The water seeps through beech leaves amidst wild garlic.
With leaves raked aside the water sparkles from the chalk.
A1-The Great North Road
The Romans had three routes north from Brough on the north Humber bank. The road starts as one, running a little west of north from Brough to South Newbald where it forks. The right fork passes east of Market Weighton and on to the important Roman fort at Malton. The left fork goes west of Market Weighton but forks again at Barmby, dividing to the right for Stamford Bridge and Thirsk and left for York. The York road was probably the latest of the three. This road probably ran south of Willoughby, crossing the Derwent at Kexby. The modern A1079 now crosses the Derwent by a new bridge, leaving the old one, just downstream, for the roosting Daubenton's bats (Myotis daubentonii). Excavations a little downstream at Sutton upon Derwent have revealed a large Romano-British settlement. South of Kexby Bridge, a series of flood meadows, pasture and woodland comprises the Lower Derwent Valley National Nature Reserve with sites such as Wheldrake Ings supporting a rich diversity of plant species and outstanding numbers of breeding and wintering birds.
The A1079 has bypassed Market Weighton since 1990. The Geology of the Market Weighton By-pass forms an article by the Hull Geological Society. Thr Roman road's crossing gets a mention among more ancient fossils.
Bulmer's 1892 History and Directory of East Yorkshire gives this entry for Barmby Moor: The Roman road leading from York or Stamford Bridge to Market Weighton, passed over Barmby Moor. Urns and vestiges of a Roman pottery have been found here, and in 1763, four human skeletons were discovered in a gravel pit, one of which was enclosed in a stone coffin with an urn at the head. Mr. Gough says that near Barmby Moor Inn this road appears very plain, and may be traced most part of the way on the present road. In the series of maps of Yorkshire by Eman. Bowen, geographer to the King, published in the latter half of last century, this road is traced from near Stamford Bridge, over Barmby Moor, thence through Hayton, past Thorpe le Street to a point between Goodmanham and Market Weighton, and thence forward to Brough, on the bank of the Humber. (Thanks to Genuki for this text.)
Let's divert up the easternmost Roman road and go in search of water. North of Sancton, while the modern road leaves it, the Roman alignment passes close by a number of ancient named wells and springs around the hamlets of Goodmanham, Londesborough, Nunburnholme and Warter.
Much of the following information is taken from an article by Edna Whelan, originally published in Source in 1987. The full article along with her charming drawings can be found at the Source Online Archive.
There are three wells and an ancient named spring at Goodmanham. The history of Goodmanham has been recorded in Bede's 'History of the English Church and People'. The Church of All Hallows, however, stands upon a site held sacred since the days of the worship of the Old Gods and Goddesses, and the area has been a place of settlement since the very earliest times, long before Christianity appeared. Goodmanham was the Pagan High Shrine of Northumbria in AD 625 when Edwin became King of this vast tract of land which stretched from the north bank of the Humber to the Firth of Forth. The story of Edwin's conversion to Christianity and the dramatic desecration of the Pagan Shrine by Coifi, the High Priest, makes an exciting and unforgettable legend.
Lady Well, Goodmanham (SE 8873 4294)
The Lady Well lies in a hollow in an area of rough pastureland which slopes gently downhill. The spring water issues from beneath the roots of the largest of three hawthorn trees and flows away between a winding ribbon of lush green verdure; almost an emerald green as against the yellow green of the rougher grasses. It is said that at one time all the village drew its supply of water from Lady Well and that from here water was used to fill the two fonts which stand within the nearby church; holy water indeed. The well has no known healing properties or traditions, but it is well preserved in its natural beauty. It has no stonework visible around it, only the strength and support of the hawthorns.
St Helen's Well, Goodmanham (SE 8910 4248)
To the south of Goodmanham village there is a lovely wooded valley with a well-trodden path running through it and here, set in the southern slopes of the hillside. Amongst the trees, is St Helen's Well, lovingly restored and cared for by the Girl Guides of nearby Market Weighton and it is to their credit that one can comfortably stand and pause and quietly absorb the aura of the sacred site. The water steams from a natural grotto in the hillside beneath the overhanging branches of an elder and pours into a wide, shallow, stone-edged bath where, on a clear day, the water reflects as in a mirror the blue of the sky. Once again, no specific traditions survive, but the presence of the bath structure suggest this was a place where the healing and purifying qualities of the water could be absorbed by submersion. Across the valley on its north side is an area of grassland that is full of mounds and ridges and this is known locally as Howe Hills.
"At St. Helen’s Holy Well, near Tadcaster in Yorkshire, it is still customary for the patient to attach a piece of white rag to the twig from a bush and leave it at the well as a thank-offering." C.J.S. Thompson
Beggars Bush Well, Goodmanham (SE 8875 4350)
There is an old and venerable bush in the bank above this well but why it was called Beggars Bush no-one seems to know. It is clearly marked on the map, a wayside well, being beside an old green track which follows the path of the 'Wolds Way'. Once again, the water issues from a slope in the land and runs over a sandy bed into a nearby stream. There are no signs of stones or of steps down to the water though these may once have existed. The fact that the well is named and recorded on the O.S. map indicates some past importance.
Mastill Spring, Goodmanham (SE 8919 4279)
This ancient spring lies to the north of the village, the water coming from two clear sources and joining together to form a small pond in a hollow in green pastureland. Hawthorn trees are prominent in forming a hedge to one side of the pond and a small tree stands beside one of the springs, which appears merely a yard away from the edge of the pool. An old disused railway embankment runs nearby and is much used by local people as a pleasant walk.
Lady Well, Nunburnholme (SE 8492 4877)
The village of Nunburnholme once had a small Benedictine nunnery within its bounds, founded in the 13th century and dedicated to St Mary. All that remains of it now are various grassy mounds, but the history of the village and nunnery, including the names of Prioresses from 1205, was written by Revd. W. Morris in 1906 and his book has a map of the parish showing the position of Lady Well. This was also a village well and is situated near Bratt Wood which covers a steep bank to the north of the village. A beautifully clear stream issues from a semicircular dip in the hillside amid tall old beech trees, and runs swiftly over a large block of stone and thence through two pieces of wide piping, from which it falls 2 or 3 feet in a small waterfall. It then continues down the hillside and into the valley below. The name Lady Well is of course synonymous with the Virgin, hence the link with the nunnery of St Mary, but the well is known to be of great age and was probably in existence before the nunnery. Edna Whelan
I visited this spring in May 2002. It's quite a way from the village but not too hard to find. Starting at a rather good spot for a picnic with benches under the trees, where the road crosses a stream by a 19th century brick bridge, follow the concrete private path on the eastern side of the stream. Its a pleasant walk through pastures with Bratt Wood on your left across the stream. The path crosses the stream by a bridge with a curiously ornate parapet, near the site of the now vanished priory, and turns uphill through the wood. At the top of the wood turn off the path and climb the bank a few yards to a stile into a field. Turning sharp left walk along the bottom of the field with the wood to your left, over another stile and on to the next stile in the field corner where you enter the wood. There is not much of a path but just a few yards in you will see the "semicircular dip in the hillside amid tall old beech trees" that Edna Whelan described. The beech trees are not actually very old. I suspect that much of the wood has been felled and replanted since Whelen's visit and there are other species as well as beech but the shallow soil over chalk favours the beech. Curiously, just by the spring, is a yew tree, the only one I noticed in the wood. Its not particularly ancient but I wonder whether there has long been a yew here, with an association with the spring like that so often found in church-yards. When I found it, the water was emerging through a thick layer of last autumn's beech leaves but a few minutes raking with fingers in the cool water, revealed a bed of clean chalk gravel from which the the water sparkled swiftly. I didn't find the large block of stone, it was probably buried in leaves further down, but the water flows though one piece of ceramic drainpipe before tumbling a few inches over a few big flints. All the wood hereabouts is carpeted with wild garlic, flowering profusely in May.
Lady Well, Nunbernholme
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The water seeps through beech leaves amidst wild garlic. |
With leaves raked aside the water sparkles from the chalk. |
Rather than retracing one's steps, crossing the field to the west of the spring leads to the Wolds Way, a long distance footpath, descending the hill through Bratt Wood to the road and back to Nunbernholme.
Edna Whelan describes the Lady Spring, Warter, (SE 8691 4983) as follows: In lovely shady woodland where ancient earthworks are evident amongst the trees and undergrowth there runs a strong stream and into this beck there runs a clear flow of water from a spring in the steep wooded bank. This is no mere trickle but a gushing, sparkling outpouring from the earth. There may have been a structure here once, possible traces of which remain, but the name Lady Spring once more preserves knowledge of the spring's past importance. There was an Augustinian priory at Warter from 1132 but nothing is left of it. This spring features as the terminal point on a lay outlined in Ian Taylor's 'The All Saints Ley Hunt' and he puts forward an intriguing connection with the Nunburnholme priory: 'It is not unknown for nuns to have adopted the role of guardians of the Sacred Waters, a position they may have taken over from earlier Pagan Goddess cults and local traditional witch covens. This may also be an example of an exclusively Mediaeval processional ley, the nuns being the devotees and unofficial priestesses.' But the 'lovely shaded woodland' has, at least temporarily, gone. The old trees have been felled and there is a new broadleaf plantation of mainly ash saplings. The 'gushing outpouring' is easy to find. There is an old gate into the wood where the road from Warter to Nunburnholme turns a right-angle to the right. The beck is just 50 yards down the slope. The 'structure' is there all right, though what it was I'm not sure, a weir or ram-pump perhaps, 20th century by the concrete and brickwork. Water gushes from the far bank and is evidently piped from a square brick open man-hole a few yards up the slope. I'd be interested to know what these structures were for. There certainly is a remarkably strong flow and it is easy to imagine that this was a significant natural feature in ancient days.
Ludhill Spring, Warter (SE 8696 4990). Whelan also tells of another, similar spring, a little further up the valley: Only a short step from Lady Spring at Warter we find another spring with an ancient name, Lud. Was this spring once connected with the pagan God Llud-Nuatha, or Nodens? There are a few remaining stones around the spring. The strong stream which issues from it pours into the same beck which takes the flow of water from Lady Spring. The whole of this woodland area is redolent of ancient worship and water lore.
Not too far from the York road, west of Shiptonthorpe is another 'Lady Well':
Lady Well, Seaton Ross (SE 7844 4026)
Following a public footpath from the village of Seaton Ross, around and even across ploughed fields set with crops, but still following footpath markers across the narrow and seemingly fragile bridges over field drains, any determined walker will at last come to the site of Lady Well, a wild other-worldly corner where the water rises from an unseen source and forms a pool almost surrounded by trees and tall wild grasses. Only the name, Lady Well, remains to show its sacredness.
Lincolnshire
©Biff Vernon 2002