Children's Well

Trip No.170  Entry No.5  Date Added: 12th Aug 2021
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Derbyshire)
Visited: Yes on 16th Jul 2021. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Children's Well, Tissington: The fifth well we visited in the village, and easy to spot. Not recorded on HE or HERR. The basin within the well head was slightly muddy and dry, but looking over the dry stone wall, there is a boggy area of ground, which is where the water appears to rise, and a stone trough just behind the well head, which was full of water.

Coffin Well

Trip No.170  Entry No.4  Date Added: 11th Aug 2021
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Derbyshire)
Visited: Yes on 16th Jul 2021. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 5

Log Text: Coffin Well, Tissington: Finding this well was pretty tricky, as even with the leaflet showing the location of all the wells in Tissington, we walked up and down, and down and up a lane called 'The Foot'. Eventually, I realised that whoever was in the cottage had parked their car right across the front of the well, with the front passenger tyre almost in the well itself. I had to do contortions, avoiding the bonnet of the car, to get any photograph at all.

Presumably the main part of the well is behind the garden wall, in the private garden. The gate to the cottage had a sign which said 'no entry' or 'strictly private', and I was reluctant to knock on the front door and seek permission.

Not impressed by the parking, and no sign to say this was the well.

Town Well

Trip No.170  Entry No.3  Date Added: 11th Aug 2021
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Derbyshire)
Visited: Yes on 16th Jul 2021. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Town Well, Tissington: Our third well out of the six in the village. From Yew Tree Well, we headed east along The Green, past the pond (which had very cute young ducklings being taught to swim by their parents). The well is just to your left hand side at the far side of the green.

Yew Tree Well

Trip No.170  Entry No.2  Date Added: 11th Aug 2021
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Derbyshire)
Visited: Yes on 16th Jul 2021. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Yew Tree Well, Tissington: The second well of the day. We walked down The Street from Hall Well (with the cafe to our right hand side and church to our left), turning left into Narlow Street. This well is almost at the entrance to the Candle Workshop, underneath a tall, but relatively young Yew Tree.

There was water in the well basin, but nothing seemed to be flowing into or out of the well, or along the drainage channel at the front of it, at the time of our visit.

Hall Well (Tissington)

Trip No.170  Entry No.1  Date Added: 11th Aug 2021
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Derbyshire)
Visited: Yes on 15th Jul 2021. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Hall Well, Tissington: We have been to Tissington before, on a Well Dressing weekend, a long, long time ago (about 38 years!), but because of the sheer number of visitors and really only interested in seeing the church, we took a quick look around only. This time, we walked round to see the wells in their 'ordinary' state. There was a large number of visitors again, but no-one else seemed particularly interested in the wells. It being a very, very hot and humid day, we were grateful for the cafe being open, although the queues to get ice-cream from the traditional sweet shop were horrendous, so we gave up.

I picked up a leaflet in the main cafe which showed the location of the wells, which made locating them easy.

A very pleasant village, and well worth visiting. Would have liked to have spent longer.

Crossfoot Farm Standing Stone

Trip No.169  Entry No.5  Date Added: 9th Aug 2021
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Wales (Powys)
Visited: Couldn't find on 15th Jul 2021. My rating: Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Crossfoot Farm Standing Stone: We tried to find this stone, and even hopped across the gate into the field which the OS map shows it in, but no standing stone was visible.

The field is next to a building site and it looks as if the field was being used to store both materials and rubble, making the field very difficult to walk across.

We think the stone now may have fallen, and may be in an area of unmown grass, so is not visible from the highly chained and padlocked gate into the field.

St Milburga's Well (Stoke St Milborough)

Trip No.169  Entry No.3  Date Added: 9th Aug 2021
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Shropshire)
Visited: Yes on 15th Jul 2021. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: St Milburga's Well, Stoke St Milborough: We visited the church first of all, and whilst some of the church dates from the 13th century, there was little of this in evidence, the fabric having been restored in Victorian times. The church had been left open, so we looked inside, but not much of note, apart from the lovely geese (I thought they were ducks until I saw the official records) carved into the top of the wooden door into the base of the tower at the west end.

Not having a map for this area, we thought the holy well might be near to the church, but thankfully bumped into the church warden as we exited the church. He was carrying a large wooden stake and hammer, so I joked with him "are you hunting vampires?". It turned out he was marking out a burial plot for a recently deceased villager.

He directed us to the well, but told us that "thanks to the water company, there's very little left of the well". Coming out of the churchyard, we headed south on the minor road, then turned left and headed up the hill, following the road round to the left as it levelled off. Just round this bend, there was a gate into the well enclosure. Steps led down to the well head, which still exists, together with a small well pool and a lively outflow into a stream which heads westwards, back towards the church.

A very peaceful spot. Just a shame about the modern domestic water apparatus next to the well.

St John the Baptist (Hope Bagot)

Trip No.169  Entry No.2  Date Added: 8th Aug 2021
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Shropshire)
Visited: Yes on 15th Jul 2021. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: St John The Baptist, Hope Bagot: We parked in the village hall car park, about the only place in the village we could leave the car, as the lanes here were so narrow. The church was very difficult to spot from the road, but thankfully, a sign in the village hall car park pointed us up some steps, through a gate and straight into the churchyard.

What an unusual old church, very reminiscent of Escomb Saxon Church. Just as we entered the churchyard, we met the Church Warden's wife, who stopped to talk to us, and told us how to find the well (underneath a yew tree at the northern side of the churchyard (approaching the church from the north, there is a wooden gate into the churchyard; come through this gate and take the small path to your right hand side. This leads the 20m or so to the well).

There is also a Victorian well head at SO 58858 74092. The Church Warden's wife told us there were a number of springs in the village.

Luston Holy Well

Trip No.169  Entry No.1  Date Added: 8th Aug 2021
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Herefordshire)
Visited: Yes on 14th Jul 2021. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Luston Holy Well: This well is not shown on the HE map search, or listed on the HE Research Records or Herefordshire SMR. It is located at the corner of the B4361 and Eye Lane.

We parked on Townsend Park, opposite the well and walked across the road.

There is a plaque on the north eastern corner of the well proclaiming it to be a holy well. Can’t (yet) find out any more information about it.

The handle of the pump had been chained and padlocked in place. We couldn’t hear any water flowing, and looking down the drain cover, the water was stagnant.

St Andrew's Church (Presteigne)

Trip No.168  Entry No.6  Date Added: 8th Aug 2021
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: Wales (Powys)
Visited: Yes on 14th Jul 2021. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: St Andrew's Churchyard Cross, Presteigne: From the Kinnerton Standing Stone, we drove into New Radnor to try and get some lunch, only to find all the shops, pubs and cafe all shut down, which meant driving onto Presteigne. Andrew was keen to see the c1510 AD Flemish tapestry in the church, but as we walked into the churchyard, found this cross, too.

Kinnerton

Trip No.168  Entry No.5  Date Added: 4th Aug 2021
Site Type: Standing Stones Country: Wales (Powys)
Visited: Yes on 14th Jul 2021. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Kinnerton Court Standing Stones: We'd walked up into the village first, to see if we could locate the old village wells, but were unsuccessful, as they seemed to have been incorporated into the modern water supply or dried up and disappeared. We did walk up to the Kinnerton Castle Mound, which is actually on private land, but can be seen (and photographed) from various vantage points in the village.

The first stone (the recumbent one) we had difficulty spotting as it was buried in tall grass and weeds, but did spot it reasonably quickly. The other is on the opposite side of the road, in a lush field of pasture, and a very pretty spot.

We thought we were on the footpath as we walked up to the stone, but walking back to the field gate, found the sign actually pointed along the field boundary/hedge-line to the west of the still standing stone. Whoops - sorry.

Higgin's Well

Trip No.168  Entry No.4  Date Added: 29th Jul 2021
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Herefordshire)
Visited: Yes on 13th Jul 2021. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Higgins's Well, Little Birch: We parked outside the church (St Mary's) and walked down the lane towards the well. We could hear water running in the distance, so followed our ears.

A very small stream runs downhill behind the well from Athelstan's Wood currently appearing to flow both into the well and to another pond and stream, joining a larger stream which runs to the south of the well.

The well is very overgrown, and was deep in shadow at the time of our visit. Stepping inside the gate, there is an 80cm stone slab which runs between the northern wall of the well and the well pool, so it's possible to step into the well and, if you wanted, dip your bucket into the well pool.

Crossfield Lane Barrow (Kinnerton)

Trip No.168  Entry No.4  Date Added: 4th Aug 2021
Site Type: Round Barrow(s) Country: Wales (Powys)
Visited: Yes on 14th Jul 2021. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Crossfield Lane Barrow, near Kinnerton: as this was marked on the OS map, and on our way to Kinnerton, we quickly parked in the field entrance (which was put to pasture) and walked a little way along the edge of the field to take a closer look.

The barrow has been largely lost to ploughing, but a low, circular 'hump' in the field can be made out (easier to see with the naked eye rather than in a photograph).

Kilpeck church

Trip No.168  Entry No.3  Date Added: 28th Jul 2021
Site Type: Early Christian Sculptured Stone Country: England (Herefordshire)
Visited: Yes on 13th Jul 2021. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Kilpeck Church and Castle: Our second church of the day, and I was delighted to find this open. Again, there was a steady stream of visitors, many of whom had a quick look in the church then walked round the outside to look at the corbels and gargoyles.

I bought a book about the church, largely aimed at children, called "From Big Bang to Beasties and Beyond" by Diana Thomas, which is very informative, with lots of information.

After taking photographs inside and out (including all the corbels and most of the gargoyles), we wandered over to the motte and bailey site - much, much larger and more interesting than we thought, and spent a happy half hour enjoying the sunshine. Only one other couple wandered over to look at the castle whilst we were there.

Four Stones (Powys)

Trip No.168  Entry No.3  Date Added: 3rd Aug 2021
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: Wales (Powys)
Visited: Yes on 14th Aug 2021. My rating: Condition 3 Access 4

Log Text: Four Stones (Powys): Well worth the stop to see this four-poster. We parked at SO 24562 60871, opposite a small, but complicated road junction, where there was plenty of room for tractors and cars to pass, and walked back to the field.

My first reaction was: "Is this the right place?" on walking into the field, because the grass and weeds were so high, but walking towards the stones, the grass around them had been partly mowed, mostly trodden down by other visitors.

Starting at the southern-most stone, I photographed them all from different angles, in an anti-clockwise direction. Didn't spot any cup marks, but then the grass was still pretty tall around the base of each stone.

Arthur's Stone

Trip No.168  Entry No.2  Date Added: 28th Jul 2021
Site Type: Chambered Tomb Country: England (Herefordshire)
Visited: Yes on 13th Jul 2021. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Arthur's Stone: This was a really weird visit. No sooner had we parked in the small layby next to the stone's enclosure, and I'd started to take photographs, than a lady walked along the lane, right into the enclosure, sat down and started to have a picnic, so she was prominent in all the photographs. I was absolutely gobsmacked!

I plucked up the courage to ask her to move whilst I finished taking photographs, which she very kindly (but reluctantly) did, to the railing of the enclosure. Feeling somewhat guilty, I started talking to her, and it turned out she was an archaeologist who had come up to join a party of university students in a dig. A pleasant enough chat, but left me feeling uneasy that people would act that this (but then perhaps that's just me), and sort of ruined the visit for me.

Harpton Round Barrows

Trip No.168  Entry No.2  Date Added: 3rd Aug 2021
Site Type: Round Barrow(s) Country: Wales (Powys)
Visited: Yes on 14th Aug 2021. My rating: Condition 2 Access 4

Log Text: Harpton Round Barrows: Not the most exciting of stops, but interesting, never-the-less. Andrew did try and find the nearby Castle Nimble, but the only access seemed to be through private farmland, and as we didn’t want to trespass, gave up and went onto the more exciting four-poster stone circle.

Old Radnor Church

Trip No.168  Entry No.1  Date Added: 29th Jul 2021
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Wales (Powys)
Visited: Yes on 14th Jul 2021. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Old Radnor Church: Whilst we went to have a look at the standing stone, we spent ages walking around the church, enjoying the peace and quiet and the carvings.

Whilst I was excited to see the standing stone, I was immediately disappointed by the memorial carving on it. This is very reminiscent of the 'standing stone' grave markers in Kensal Green Cemetery, which we researched and were found to be official grave markers, not ancient standing stones.

There was no guide book for sale, but an information leaflet marked 'Leave In the Church', so I photographed a few pages for later references.

There was a very interesting old font, said to be carved from on old standing stone - still to research this one.

Pen Y Beacon

Trip No.167  Entry No.7  Date Added: 27th Jul 2021
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: Wales (Powys)
Visited: Yes on 12th Jul 2021. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: Blaenau Stone Circle (remains of): At first view, there was only one standing stone here, immediately adjacent to the car park park, where people were picnicking in their cars and rubbish all around. Rather than there being a footpath, it was a short walk across the grass to the standing stone.

I was very disappointed, but we got out to explore anyway, and found what appeared to be three other stones lying flat in the grass, and other lumps and bumps around that could have been stones lying under the turf.

We had the Coflein record up on our phones, so tried to trace the 29.8m diameter of the circle, and thought we spotted part of the outer arc of the circle away from the car park.

The one standing stone has a well-worn bench mark on its southern side, almost at ground level.

Twyn-Y-Beddau

Trip No.167  Entry No.6  Date Added: 27th Jul 2021
Site Type: Round Barrow(s) Country: Wales (Powys)
Visited: Yes on 12th Jul 2021. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Twyn-y-Beddau: This round barrow is right next to the road, although with the twin tyre tracks leading up and over it, it could be mistaken for part of a 4 x 4 obstacle course, which some idiots presumably have been using it for, hence the stones placed on top.

A lovely evening, with paragliders attempting to set up their kites and take off from just to the south of the barrow, although there wasn't enough wind to enable them to take off.

Quite a few cars passed by, but no-one (apart from us), stopped to look at the barrow. A beautiful view to the west, as the land just drops down, with mountains (big hills, certainly) rising to the south and the east. Well worth a stop.