St Bede's Well, Kilbucho

Dedication: Saint Bega

Location: Kilbucho

Coordinates: 55.588132, -3.483105

Grid reference: NT066337

Status: covered

St Bede's Well, also called "St Bee's Well", is not in fact dedicated to the Venerable Bede, but to the less famed St Bega, an Irish princess from the 8th or 9th centuries (possibly) who spent much of her life in the kingdom of Northumbria. At that time, Northumbria included parts of southern Scotland and northern England. Almost certainly, St Bega visited Kilbucho during her time in Northumbria, and possibly she founded the church, which was dedicated to her. "Kilbucho" is actually derived from the Scottish Gaelic name of the place, "Cille Bheagha", which means the church or the cell of St Bega. The well probably dates from the time of her visit.

One of the earliest published references to St Bede's Well can be found in the Univerſal Dictionary of Knowledge, Volume 3, which was published in 1792:

BEDE'S WELL ST, a ſmall rivulet riſing from a ſpring well, in the pariſh of Kilbucho, in Peeblesſhire.

Kilbucho's church, a small chapel that is now only a ruin, definitely had an association with the well and it is very likely that its water was used for baptisms in the church. It is uncertain whether any other traditions were ever linked to the well, and, if there were, then the details of them have been lost to time.

During the Victorian era, some confusion arose as to the well's actual dedication after several authors mistook the saint of the well to be the Venerable Bede. The spring water was also valued for its quality, even if any superstition regarding the well had long since disappeared. Despite this, the well was covered over, and the spring water was piped off, according to The New Statistical Account of Scotland: Roxburgh, Peebles, Selkirk, which was published in 1845:

Few parishes are more highly favoured than this in regard to salubrious springs. Bede's or Bees well, as it is commonly called, was an open draw-well built round with stone, from which issued a plentiful current. The proprietor of the glebe of Kilbucho has covered it over with flags or flat stones and earth, so as to render the spot arable, and the water, by means of a conduit, spouts in abundance from the banks into the channel of the burn.

Today, the exact condition of the spring remains uncertain, although the well is still covered, according to current Ordnance Survey maps.

Access:

The site of the well is located on private land, as is the Mitchelhill Burn, into which the water is diverted.