<< Our Photo Pages >> Stanger Spa - Holy Well or Sacred Spring in England in Cumbria
Submitted by DavidRaven on Tuesday, 13 December 2005 Page Views: 11314
Springs and Holy WellsSite Name: Stanger Spa Alternative Name: St. Anna's SpaCountry: England
NOTE: This site is 6.666 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Cumbria Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring
Nearest Town: Cockermouth Nearest Village: Embleton
Map Ref: NY14122716
Latitude: 54.632232N Longitude: 3.331911W
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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I have visited· I would like to visit
Anne T visited on 14th Jun 2020 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 3 Stanger Spa Well, Embleton: The well is approached by a narrow causeway which runs through a boggy area, terminating at the well house. At the time of our visit, the land around the well was very wet, and in places there were deep puddles of water around the edges of the well house.
Whilst there were lots of other walkers in the area, I didn't see anyone else look at the well house.
An interesting spot and well worth visiting.
This site was restored by the Cockermouth and District Civic Trust. According to the Trust, the saline Holy Well enjoyed a reputation as a health-giving spa, people travelling to the site to 'take the waters'.
Bulmer's History & Directory Of Cumberland (1901) says:-
'In a field near the hamlet of Stanger is a spring of water strongly impregnated with mineral salts, and said to be very efficacious in the cure of skin diseases. It is well known as Stanger Spa, and the water sold at 6d. per gallon, but it is now very little frequented.'
[Update September 2022: This well is recorded in Jim Taylor Page's 1990 Publication "Cumbrian Holy Wells" (Gazetteer, page 23). He tells us that at the time of publication this was a chalybeate well, a place of pilgrimage, the "present well house much disintegrated; rarely visited. Page references a publication by Parson and White, page 190, “History, Directory and Gazetteer of the Counties of Cumberland and Westmorland” (1829). This tells us: “STANGER is another hamlet in the township and chapelry of Embleton, situated 2 miles 8. by E. of Cockermouth, near the old road to Keswick. Here is a very strong aperient salt-spring, which is efficacious in all acute diseases of the skin, and is much resorted to in the summer season by invalids from the surrounding country. It is called Stanger spa, and is situated on the farm belonging to Mr. John Rooke.”
This well is also marked as a 'holy well' on the Historic England map search, although it has no specific entry of its own.
The Embleton and District Parish Plan also features this spa well, identifying it as a place of special interest, adding that "The first mention of Embleton is in 1195. The name is thought to derive from ‘Eanbald’s tun’ (Eanbald’s settlement).]
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