Northumberland’s Holiest Places – Lady’s Well, Holystone

A couple of months ago I came across a booklet in Berwick library entitled ‘Northumberland’s Holiest Places – Seven Ancient Sites of Pilgrimage’ by Terry Quy. The author relates how, in centuries past, pagan and Christian Celts spoke of ‘thin places’ where the distance between heaven and earth is particularly short and goes on to list seven such mesmerising spots in Northumberland. These are: Lady’s Well at Holystone, Heavenfield, The Holy Island of Lindisfarne, Bamburgh, The Inner Farne, Saint Wilfred’s Crypt and Cuthbert’s Cave.

I have already been to a number of these places for general sightseeing and had not picked up on any sense of heightened holiness, but then again I wouldn’t, as I’m not a particularly religious person. Since I hadn’t been to Lady’s Well before I thought I would take the opportunity to explore this ‘thin’ place with my spiritual antennae finely-tuned, and see if I could experience any unfamiliar connection with Northumberland’s saintly history.

Lady’s Well is an ancient spring situated in the tiny village of Holystone on the edge of Northumberland National Park.

It is thought that the Romans built a low retaining wall around this natural spring creating the rectangular pool shape that we see today. This would have served as a source of refreshment, and possibly a shrine, for travellers on the Roman road from Bremenium in Redesdale to the coast.

The Celtic cross in the centre of the pond was erected in the 19th century. Its inscription commemorates St Paulinus, a 7th century Roman monk who was sent by Pope Gregory I to convert the heathen Brits to Christianity. It reads ‘In this place Pavlinus the Bishop baptized three thousand Northvmbrians – Easter DCXXVII.’ It is hard to imagine 3,000 people gathered in this remote and sparsely populated corner of Northumberland in AD 627. Nowadays any visitors will likely have the place to themselves.

Normally a medieval statue of St Paulinus stands at one end of the pool but unfortunately it was damaged by falling trees during Storm Arwen in November 2021 and it had been taken away for repair when I visited. The flat stone on which the statue stands is possibly the Holy Stone on which he knelt and which gave the village its name.

Saint Ninian, the fifth century Celtic apostle of the Borders is also associated with the well pool and is said to have baptised converts here.

The name ‘Lady’s Well’ came into use in the 1100s when Holystone became the home of a priory of Augustinian canonesses dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin. No doubt the nuns would have benefitted from pilgrims visiting the holy well.

The nunnery is long gone (though some of its remains were unearthed in 2015) but the village does have a small church called St Mary the Virgin. It is mostly a Victorian-era structure but with a few fragments of its 12th century predecessor remaining. The austere interior is simple, calm and peaceful, enhanced by colourful stained glass windows.

The well is still the source of the village’s water supply so visitors are requested not to contaminate the water in any way.

There is another well in the village, St Mungo’s Well. I had a taste of the water from the trickling tap. Quite different from the usual tap water. Perhaps an enterprising villager could bottle and sell St Mungo’s and Lady’s Well holy water for its spiritual and health giving benefits.

Did I get any sense of being in a ‘thin place’ while at Lady’s Well? No, not really but it’s certainly an atmospheric spot and worth a visit.

Nearby

Woodhouses Bastle House

A short drive from Holystone is Woodhouses Bastle. This is one of the best surviving examples of a bastle house, a defensible farmhouse built in response to the warring conditions which existed in the Borders during the 16th and 17th centuries.

The word bastle comes from the French ‘bastille’ meaning stronghold. Typically bastles had two floors whereas Pele towers usually had three storeys. Wealthier families would keep their sheep and cattle on the lower floor to protect them from reivers (robbers). The family lived on the upper floor(s).

Also nearby is Harbottle Castle and Drake Stone which I have written about here.