The Virtuous Well

I've been here before but no apologies for that - some places are worth a return visit - The Virtuous Well at Trellech being one of them.

It's had a bit of a tidy up since our last visit and all the detritus of spent offerings removed. We also didn't have the curious horse "helping" with the visit!

 The Virtuous Well is also known as St Anne's Well ( maybe originally named for Black Annis in the pre Christian years?)

The water is said to cure eye diseases and illnesses peculiar  to women.

It is also believed that the water from the well runs under the 3 Trellech standing stones and thus was part of the "druidic rites" performed there.  Might be a bit of a stretch that one but who am I to argue with the Cadw information board.  It is also believed (says Cadw) that fairies dance around the well at Midsummer.

Last tine the water in the well looked very unappealing; no way would I wanted to have put some in my eyes no matter how desperate I was. This time however the water was crystal clear and had clearly been used as a wishing well by someone.

Tarren Deusant - 2 saints or a druid altar?

Venturing a bit further afield today - to the valley just above Llantrisant  in fact (and that's 3 saints for you already!)

As it was promising to be a nice day we thought we'd venture over the border and see what we could find. Tarren Deusant looked very interesting, a holy spring and some petrosomatoglyphs. Some preliminary research indicated that the actual finding could be challenging so we took the precaution of programming the co-ordinates into the GPS locator before we left.

This subsequently proved to be a wise precaution but even locating the general area was a challenge. This part of Wales has changed a bit since our elderly OS Map was produced ( cost all of 6/6 when maps were 1 inch to a mile). In the end comparing the map with the smartphone google map identified exactly where we actually were! Plenty of footpaths around according to the map but absolutely nowhere to park on a very narrow single track road. In the end we pulled off the verge and walked back to where the path should start.

And there was a footpath sign! Very well hidden and the access gate itself was tied closed with orange twine ( naughty!) . No way was it opening so it was a quick climb over the 5 bar gate and follow the footpath.  Annoyingly the next gate was also tied shut so more climbing and down into a pretty wooded valley

Bit rough going here - under that layer of dead leaves is some very slippery mud and this is actually quite steep.  By this point we were using the GPS to make sure we were heading in the right direction.

In the end the spring proved very easy to find. Crystal clear water pouring out of a cleft in the rock face.

So on to the petrosomatoglyphs. They were supposed to be nearby so a close examination of the rock face ensued.
 
And here they are - the picture is larger than usual to show them more clearly. There are distinct faces cut into the rock.

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The age of these are disputed. in the 1600s two were reported. There are now clearly more than that. Whilst some consider the originals to be medieval it is of course possible that they are older than that.  Below that strange central tear drop shaped protrusion is a flat piece of rock which makes a perfect altar and  someone had left an offering there.

 Close up of one of the faces

and another. There are also other carving in the rock of what appear to be fish and crosses. The local name for the site is the "Druid's Altar" but it does seem to be very christianised. Whether this is another case of an old ritual site being taken over by the Church? Who knows.

and lastly a picture of some of the locals as a reminder that spring is on its way.

Cydweli and Llangstaffen - castles, wells and dolmens!

Kidwelly - famous for its castle, its Welsh Boudica, Gwenllian  and of course:

 Hen fenyw fach Cydweli Yn gwerthu losin du, Yn rhifo deg am ddimai Ond unarddeg i mi. O dyna'r newydd gorau ddaeth i mi, i mi Yn rhifo deg am ddimai Ond unarddeg i mi

(The dear old lady of Kidwelly. A seller of sweets is she, Counts out ten for a halfpenny. But always eleven for me. That was very good news for me, for me. Counts out ten for a halfpenny. But always eleven for me.)

 The castle is very well preserved - fortunate really as the sky was an ominous grey and it looked like we'd be in need of shelter. Being the local centre of justice the castle has a prison - and even a high security wing! This consisted of a hole in the floor into which the unfortunate prisoner was despatched. Shaped like a bottle there was no way out other than attempting to scale the smooth stone walls and even then the top would have been barred. Not a pleasant fate.

Being so well preserved there are an abundance of towers to climb and rooms to explore as well as an aerial walkway with views down over the town.







However one castle was not ebough and it was on to Llansteffan for lunch and a second castle.

This one is much smaller than Cydweli and not in such good condition but strangely I like it far better. Perhaps the views over the beach made the difference? 

Having seen the castle we walked around the back in search of the holy well of St Anthony. Hidden behind a wooden doorway in the wall it is a calm and peaceful place. Named for the hermit  Antwn it is said to have been a place of healing since 6CE.










Time to head back  but it seemed a shame to head straight back to the main road. The other places visited today were easy to find so we wanted a challenge! Spotting a burial tomb nearby we set off to find it.


Twlc y Filiast is quite well hidden. Although it is visible from the path, the path itself is not signposted as one and we did a complete circuit  of the nearby village before working out just where t must be, parking the car and setting off.

Definitely worth it though. A capstone and a couple of uprights, the setting is just perfect in a patch of woodland next to a stream

Castlerigg, Birkrigg and St Anna

A rather unplanned trip to Cumbria this week to do some walking in the Lake District. All a bit last minute and as it is school holidays we couldn't be too choosy about where we went. In the end we found accomodation in Borrowdale and sallied forth.

Of course once I knew we were doing I couldn't resist a quick internet search for stone circles and of course Castlerigg came up.

It was busy. Very busy.  People having picnics, children climbing the stones and an idiot who thought carving his initials into the Sanctuary stones was a good thing. However I did manage to get a few pictures where it appears to be deserted!

This is a lovely location, the site is surrounded by some of the most famous peaks in the Lake District. It is believed to be an early circle- strictly speaking an oval rather than a circle with the rectangular "Sanctuary" added later.

It was too busy to really get much atmosphere so we decided to come back later when the crowds would have gone home to try and get some better pictures.

We were partially successful, one remaining family and a hyperactive 10 year old who was practicising his rock climbing skills on the stones as well as a couple of other photographers there to try and capture the sun set. However with some patience and a long wait I did get some nice pictures of the circle and we did eventually get it to ourselves.


Not all the Lake District is mountainous and to rest the legs we had a stroll near Cockermouth with the intention of finding the Holy Well of St Anna - also known as Stanger Spa.

The well is reputed to have health giving properties and the water was sold in Victorian times. The well itself is protected by a rusty iron grill and the water is definitely unappealling!


This was a short break and we decided to return home via Furness Abbey to take full advantage of the new English Heritage membership cards. Funny that there should be another circle on the route I chose - pure chance of course!

Birkrigg ( Druids Temple)   was a real challenge to find. It is on common land currently covered with waist deep bracken. If we had started from where we thought we were rather than where we acually were it would have been a lot easier but a little research confirmed that we are not the only ones to have worked hard to find this one, even if it is actually visible from the road!

This is a lovely little circle, actually two. There are two concentric rings here. The middle one is very clear but the outer one is not so well preserved. There is also evidence of vandalism in the form of traces of red paint on one of the stones. Why?