Site of possible Romano British well near Sawbridge
The site of a Roman well which was situated in the vicinity of Sawbridge. Several Roman grey urns were recovered from the well.
1 Sawbridge. 1689: John Earles while removing an old barn found a well about 1.2m square and full of water. When emptied a large square stone was found with several Roman grey urns. About twelve were taken out whole and as many broken by the fall of stones from above. The stone was about 6.1m deep and when removed the well was found to be at least 12.2m deeper. The bottom was not found but the well narrowed as it got deeper. One of the urns was in the possession of Thomas Clarke of Wolfhampcote, who sent the account to Dugdale.
2 The account suggests that the urns were arranged purposely in the well.
4 Noted by Ordnance Survey.
- For the sources of these notes, see the
- Timetrail record
- produced by the Historic Environment Record.
Comments
According to Dr Anne Ross in her book Pagan Celtic Britain, this is a Celtic shaft well. It matches descriptions of similar Celtic ritual sites where there is a platform with symbolic ritual offerings placed part way down (cf Ashill, Norfolk; Swanwick, Hampshire; Holzhausen, Germany). In her account, the stone had a central hole for a post socket. It’s presumably less a well and more an entrance ot the underworld – although it seems it did fill up with water. This would make it a rare and significant site rather than a Roman oddity.
I’d be very interested to know if any of the evidence is still around.
Add a comment about this page