Rea Way Markers: The Hazel Well

 

The site of the Hazel Well today, at the border of allotments.

Way Marker Type: spring - natural/manmade - in situ/moved/lost

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Along the River Rea in Stirchley, streets such as Hazelwell Lane, Hazelwell Road and the Hazelwell Fordrough, the latter being the site of the public house "The Hazelwell", hint that there was once a natural spring near here, one dedicated to the hazel tree. 

The hazel tree, in Celtic traditions, was considered to hold all knowledge in its branches so was associated with wisdom, and in Irish tradition the first hazel tree grew at the edge of the well of wisdom. Another tradition is that nine trees grew around the ancient pool which was at the heart of the Otherworld - a realm overlaid with this one inhabited by all kinds of spirits and non-human entities. A site such as a Hazel Well, it might be conjectured, may have been seen as a gateway to this realm and the secret knowledge it held. 

There is conjecture as to whether there actually was a natural spring called the Hazel Well in Stirchley. In the 1300s, the area was owned by the Hazelwell family who may have come from elsewhere and given their name to the area. Yet, they may also have taken their name from this land. 

One map is found with the "Hazel Well" marked, an OS of 1882 with the well situated near a millrace diverted from the River Rea to serve Hazelwell Mill. 

This site today is a muddy trench at the edge of the Hazelwell Allotments, and there are definite signs that water emerges here, albeit a slow, sludgy seep. The spring may be the ancient Hazel Well, or it may be a later find given the name Hazel Well because that is where it was situated, and a presumption was made. 

The original Anglo-Saxon name would have been the hæsl wyllan. 

Other "hazel" places in Arden are Haseley (the hazel clearing - hæsl lēah), near Warwick, and Haselor (hazel slope/bank - hæsl ōra) near Alcester.