In Search of the "Chalybeate" - Holy Well of the Waseley Hills

 

On the 1882/3 OS map, south-east of Waseley Hill, and in a gothic typeface to denote a historic site, a 'Holy Well' is marked. At this time, it was 'Waseley Hill' in the singular as although several hills were donated to form the Country Park in the 1970s, only one of those hills bore the name Waseley. One of the other hills was Windmill Hill. 

Snippet of 1882/3 OS with the Holy Well marked.

Beneath the words 'Holy Well' was written 'Chalybeate'. Chalybeate refers to springs which contain iron salts, often giving them a metallic taste and sometimes a reddish or brownish tint. The term comes from the Latin chalybs, meaning 'steel' or 'iron'. Such mineral waters were believed to have health benefits and were popular in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 

The well was mentioned in L. Richardson's Wells and Springs of Worcestershire (1930) as a 'shallow dip-well [...] fed by a spring issuing in Keele Beds (Coal Measures). The overflow runs into a small ill-kept pond, thence into the wood and so on to the Salwarpe [...]'. By this time, it was likely already neglected. 

Today, the natural spring above the well is surrounded by the debris of bricks and mortar which, probably, once contained it and made it a landmark. Although others have noticed the well on old maps, it seems that pilgrimage here ceased over one hundred years ago.

Such springs were holy not only for their perceived healing properties, but often for association with a saint or a legend. The most likely saint linked to the well is St. Chad who was Bishop of Mercia in the seventh century. This land was once part of the Manor of Chadwich (a manor in the parish of Bromsgrove): Chadwich being Chad's, or Ceadda's, settlement. Legend states that St. Chad struck his staff into the ground in Feckenham Forest and a spring erupted, and the area of the well site was, historically, part of the royal Feckenham Forest. 

Another association is found with a monk called Oswald. In 1906, brothers Edward and George Cadbury bought land adjoining the well to build a camp which was to provide a country retreat for workers to ramble through the nearby forests and learn about birds, insects and pondlife. They called the camp St. Oswald's after the monk who had, apparently, lived in a stone cell near the well and distributed its waters. Although the Cadbury's used the saintly prefix, St. Oswald was King of Northumbria, so unlikely to be the Oswald noted here. More likely, if Oswald did exist, he was a hermit monk with the same name. 

Evidence of either (or both) of these associations, though, is not forthcoming. 

Above where the water bubbles from the ground is a split tree, two trunks emerging from the same roots. A rust-coloured residue mingles with the moss, perhaps formed as the tree drinks the iron-rich waters. It was winter when I found the spring, so the tree eluded identification. For now.

The well itself is underwhelming. It is encased in relatively modern brick, with mesh and bars over it for safety. Two plastic buckets are tucked at it sides filled with holy water, debris and scum. 

When the Cadbury's bought this land they said that it was still being used by locals. Today it is forgotten. 

The woods near the well are peppered with rising springs and their rivulets. Waters babble up from the ground and trickle slowly into narrow but steep valley cuts. The ancient people who wandered here must have thought this sacred land.