<< Text Pages >> Tobar na Cailleach - Holy Well or Sacred Spring in Scotland in Aberdeenshire
Submitted by brigantia on Tuesday, 06 November 2007 Page Views: 6532
Springs and Holy WellsSite Name: Tobar na Cailleach Alternative Name: Cailleach Well, Well of the Cailleach, Tobar ChailCountry: Scotland
NOTE: This site is 5.7 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Aberdeenshire Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring
Nearest Town: Keith
Map Ref: NJ4265947528
Latitude: 57.514283N Longitude: 2.958805W
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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Holy Well or Sacred Spring in Aberdeenshire
On the northern slopes of Cairds Hill, amidst increasingly dense woodland up the stream which ebbs and flows in strength (depending on the weather), when we reach the source we reach this very fine spring of water, once of considerable repute locally. It was a great curing well and was described by Ruth and Frank Morris (Scottish Healing Wells, 1981: 72) as being "the scene of a pagan ceremony in which the Earth Mother in her old woman phase bathed at the well and returned as a young maiden."
On the hill at the top we find remains of old tombs (mistakenly ascribed by Mr & Mrs Morris as 'stone circles'), some of which would undoubtedly have had some relationship with this legendary water source.
The Northern Antiquarian (TNA) also features a page for this sacred well - see their entry for Tobar na Cailleach, Keith, Banffshire which includes an image of the 1869 OS map showing the location of the well together with local folklore.
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