<< Our Photo Pages >> St Helen's Well (Kirkby Overblow) - Holy Well or Sacred Spring in England in Yorkshire (North)

Submitted by rogerkread on Wednesday, 10 February 2016  Page Views: 3384

Springs and Holy WellsSite Name: St Helen's Well (Kirkby Overblow)
Country: England
NOTE: This site is 2.854 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Yorkshire (North) Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring
Nearest Town: Harrogate  Nearest Village: Kirkby Overblow
Map Ref: SE32354920
Latitude: 53.937912N  Longitude: 1.508713W
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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St Helen's Well (Kirkby Overblow)
St Helen's Well (Kirkby Overblow) submitted by rogerkread : The well from inside the railings. The sign above it suggests that the water is not safe for drinking. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Holy Well in Yorkshire (North)

The well is near the church in the corner of a recess a few yards back from the road (the one leading towards Dunkeswick, on the North side) and next to St Helen's cottage. Two steps lead down into an outer chamber and well house containing an inner stone trough full of clear water. The well is kept reasonably clear by the owner of the cottage, although it is actually on council land.
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St Helen's Well (Kirkby Overblow)
St Helen's Well (Kirkby Overblow) submitted by rogerkread : Another view of Bird Well. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Helen's Well (Kirkby Overblow)
St Helen's Well (Kirkby Overblow) submitted by rogerkread : A hundred yards further away from the village and beside the same road is Bird Well, reputedly never running dry. This has no particular history or sanctity, but is attractive enough (when not in need of clearing out as it was here) and so worth including here for collectors of wells. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Helen's Well (Kirkby Overblow)
St Helen's Well (Kirkby Overblow) submitted by rogerkread : St Helen's Well behind its protective railings. These are actually partly a gate which opens easily to give direct access to the well. (Vote or comment on this photo)

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Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
SE3249 : Footpath off Swindon Lane, Kirkby Overblow by Ian S
by Ian S
©2014(licence)
SE3249 : Swindon Lane, Kirkby Overblow by Alexander P Kapp
by Alexander P Kapp
©2010(licence)
SE3249 : St Helens, Kirkby Overblow by Ian S
by Ian S
©2014(licence)
SE3249 : Kirkby Overblow by John Sparshatt
by John Sparshatt
©2012(licence)
SE3249 : Footpath off Swindon Lane, Kirkby Overblow by Ian S
by Ian S
©2014(licence)

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"St Helen's Well (Kirkby Overblow)" | Login/Create an Account | 1 comment
  
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Re: St Helen's Well (Kirkby Overblow) by AngieLake on Wednesday, 10 February 2016
(User Info | Send a Message)
NOTES TAKEN FROM ‘THE MAGIC AND MYSTERY OF HOLY WELLS’ by EDNA WHELAN
(A book I borrowed in 2013 and typed up a few notes from for research. Some comments were recorded on the St Helen's well at Croyde site page.)

Edna writes:

"When deciding the boundaries of parishes the sites of Holy Wells were included as being important historical points and these formed definite markers along the dividing lines. For instance, the report of the perambulation of an old boundary in Wharfedale in 1576 included the directions: “and so up the same sike to two stones standing in Walton Head Lane, being in the churchway between Rigton and Kirkby Overblow and so directly through a close called Warsholes into a well there called Warehelewell, out of which Swinden Sike springeth.”
Later on in the same report it is stated, “and so directly to Swankenwell, alias Siveinrodekell, which well is a little south from a great stone with three holes in it”, and towards the end of the perambulation there is mention of, “Craven Keld by the highway which leadeth from Hebden to Paytlay-Briggs”.
Wareholes Well still exists, surrounded by elders in a small valley full of very fruitful blackberry bushes, near Kirkby Overblow, and behind this well is a tall boundary stone marked by the initials K.F. the number 5, and the date 1767. These initials stand for Knaresborough Forest which bounded the lands of Kirkby Overblow but I have not discovered any further mention anywhere of Swankenwell or of Craven Keld, nor have I ever seen the great stone with its three holes. There is, however, a Snape Well in the same neighbourhood."

and....
“Fertility has been one of the qualities attributed to the use of well-water but it was the fertility of the earth and the animals which was of equal importance to that of woman or man. A paragraph in the guide to All Saint’s Church at Kirkby Overblow talks of St. Helen’s Well which is set back from the road just around the corner from the church and states that,
“The waters of St. Helen’s Well never fail and have medicinal properties. From Pagan Times it must have been associated with fertility rites and the track between it and Almscliff Crag, which lowers on the horizon, must have been well worn for it too was a pagan place high and lifted up.” Stirring stuff.”
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