The Virtuous Well

SO 50322 05128

Illustrations

(Click on thumbnail for larger image, opens in new window)

1. Virtuous Well

2. Votive Offerings

3. Clouties

4. Hazel Nuts

5. Sloe Berries

6. Butterfly

7. Rabbit

8. OS Map 1886

9. Early Postcard

10. Clouties

Against my better judgement I had decided whilst passing, to visit the Virtuous Well at Trellech. Why against my better judgement? Well it is probably best to relate my first visit to the place. It was a few years ago on a late summer's day and whilst we were there I found a bright orange frog in the well. As the pond in our garden was devoid of amphibian life I thought it would provide an excellent home for such a splendid creature. On the side of the well was an empty jam jar, well it was empty once I had got rid of the spent tea candle. I filled the jar with some water and placed a suitable rock in the bottom. I was then in no uncertain terms told that the jar needed some air holes, so with a flourish I proudly produced a very new and very expensive pocket knife and started punching some air holes in the lid. The next thing I knew was that the very sharp blade was very deeply embedded in my hand to the depth of about an inch. I would consider that I 'votively' offered about 6 pints of blood to the well and got a glimpse of my tendons for the first time. Ever since that desecration of the well I have never had what you could describe as a trouble-free visit, so that is why it was against my better judgement to visit again.

I left for work at the usual time only to find the car wouldn't start, this was because the previous day I had over estimated the ability of the vehicle to function without fuel and the gauge had gone much further past the empty line than normal. I believe in refuelling when I want not when the car wants, so the first task of the day was a visit to the garage to buy a petrol can and some fuel - 20 minutes late for work. Then the heavens opened and stayed that way for the rest of the morning, except every time I had to leave the car a deluge descended and I got a soaking. By about lunch time there was a cascade of water flowing down from inside the windscreen, somehow the bodywork had sprung a leak which was ok except it was dripping on my legs, now I'm even wetter. I stopped to buy a sandwich and a bottle of coke which I placed in the facia cup holder. Next thing I know is that the coke bottle has leapt from the holder, spun across the front of the car and is now spewing out fountains of gaseous coke all across me and the car - now I am not only even wetter but also sticky. A rather interesting feature was being discussed on the radio which held my attention so much that I never realised I was travelling at 52 mph through small village which proudly held claim to a 30 mph speed limit. How do I know I was doing 52 mph? Easy, that's what I saw when I looked at the speedo after spotting the dreaded white van, inside which was a troglodyte pointing a camera at me. I had not even got to the well yet and it was still bucketing down.

Eventually I reached Trellech to the accompaniment of loud crashes of thunder and little chance of any photographs. But, and it's a bloody big but, as soon as I reached the well the rain abruptly stopped and the sun poked its head through the clouds. So, like a ferret down a conies hole I am out of the car and squelching across to the well. One look at the Virtuous Well indicates that it gets a few more visitors these days. The trees above it are festooned with various strips of rag all wafting gently in the wind, these never used to be here. But the well looks the same - see ill. 1. There are a lot less offerings around the well but a nice assortment of flower heads have been left in its waters. The small shelf in the recess has been neatly stacked with stones, cones, and shells - see ill. 2. The array of clouties or rags are made up from a diverse collection of clothing and a 'Witchfest' armband - see ill. 3, suggesting that the well recieves an equally diverse set of visitors. The thing that always amazes me is the amount of nuts and berries the hedgerows trees around the well always bear. Literally their branches groan under the weight of hazel nuts and sloe berries, I have never seen such consistently fruitful trees - see ills. 4 & 5. I suppose therefore that such a harvest will attract a great deal of wildlife and today the hedgerow was teeming with butterflies - see ill. 6. I then spotted a small rabbit browsing the hedgerow bottom and managed to get what I would call a decent picture. The amazing thing was that the little creature wasn't at all concerned that I was there. I gradually managed to get closer and closer until it was only a few feet away - see ill.7. Still it carried on munching, in the end I was able to pick it up. At first I thought maybe the rabbit had myxomatosis but there was no sign of caked eyes or fleas and it certainly had an healthy appetite. Then I considered the possibility that it was a tame one but although it lay quietly in my arms it was obviously eager to be away. Just for one brief moment I did consider, as it was a youngster taking it home but then I suddenly remembered that last time I removed a living creature from the well. So I put him gently down and watched as its little white scud disappeared into the undergrowth. Amazing truly amazing, so I returned to the car, picking a double hazel nut on the way, - it stops toothache you know. No sooner had I closed the car door than there was a loud booming crash and the rain came down in stair-rods - coincidence or what?

The history of the spring goes way back in time, archaeological excavations in the fields nearby turned up some Neolithic flints so it could be it dates back that far. Early Welsh documents suggest that the healing waters flowed underneath the nearby three standing stones which led to the site being used for mystical Druidical rites. The well was at sometime 'Christianised' as it was originally known as, 'St. Anne's Well' and became the place of many pilgrimages. At some point the well became known as the 'Virtuous Well', referring to its healing properties as opposed to its holiness, the OS map of 1886 certainly marks it as the 'Virtuous Well', see ill 8. The actual spring is a chalybeate one which probably explains the orange frog that I found on my first visit. The waters were noted for their healing properties especially for eye ailments and women's complaints (didn't know women ever complained?). It is interesting to not how little the well has changed over the past 100 years or so, this early postcard shows the well and a thoughtful visitor - see ill 9. One writer in 1600's noted that if the waters were drunk on an empty stomach in the morning they would cure 'scurvy, collick and distempers'. It was reputed that if you dipped a piece of your clothing in the waters, then as the fabric rotted away so did one's affliction. Another tradition with the well is that if someone dropped a stone into the waters and made a wish it would be granted. The amount of bubbles rising from the sinking stone would indicate how soon the wish would come true, the more bubbles, the quicker the result. If however no bubbles surfaced then the wish would not be granted. That's why every time I visit I hurl a house brick into the well, bubbles, you haven't seen anything like it. At one time local girls would drop a stone and count the bubbles. The number of bubbles equated out to the number of months before they would be married.

Folklore notes how the fairies used to dance and frolic around the well on Mid-summer's eve and by the look of some of the clouties they still do. There is a story of a local farmer who once dug up a fairy ring that was near to the well. The following day when he went to draw some water he found the well dry, something that had never occurred in living memory. He then discovered that it was only dry when he dipped his bucket, all the other villagers had no such problems. A few days later the farmer met a little old man who was sat on the wall of the well. When the farmer explained his predicament the old man told him to replace the fairy ring and all would be well (literally). The fairy ring was replaced and he was able to dip his bucket once more. Another legend relates how there was supposed to be a 3 mile long tunnel which led from Tintern Abbey to the well. This was used by nuns so that they could visit the pagan well in secret.

I would thoroughly recommend that if ever you are in the vicinity to pay the Virtuous Well a visit - just don't remove any of the local fauna!

P.S. I have just revisited the well whilst calling at the Harold's Stones and this was about two months after the last visit. Obviously the well has been a busy place of pilgrimage over the weeks as the trees behind the well are now festooned with clouties of all shapes and colours - see ill. 10. The hedge has sprung a new gate and it does look as if there has been a general tidy-up.