St.Michael's Well

once of Addingham, now Lazonby

How do you know?
You don't, it's a feeling.
It's that sense as you strike off the footpath and across fields looking for indicators that you wouldn't be able to describe if someone asked. There's the trepidation of all that gunshot in the woods. The approaching of every sign on the way with mild paranoia expecting them to read, 'Well-hunters, keep out', 'Well-hunters will be shot' (rather than the more prosaic, 'Permit Holder Fishing'). Why did I leave the path there, cross that particular fence, cut left rather than right, headed for that bit of woodland over there rather than the one that looks just the same in the opposite direction? I couldn't tell you.
And then, in a moment, there is a curious sense of transport from the here to somewhere else. A sense of crossing something ... into a liminal space.
How do you know?
After all, it could just be a pond in rough ground in the middle of farmland.
But the surprised flushed snipe seemed to know.
The deer darting through the trees knew.
The seemingly bottomless waters knew.
The reflected trees (extra) that seemed so solid that I almost went to lean on one ... they knew.
And then the sudden white ghostly swoop of a hunting barn owl appearing and disappearing amongst the trees (extra - to the right of the birches, only just managed to capture it) ... he definitely knew.
And then ... re-emerging back into the world and thinking, 'you can shoot me now and I wouldn’t much care' ...That's when you know you've found a holy well.

The village of Addingham and the original church was lost when the River Eden dramatically changed course in 1350. There is now the more recent church that was built on the opposite side of the river which sits very close to the stone circle, Long Meg and Her Daughters. Not far away are St.Oswald's Well and Chapel Well. It's not surprising this area has a certain 'feel' to it.