Ore was brought down in carts to the beach where barges were stranded at low tide, the barges were loaded and then re-floated as the tide came in, sailing out of the bay to various destinations, including South Wales. It would seem that at this time Bean Well and other springs along the shore were in great demand to satisfy the considerable needs of thirsty horses engaged in carrying ore to the beach.

 

Brigget Well lies down a lane off the road between Leece and the Coast Road and appears on the 19th century tithe map for the parish of Aldingham.

 

The spring feeding this site is at present lost in a marshy area of ground but it is the name of this site that is of great interest. We can fairly safely assume that Brigget is a corruption of Bridget, a very popular Irish Dark Age Saint. Many also believe it to be a Christianised and sanctified form of the Celtic goddess Brigantia, who gave her name to the association of North West British tribes known to the Romans as the Brigantes.

 

Is it possible that this well has remained dedicated to Brigantia after 1500 years of Christian domination? 1 don't know but I do feel that this area would be worth investigating as a possible Celtic/Romano British religious site and as anyone who has studied archaeology in Furness knows sites of this period are as rare as hen's teeth.

 

In Dalton there is mention of the Mary Bank Well at Goose Green which probably refers to the Virgin Mary, an understandably popular Saint in Furness due to the special dedication to the Virgin of the Cistercian Order to which the monks of Furness belonged. There is also mention in the works of Harper Gaythorpe, a 19th century local historian, of there being another well  dedicated to Our Lady in the hamlet of Chapels near Kirkby. Although the name of the village suggests an area certainly worthy of more research there appears to be no trace of the well.

 

The next well is probably one of the best known in Furness and that is Michael's Well, or more colloquially, the Mickle Well, in Gleaston, near Ulverston.

 

The well lies near the green known as the Guards and just behind the hall at the western end of the village. It is locked behind a door with a sign telling how to get the key. Its name probably refers not to the dragon slaying archangel Michael, but to one of the two Michael le Flemings, lords of the manor of Muchland (i.e. Michael's land) who had their headquarters at Aldingham Motte during the 1100s

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It is still possible to hear stories about the past importance of this well to the villages around Gleaston. For instance I have been told that in the early 20th century people from Scales would use the well in time of summer drought, because, unlike water supplies in Scales, the Mickle Well never dried up.

 

Another story regarding this well that I was once told at the bar of "The Farmers" in Baycliff, was that Oliver Cromwell took his last drink there!

 

St Helen's well near to the sadly very derelict St Helen's Chapel and close to Goldmire may now be lost under Bennett Bank tip at Thwaite Flat near Dalton. This is a very great shame as some late 19th century excavations here seemed to show some evidence that there may have been medieval healing baths here.

 

The dedication to St Helen is interesting as she was the mother of Constantine the Great, the Emperor who made Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire. She was also credited with finding the true cross, or at least finding five crosses, all with good claims to be the real one. To test them, she placed a corpse on each and the cross that revived the corpse was declared the real one.

 

Early English historians believed her to be British born, a daughter of Coel Hen, legendary commander of Hadrian's Wall and better known as Old King Cole. Possibly of more relevance to the origin of this well dedication is the fact that there was a Celtic water goddess called Elen.

Also in the Dalton area, near the northern end of the town is Yarlwell.

In the Domesday Book it is recorded that Furness was held, prior to 1066, by Yarl (Earl) Tostig who was killed at Stamford Bridge in the dreadful run up to the battle of Hastings. Whether or not he is the Yarl commemorated in Furness names such as Yarlside and Yarlwell, we will probably never know.

 

As a final item in this rapid tour of wells and water sites, I thought I would finish with Urswick Tarn and its legend. Although it is obviously not a well in itself there is one in the tale and I feel that somewhere behind this lies a remnant of the importance water held in the days when the only taps in Furness were at the abbey, or before Christianity reached the district.

The story goes that at one time Urswick was short of fresh water, presumably a long time ago when the weather was different!

 

Villagers asked the vicar to intercede with the good Lord to provide a well. He did as he was asked and lo and behold, a well appeared as if by magic and for a time everything was fine. Then, the ladies of the village complained that although the well was greatly appreciated, it was very difficult to wash clothes in it, to say nothing of the quality of the water after such abuse and could they have a stream as well.

 

The parson um-ed and ah-ed over this for some time, but eventually agreed to as the Lord a second time. Consequently, the next morning there was a brook babbling through the village. There is a saying that goes along the lines of: "Gratitude being merely the anticipation of favours yet to come". In the case of the early villagers of Urswick this was only too true, for a few days later an angry crowd approached the vicar demanding, with menaces, for another, clean source of water as the stream was dirty and no good.

 

The vicar deciding not to follow advice about turning the other cheek turned on the crowd and saying: "Water, water, I'll give thee water." He turned on the celestial taps in the form of a rainstorm and didn't stop until the last whinging villager was drowned and the village had vanished beneath what is now Urswick Tarn.

 

For any adventurous souls who feel they might like to dive beneath the tarn to find the remains of this aquatic Gomorrah, don't bother, because another village legend claims it is bottomless.

The version of the legend I have given here is the one that was current when I was at Urswick Grammar School more than 20 years ago. There may well be others but at least in part the old mystery of the freshwater holy sites of our district have been preserved into the early 21st century and long may they continue.

 

If they do not we will end with a culture with no local tradition and one that is bland as refined lard. As the "North Lonsdale Magazine" would proudly proclaimed 100 years ago "What is local is often national".