Wells Gazetteer

Alderley Edge has been a sacred site for many thousands of years and has many legends attached to it. King Arthur and his men are said to sleep somewhere beneath the sandstone cliffs. Read More »

A holy well can be found here dedicated to St Non, as is a nearby church. As with many wells this one is reputed to heal, in this case madness.

The island is also known as the island of the currents and the saints. There are said to be the graves of 20,000 saints interred on the island, and legend suggests that anybody buried here will not go to hell no matter how wicked his deeds. Read More »

Bodmin means the house of the monks, and this was an ecclesiastical town until the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII.

The original monastery dedicated to St Petroc was founded in the 6th Century. St Petroc's bones are believed to be kept in an ivory casket in the crypt of St Petroc's Church. Read More »

The ebbing and flowing well: legend tells how a nymph was being chased by a satyr who was overcome with lust. The nymph prayed to the gods and was saved by being turned into a well - famous for healing. The only thing that remained of the nymph was her eternal breath that causes the well to ebb and flow like the tides. Read More »

Glastonbury has been identified with the mysterious Isle of Avalon from the twelfth century, its past has become steeped in myth and legend, and it is probably most famous for its Arthurian and early Christian traditions. Read More »

The drumming well located near to the church is reputed to foretell death in the family of St Quentin. The folklore relates to a story about a fourteenth century drummer called Tom Hewson, who was accidentally knocked down the well by a St Quentin squire. Read More »

The island was said to be the home of St Molaise who is reputed to have been born in Ireland in 570AD. He came to Holy Island to live as a hermit and Molaise's cave is one of his reputed abodes. Read More »

The healing waters of St Winifred’s (Winifride) Holy Well have attracted pilgrims for over 1300 years and the crypt in which the well lies was stacked with crutches left by the cured invalids until some time in the 1960’s, though can still be seen on display. Read More »

This island is connected by a sandy beach to Anglesey, and was home in the Dark Ages to a religious community, founded by the female Saint Dwynwen. St Dwynwen is a patron saint of Welsh lovers, and after her death the island became an important place of pilgrimage. Read More »

Loch Awe is Scotlands third largest fresh water loch at with a length of 35km and total surface area of 14.9 miles. It shares a common legend about its creation which concerns a well that flooded. Read More »

One of the most widely known wells in Cornwall, Madron Holy Well is still used, and has been the scene for some miraculous cures in the past. About 100m away are the remains of the Madron Well Chapel.

Rags and other objects are left to rot away in the hope of cures, and as votive offerings.

Directions: Northwest of Madron from a footpath.

Mullenakill is just one of several places that claim to be the birth place of St Moling. Read More »

Nether Stowey has a number of holy wells, and the crossroads at Over Stowey is traditionally haunted by a creature known as the Galley Beggar, who laughs demonically at passers by. A Galley Begger is the local name for a frightening spirit.

This pool and waterfall lie in a ravine below an old ruined curch dedicated to St Teilo (Capel Teilo). The water from the waterfall has long been thought to have healing properties, it was said to heal bruises and other ailments including rheumatism and sprains. All you had to do was hold the affected part in the main stream of icy water for a short while. Read More »

The dark brooding presence of Schiehallion (pronounced She-hal-e-on)- the fairy hill of the Caledonians - looms over the Eastern end of Rannoch moor like a voluminous guardian. The mountain is one of the traditional haunts of otherworld beings. Read More »

Around 794AD, the pagan King Offa of Mercia demanded the head of the Christian King Ethelbert of East Anglia whilst he was making arrangements to marry Offa's daughter. Not far from the location of Marden Church the young king was assassinated and his body hidden. After rumours of Ethelbert's ghost being seen in the marden area, Offa asked the Pope for absolution. Read More »

A rocky seat on top of the Dunfillan, is the place where St Fillan is said to have sat and blessed the surrounding lands. Read More »

The holy well in the village is connected with a 5th Century virgin called St Keyne who performed miracles.

Originally known as Rinn Ros Broic (Badgers Wood Point), Kennedy’s Field and Achadh-Cainidh, St Mullins is the site where St Moling built his monastery during the 7th Century. Read More »

The holy well at St Neot was once said to be the home two holy fishes.

There is a story attached to these fish, it is said that one of the local priests had a vision, in which an angel told him that if he took one fish from the well every day to eat, there would always be a replacement the next day. Read More »

St David's Peninsula is supposedly the landing place of Twrch Trwyth, the magical boar told in the story of Culhwch and Olwen in the Mabinogion, King Arthur features heavily in the story. It is also the place where St Patrick is said to have sailed for Ireland to convert them to Christianity. Read More »

Around 450AD St Patrick, patron saint of Ireland is supposed to have preached on the banks of Ullswater in Cumbria. The whole Patterdale area is named after him. In Glenridding a Holy Well dedicated to St Patrick can still be found roughly one mile outside of the village of Glenridding. Read More »

St Patrick’s Chair and Well (also known as the Druids Chair and Well or St Brigid’s Well or St Brigit’s Well) lies within Altadeven Wood, not far from the Ulster Way footpath. The chair is a huge 2m high stone block, shaped like a throne. Read More »

The water was believed to have healing properties and is dedicated to a 9th century saint. Proof of a long tradition of leaving items at the well was discovered when the well was cleared in 1870: hundreds of coins, bent pins and other objects were discovered beneath the mud. Some of these can still be seen in the Dumfries Museum.

According to Edmund Bogg in “From Eden Vale to the plains of York or A Thousand Miles in the Valleys of the Nidd and Yore" (1894) ”In the township of East Scrafton is a spring of water known as St. Simon's Well. Near it once stood an oratory called St. Simon's Chapel; not a vestige of this remains. The well was formerly used as a bath. Tradition says that St. Read More »

The Chalice Well has been associated with healing and with the Holy Grail for many years. According to legend Joseph of Arimethea placed the cup that held the blood of Christ into the well. The waters run red with Iron Oxide another association with blood. Read More »

The monument which stands by the roadside above this ancient well was erected in 1812, its gory carving of a hand holding a dagger and seven severed heads commemorating an incident that took place in 1665. Read More »

Wookey Hole is famed for "The Witch of Wookey" a giant stalagmite, which resembles a witches face in profile. Folklore tells that the stalagmite was once a witch who terrorised the local area, and was petrified by the intervention of a Glastonbury monk. Read More »