Water, water everywhere (From Ludlow Advertiser)

Water, water everywhere

AN ancient well at Cleobury Mortimer is about to have new signs to tell visitors of its history. Michael Baws takes a look at the wells of south Shropshire and discovers that some were literally a site for sore eyes.

DRIVING into Cleobury Mortimer from Ludlow, you pass the imposing church on your left just before the road begins to curve. On the right there is a railing.

Slow down or you might miss the site of the spring, which was the town's main water supply for centuries.

This area is called The Wells. The most visible feature is a pool of water but that will soon change.

As project manager for The Wells Initiative, Bill Duley has arranged for signs and an information board setting out its history.

Ludlow artist David Haynes is working on an evocative scene that shows it as the centre of social life in the 17th century - a carthorse drinks from the pond, women gossip as they collect water from a spring and a small boy dips his feet in the water.

The fact that the spring came out of the graveyard by the side of the church did not cause any problems until the 1880s. Then people began to worry about such waterborne diseases as cholera and typhus.

In 1883, there was a ban on burials within 42 yards of The Wells. The whole churchyard closed in 1895. In 1979, Cleobury began to take its water from the Elan Valley in mid-Wales.

The well is just one of many in south Shropshire. Once the new signs are up, it will be easier to find than most, which is a shame as some have healing qualities.

In the middle of a meadow alongside the Corve at Ludlow is the Boiling Well, whose name comes from the way the water bubbles as it rises.

It is easy to miss it nowadays but it once had high ratings as a place for curing eye troubles.

According to legend, a pilgrim on his way to Wales fell sick while staying nearby. A maid looked after him.

When the pilgrim was better, the girl told him she had very sore eyes. He led her to the Boiling Well.

There, he asked for the well "to be a boon and a blessing to Ludlow as long as the sun shines and the water runs".

The girl washed her eyes in the water and was totally healed. The water still runs but it's mainly seen only by grazing sheep these days.

Some historians have confused this well with St Julian's - allegedly hidden by a chestnut tree in Livesey Road.

The saint is probably not a male but Juliana of Nicomedia, who is often pictured leading a winged devil by a chain.

She was beheaded, along with 650 other martyrs, in 299.

St Milburga is more local. The daughter of a Saxon king, she founded a nunnery at Much Wenlock and gave her name to the tiny village of Stoke St Milborough.

One day out riding, Milburga passed some men who wanted water for their barley. Her horse struck his hoof into the rock and a spring of water immediately gushed out.

The well is still there and like the Boiling Well, was also said to be good for sore eyes.