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7 holy wells and healing springs in Oxfordshire

Well, well, well, what have we here? In the days before we could go to our local GP for a prescription, the healing properties of natural water were depended on as a cure-all for many maladys, and in Oxfordshire, you were never far from a well with the ability to treat what ailed you. Here are seven of the top healing wells and holy springs in Oxfordshire.

1. St. Margaret's Well, Binsey

This well in the churchyard of the Church of St. Margaret of Antioch in Binsey has attracted pilgrims since the middle ages, all hoping to benefit from the waters supposedly miraculous healing properties. According to legend, the well was created by Saint Frideswide, who had fled to Binsey to avoid the unwanted romantic advances of a Mercian prince. The prince was was struck by lightning and blinded as a holy punishment for lusting after her, but the compassionate Frideswide prayed for him and the holy well sprung up at her feet, its healing waters curing the prince and restoring his sight.

The well is credited with the ability to cure eye problems, soothe emotional problems and is even said to be able to cure the lame. According to oxfordhistory.org.uk, the nearby church was once adorned with crutches from the many people who benefitted from this miraculous ability!

St. Margaret's Well is also sometimes referred to as the original 'treacle well', a reference to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, which features such a well. 'Treacle' is a play on the ancient word 'trickle', meaning a heading fluid.

Read more about St. Margaret's Well

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St. Margaret's Well, Binsey. Photo: Steve Roberts, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

2. Fair Rosamund's Well, Woodstock

Just across the lake from Blenheim Palace and not far from the site of the former Woodstock Manor can be found Fair Rosamund's well, one of a number of sites in Oxfordshire associated with Lady Rosamond de Clifford, mistress to King Henry II. Henry is said to have created a house within a maze at Woodstock in which he hid Rosamund from his wife, but Queen Eleanor eventually discovered Rosamund and gave her the choice of death by poison, or banishment to a nunnery.

Versions of the story differ on which of these options Rosamond chose (the history books suggest the latter), but the flat stones that surround the well are said to be the foundations of the house in which Fair Rosamund was hidden.

The precise nature of the well's healing properties are unclear, but even today Blenheim Palace's own brand of bottled mineral water still trades on the legend of Fair Rosamund!

Read more about Fair Rosamund's well

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Fair Rosamund's Well, Blenheim Park, Woodstock. Photo: Philip Halling, CC BY-SA 2.0, via `Geograph.org.uk

These are the big-hitters of Oxfordshire's holy and healing wells, but the list could easily be a good deal longer. There are a number of healing wells that existed in the past and are now either lost, such as the well from which Holywell Street in Oxford gets its name, or are sadly neglected, such as the Court Well in Thame. There are others about which very little appears to be known, such as Badger's Well near Appleton or Black Jack's Well near Sparsholt. Finally, although it is nether ancient, holy nor healing, no list of Oxfordshire wells is complete without mention of the grand (if somewhat incongruous) Maharajah's Well at Stoke Row!

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