Nomenclature and etymology The term haeligewielle is in origin an Anglo-Saxon toponym attached to specific springs in the landscape;J. Harte, 'Holey Wells and other Holey Places', Living Spring Journal, 1, 2000. its current use has arisen through folklore scholars, antiquarians, and other writers generalising from those actual 'Holy Wells', which survived into the modern era. The term 'holy-hole' is sometimes employed.A. Ross, Pagan Celtic Britain (London: RKP), 1967, 107; Willy Worcestre, Itinerary, ed. J. Harvey (Oxford: Clarendon), 1981, pp. 290-291. Culture and representation Holy wells in different forms occur in such a wide variety of cultures, religious environments, and historical periods that it is usually held that it is a universal human instinct to revere sources of water .e.g. J. & C. Bord, Sacred Waters (London: Granada), 1985, pp. 1-3. However, the fragmentary nature of the evidence, and the historical differences among cultures and nations, make it very hard to generalize. While there are a few national studies of holy well lore and history, mainly concentrating on Ireland and the British Isles, there is a need for more work examining other regions. Over a hundred holy wells exist in Cornwall, each associated with a particular saint, though not always the same one as the dedication of the church.Jenner, Henry (1925) "The Holy Wells of Cornwall". In: Cornish Church Guide. Truro: Blackford; pp. 249-257.Quiller-Couch, Mabel & Lilian (1894) Ancient and Holy Wells of Cornwall. London: Chas. J. Clark. Among the earliest enthusiasts for holy wells in modern times was the Neopagan movement, for whom wells formed part of 'earth mysteries' study along with ley lines and ancient sites; the view that the Christians had 'stolen' holy wells from the pagan religions fitted in well with their position.J. Rattue, The Living Stream (Woodbridge: Boydell), 1995, Chapter 9. The magazines Wood and Water and Meyn Mamvro, among others, helped shape this approach. During the early- and mid-1990s this viewpoint was under increasing attack crowned by the publication of Ronald Hutton's The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles (1991) which argued that the evidence for what constituted pre-Christian British religious practices, certainly outside Romano-British times, was next to nil. As far as wells themselves were concerned, the controversy emerged in the pages of Source, the holy wells journal edited by Roy Fry and former Benedictine monk Tristan Gray-Hulse. A number of articles in the journal challenged long-standing myths about holy well history, and the editors published an exchange between the authors and Cheryl Straffon, editor of Cornish earth mysteries magazine Meyn Mamvro, about the evidence for a particular Cornish well's supposed association with the Irish goddess Brigid. The eco-pagan movement has largely accepted the new historiographical approach, but occasionally rather more old-fashioned accounts of holy wells are published, for instance Gary Varner's Sacred Springs (2002). A linked argument was over the nature of the influence of the Celts on the well cult. The late Francine Nicholson, an independent student of Celtica, argued forcefully and controversially that the Celts had a unique sensitivity to sacred wells, but never elaborated this in any published work.WELLS-AND-SPAS Archives - January 2003 (#23) . More recently, radically minded scholars have begun questioning the unity of concepts imposed by the term 'holy well'. In a paper in the Living Spring Journal, Jeremy Harte distinguishes between early Anglo-Saxon 'holy wells' and those Christianised in the late Middle Ages, and argues 'apart from being venerated and being wet, they have little in common'; Harte has also stressed that limited evidence may mean that scholars are considerably overestimating the number of holy wells which were active at any one time.Harte, op.cit. . Historiographically, the publication of Janet and Colin Bord's Sacred Waters (1985) was influential in reviving interest in the history and folklore of holy wells in Britain. The same year saw the foundation of the journal Source by Mark Valentine. Attempts to maintain a regular journal for the study of holy wells have been erratic (Source enjoyed two runs from 1985 to 1989 and 1994 to 1998, and the web-based Living Spring has only had two issues to date) but postings on websites such as The Megalithic Portal show that there is still much interest in this category of ancient site. Some works of fiction have added to this modern interest. One of the most well known being The Holy Well (2007) by novelist and contemporary folksinger Colin Macpherson, who also recorded a song by the same name in 2013"The Holy Well", Colin Macpherson 2013, Spotify song link; accessed 18 November 2020 and, more recently, another song 'Remembering The Holy Well' (2020)"Remembering The Holy Well", Colin Macpherson 2020, Spotify song link; accessed 18 November 2020—and who asserts that the focus of these works is an actual, ancient holy well."Comments from the author" on the publisher website; accessed 20 November 2020
Nomenclature and etymology The term haeligewielle is in origin an Anglo-Saxon toponym attached to specific springs in the landscape;J. Harte, 'Holey Wells and other Holey Places', Living Spring Journal, 1, 2000. its current use has arisen through folklore scholars, antiquarians, and other writers generalising from those actual 'Holy Wells', which survived into the modern era. The term 'holy-hole' is sometimes employed.A. Ross, Pagan Celtic Britain (London: RKP), 1967, 107; Willy Worcestre, Itinerary, ed. J. Harvey (Oxford: Clarendon), 1981, pp. 290–291. Culture and representation Holy wells in different forms occur in such a wide variety of cultures, religious environments, and historical periods that it seems to be a universal human instinct to revere water sources .e.g. J. & C. Bord, Sacred Waters (London: Granada), 1985, pp. 1–3. However, the fragmentary nature of the evidence, and the historical differences among cultures and nations, make it very hard to generalize. While there are a few national studies of holy well lore and history, mainly concentrating on Ireland and the British Isles, there is a need for more work examining other regions. More than a hundred holy wells exist in Cornwall, each associated with a particular saint, though not always the same one as the dedication of the church.Jenner, Henry (1925) "The Holy Wells of Cornwall". In: Cornish Church Guide. Truro: Blackford; pp. 249-257.Quiller-Couch, Mabel & Lilian (1894) Ancient and Holy Wells of Cornwall. London: Chas. J. Clark. Among the earliest enthusiasts for holy wells in modern times was the Neopagan movement, for whom wells formed part of 'earth mysteries' study along with ley lines and ancient sites; the view that the Christians had 'stolen' holy wells from the pagan religions fitted in well with their position.J. Rattue, The Living Stream (Woodbridge: Boydell), 1995, Chapter 9. The magazines Wood and Water and Meyn Mamvro, among others, helped shape this approach. During the early and mid-1990s this viewpoint was under increasing attack crowned by the publication of Ronald Hutton's The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles (1991) which argued that the evidence for what constituted pre-Christian British religious practices, certainly outside Romano-British times, was next to nil. As far as wells themselves were concerned, the controversy emerged in the pages of Source, the holy wells journal edited by Roy Fry and former Benedictine monk Tristan Gray-Hulse. A number of articles in the journal challenged long-standing myths about holy well history, and the editors published an exchange between the authors and Cheryl Straffon, editor of Cornish earth mysteries magazine Meyn Mamvro, about the evidence for a particular Cornish well's supposed association with the Irish goddess Brigid. The eco-pagan movement has largely accepted the new historiographical approach, but occasionally rather more old-fashioned accounts of holy wells are published, for instance Gary Varner's Sacred Springs (2002). A related argument was over the nature of the influence of the Celts on the well cult. The late Francine Nicholson, an independent student of Celtica, argued forcefully and controversially that the Celts had a unique sensitivity to sacred wells, but never elaborated this in any published work.WELLS-AND-SPAS Archives – January 2003 (#23) . More recently, radically minded scholars have begun questioning the unity of concepts imposed by the term 'holy well'. In a paper in the Living Spring Journal, Jeremy Harte distinguishes between early Anglo-Saxon 'holy wells' and those Christianised in the late Middle Ages, and argues 'apart from being venerated and being wet, they have little in common'; Harte has also stressed that limited evidence may mean scholars are considerably overestimating the number of holy wells which were active at any one time.Harte, op.cit. . Historiographically, the publication of Janet and Colin Bord's Sacred Waters (1985) was influential in reviving interest in the history and folklore of holy wells in Britain. The same year saw the foundation of the journal Source by Mark Valentine. Attempts to maintain a regular journal for the study of holy wells have been erratic (Source enjoyed two runs from 1985 to 1989 and 1994 to 1998, and the web-based Living Spring has had only two issues to date) but postings on websites such as The Megalithic Portal show that there is still much interest in this category of ancient site. Some works of fiction have added to this modern interest. One of the most well known being The Holy Well (2007) by novelist and contemporary folksinger Colin Macpherson, who also recorded a song by the same name in 2013"The Holy Well", Colin Macpherson 2013, Spotify song link; accessed 18 November 2020 and, more recently, another song 'Remembering The Holy Well' (2020)"Remembering The Holy Well", Colin Macpherson 2020, Spotify song link; accessed 18 November 2020and who asserts that the focus of these works is an actual, ancient holy well."Comments from the author" on the publisher website; accessed 20 November 2020
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