Crosses and Sacred Wells

Early Christian missionaries often set up "holy places" on top of sites which may have been important to pagan worship or perhaps were the graves of martyrs and holy people or the site of a holy well. Jonathan Sant has written a useful booklet on The Healing Wells of Herefordshire (published by Moondial in 1994). The Historic Environment Record lists at least 18 sacred wells in Herefordshire, for example St. Ethelbert's Well in Hereford (HER reference no. 20158). To see these records, search the HER database using the site type "well" or "well - sacred".

The priests would mark this holy place by putting up a wooden, and later a stone, cross. This was a place where people could gather in the open air to hear monks or priests preach and where outdoor services were held. Sometimes the priest would ring a hand-bell to let people know he was there to preach and take services. 
 
Unusually, many crosses in Herefordshire have a niche in them. Some historians believe that these openings were used for holding sacred vessels or relics during processions. An example can be seen in the cross at the church of St. John at Orcop (HER no. 8257). 
  
For more information regarding churchyard crosses in Herefordshire, see B.J. Marples, "The Niche in Medieval Churchyard Crosses", in Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club, Volume XL Part III, 1972, pp. 321-332, and Alfred Watkins, The Old Standing Crosses of Herefordshire, published in 1930. Watkins' book has an impressive selection of photographs.

If the site of the cross became a popular place for worship, a church would eventually be built, first of wood and later of stone. Unfortunately, many crosses were destroyed during the Reformation.

[Original author: Toria Forsyth-Moser, 2002]