Brislington
Community Archaeology Project
On Sunday 24th July 2011 BCAP members joined with members of the public for their third annual walk to St Anne's holy well, starting from The Kings Arms public house, Hollywood Road. This one-mile walk along the route of Brislington Brook (the traditional Pilgrim's Path) was organised as part of the annual Festival of British Archaeology run by the Council for British Archaeology.
The walk commemorates the medieval pilgrimages to the Chapel of St Anne in the Wood, which attracted the first Tudor king - Henry VII - and his wife Elizabeth of York. Although there are many documentary references to the chapel, some dating to the early 14th century, the well is not mentioned until the Victorian era. In the absence of any historical record of the well, questions have been raised about whether it played any role in the medieval pilgrimages.
However, the well was excavated in 1878 and medieval coins, some dating to the reign of Henry VII, as well as abbey tokens were recovered. It is this archaeological discovery that BCAP specifically remembers on its own secular pilgrimage to the site - where archaeology has provided the only evidence of an important ancient site.
This year, we were joined by members of the congregation of St Anne's Church and St Cuthbert's Church, who were led by the Rev. Henning von Aschen of St Anne's Parish Church in a procession from Allison Road, through Nightingale Valley, to St Anne's Well where a service was held, during which BCAP was kindly invited to address the assembly of thirty or more people, regarding the history of the site.
Having adjourned to St Anne's church hall for welcome refreshments, we were given the opportunity to view some detailed technical drawings and a feasibility study proposing a particular renovation of the well site. The carefully drawn plans were anonymous (and were not official Council documents), and consist, in summary, of rebuilding the pillared canopy (in the style of that first raised in the 1920s) and mounting a climb-proof metal roof on the existing railings to completely encase the well in an impenetrable metal cage. The explicit intention of the cage would be to protect the renovated well from a repeat of the vandalism that demolished the structure erected by the pagan group The Source in 1996 (which replaced the dilapidated 1920s original).
In the interests of informing the public debate stimulated by the above proposal on the future of the well site, we are publishing the comments BCAP made to Bristol City Council's Area Green Space Plan Consultation, in 2010 - as a free .pdf file download here.
For more information about this site, visit the St Anne in the Wood project.
Credits
1st photo — scene at St Anne's Well (© Steve Hallam 2011).
Text — Ken Taylor (new 26.07.10)
