Borrowdale Salt Well

(see extra ... I will swap it later freespiral ... honest ....!)

In need of a good purge having been more or less housebound for a few days I ventured out to find the Salt Well near Manesty and was hopeful of its excellent qualities ....

"But however harsh a vomit and Purge Barrowdale Well is, it wants not it's Customers and Admirers, and indeed in Dropsical, cacochymic, cachetic, disorders; foulness of the Stomach, slipperyness of the Bowels from Relaxations, or much Mucus, some icteritious disorders, it is of Service to several. ... "

It was originally used (unverified) by the monks of Furness whose monastic grange (Grange in Borrowdale) extended to here. Then it was apparently re-discovered by miners (extensive mining in the area). In 1796 the Hon. Mrs Sarah Murray who claimed to be the first lady of quality to go over Honister pass said that the well wasn't 'worth the trouble of getting to'. In 1820 a bath house was built for therapeutic salt water bathing. However, it lacked 'suitable accommodations' and so never really developed.

It is another spot I have passed countless times and never knew it was here and was unaware of its history. The water didn't taste salty and plants and trees were growing happily today but apparently it was tested as more saline than 'the German Ocean' ... I suspect after the rainfall we have had it has been seriously diluted.

Second extra - the dried white stems of bog asphodel, the red of the bog myrtle and the bark of the silver birch in the second extra was a beautiful combination that I just couldn't resist.