Celebrating the culture and landscape of Cornwall, England, this collection presents the sacred wells of the region through stunning color photographs and informative text. Trekking though densely wooden terrain and into ancient churches, this volume features dozens of preeminent Cornish wells and the legends and history associated with them. Unique and enlightening, this compilation demonstrates the Celtic influence on towns and villages through the nomenclature of wells and places of worship and further highlights the sacred wells through poetry--composed by renowned writers, including Robert Southey and Arthur Quller Couch.

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In The Living Wells of Wales author and photographer Phil Cope has made a lavishly illustrated guide to over a hundred sacred wells in Wales, pagan and Christian, for the specialist and occasional visitors alike. Packed with photographs, Cope describes their cultural relevance to contemporary Welsh identity through landscape, myth and architecture.

A lavishly illustrated guide to sacred wells in Scotland from prehistoric times, pagan and Christian, from the Borders to the Orkneys, including the myths surrounding them, their buildings and cultural relevance to Scottish identity today. 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 countrys 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.

Cornwall is unique among English counties, though similar to other Celtic lands, in its religious history. Its churches, chapels, and place-names commemorated not only the major saints of Christendom, but also many minor 'Celtic' ones, unique to single churches. This book breaks new ground by considering them all, comprehensively and in detail. The introduction explains how the cults came into existence, and how they shed light on early Christianity in the county. It follows their history up to the Reformation, and shows how popular devotion to the saints lingered even in the eighteenth century. The main part of the book provides a history of every known religious cult in Cornwall from the sixth century AD to the Reformation, with relevant information about its later history down to the present day. Every known site is identified (church, chapel, altar, image, holy well, or other outdoor feature), and every written source is discussed (saint's Life, liturgical commemoration, and calendar festival). This is the first time that a complete inventory of cults has been produced for an area as large as an English county. The work also includes many saints venerated in Brittany, Wales and England, and makes copious references to all three countries. It provides a major resource in the fields of medieval Church history, Reformation studies, folklore, and Celtic studies, as well as the history of Cornwall.