Well-being

close

goff’s recent posts on well’s ‘n springs and things got me thinking about the first spring I ever visited. Must have been back in 1958 or 59 when I lived in the Wiltshire village of Purton. I was about 13 at the time, and a friend said he knew of a spring in a field just outside the village. So, one summer’s day we took off to find it. Sure enough the spring was there. A hole in the grass no bigger than a washing-up bowl but the water gently bubbling from it was crystal clear. We watched spellbound as it flowed away in a little stream across the meadow. Neither my friend nor I hesitated to cup our hands and drink from it. Fresh, sparkling and cold. One of those magical childhood moments you never forget.

Some ten years later I was living a stone’s throw away from a 9th century Buddhist temple in the eastern foothills of Kyoto called Sennyu-ji. The ‘ji’ of the word means ‘temple’ while the ‘Sennyu’ means ‘flowing fountain’ – ie an active spring. The spring still flows in the temple grounds today and is still visited and revered by pilgrims. Though Sennyu-ji is now predominately a Buddhist temple there’s also a strong Shinto presence in the form of smaller Shinto shrines dedicated to native Japanese deities.

In the little North Yorkshire village where moss and I now live the church next-door is also just a stone’s throw from a spring that was once used by the villagers. In our travels round the country moss and I have often been struck by the number of little churches that have been built close to a drinkable water source (wells, streams or springs). The church here is Norman but was probably built on an Anglo-Saxon forerunner (it has bits of Anglo-Saxon remains in its walls). And before the Anglo-Saxon church? Well... that’s anyone’s guess, but well’s ‘n springs and things do suggest that those things were perhaps the underlying reason why there so often seems to be a connection between water and religious sites :-)

I totally agree with your hypothesis. But cannot prove it. One of my favourite spots as a little kid was the walk twixt Stevington church and the neighbouring River Ouse. The church sits on a rocky outcrop. Water issues from a spring - it's called a holy well, but is a spring, just to confuse - at the base of the outcrop. Although the surrounding wall to which this spring is 'let into' has been repaired a time or two, the thing still has the 'very old, pre - Christian' vibe to me. It is, I think, up on TMP. I'd like it to be on TMA. Personal affection, yup...maybe deserves TMA nonetheless. Good topic, in its own right and as a Change? subtopic. Totally with you - and others - on this one, Sir.

Variance upon the theme are the sources of our rivers... ranging from dramatic mountain tarns set below soaring cliff faces (e.g the Dovey) to small patches of muddy bog giving birth to the mighty Severn and Wye upon Pumlumon