St. Patrick’s Well, Carrowreagh, Donegal

Holy Well:  OS Grid Reference – C 366 198

Folklore

To be found between the two outer embankments on the southern side of the legendary Grianan of Aileach, this — one of many St. Patrick’s Wells in Ireland — is typically attributed with healing properties.  It was described in Henry Morris’ (1938) survey (amongst others) as being the place where, in the 5th century when St. Patrick came here, Prince Eoghan was baptised and thereafter turned his back on the heathen gods of his ancestors for this new christian cult which was just growing at that time. (‘Eoghan,’ pronounced owen)  Thereafter other people were baptised by the waters from here, which in ancient days would have been the water supplies for those at the Grianan.

Henry Swan (1938) told that in previous times there once grew a legendary tree by this well, into which pilgrims inserted pins and other artefacts as offerings and to make wishes to the spirit of the waters. A similar thing (with the same underlying mythic structure) occurred at the tree and holy well of Loch Maree.

Up until quite recently, the well was very overgrown and in a condition that Rear Admiral Pascual o’ Dogherty called “disgusting.”  He called for renovation work and action to bring this ancient site back into good health, and thankfully, as a result of the man’s proclamations, St. Patrick’s Well here has been brought back into a good state of life.  Excellent stuff mate!

References:

Lacy, Brian, Archaeological Survey of County Donegal, DCC: Lifford 1983.
Morris, Henry, ‘The Holy Wells of Inishowen,’ in H.P. Swan’s Book of Inishowen, Buncrana 1938.
o’ Muirgheasa, Enri, ‘The Holy Wells of Donegal,’ in Béaloideas 6:2, 1936.
Swan, Harry Percival, The Book of Inishowen, William Doherty: Buncrana 1938.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

North Ring, Mucking, Stanford-le-Hope, Essex

Enclosure (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – TQ 675 811

Archaeology & History

This large circular enclosure, measuring about 120 feet across, seemed to be a small settlement with several internal structures (fences, pits, cremations and a sunken-floored structure) that was first excavated in 1978 and described as a Bronze Age enclosure.  Akin to a henge monument in some ways, this small settlement site had two entrances: one on the east and the other opposite on its west side.  However, the main ‘entrance’ was on the eastern (sunrise) side, where post-holes laid a pathway over the ditch and into the structure itself.

The excavation on the eastern side of site revealed two periods of construction with associated structures, including three circular buildings.  Some excavations to the east produced evidence for a range of contemporary activities.  The assemblage of Late Bronze Age material included pottery, metalwork, cremation remains, sickle moulds and equipment for salt production.  For further info and imagery, see the Link below.

References:

Bond, Dermot, Excavation at the North Ring, Mucking, Essex, East Anglian Archaeology 1988.

Links

1. North Ring, Mucking

Springfield Lyons, Chelmsford, Essex

Enclosure:  OS Grid Reference – TL 7357 0818

Archaeology & History

We’ve known that there was an excessive number of prehistoric archaeological sites in and around the Chelmsford region for quite a long time now, but defining precisely the age and nature of the finds takes some doing! (as you’d expect)  It hasn’t helped, of course, with the housing estates and other intrusive building operations in and around the area, screwing up a more accurate and patient assessment of the material there.  And this predicament was exemplified with the Springfield Lyons neolithic causewayed enclosure just as much as other sites nearby.

Although excavations here found a large, deep ditch with impressive ramparts and entrance, in Oswald, Dyer & Barber’s (2001) survey of these giant monuments, they defined the remains here as “probable,” pending further investigations.  But the site was primarily defined by the large deep ditch, broken in several places round its edges with the ’causeways’ built leading onto the site.  The enclosure gave good views over the small valley from here and had streams running either side of it.

Adjacent to the site were the remains of a “small circular enclosure with multiple entrances,” saying that excavation here,

“has proved that it is of late Bronze Age date and might be interepreted variously as a defended settlement, or a ritual monument.”

This external small enclosure site was then conjectured, quite spuriously it’s gotta be said, to be a mini-version of the great causewayed enclosure monument, saying:

“Its siting and form both hint that it could have been a conscious imitation of, or re-invention of, the perceived form of the earthworks of the neolithic enclosure.”

I like the idea, it’s gotta be said — but without direct evidence we’ve gotta take this idea with a large pinch of salt!

…to be continued…

References:

Brown, N., ‘The Archaeology of Essex 1500 – 500 BC,’ in Bedwin, O. (ed.), The Archaeology of Essex, ECC: Chelmsford 1996.
Oswald, Alastair, Dyer, Caroline & Barber, Martyn, The Creation of Monuments: Neolithic Causewayed Enclosures in the British Isles, EH: Swindon 2001.
Priddy, D., ‘Excavations in Essex, 1987,’ in Essex Archaeology & History, 19, 1988.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

St. Helen’s Well, Colne, Lancashire

Holy Well:  OS Grid Reference – SD 890 397

Getting Here

This site can be reached with relative ease from Colne’s train station by crossing the road and going up Bridge Street, turning immediately left along Shaw Street for several hundred yards until you reach Waterside Road on your left-hand side.  From here, as Mr Tom Sharples told, “St. Helen’s Well is presently within the area of overgrown and unmanaged scrub woodland adjacent to Waterside Road.”  Look around!

Archaeology & History

First described on the Megalithic Portal by the pseudonymous Brionnfhionn, this recently rediscovered holy well can be found on the southern side of Colne, at Waterside.  A few months after the MegPortal announcement, a more detailed overview of the site was published on GoogleDocs, from where Mr Tom Sharples has kindly allowed us to repeat the information that both he and Susan Bryant-Lauder compiled there.

The site was relocated after reference had been found in Geoff Crambie’s (1978) A Colne Festival, where he wrote:

“1935 saw the end of St. Helen’s Mill in Waterside.  Built by Nicholas England in 1835, it was named after the St. Helen’s Well nearby, which was reputed to have been named by the Romans.”

The local writer Dorothy Harrison (1988) also mentioned the site, though only in passing, when she told,

“Along with St. Helen’s Well, Buck Spout provided the main source of drinking water in Waterside.”

There has to be some more information about this little-known site hidden in some old Lancastrian history or folklore work, somewhere – surely!?

References:

Crambie, Geoff, A Colne Festival, Turner & Earnshaw: 1978.
Harrison, Dorothy (ed.), The History of Colne, Pendle Heritage Centre 1988.

Split Rock, Rivock, Keighley, West Yorkshire

Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 0799 4418

Also Known as:

• Carving no.39 (Hedges)
• Carving no.80 (Boughey & Vickerman)
  

Getting Here

Split Rock, Rivock

Head up to Rivock’s Wondjina Stone carving, then keep going east to the Long Rock.  Wander 100 or more further east till you see the fence, and about 50 yards before this check out the large rocks which you’ll notice near to each other.  One of them is this Split Rock!

Archaeology & History

First described in Hedges’ (1986) survey, this is a large flattish boulder, split across one side, with two distinct cup-marks on its eastern side and a number of other ‘possibles’ scattering the surface.  The most intriguing bit to this rock is on its lower eastern side.  Here’s what Boughey & Vickerman (2003) described as,

Deep cup-and-half-ring

“one clear cup (doubtful) discovered under turf…at extreme lower SE corner, with possible attempt at pecked partial ring.”

This cup they describe as “doubtful” is quite deep, but the half-ring on its northern side has definite artificial peck-marks.  I’m more of the opinion that this cup-and-half-ring is man-made — though whether it was done in more recent years is the more debatable aspect here.  I’ll try getting some better images (and a drawing) of this stone when we’re next up here.

References:

Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, West Yorkshire Archaeology Service 2003.
Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Long Rock, Rivock, Keighley, West Yorkshire

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 0783 4431

Also Known as:

• Carving no.78 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Head up to the lovely Wondjina Stone carving, then walk east towards the triangulation pillar. Keep going, over the wall – and keep going straight on, over the next wall (no footpaths up here at all).  You’re now into rough heathland, but if you’re a real cup-and-ring freak, keep heading another 150 yards east, zigzagging slightly.  You’ll eventually find it!

Archaeology & History

Long Rock carving, Rivock

A quite large, smooth earthfast rock, but nowt much to look at unless you’re one of the crazy bunch!  This is just another one of our basic cup-marked rocks with very little modern archaeo-history attached.  There are perhaps as many as four cup-markings etched onto the stone: two at the northern end, one a little further down (not mentioned in Boughey & Vickerman’s survey) and another one cited towards the south end of the stone.  Gotta be honest though: a couple of them are slightly dubious and may be natural — but hopefully not! (soz about the crap photo of this poor carving; but the light was shit & our camera packed-up!)

References:

Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, West Yorkshire Archaeology Service 2003.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Long Rock, Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 1328 4622

Also Known as:

• Carving no.161 (Hedges)
• Carving no.326 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Large single cup-marked rock

Follow the same directions to reach the Pancake Stone, but about 100 yards west, following the footpath that runs along the edge of the ridge (towards the large Haystack Rock a few hundred yards west), watch out for these large seemingly split rocks, with one elongated length of stone by the pathside.  You can’t really miss it!

Archaeology & History

Very little’s been said of this carving as it’s just one more of the many rocks with just a solitary cup-marking etched on top — as we can see in the photo.  The cup-mark is near the bottom, southeast-ish portion of the rock and is plain to see.

(Note: I’m not 100% sure that I’ve got Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) numbered carving correct here.  They describe a carved rock very close by here as an “upstanding rock, part of a large split rock,” as their ‘number 326′ carving — which is roughly similar; though I’m not totally sure!  No other single cup-marked stone is listed in their survey close by, so assume it’s the same one as in their work.)

References:

Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, West Yorkshire Archaeology Service 2003.
Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Fairy Well, Barrow Gurney, Somerset

Sacred Well:  OS Grid Reference – ST 532 686

Getting Here

Go up the nicely-named Wildcountry Lane at the staggered crossroads on the edge of Barrow Gurney for about a half-mile, watching out for the dip in the road where it crosses the stream.  Walk up the stream here for a coupla hundred yards, keeping your eyes peeled for the small spring on your left just past where a footpath crosses the stream.

Archaeology & History

Little of historical nature is known of this site, found in the dip near the stream, though it was much frequented in bygone centuries as a curative place for sore eyes.

Folklore

Although named after the little people, Phil Quinn (1999) wrote that,

“even the oldest villager cannot remember how the fairies became connected with this well.  All that is told is that the people would go to the well to bathe their eyes, for the water was believed to be good in the treatment of all eye complaints. A local woman remembers that her father, who worked the land in this neighbourhood, would always drink from the well using a cup which was never taken away or used for any other purpose.”

It is likely that the fairy association here derived from the proximity of a nearby prehistoric tomb, cairn or similar archaeological remain.  The aptly-named Barrow Wood immediately east and other ‘barrow’ place-names nearby would add weight to this notion. (faerie-lore has widespread associations with prehistoric tombs and similar relics)

References:

Quinn, Phil, The Holy Wells of Bath and Bristol Region, Logaston: Almeley 1999.

Murlaganmore, Killin, Perthshire

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NN 5402 3455

Also Known as:

• Morlagganmore
  

Getting Here

Murlaganmore stone & setting

From Killin, take the Glen Lochay Road past the Moirlanich Longhouse, but keep on for another mile, and take the track on the left up to Murlaganmore cottages.  As the track turns right of the tree-line, cross the field (left) up towards the open gate as if you’re going to the Murlaganmore 2 carving, where you’ll see this large flattish rock in the grasses about 100 yards before it.

Archaeology & History

When we visited this old boulder last week, we had the misfortune of grey days and dark clouds throwing their faded light across this cup-marked rock, not really letting us see with any clarity the many cups which pepper (mainly) the edges of the rock.  But the cups are faded anyway, so accounts tell, and the 15 which we counted were same 15 recorded about 100 years ago in C.G. Cash’s (1912) survey.  There, he described this old stone as,

“about 200 yards south of the house, in the middle of the uppermost pasture. It is a large block of quartz schist stuck thick with garnets, and bearing fifteen cup-marks, only one of which — 3 inch in diameter and 1 inch deep — is really well defined, and several of which are faint.”

Faint cups barely visible

C.G. Cash's early drawing

But despite the grey day (She was absolutely teeming with rain half of the time!), I found the setting here absolutely gorgeous, with the many shades of old trees and the clear blood of pure waters falling through the landscape.  And, without doubt, there are other carved stones nearby that have yet to capture the attention of surveyors.  You can smell them!

References:

Cash, C.G., ‘Archaeological Gleanings from Killin,’ in PSAS 46, 1911-12.
Royal Commission on Ancient & Historical Monuments, Scotland, The Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Stirling District, RCAHMS: Edinburgh 1979.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Murlaganmore 2, Killin, Perthshire

Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – NN 5395 3455

Getting Here

Murlaganmore 2

Take the same direction to reach the Murlaganmore Footprint, continuing up past the cottages. 100 yards on, where there’s a bend in the track, cross the field on your left and go thru the gate higher up the slope.  Stick to the small rough ‘path’, past the Murlaganmore 1 carving for nearly 100 yards, where a small rocking-stone-like rock is ahead of you. That’s it!

Archaeology & History

Close-up of cup-marks

This stone’s in a lovely setting, with the craggy rise of Creag Mhor and the waterfall of Airigh an Fhraoich up the rich coloured slope behind it.  But the carving here is a simple one, with perhaps only 2 cup-markings etched on the stone’s upper surface, as the photo here shows.  Tis a lovely setting though, and there are other carved rocks living nearby which aint yet seen the pages of any record-books.

It was first mentioned in C.G. Cash’s (1912) essay on the antiquities of Killin and district, who told that here was “one well-cut cup, 3 inches in diameter and 1½ inches deep, and also a doubtful or faint one.”  The carving was later listed in the Royal Commission’s Stirling District report (1979) as simply “a boulder bearing cup-marks.”

References:

Cash, C.G., ‘Archaeological Gleanings from Killin,’ in PSAS 46, 1911-12.
Royal Commission on Ancient & Historical Monuments, Scotland, The Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Stirling District, RCAHMS: Edinburgh 1979.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian