Red Well

near Barnard Castle

http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=32036

Still feeling lacklustre and in need of vitamin D and thinking the lakes might still be busy with schools not quite back I’d seen that there was sunshine on the other side of the Pennines. I also thought the new year needed to be kicked off with a well hunt...obviously. I had also been talking to my friend who stayed before Christmas and when he and his wife left mine they had gone to Barnard Castle en route to his sister’s - that had reminded me of a well that had been on my little list for some time. I had always intended to do it on one of my many trips to Norfolk but I’m never in the right frame of mind as I head off on a long journey.

It seemed odd to turn off the A66 in no time at all and, as always, I was struck by how dramatic the Castle is as you approach the town. The town is lovely but I carried on and cheekily parked in the golf course car park and strode boldly off on the footpath past the ‘beware of bull’ signs. Red Well was easily accessible and in a rather attractive setting bathed lovely golden sunlight. I don’t think I can get away with claiming it as a holy well but it was valued for its mineral content and a local doctor encouraged the locals to use it during a time of a cholera outbreak.

After that I went for a lovely wander in the late sunshine on the moor nearby to seek out The Butter Stone (extra) http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=31746 used for exchanging goods and money during the Great Plague to try and prevent spreading infection.