<< Our Photo Pages >> Griffin's Hole - Holy Well or Sacred Spring in England in Hertfordshire
Submitted by HOLYWELL on Monday, 24 January 2011 Page Views: 8141
Springs and Holy WellsSite Name: Griffin's Hole Alternative Name: Hermit's Well, John's Hole, St. Claridge's WellCountry: England County: Hertfordshire Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring
Nearest Town: Stevenage Nearest Village: Northaw
Map Ref: TL2720403249
Latitude: 51.713558N Longitude: 0.160189W
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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External Links:
I have copied the following from Holy Wells and Healing Springs of Hertfordshire (2009) which notes that:
Griffin’s Hole lays in Well Wood, a small private part of the Great Wood. A footpath from Well Road leads directly to the well and nowhere else, which suggests a great past importance for the site being the main supply for the village. This path appeared to have been recently re-opened, and the well itself has been repaired. The site consists of a roughly square pool of muddy water with an edging of old red bricks, possibly Tudor. A fence of rhododendrons has been erected around the site to prevent people falling in, but it does not deflect from the mysteriousness of the site: which is very odd and eerie. Unfortunately I have been unable to find out why the site is called the Griffin’s Hole but it would appear to be the same site as the Hermit’s Well, John’s Hole and possibly a St. Claridge’s Well. Of which it is recorded that saint would entertain angels and hermits for the blessing of the water, who sat of mossy stones called Claridge Covers. St. Claridge may have been another name for Sigur, who was a hermit who lived in Northaw Woods. Fox-Wilson (1927) records that the hermit built a cell near a well of pure water in the woods. This is recorded in Gesta Abbotum Mon Sci Albani 1 105 (1119-1149), dating it around the 12th Century. There is accordingly, a tomb in St. Alban’s Abbey which reads:“Vir Domini verus jacet hic hermeita Regerus et sub eo clarus meritus hermita Sigarus."
Writer Charles Lamb in 1828 in a letter to Charles Cowden Clark may help locate it as he appears to have encountered the well on a four hour walk to “the willow and lavender plantations to the south-east of Northaw Church.” However, this is confusing as it would appear to suggest that the well is to the south-east but that depends on where he was travelling from! He is known to visited in Buntingford. He refers to Claridge’s covers “Clumps of the finest moss rising hillock fashion, I counted to the number of two hundred and sixty...not a sweeter spot is in ten counties around”. Fox Wilson states that this site was called John’s Hole, and that in the 1920s requests were still made to the landowner for the water as it cured rheumatism. Which suggests that again it was this site as I was told that people still came to take the Griffin's hole water. Harte (2008) states that the name St. Claridge is a joke but does not explain why.
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