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The Henge Monuments of the British Isles: Myth and Archaeology

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Holy Well (Wolsingham) - Holy Well or Sacred Spring in England in County Durham

Submitted by HOLYWELL on Monday, 17 January 2011  Page Views: 10808

Springs and Holy WellsSite Name: Holy Well (Wolsingham)
Country: England County: County Durham Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring
 Nearest Village: Wolsingham
Map Ref: NZ0766637882
Latitude: 54.735856N  Longitude: 1.882465W
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
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 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.
5 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
4

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Anne T visited on 4th May 2017 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 5 Holy Well, Wolsingham, County Durham: This was our last stop of the day and to find this, I loaded the map from the Portal page. To the north of the main village, the well is sited just to the west of Holy Well Farm on Holywood Lane. At first sight, it looks like a very small barn, but looking closer, the golden names of the saints on the metal grill door shine out. The well chamber itself is very dark and gloomy (no light seems to penetrate) and I struggled to photograph it, even with my most powerful flash gun – it was easier to see the stone ledges, the flowers on those ledges and the well pool itself with the naked eye. The well pool was full of water, but the rest of the chamber was dry. Curious to find out where the spring was that fed the chamber (as the well house is conveniently close to the road), I both leant over the stone wall and walked up the footpath just to the west of the well house. There is a dried up hollow immediately behind, although we’ve not had any rain in this part of the world for weeks, so it’s not surprising it was dry.

Holy Well (Wolsingham)
Holy Well (Wolsingham) submitted by HOLYWELL : Holy well from Wolsingham as seen from the road. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Holy Well in County Durham

This is the largest structure over a well in the county, and looks like a small cottage or stone shed with a slate roof and barrel ceiling. A spring fills a large chamber which fills virtually all the well house with a little ledge around the side and the spring rather sluggishly arises from a chamber below this rectangular bath like structure. The gate has the names of two saints St Aelric and St Godric legends which are local saints but I have not be any evidence that they are associated with the well.
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Holy Well (Wolsingham)
Holy Well (Wolsingham) submitted by HOLYWELL : Side view of the well showing slate roof and substantial stones used in its construction. Note there is no adornment. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Holy Well (Wolsingham)
Holy Well (Wolsingham) submitted by HOLYWELL : Inside the Wolsingham holy well a large 'bath' like chamber filled with water. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Holy Well (Wolsingham)
Holy Well (Wolsingham) submitted by Anne T : Close up of the well pool itself. I would have loved to have popped into the interior of the well house, but the gate was firmly padlocked by a padlock of epic size. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Holy Well (Wolsingham)
Holy Well (Wolsingham) submitted by Anne T : Inside the well house, which was dark and gloomy. Even my strongest flash had difficulty penetrating the darkness. Here you can see the (at the moment) dry floor, with ledges running around three sides of the inside of the well house. The well pool itself is on the right hand side of the photograph, and was full to the top, but did not spill out into the main chamber. No flow was evident at th... (Vote or comment on this photo)

Holy Well (Wolsingham)
Holy Well (Wolsingham) submitted by Anne T : Curious to see where the spring might be, which is supposed to be immediately behind the well house, I leaned over the stone wall to look. A dry hollow was evident, not surprising after weeks of no rain in this area.

Holy Well (Wolsingham)
Holy Well (Wolsingham) submitted by Anne T : The well house from the front is just the same as described by HOLYWELL on their visit. It is in glorious location, surrounded by lush green fields, to the north of Wolsingham Village on Holywood Lane, immediately west of Holy Well Farm.

Holy Well (Wolsingham)
Holy Well (Wolsingham) submitted by HOLYWELL : Inside showing the barrel ceiling.

Holy Well (Wolsingham)
Holy Well (Wolsingham) submitted by HOLYWELL : The gateway with the two Saxon saints.

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"Holy Well (Wolsingham)" | Login/Create an Account | 9 News and Comments
  
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Re: Holy Well (Wolsingham) by Sunny100 on Saturday, 06 May 2017
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I found this very interesting website with regard to St Godric of Finchale: https://saintsandblesseds.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/st-godric-of-finchale/
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Holy Well (Wolsingham) by Anne T on Monday, 08 May 2017
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    That's really interesting - thanks! Had no idea this blog existed.
    [ Reply to This ]
    Re: Holy Well (Wolsingham) by Sunny100 on Monday, 08 May 2017
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    I also have a hard-backed copy of 'Godric', a novel by Frederick Buechner, published by Chatto & Windus in 1981. It's a fascinating read with lots of stories about the life of St Godric, and his later life when he was in Durham.
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: Holy Well (Wolsingham) by Anne T on Saturday, 06 May 2017
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Just to mention that anyone wanting further information about this well can click on the following links:

Pastscape Monument No. 20085,
Wolsingham Parish Council Holy Well page, and
British Listed Buildings 101276636.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Holy Well (Wolsingham) by Anonymous on Sunday, 15 January 2017
Hi, could I please ask who is responsible for the up keep of this beautiful well.

Thank you.

M. S.
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Holy Well (Wolsingham) by Anne T on Saturday, 06 May 2017
    (User Info | Send a Message)
    Hello.

    In answer to your question, my first guess would be Wolsingham Parish Council, click on this link: Parish Council Responsibilities. If you use their 'contact' details on the banner at the top of this web page, if they are not directly responsible for the upkeep, then they should know who is.

    Hope this helps.
    Anne T.
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: Holy Well (Wolsingham) by Anonymous on Sunday, 21 August 2016
Hi my husband and I pass this beautiful little well often when out walking, who is actually responsible for looking after it? I often look inside at the artificial flower display, so someone must do it, I would love to help out if possible.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Holy Well (Wolsingham) by davidmorgan on Monday, 25 February 2013
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Street View
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Re: Holy Well (Wolsingham) by Anonymous on Tuesday, 29 May 2012
Good thanks a lot
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