<< Our Photo Pages >> Church Well (Thornton-in-Craven) - Holy Well or Sacred Spring in England in Yorkshire (North)
Submitted by Sunny100 on Sunday, 18 June 2006 Page Views: 5771
Springs and Holy WellsSite Name: Church Well (Thornton-in-Craven) Alternative Name: St Mary's Well, St Oswald Holy Well (?)Country: England
NOTE: This site is 0.436 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Yorkshire (North) Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring
Nearest Town: Skipton Nearest Village: Thornton-in-Craven
Map Ref: SD901483
Latitude: 53.930729N Longitude: 2.152263W
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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Close to the Roman road, this spring must be ancient. As a Christian holy site, it is surely Saxon in origin, like the village itself. It may be as old as the seventh century, with a possible dedication to St Oswald, beheaded in 654. Enclosed in the ninth century, with the present stone church begun nearby in the twelfth. In 1764, it was covered with a small, elegant octagonal building (symbolizing baptism?) by the rector, Mr Henry Richardson, who seems to have been interested in the healing qualities of its waters - 'fons salutifer' is the phrase he used in his Latin inscription. Neglected for many years, it was restored in 2005, with a wheelchair access path added in 2006. Further improvements are continuing.
Church Well stands in the St Mary's churchyard beside the Skipton road a few miles east of Barnoldswick. The 18th century wellhouse has recently been restored. Within is an ancient spring that once had curative powers and was a place of pilgrimage.
The spring pre-dates Christianity but, in the Anglo-Saxon period it became a centre of activity when a small church of sorts was founded close to it, though the well itself was already being used as a place for worship and baptisms. The present church of St Mary dates in part from the 12th century.
The octagonal wellhouse enclosing the spring was built in 1764 by the local rector, Henry Richardson (1710-78) in order to protect it. Recently, in 2005, the little building was restored and is now Grade 2 listed. Even today it remains a place of pilgrimage and "sprinkling" ceremonies are still held here.
An inscription in Latin runs around the top of the wellhouse and is as follows: FOUTEM HUNC SALUTIFERUM ET PER ANTIQUUM TECTO MUNIVIT ANNO ERAE CHRISTIANES MDCCLXIV QUAD PUBLICAE SANITATI BENE VORTAT or translated 'This Health Giving and Ancient Well covered in the year of the Christian Era 1764 may It Prove To Be A Blessing To Mankind'.
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