Stop 3 in our tour of weird events sees us continue our little meander through Gloucestershire....to a special village called Bisley. This village lies about 4 miles east of Stroud and is well worth a visit if you ever find yourself in these parts.Bisley has a long history which can be traced as far back to neolithic times. We are here to watch the well get dressed!

While you are here I also reccommend you stop for a drink at the interesting local pub called the Bear. (http://www.bearinnbisley.co.uk/) This is housed in a 16th century building. .

As you wander through this sleepy little spot you would never suspect the stories and legends that float around this village. Some even say that the true Queen Elizabeth 1 is buried in the churchyard and that the Queen Elizabeth 1 was an imposter.

As interesting as all this is (and I really do recommend you delve into some of the links that follow)the reason we are in Bisley is to visit the well. On Ascension Day floral tributes are carried to the well in a procession which passes through the village and the well is "dressed: with flowers. This tradition was banned by the early Christians as they banned all pagan celebrations of the water spirits. Like many of the pagan traditions, the church took them over and gave them their little touch to turn them into Christian celebrations.

Note: Well dressing also happens in other parts of Britain especially Derbyshire but as we were just a stone's throw from our last stop in Painswick it seemed appropriate to visit this very special well.

Next Stop is to visit another Cotswold town of Bourton where once a year they play football in the river. These English are strange sometime......

"In the sleepy Cotswold village of Bisley lies the most impressive well in the county, a structure which is quite unlike any other 'round these parts. A semicircular stone building channels the beautifully clear water which rises in the mound behind it, a mound on which the church of All Saints is built. Five Gothic arched recesses issue the water into a shallow stone trough and then down into a subterranean gravel-lined pool. Two other channels emerge from the ends of the structure and fall into deeper stone troughs before overflowing and being taken away undergound."


http://www.bisley-glos.net/places/wells.htm
http://www.bisley-glos.net/history.htm#Neolithic

Labels: well dressing

I think it's great that they still celebrate their pagan traditions.:)

Thanks for dropping by Hectic

I too like the idea that they still celebrate the pagan traditions too...there is something that really resonates with me especially when I am living in the area.

Foreign places always intrigue me. Thanks for commenting on my blog.