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Ah, yes, the Chalice Well theme park and gardens. ;o)
To be honest, I wasn't overly impressed with the well itself, and all it's concrete gullies and gutters... The gardens themselves are rather nice, and worth a visit, but I feel that this is one of them there places that have had the soul sucked out of them.
It all seems a little commercial. Several old people "om"ming on benches; More concrete. It's really just a part of the big Glastonbury hype.
I like Glastonbury, I really do, but it does seem to cash in rather heavily on all this Arthur stuff. (Nah, really?) I know what I'm trying to say, anyway...
I know I'm not alone here: it seems that the less well (ahem) known sites are the ones that retain the atmosphere. Regarding wells, my favourite and the most peaceful ones I've visited have all been a little out of the way, seldom visited (you can just sense it, OK?!) and hardly touched. Alsia well and the Fairy Well are perfect examples of this. No concrete. No admission fee. No old people "om"ming. Just peace and tranquility. And mighty fine tasting water!
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
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