name.
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3950714
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