<< Our Photo Pages >> St Boniface's Well (Crediton) - Holy Well or Sacred Spring in England in Devon
Submitted by AngieLake on Friday, 07 January 2022 Page Views: 10683
Springs and Holy WellsSite Name: St Boniface's Well (Crediton) Alternative Name: St Wynfrith's Well, St Wynefred's WellCountry: England
NOTE: This site is 0.699 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Devon Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring
Nearest Town: Crediton
Map Ref: SS834003
Latitude: 50.790505N Longitude: 3.655615W
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:
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AngieLake has visited here
If driving into the town from Exeter, the public park is not visible from the road, but can be accessed by a pathway and/or steps near public conveniences on the right of the road*, not far past the huge Holy Cross Church (unmissable on your right!) *Opposite here there is a long stretch of kerbside parking on your left.
(I've been driving through Crediton on my way to North Devon for years and it's easy to miss this park)
The following is taken from a website:
"Born 680 AD - Died 754AD
Saxon monk, missionary and martyr.
The First European Patron Saint of Germany and The Netherlands."
"The British peoples had been driven steadily further west by the Saxon war leader Cenwealh. One battle was fought in 661 at Posentesbyrig which could be the Iron Age hill fort at Posbury 2 miles south of Crediton. The Saxons would therefore control the fertile lands of the Exe and Creedy valleys.
An attractive tradition says that Boniface's father was a Saxon thegn (lord) and his mother was British. They named their son Wynfrith, "Friend of Peace" to show that the two peoples had come together.
According to William of Malmesbury, the monk historian (born 1090), the Britons and Saxons lived side by side in Exeter until the tenth century. St Petroc's was the British church and St Sidwell's the Saxon. The young Wynfrith, as a monk in Exeter, would have seen the different traditions and problems of Celtic and Roman Christian practices.
He was the spiritual child of the new "English" church. The old Celtic monk-missionaries with their personal holiness and fiery evangelism were part of his inheritance. So, too, was the Roman genius for order and discipline. As he founded monasteries Boniface promoted the Rule of Saint Benedict as their model and guide. The Benedictine influence upon European society became immense through the Middle Ages. Boniface's journeys and letters show his own energy and spirituality. In a new ecumenical age, we can welcome this fusion of Christian traditions and graces which Boniface presented.
In giving his life to the service of bringing tribes and peoples together ("for they are bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh") Wynfrith won a new name bestowed on him by Pope Gregory II, Bonifacius (Boniface)"maker of good". " Source: http://www.crediton.co.uk/tourism/boniface_crediton.html
In the Crediton Catholic Church's website, we read that "Crediton had been the principal religious centre of the South West peninsula for over 300 years, but its importance did not decline entirely."
See: http://www.boniface.org.uk/cathch.html (Archive link)
In 'Secrets of the Hidden Source', Terry Faull's excellent book about wells in Devon, he gives it the title "St Wynefred's Well". He says:
"Good public access; the well is in a public park and sports field.
The stone well-house has been much renovated and stands today close to a statue of St Boniface who may have mixed feelings about a Holy Well named after him! Nevertheless it is good to find a carefully tended link with the earliest history of the town.
Traditional uses: Curative for problems of the eye."
(I gave the Condition a '3' - 'Reasonable but with some damage', as I didn't like the modern building around it, and the bolted door, which makes it impossible to tell what the actual well is really like!)
Now for more on the Nymets! (Sacred 'Druid' groves):
The reason Terry Faull thinks St Boniface wouldn't be best pleased about having his statue near a holy well is its Pagan links. He also writes this about St Boniface:
"So the great Christian son of Crediton was no lover of the Celtic tradition. He would have known of the ancient pagan beliefs in nature spirits as the area near where he was born was the centre of the complex of sacred groves, which the Roman fort at North Tawton had been established to control. The Nymet and Beara names which tell us of these ancient holy places, occur today in Nymet Rowland, Nymet Tracey, Nichols Nymet, George Nympton, King's Nympton, Broadsnymet, Beare Farm, Great Beer, etc. When Boniface felled Thor's Oak at Geismar to show the pagan German tribes the error of their beliefs, perhaps he was also striking a blow against the customs of his ancient Devon ancestors. While the tradition he represented was successful, the old memories and observances lived on under the guise of the Green Man (whose image appears in Exeter Cathedral and at least 18 parish churches), and at some of the Holy Wells of Devon."
I've visited some of the churches in those villages and there are some impressive Green Men carved on wooden ceiling bosses, and in decoration on pillars.
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