Lady Well
Encyclopedia
The Lady Well is a holy well
in Glasgow
in Scotland
.
When Christianity came to Britain, pagan holy and healing wells were aggressively rededicated to the Virgin Mary and other saints while remaining places of Old Religion practice. Also known as 'Our Lady's Well', Glasgow's Ladywell is an artesian spring noted on early city map
s and can be reliably assumed to predate the city. It lay just outside the city wall and Drygate Port in medieval times and will have refreshed Romans travelling the old Carntyne
Highway east-west between forts along the Antonine Wall
. Today it is erroneously believed to have been sunk for use of commoners denied access to a nearby Priest's Well, and/or to have been capped in the early 19th century out of fears of pollution or plague.
In fact, its wellhead was jointly rebuilt by the Merchants House and City Council in 1835-6 for enclosure in a new wall when the Fir Park behind it was turned into a gardened burial ground. The Ladywell was still in public use while most wells in Glasgow were closed, after fresh water piped from Loch Katrine
transformed the city's health and sanitation in the 1860s. An old article says the Ladywell was the last public well to be closed but gives no date. The classical wellhead installed by the 1836 restoration bears no resemblance to the original - an open round one - and remains there today. The current lintel stone (its second) notes the 1836 rebuild and another by the Merchant's House in 1874. A plaque commemorates its most recent refurbishment by Tennent Caledonian Breweries in 1983. The Ladywell remains capped.
Holy well
A holy well, or sacred spring, is a small body of water emerging from underground and revered either in a Pagan or Christian context, often both. Holy wells were frequently pagan sacred sites that later became Christianized. The term 'holy well' is commonly employed to refer to any water source of...
in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
When Christianity came to Britain, pagan holy and healing wells were aggressively rededicated to the Virgin Mary and other saints while remaining places of Old Religion practice. Also known as 'Our Lady's Well', Glasgow's Ladywell is an artesian spring noted on early city map
City map
A city map is a large-scale thematic map of a city created to enable the fastest possible orientation in an urban space. The graphic representation of objects on a city map is therefore usually greatly simplified, and reduced to generally understood symbology.Depending upon its target group or...
s and can be reliably assumed to predate the city. It lay just outside the city wall and Drygate Port in medieval times and will have refreshed Romans travelling the old Carntyne
Carntyne
Carntyne is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated north of the River Clyde, and to the east end of the city...
Highway east-west between forts along the Antonine Wall
Antonine Wall
The Antonine Wall is a stone and turf fortification built by the Romans across what is now the Central Belt of Scotland, between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde. Representing the northernmost frontier barrier of the Roman Empire, it spanned approximately 39 miles and was about ten feet ...
. Today it is erroneously believed to have been sunk for use of commoners denied access to a nearby Priest's Well, and/or to have been capped in the early 19th century out of fears of pollution or plague.
In fact, its wellhead was jointly rebuilt by the Merchants House and City Council in 1835-6 for enclosure in a new wall when the Fir Park behind it was turned into a gardened burial ground. The Ladywell was still in public use while most wells in Glasgow were closed, after fresh water piped from Loch Katrine
Loch Katrine
Loch Katrine is a freshwater loch in the district of Stirling, Scotland. It is roughly 8 miles long by 2/3 of a mile wide and runs the length of Strath Gartney...
transformed the city's health and sanitation in the 1860s. An old article says the Ladywell was the last public well to be closed but gives no date. The classical wellhead installed by the 1836 restoration bears no resemblance to the original - an open round one - and remains there today. The current lintel stone (its second) notes the 1836 rebuild and another by the Merchant's House in 1874. A plaque commemorates its most recent refurbishment by Tennent Caledonian Breweries in 1983. The Ladywell remains capped.
See also
- Scottish ReformationScottish ReformationThe Scottish Reformation was Scotland's formal break with the Papacy in 1560, and the events surrounding this. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation; and in Scotland's case culminated ecclesiastically in the re-establishment of the church along Reformed lines, and politically in...