Watery Hey & Whitworth Wells, Hayfield, Derbyshire

Having arranged to meet an esteemed relative in the region of the beautiful Peak District town of Hayfield, we were pleased to discover that you could barely chuck a brick in the area without it falling into a well of some kind.
First up was Watery Hey, which was located in town down by the banks of the River Sett. We followed the Kinder Road uphill for a bit and then turned down the steeply sloping Spring Vale Road, which led to a narrow bridge over the Sett. On the other side was the stone surround of Watery Hey Well. It's usually dressed in July, but we missed that unfortunately. However, it was very conveniently placed for the children's play area where we sat down for a picnic lunch and the boys went wild in the sandpit.

Note holy crisp packet to the right of the picture.

After lunch, we followed the road along the river, heading upstream towards Whitworth Well. We crossed back across the river a bit early and ended up forging up the hill following a steep, narrow path which took us up to Kinder Road. This didn't take us out of our way though, as our directions mentioned steps done from the road opposite The Sportsman Inn - which we duly followed. First we crossed the wooden bridge to the south side of the river for a wider view of the well on the opposite bank:

View from the bridge, well on right bank

Well viewed from the south bank

 Then we crossed back and followed the rough path right up to the spring and well itself.

Water flowing down into the stone well

The overgrown pool which feeds the well

 We followed the river up as far as Bowden Bridge, then it was time to head back down the road and stop off for a drink in the peaceful beer garden of The Sportsman. Heading back to town, an eagle-eyed member of our party spotted this:

Watery Hey on The Megalithic Portal

Whitworth Well on The Megalithic Portal

Horncliffe Well, Bingley Moor

Fine weather (not too hot, not too wet) and a spare Friday inspired the whole family to head for the hills. The moors between Shipley, Keighley and Ilkley (collectively known as Rombald's Moor) are rich with archaeological remains and neolithic art - previous destination Rivock Edge is in the area - and today we planned to visit Horncliffe Well, just up the hill from the Otley Road on the border of Bingley Moor and Hawksworth Moor. It wasn't too hard to catch the turning from the A650 in Bingley up through the fantastically-named village of Higher Eldwick to the moor. The start of the footpath had a convenient (if narrow) parking space on the verge, so we stopped here and unpacked our supplies for the climb ahead. The moor was stunningly beautiful and we had hardly started upwards when we surprised a couple of grouse bobbing along the path. Away from the road, the hillside was cool and peaceful (apart from the occasional jet flying over from Bradford International) and the views were stunning. On the horizon, we could see Emley Moor to the south and Ferrybridge C Power Station (a personal inspiration) to the south-east. The path was clear and we could see the boundary wall approaching to meet it from the east, where we knew we would find the well.
We reached the gap in the wall and found the well clearly marked in general -

 

- but not see clear to find in reality. Following the sound of running water, and poking around a bit in the thick grass and undergrowth, we found a drain cover over flowing water:

The water then emerged through another drainpipe and then ran under the wall and off down the hill.

Judging by the photo from 2005 on The Megalithic Portal listing, some work has been done to channel the flow of water here.
Flushed with success, we attempted to climb further up the hill and find the Twelve Apostles stone circle, but tiredness got the better of us and we made a leisurely return down the path, enjoying the view and occasionally laying in the heather for a rest.

St Helen's Well, Eshton

It was a bright, cold April day. A day of missed turnings. We eventually managed to navigate the car up the one-track Winterburn Lane and pulled in to a stopping place just after the bridge over Eshton Beck. The map was a little ambiguous, so we aimed for a likely looking stand of trees on the east side of the road near the beck. We followed the footpath along the bottom of the hill, below the Giants' Graves, and the boys enjoyed leaping into the deep patches of snow still dotted around in the fields, but our search proved luckless. Returning along the same footpath, we admired the many windows of Friar's Head and then headed back to the bridge and the trusty Volvo. Not wanting to give up, we walked a  little further up the road - spotting some kind of water-pumping facility. At that point I noticed a drain that seemed to have an unusual amount of water flowing through it. I followed the road uphill a little further and found water issuing from under a mossy stone wall. A quick look over the wall confirmed it - here was St Helen's Well. We had driven straight past it, missing the tiny oval plaque on the wall.

The well consists of one pool which is constantly bubbling with fresh water rising up from below, and a second pool separated from the first by the mysterious stonework (missing the secret heads now, sadly). This pool then drains out under the surrounding wall and down the roadside until the stream enters the beck right by the bridge.

St Helen's Well on The Megalithic Portal

Hollinshead Hall Well, Lancashire

The rain lashed down as we crawled along the Tockholes Road looking for the car park alluded to in a our research. Not what you'd call perfect well-hunting weather, but it didn't put a dampener on our enthusiasm. After parking up, we followed a track through the woods in the direction I guessed we would find the well house. The rain was so heavy now that the track downhill actually had streams of water running down it. Reaching the bridge at the bottom, we saw - just uphill - the ruins of Hollinshead Hall and a handy signboard with historical info and a map. The well house was visible just up the slope, in amongst the trees, and we scrambled our way up to it.

Note mysterious hooded figure.

The overcast sky meant it was pretty dark inside the well house, so hard to take a decent photo through the barred side windows. You can just make out the lion's head which the waters are meant to emerge from.

Scrambling up the slope to the side of the building, we found what is suspected to be the original holy well.

We had a poke around the ruins of the old hall for a bit, as the rain had eased off, and then headed back to the car park, avoiding packs of hounds and live role-players on the way.

Hollinshead Hall Well on The Megalithic Portal

Rivock Well, Riddlesden

A last minute diversion due to ill-omened dreams led us to Rivock Well in the mystical realms of West Yorkshire. We parked up with some other cars by the side of the road, climbed the dry-stone wall and headed off on the path across the sheep fields. Poo and bogginess were hazards as we headed towards the cultivated conifer woods surrounding the summit of Rivock Edge. Indeed, the gate we use to enter the woods had a massive puddle in front, requiring some fancy manoeuvring to get through without wet feet. The atmosphere in the woods was eerie to say the least: no sounds, no movement - just a deadening carpet of brown pine needles and dense tangles of tree limbs. We followed the path to a viewpoint with a poem carved into two slabs of sandstone and realised we had missed our way somewhere. Back-tracking to the stream we had crossed, we steeled our nerves and plunged into the woods, carefully threading our way along the high bank of the crystal clear stream. There was generally a couple of feet of space to walk along and I noticed that some of the tree limbs appeared to have been pruned back at some point to allow access. Rounding a bend, we saw a couple of (fairly rotten) bits of wood bridging the waters and leading across to a rather brown-looking pool - we had found the well.

Reading up later, it turns out we would have had an easier trip if we'd followed the broad bridlepath that led through the middle of the wood. But even that had its dangers - shadowy hooded spirits have been seen there...

Rivock Well at The Northern Antiquarian

St Winefride's Well, Holywell

Excited by our visit to Hampston's, we headed for the most likely looking nearby site we could find on the crappy road atlas in the car. St Winefride's was the other end of the scale: a major pilgrimage site for centuries, it advertises itself as 'The Lourdes of Wales'. We paid a small fee and entered through the museum into the grounds of the well itself. There were a fair few pilgrims around, considering it was a wet Sunday afternoon, with children running around and people lighting candles in the chapel.

Official St Winefride's website

Listing on The Megalithic Portal

Hampston's Well, Burton

Nicola came up with the idea of visiting another well and suggested this one. I think the idea had been gestating for a while. We packed the kids and the ingredients for a picnic into the car and headed down the M56 towards the Wirral. With only one missed turning we managed to spot the tiny parking spot and buried columns with engraved signs on that mark the way to Hampston's Well. Pushing our way through the nettles, we came upon a flight of steps that led down to a square open area bounded by a heavily overgrown brick wall on two sides and a stream at the end (the other side was trees). The well was in here, though we had to confirm it with some research when we got home, as it was so heavily overgrown and muddy it didn't look like much at all. Despite this (and the rain), it was a great experience and a lovely, peaceful atmosphere.

[Photos courtesy of Tim @ www.historyandmystery.co.uk]

Hampston's Well on The Megalithic Portal