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A reliable and clean source of water is essential for any
community, so it is easy to understand how important wells were for
pre-modern peoples. More complex is the mystical relationship
humans have developed with these sites, which are imbued with a
sacredness that predates Christianity. Holy Wells of Wexford and
Pembrokeshire is a series of five chapbooks celebrating holy wells
in two regions with common ancestry and history. Since at least the
Bronze Age, sea travel between these two lands has meant
cross-fertilisation of traditions and common names associated with
wells of both regions. Of significance is the long-standing
friendship between two early Christian saints: David, who became
the first Bishop of St Davids; and Aidan, born in Ireland, who
spent time in Wales and then founded monasteries in Ireland,
including at Ferns. In Oilgate, Wexford, there is a well dedicated
to David and, at Whitesands near St Davids in Pembrokeshire, there
is one named after Aidan. Each of the five books approaches the
subject from different perspectives and mediums, including fiction,
poetry and essays as well as photographs and prints.
The Golden Valley is an exploration and a celebration of a small
south Wales valley. The site of ancient tombs and settlements, its
rural life was for just over a century taken over by the brutal
occupation of coal mining before abandonment once more to nature.
In well-chosen words and stunning photographs this is the story of
one place, and many.
Sacred wells have played an important part in the culture and
landscape of Cornwall for several millennia, and continue to do so.
Holy Wells: Cornwall is a collection of beautiful colour
photographs of forty-five of the most important and pre-eminent
wells in the county, accompanied by an informative text about the
history and legends associated with them, and a number of poems
celebrating them by Robert Southey, Arthur Quller Couch and others.
Like Wales and Ireland, Cornwall was an influential centre for the
Celtic church and pagan places of worship were taken over by
Christianity. Many Celtic saints - St Piran, St Euny, St Nonna, St
David, St Mary, St Cuby, St Anne, St Sampson - are referenced in
the names of churches and wells which stand in towns and villages,
alone on moorland next to stone circles and iron age settlements,
hidden in valleys and even in sea caves. Phil Cope takes the reader
on a journey of discovery through densely wooded terrain, past bare
tors, into ancient churches and along almost forgotten road and
tracks, to lead us to special places of wonder and enrichment. Holy
Wells: Cornwall includes over 256 photographs, together with a map,
bibliography and index.
As in so many areas of Britain sacred wells persist in Scotland in
the face of modernity. Holy Wells: Scotland is an exploration of
just some of the many hundreds of wells in the country, carefully
researched and beautifully photographed by experienced well-hunter
Phil Cope. The book is a sweeping journey from the northwards from
the Borders through mainland Scotland to the Orkney s before
sweeping through the Hebrides to end on the sacred isle of Iona. On
his travels Cope finds a multiplicity of wells with a variety of
functions, ancient and modern. From the wells of Calton Hill in
Edinburgh (place of an annual pagan festival), to modestly
developed springs in fields or on the deserted coastline come
healing wells, cursing wells, and wells named for saints, Satan,
witches, angels, fairies, heroes and poets. And attached to many
are folk tales, myths and legends, which Cope relates in his
accompanying narrative, along conversations with contemporary
well-users and poems inspired by Scottish wells. The first book on
Scottish wells for over three decades, and the first to be so
lavishly illustrated with colour photographs, Holy Wells: Scotland
is both a record of some of the country's many wells and a
celebration of their continuing relevance to the identity of
Scotland today. Holy Wells: Scotland is the fourth title in the
Holy Wells series, which includes books on Wales, Cornwall and
Borderlands.
The border country between Wales and England is a fertile place in
many senses. Settled for millennia, one of the few links we have
with early man here are their surviving pagan, pre-Christian wells.
Sacred wells have played an important part in the culture and
landscape of the region, and continue to do so. Following his books
on wells in Wales and Cornwall, Phil Cope journeys up and down the
borderlands, and through history from pre-Christian times through
Roman and early Christian times, the medieval Age of the Princes in
Wales and on to Victorian and the contemporary period. His
discoveries are recorded in striking and atmospheric photographs
which are accompanied by the remarkable histories of the wells, and
the legends attached to them. Wronged suitors, magic horses, Dark
Age battles, the reign of King Arthur, and innumerable
decapitations feature among the vividly magical tales. Alongside
them rests a different kind of magic in the healing wells of the
Christian saints, some of which are also sources of prophecy. As
the centuries past healing mutated into health and the development
of the spa, until, in the twentieth century a full circle was
turned and wells once again acquired a pagan significance. Richly
illustrated in colour throughout the wells from Cheshire to
Monmouthshire, from the Dee to the Severn are here displayed in all
their glory, be they in remote countryside or city centre.
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