Saint
The Lady's Well
A moated spring said to cure sore eyes.
Stand where it happened
- What's there
- Spring in a moat north-east of the church
- Legend from
- Medieval, recorded 1574
- Tone
- Curious
Woolpit: sore eyes? For centuries people came to a spring in a moat just past the church to bathe them.
About three hundred yards north-east of Woolpit church a spring rises inside an old moat. It has long been called the Lady's Well and was believed to cure sore and weak eyes. Victorian writers said it was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and that pilgrims once came to it, and tradition places a small chapel nearby, though no trace of one has been proven. The earliest written mention of the well dates from 1574. When the water was analysed in modern times, no medicinal properties were found. The spring still flows into a brick-lined pool, now inside a protected ancient monument.