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St Edward's Well, Stow-on-the-Wold

Dedication: ? Location: "The Retreat" Coordinates: 51.91897N, -1.72456W Grid reference: SP190245 Heritage designation: Grade II listed building

As is the case with many parishes that possess an ambigous patronage, there has clearly been confusion over the identity of Stow-on-the-Wold's tutelary saint for at least six hundred years. The Domesday Book, compiled in 1086, makes the earliest known reliable reference to the association of the place with a saint known as "Edward", calling it "eduuardesstou" ("Edward's Stow"), which means something like "the holy place of [St] Edward". As the Domesday Book also records that the parish was then home to a priest, a church must have existed there at that date, and the name of the town suggests that it would have borne, as it does today, St Edward's dedication, whoever that may have been. This is important evidence because, at least according to the 6th volume of A History of the County of Goucester, edited by C. R. Elrington and published in 1965 as part of the Victoria County History series, "there is no architectural evidence" to show that a church existed at Stow-on-the-Wold "before the 12th century".

There are a number of theories regarding the identity of the mysterious "St Edward", none of which can be definitely proven to be true. Today, it is commonly assumed that "St Edward" refers to St Edward the Martyr, who, after a very brief time on the English throne, was assassinated at Corfe Castle in the year 978, reputedly by his step-mother. Although Shaftesbury in Dorset, where his relics were kept throughout the medieval period, was always the centre of his cult, his popularity clearly did spread northwards, with a monastery established in his name at Cholsey, Oxfordshire, shortly after his martyrdom. The other major contender for the identity of Stow-on-the-Wold's patron saint is, of course, St Edward the Confessor, King of England from 1042 to 1066, and a popular figure during the late medieval period. In fact, it is clear that, by this time, Edward the Confessor was believed to be the saint of the parish, because the local wake was originally held, according to Frances Arnold-Forster's Studies in Church Dedications (1899), "on St Edward the Confessor's Day". However, it is incredibly unlikely that St Edward the Confessor was patron of Stow-on-the-Wold as early as 1086, when "eduuardesstou" was first mentioned, because he was only canonised a century after his death, and his cult did not really begin to develop until the early 12th century. Other more minor theories regarding the identity of "St Edward" include the idea that he was a local hermit, and the rather odd suggestion that he was brother of St Edmund the Martyr.

It is worth noting that the Domesday Book explicitly states that Stow-on-the-Wold was then under the ownership of the Abbey of Evesham, who used nearby Maugersbury, as stated in A Handbook for Travellers in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, and Herefordshire (1872), as "a hunting-lodge" until the Reformation. The Domesday Book additionally records that Evesham had also been in possession of the area in 1066, at the time of the Conquest, so it can be safely assumed that the Abbey would have had some influence over the dedication of the church. Unless "St Edward" really was a local hermit (which is certainly not impossible), the Abbey would undoubtedly have chosen St Edward the Martyr as patron of the parish, simply because St Edward the Confessor was canonised at too late a date. Intriguingly, in 1807, Thomas Dudley Fosbrooke wrote, in the second volume of Abstracts of Records and Manuscripts Respecting the County of Gloucester, that the hamlet of Maugersbury was "probably a Saxon villa", and suggested that "the habitation of St. Edward was perhaps there". If this "Edward" really was St Edward the Martyr, perhaps he had some now-forgotten connection to a local Saxon villa here, before his martyrdom.

Even if this is not the case, it is clear that Evesham Abbey had control over St Edward's Well from at least 1066 to the time of the Reformation. Indeed, although I have been unable to find any medieval references to the well, it is probable that Evesham Abbey would have maintained some facilities for pilgrims at the site, perhaps a chapel or a bathing pool of some description. After the Reformation, when Evesham Abbey had been dissolved, it appears that St Edward's Well became part of the parish glebe (land owned by the church), and the well's medieval structure was probably then destroyed. Either way, the well was, during the 18th and 19th centuries, definitely believed to possess a number of healing powers that are very likely to be remnants of a now lost medieval tradition. Details regarding these curative powers were recorded in a poem that was composed by "a provincial poet", and published in 1872 in A Handbook for Travellers in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, and Herefordshire:

The earliest reference that I have found to St Edward's Well dates from 1787, when it was mentioned in a letter written to The Gentleman's Magazine by "D. L. M.", entitled Description of a Barrow lately opened at Oddington. This letter attests that "the water" of the holy well was then still "reported to have virtue in diſeaſes of the eyes", and it is perhaps because of this that efforts were soon being made to turn St Edward's Well into a successful spa, in imitation of much more prestigious mineral waters such as those at nearby Leamington.

By the early 19th century, St Edward's Well had been incorporated, according to the aforementioned History of the County of Goucester (1965), into a set of "pleasure gardens" called "The Retreat", a name that appears on Historic Ordnance Survey maps into the late 20th century. Historic OS maps show that these "gardens" included a set of landscaped pools, which the History of the County of Goucester states were accompanied by a "typically Romantic grotto", and a "pair of cottages" (also depicted on OS maps), from which "refreshments" were distributed to visitors. One of these cottages was apparently constructed in the "Gothic" style, whilst the other was "classical, stuccoed... with a Venetian window and pedimented gable-end". It is also said that some sort of walkway or tree-lined path originally led from Stow-on-the-Wold to these "pleasure gardens"; unfortunately, it is difficult to track the course of this path on historic OS maps.

Although the "pleasure gardens" undoubtedly had some wealthy local sponsor (perhaps this was the owner of nearby Quar Wood, an estate located on the other side of the Fosse Way; A Handbook for Travellers in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, and Herefordshire described the well as being located "in the grounds" of Quar Wood in 1872), the venture ultimately failed. According to the aforementioned History of the County of Gloucester, the "gardens were derelict and the buildings ruinous" by 1961, despite the fact that the site had been "restored" some decades previously "by the rector".

When I visited St Edward's Well in October 2025, I did not inspect the site of the buildings, but the rest of the "pleasure gardens" appeared to be in good repair. The well itself is contained within a grotto, probably of an early 19th or late 18th century date, that was very clearly built as part of "The Retreat", and which was in a good condition. The spring was producing a decent quantity of clear water, which issued from the rockface into a shallow, roughly rectangular pool that was clearly not used for bathing of any kind, but which could originally have been used for collecting the water.

It is worth noting that, inexplicably, another well located to the north of Stow-on-the-Wold has recently become confused with St Edward's. Despite the fact that Historic England lists both of these structures as "St Edward's Well", and awards both of them Grade II listed building status, there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that the other well was ever regarded as holy, whilst there is an abundance of historical evidence to prove that the authentic medieval holy well is the one that was located next to the Fosse Way, in "The Retreat".

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