<< Our Photo Pages >> Homeacres Holy Well (Stanwix) - Holy Well or Sacred Spring in England in Cumbria
Submitted by Anne T on Thursday, 10 January 2019 Page Views: 4078
Springs and Holy WellsSite Name: Homeacres Holy Well (Stanwix)Country: England
NOTE: This site is 1.567 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Cumbria Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring
Nearest Town: Carlisle
Map Ref: NY40415709
Latitude: 54.904957N Longitude: 2.930871W
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 9th Jan 2019 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 2 Access: 4 Homeacres Holy Well, Rickerby Park, Carlisle: We just about had time to stop off and find this well on our way home. Parking by the lawn tennis club just down the road, we walked to see what we thought was the stump of an old cross at approx. NY 40142 56900, but it turned out to be the stump of an old tree trunk which had been carved into what looked like an old boundary marker.
We headed off north east until we reached the junction of Well Lane and the B6264 (Brampton Road), then walked down the road leading to the car park in Rickerby Park. Reaching the junction with the footpath leading almost due west at NY 40510 57081, we walked past a marshy/boggy area which had wooden boarding at one end and a sign saying ‘deep water’.
Walking through the gate across the footpath, we peered deep into the undergrowth and eventually spotted what looked like a railway sleeper running about 6-8ft horizontally across the bank with a black void underneath. We tried to walk across the grassy area to the fence to get nearer to take a photograph, but the land was very waterlogged and we retreated.
Going back up towards Brampton Road, just past the cattle grid, there are faint traces of a footpath which runs down towards the well. Andrew made it down to the well and took some photographs. Having hurt my shoulder, I decided to stay on (this very busy) road. Andrew said there were also traces of another footpath running towards the well from the southern side of Brampton Road, just opposite Well Lane, but we would have had to climb over the metal railing to access it; the path was just visible, but very overgrown.
The well still had water in it. A couple of passers by on the lower path looked us with curiosity, one man asking us what we were looking at. When we told him a holy well, he looked at us in disbelief. I thought the nearby 'Well Lane' might have been a clue, although we initially thought the well was located down Well Lane and not in the park.
This holy well is mentioned very briefly in Pastscape Monument No. 11433, which merely says: "A well below Homeacres, Stanwix, is listed as a Holy Well by McIntire. A lane in the vicinity is known as Well Lane."
The Pastscape record gives a reference to The Holy Wells of Cumberland by W.T. McIntire, which can be found in The Archaeology Data Service, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Society (1944), Series 2, Volume 44, page 14. McIntire tells us the well was first described in Parsons and White's History of Carlisle, 1829, "as a favourite place of resort for the citizens of Carlisle. The spring rises under an arch beneath Stanishaw Bank".
Today the old paths to the well from the small road from Brampton Road to the Rickerby Park Car park (entrance opposite the southern end of Well Lane), are overgrown but still just visible and must have had proper steps to the well at some time in the not too distant paths.
The well can be seen (just) from the footpath running west from NY 40510 57081. Below the well is a very boggy, waterlogged area of ground which looks as if it used to be a pond (there is an old wooden notice declaring 'deep water'). A concrete lintel can be seen through the undergrowth, with a dark niche, the well house, underneath.
Following the old paths down to the well, the well house still contains dark, brackish water. It looks as if there is barely any flow on the water at this time of the year.
Two locals were interested in what we were looking at, and when we said 'a holy well', clucked in disbelief, as I don't think they knew there was a well here. Good to have seen this well, even though it was in a really sorry state.
Nearby is the Hyssop Holme Well, just below Cavendish Terrace, near the Cricket Club.
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