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Chalice Well

Sacred Well

Miscellaneous

Countering Goff's slightly dismissive impression of the Chalice Well it does indeed have a small history. It is a major spring and in olden times would have served the settlement on Glastonbury Tor and the later abbey. A small excavation in 1961, which had to go pretty deep down because of silting, found flint and roman pottery. Also nearby the remains of a yew tree stump, bringing to mind the pagan reverence for a "sacred tree", and yew trees have been found growing by the roman temple site at Pagan Hill nearby on the Mendips.
Today when you look down at the well you are looking through a hole of the roof of the old medieval wellhouse, which just shows how much it has silted up.
Taken from; Glastonbury, Myth & Archaeology - P.Ratz and Lorna Watts
moss Posted by moss
1st June 2006ce

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