St Swithin's Well, Bath

Dedication: Saint Swithin

Location: Walcot

Coordinates: 51.39002N, -2.36118W*

Grid reference: ST749657*

Status: destroyed

St Swithin, commonly spelt "Swithun", was the Bishop of Winchester during the late 9th century. He is reputed to have been a very modest and humble character, and, apparently upon his own orders, he was initially buried outside of the cathedral in a simple grave. However, in the late 10th century, his relics were exhumed from his original grave, and translated into an elaborate shrine in the cathedral itself. It is said that miracles began to occur here almost immediately, and, thus, Swithin's cult began to develop. Certainly it is no coincidence that Walcot's parish church was built only a few years after this, and consecrated to Swithin himself. Undoubtedly, St Swithin's Well appeared at some point after the construction of this church, probably after its water was used therein for baptisms.

Historically, however, St Swithin's Well was not only used for religious purposes: it was also one of Bath's most important water supplies in medieval times. Its water was piped to several of the city's central conduits, although, unfortunately, records cannot agree on which of Bath's many conduits these were. John Wood, in the second volume of An Essay Towards a Description of Bath (1749), claimed that the conduits supplied by St Swithin's Well were St Mary's Conduit, High Cross Conduit, St Michael's Conduit, and Broad Street Conduit; John Collinson, in volume 1 of The History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset (1791), only listed St Mary's and High Cross, as did George Newenham Wright, in The Historic Guide to Bath (1864); and James Tunstall, in his Rambles About Bath (1847), listed only High Cross and Stall's Conduit. It is unlikely that one spring would have been able to reliably supply as many as four conduits at a time, so it is more probable that St Swithin's water was only piped to one or two.

According to John Wood, writing in volume 2 of An Essay Towards a Description of Bath in 1749 (as previously mentioned), St Swithin's Well was, at some point, "granted to the Abbey of Bath by the Pariſh of Waldcot [sic]", in exchange for "a certain Quantity of Bread", which was "paid" yearly to the parish. Wood claimed that the well had later been given, on the 12th of July, 1552, to "the Corporation", by a patent of King Edward VI, to ensure the "Maintenance of ten of the Poor aged People of the City", and for "the Inſtruction of the Youth in the Latin Tongue". It is interesting to note that Wood did not name what he simply described as "a Spring of Water", and it is only the later comments of John Collinson, writing in 1791 in his History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset (as referred to above), that identify the spring Wood referred to as St Swithin's Well.

Apart from the fact that it was an essential water supply in medieval times, little is known of St Swithin's Well. It appears that the spring was not associated with any particular traditions, which is unsurprising, given its mostly practical usage.

It is not clear when exactly the well was destroyed. If the 1886 Ordnance Survey town plan of Bath (pictured above) is to be believed, then the spring was located in the centre of Camden Crescent, which was built in 1788; in all probability, the well was destroyed during its construction. This corroborates with the comments of S. D. Major in 1879 in Notabilia of Bath, in which it was made clear that St Swithin's Well no longer existed. Of course, if the location as given on the OS town plan is only approximate, then it is impossible to tell when exactly the site was destroyed. The most detailed written records of its location, notably that found in John Collinson's History of Somerset, say no more than the fact that it was situated somewhere on the slope of Beacon Hill.

*The location given is centred exactly on the location shown on the OS town plan; the accuracy of this is, however, uncertain