Holy Well, Wolsingham (NZ077379)

© Copyright Andrew Curtis and licensed for 

reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Of all the ‘holy wells’ we have here in the North-East, the one near the town of Wolsingham in Weardale is both one of our most remarkable and, on the other hand, perhaps our most under-whelming.

As natural springs go it is nothing to write home about – at least not these days. It amounts to a tiny trickle of water rising up into a small puddle, and it has little in the way of local legend attached to its existence other than the purity of its offerings. But what makes it special is, of course, the substantial edifice which surrounds it: an apparently unnecessary small stone building, lovingly maintained over the years and guarded by an ornate iron gate. It is the largest structure built over a well in County Durham.

© Copyright Andrew Curtis and licensed for 

reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

The said gate offers the names of two saints, Aelric and Godric, by way of elaboration, but no one seems to be able to pin down any definite link between the watery spot and the esteemed individuals. The best we can come up with is that the former, a local hermit, was visited by the latter, a wandering pilgrim/pedlar, in the early 12^th century, and the two of them spent a couple of years in the vicinity of the village doing whatever such men do.

At the time there was thought to have been a small chapel operating near the well which utilised the waters issuing forth. But quite why the spot has been maintained for so long and in such an elaborate manner is a mystery.

Oldest Holiday Resort? (NZ297471)

Finchale Priory is a somewhat isolated, ruinous affair tucked away in a bend of the River Wear about four miles north of Durham City. It has, rather curiously, been used as a holiday resort by one section of society or another for around 800 years.

Its roots lie in the twelfth century when it was the base for Saint Godric, a merchant-cum-sailor-cum-monk, who eventually ensconced himself there as a hermit. It is said that he lived to be more than 100 and to have sat out the last six decades of his life at Finchale. Needless to say, by the time he passed away in 1170, he had become something of a celebrity, having enjoyed many visits from the great and the good.

Soon afterwards, the little collection of hermit-like buildings at this quiet spot in the countryside was ‘developed’ by successive Priors of Durham into a Benedictine outpost of the mighty mother church down the road. For the next three hundred years or so the complex at Finchale slowly grew – though, in all honesty, it was never overly utilised.

The newly-formed Finchale Priory survived as a religious house until 1535 and the Dissolution. For much of its history during 13^th-16^th centuries it was effectively used as a holiday retreat for monks from nearby Durham, who would go there in groups of four for three-week periods and where they would ‘enjoy’ a slightly more relaxed timetable for the duration.

These days much of the surrounding countryside is taken up with the long-established ‘Finchale Abbey Caravan Park and Eco Village’ – see here.

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