Home › All legends › Holy Wells & Healing Springs (page 1 of 2) Holy Wells & Healing Springs
Sacred springs bridge the pre-Christian and the Christian: waters dedicated to a saint yet visited with offerings, rags and pins in the old way, sought for healing of the eyes, of children and of the sick. Many keep a guardian tradition — a fish, a saint or a spirit whose favour the water depends upon.
Black Dogs of Britain & Ireland Arthurian Places Haunted Churches & Churchyards Legends of the Sea & Shore Cursed Places & Ill-Fated Stones Standing Stones & Stone Circles Dragons & Serpents Holy Wells & Healing Springs
Beasts Beast of Dean Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England A shadowy folkloric creature said to haunt the ancient Forest of Dean on the Gloucestershire–Welsh border — appearing as an enormous black boar, a spectral dog, or a shapeless dark mass — and blamed for livestock deaths and unexplained lights among the trees. Legendary Figures Beowulf Anglo-Saxon England Anglo-Saxon hero who slew the monster Grendel with his bare hands in the Danish hall of Heorot, then killed Grendel's mother in the depths of her mere, and finally died old, fighting a dragon alone, for the sake of his people. Legendary Figures Bevis of Hampton Southampton, Hampshire, England One of England's great medieval romance heroes — a knight of Southampton who slew giants, fought Saracens, rode the matchless horse Arundel, wielded the sword Morglay, and whose adventures filled a hugely popular tale told from the 13th century onward. His giant companion Ascapart and his bones lie buried, according to tradition, in Arundel Castle. Beasts Black Annis Leicestershire A blue-faced hag with iron claws who haunted the Dane Hills near Leicester, snatching stray children and lambs from her cave. Cottages were built with small windows so she could not reach a clawed arm inside. Deities Brigid Ireland & Britain Goddess of fire, poetry, healing and smithcraft — one of the most beloved figures in Celtic tradition. Her festival Imbolc marks the first breath of spring. Christianised as Saint Brigid, her flame was tended for centuries at Kildare. Sacred Sites Chalice Well Somerset A spring at the foot of Glastonbury Tor that has flowed without ceasing for two thousand years, its iron-red waters said to conceal the Holy Grail. It never runs dry even in drought — taken as proof that something sacred lies within. Deities Coventina Northumberland A Romano-British goddess of wells and springs, especially associated with Coventina's Well near Carrawburgh on Hadrian's Wall. Offerings to her were dropped into sacred water. Legendary Figures Craig y Ddinas Pontneddfechan, Neath, Wales A limestone crag in the Vale of Neath beneath which King Arthur and his knights sleep in an enchanted cave, surrounded by gold and silver, awaiting the day Britain calls them back. A Welsh traveller once stumbled in, accidentally struck a bell, and was beaten and cast out — never finding the entrance again. Ghosts Dearg Due Strongbow's Tree, Waterford, Ireland Ireland's most feared female vampire — a woman of great beauty forced into a cruel marriage who died of despair and rose from her grave to drain the blood of men. She is buried near Strongbow's Tree in Waterford, and locals traditionally pile stones on the grave to keep her below ground. Beasts Dun Cow of Dunsmore Heath Dunsmore Heath, Warwickshire, England A legendary giant dun cow that terrorised Warwickshire, providing unlimited milk until a witch milked her dry into a sieve, driving her mad with rage. The hero Guy of Warwick eventually slew her on Dunsmore Heath, and her gigantic rib-bone was kept as a relic in Warwick Castle for centuries. Ghosts Epworth Poltergeist Epworth, Lincolnshire, England A poltergeist that plagued the Rectory at Epworth, Lincolnshire, in the winter of 1716–17, tormenting the household of Samuel Wesley — father of John and Charles — with knockings, groans, levitating objects, and a mysterious figure in a white robe the family nicknamed Old Jeffrey. Legendary Figures Fionn mac Cumhaill County Antrim, Northern Ireland Leader of the Fianna — Ireland's warrior band — who gained the gift of all wisdom by accidentally tasting the Salmon of Knowledge, then spent his life hunting, fighting, and loving across a legendary Ireland. He sleeps in a cave beneath Ireland, ready to return when needed. Sacred Sites Glastonbury Holy Thorn Somerset Joseph of Arimathea is said to have thrust his pilgrim's staff into Wearyall Hill above Glastonbury—crying 'we are weary all'—and it took root as a hawthorn that flowers both at Christmas and in spring. Puritans burned the original in the Civil War; descendants grown from cuttings still send a sprig to the monarch every December. Ghosts Hexham Heads Northumberland Two stone heads unearthed in a Hexham garden in 1971 triggered apparitions of a half-wolf figure in every home that held them — including on a folklore scholar's staircase. The heads eventually vanished; the hauntings reportedly did not. Witches Llanddona Witches Llanddona, Anglesey, Wales Exiled witches washed ashore at Llanddona in a rudderless boat, conjured a freshwater spring from the sand, and settled to terrorise the parish. Aquatic Legends Mermaid of Marden Marden, Herefordshire, England A mermaid said to haunt the River Lugg at Marden in Herefordshire, who stole the great bell of Marden Church as it was being hauled from the river — and is said to still hold it, letting its muffled tolling be heard beneath the water on quiet nights. Aquatic Legends Nanny Rutt Lincolnshire Nanny Rutt is a character in a cautionary tale associated with Nanny Rutt's well, an artesian spring in Math Wood, near Northorpe, in the parish of Thurlby, Lincolnshire. The story goes that a named girl went into the wood, to the well and disappeared having been taken off by Nanny Rutt. Sacred Sites Nanteos Cup Ceredigion, Wales A battered fragment of olive wood kept at Nanteos Mansion in Wales, borrowed by the sick and returned — said to be the Holy Grail itself, hidden quietly in the Welsh hills. Aquatic Legends Njuggle Shetland, Scotland Shetland's water horse lures riders into lochs with a grey pony disguise; a telltale curling wheel-tail betrays it — and a cunning blacksmith once nailed iron shoes to its hooves to break its power forever. Aquatic Legends Salmon of Knowledge River Boyne, County Meath The greatest fish in the world, which fed on nine hazelnuts of wisdom fallen into the Well of Segais. Whoever tasted it first would gain all knowledge. The druid Finnegas caught it after seven years of searching — but his servant Fionn, burning his thumb on it as he cooked, licked the blister and gained the gift instead. Ghosts Spring-Heeled Jack London A terrifying figure who stalked Victorian London with eyes like burning coals. He could leap over rooftops, breathe blue flame, and vanished whenever cornered. Never caught. Never explained. Legendary Figures St Dwynwen Llanddwyn Island, Anglesey St Dwynwen is the Welsh patron saint of lovers. Her legend is associated with Llanddwyn Island, where the ruins of her church and a holy well became a place of pilgrimage and a focus for traditions about love and fortune. Sacred Sites St Govan's Chapel Pembrokeshire, Wales When pirates pursued St Govan along the clifftop he prayed and the rock itself opened to hide him; the pirates' stolen bell was sealed in a boulder by the well, entombed there for over a millennium. Sacred Sites St Non's Well Pembrokeshire, Wales A spring gushed from the clifftop earth the moment St David was born in a thunderstorm, and its waters were still famous for curing eye diseases and drawing pilgrims 1,300 years later.
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