St Kentigern’s Well, Castle Sowerby

Robert Charles Hope gives the following description of St Kentigern’s Well in The Legendary Lore of the Holy Wells (1893). ‘There was an ancient well in the vicarage garden at Castle-Sowerby, which probably once bore the saint’s name, but was now forgotten. It had been carefully cased with hewn stones, to which there seemed to have been formerly a roof.’

The well is also referred to in Bulmer’s History & Directory Of Cumberland, 1901. ‘In 1889 the church was extensively renovated at a cost of £525. Oak seats now take the place of the deal pews, and the ceiling has been replaced by an open roof. The walls have been raised about three feet. On the removal of the floor on the north side of the church, a spring was found, which is supposed by many people to be the site of the well which usually accompanied the dedication to St. Kentigern, and which was lost; the idea is doubtful as there are several springs in the neighbourhood of the church, and to each is ascribed the same history.’