Ancient Wells # 33 St. Mary's Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

OffTheRails: Going to be tricky to maintain now!

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Hidden : 3/19/2015
Difficulty:
1 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:

A nice easy cache situated very close to where we live. Access is on pavements and wheelchair users should not experience any problems retrieving it.

PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN PEN(CIL) - NO LOG, NO SMILIE!

St Mary's holy well is built into the south facing garden wall of Church Style Cottage. The basin survives as a large water trough, roughly hewn out of a single piece of granite. A small cement patch in front probably replaces a former outlet pipe and another at a lower level leads out of the south western corner. A gulley cut into the upper part of the north western corner of the trough may represent an overflow or alternatively an inlet channel. The trough occupies a recess with jambs formed of large squared granite blocks topped by a round red brick arch. The lower part of left-hand jamb is moved outwards a little, perhaps to insert an alternative outlet pipe. In the rear wall of the recess is a small granite spout, presumably designed to bring water into the trough. In front of trough is a pavement of granite sets with a kerb of large pieces of granite. Apart from a legend no definite historical information is known regarding this holy well. In common with many wells, the early history of St Mary's Well, Bovey Tracey is based on speculation. It's position within the Anglo-Saxon settlement known as Boffa suggests that it would have been utilised from this date, but the form of the original structure and whether the well had pre-Christian significance or was first established for domestic purposes only is not known. The nearby church is now dedicated to St Peter, St Paul and St Thomas but was previously dedicated to St Mary. The legend surrounding the well states that the priest of the parish church (St. Mary's as it was then) returned home to find a visitor. The pious priest and his wife shared their meagre supper with the visitor (St Mary), ensuring she was cared for and sheltered. In return for his kindness, she bestowed good fortune on the priest and his family for generations to come and by way to remind them, she turned the frogs in the spring golden coloured.

If you would like to expand the Ancient Wells Series by placing a cache of your own please contact

LizMar2010

to request a number and to add the cache to the bookmark list

This series will encompass both ancient and non ancient wells such as springs and other water features which will always be worth a visit

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Obggbz EU pbeare bs gebhtu

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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