St Edmund’s (Well), Hunstanton

Here we go again in what is fast becoming the year of the non-well. After the boiler man had finished I went out into another very wet, grey Norfolk afternoon to see if I could find holy waters rather than the stuff from the sky.

I thought I had blipped this non-well before when I blipped St.Edmund’s chapel which is on the top of the cliff you see here, next to the old lighthouse...but I can’t find it anywhere amongst the previous wells.

It’s believed that when Edmund sailed over from Saxony to take over from King Offa as king of the East Angles he landed at Hunstanton where he fell to his knees and prayed. Twelve springs rose up with supposedly such sweet water the place became known as Honestanton - Honey-stone Town and it became a place of pilgrimage and healing.

The location of the springs is unclear but believed to be the marshy area in the middle of the collage or in the middle of a small patch of woodland on the edge of town, known as, The Pool. Neither looked so sweet today. The first was a rather beleaguered looking building site and the second was taken hastily in true furtive blipper fashion before being shot by the landowner who seems to be rearing pheasants there (I probably need to rephrase that...I wasn’t shot).

Poor old St Edmund sounded like a decent sort of a chap but came to a rough old end which involved losing his head and a wolf.

I nearly came to a rough end too ...it was blowing a gale down on the beach as I valiantly strode out for my blips.