Well, well

[imported_SimonMember]

Another nexus of connections forms in the village next to ours – Welton. I’ve been dropping over there quite a bit recently and there are some interesting themes emerging.

Firstly, and not (yet at least) psychically, The Green Dragon pub in Welton is where Dick Turpin was finally arrested before being carted off to be hanged in York.

Secondly in the church nearby there is an effigy of a knight (unidentified) and a stained glass window by Edward Burne-Jones. I’ll try and post a photo of the knight later.

Thirdly there are three streets in the town called “Temple” something. The Rosslyn Templar site ([url:87lz7aju]http://www.rosslyntemplars.org.uk/North_East_England.htm[/url]) lists Welton as possibly having had a preceptory there and the memory of this is recorded in the street names.

Another street, just opposite the templar streets, is called “Ladygate” which is very suggestive of many stories of templars “rendezvousing” with ladies.

And lastly there is rumoured to be a St Anne’s Well there too. Judging by the position of the well on an ordnance survey map it appears to currently be positioned in someone’s back garden, bordering the grounds of a school for learning-disabled children. I’ve come at it from the playing grounds side but couldn’t see anything so I might have to try a direct approach to the owners (poor souls!)

The Daily Grail ([url:87lz7aju]http://www.dailygrail.com[/url]) had a link to this story in the Sydney Morning Herald today about well hunting so I’m not the only one!

Lastly, I came across a book on Amazon called The Living Stream: Holy Wells in Historical Context which looks intriguing but I’d be interested to know if anyone’s read it and if so what they thought.

Lastly, and pulling these three threads together, I have vague recollections of an old story involving a templar, a lady and a well…but my memory appears to have played me false before so I’m wary of this and wonder if anyone else knows this tale?

Thanks,

Simon

[imported_supernaturalistMember]

You might be able to see if there is anything in the backgarden using something like Google Earth. Speaking of which, you can access the Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Ask and NASA views from:

[url:29x3ay5n]http://www.flashearth.com/[/url]

Different providers have different strengths, the Microsoft ones seem to be pretty good.

My local area has a number of sites relating to St Anne. The manor on the old lakeside at Hooe had a St Anne’s Chapel. This is sometimes believed to have been St Lawrence’s chapel, but I think the St Anne designation is more accurate as the name of the nearby village of Turnchapel is derived from St Anne’s Chapel. The parish church in Hooe would have been dedicated to St Anne back in 1855, in honour of the ancient connection with the area, but the bishop changed it to St John because St Anne isn’t in the Bible. A few miles due east, in the South Hams area of Devon, there is another St Anne’s Chapel, which appears to be a single building in the middle of some fields.

Your post in Celtic/Christian connections (which have sparked this post) indicates that St Anne is the Celtic goddess Ana, and that Brittany has strong connections. So, as South Devon is just across the Channel I wonder if I have some local sites going back to the goddess Ana. I’ve wondered about St Anne before, thinking I’ll have to take a look into it. Maybe I will soon.

Sorry, this doesn’t help your quest. But I thought you’d be interested in hearing of someone else’s St Anne sites.

Michael

[imported_SimonMember]

Hi Michael,

Interesting feedback on your local St Anne’s – I think the Brittany link is very likely.

I have already tried Microsoft Maps and can get tantalising close but nothing I can actually identify. Here is a screenshot of the back garden that I believe contains the well (rough boundary marked in red, the well, I believe is to the bottom right of the boundary approximately where the dark circle – a tree? – is):

I’ve been in contact with a helpful lady in East Riding council who sent me some photocopies of articles in the Hull Daily Mail that mentioned the old manor and I’ve also confirmed with Ordnance Survey that the well appears on an 1890 map that they have. The house in whose garden I believe the well (if it still exists) now resides has just been sold and the new owners don’t appear to have taken up residence yet so I’m going to see if I can talk the estate agent into letting me in to have a quick look around. It’s a long shot, though!

Finally, I came across this further reference to the Templars and St Anne (which ties in with one of the themes in my other post) in Addison’s History of the Templars:

On the opposite side of the church, corresponding with the doorway and staircase leading to the penitential cell, there was formerly another doorway and staircase communicating with a very curious antient structure, called the chapel of St. Anne, which stood on the south side of the Round, but was removed during the repairs in 1827. In times past, this chapel of St. Anne, situate[d] on the south of “the round about walles,” was widely celebrated for its productive powers. It was resorted to by barren women, and was of great repute for making them “joyful mothers of children!”

[imported_SimonMember]

A quick update on the well thread…

I downloaded the title deeds of the house in Welton with the site of the well which turns out to be owned by a local business tycoon. I wrote him a letter seeking a quick look around but so far no reply.

I got my hands on a copy of the James Rattue book (The Living Stream) and have made it to page 81 out of 147 but may have to give up. For some odd reason I can’t follow the author’s arguments very well (I’m willing to admit that I may be at fault here) and in any event Mr Rattue’s stated mission is to retake the history of wells from the New Agers and put it back on a solid historical footing. An admirable aim but a fairly dry read if I’m honest.

However, in one of those highly entertaining synchronicities he concludes his book with the following paragraph:

“And yet…In 1982 Andy Collins spent a ‘psychic quest’ uncovering the site and nature of the Rev. Bazille-Corbin’s ‘Shrine of Our Lady of the Running Well’ at Runwell (Essex). The well, on being rediscovered, was cleaned and restored and is currently visited each year on Boxing Day; in 1983 two hundred villagers took part in the procession, re-creating their communal identity anew by walking together and, so they might have thought, communing with their ancient pagan past (Bord 1985, 158). A created pagan past. Last laugh to the tricksters, And the historians.”

I don’t know if Andy knows about this and, if he does, what he thinks about it – but I would take it as a huge compliment. Tricksters indeed!

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