St.Michaels Well
In the hillside below Arthuret church is St.Michael’s Well, a place of great antiquity. Today the view extends over tranquil meadows reclaimed from the once marshy wilderness of the Solway Moss.
Wells like this loomed large in Celtic spirituality. Our pre-Christian Ancestors believed in the “Otherworld”, a parallel universe of the spirit, the entrance to which might be found at sacred springs or wells like this one. The well has many voices.
Centuries of tradition bind Arthuret to King Arthur.
Was it here at the well that his body was washed before burial after the fateful battle of Camlann, faught at Camboglanna on nearby Hadrian’s Wall?
From here the great Druid Merlin fled in madness from the slaughter of Ardderyd to the safety in the Forest of Celidon where he lived like a Wild Man of the Woods.
Many are sure that the Holy Well of St.Michael was the baptismal spring used by St.Kentigern after Christian princes defeated the pagan warbands of Gwenddoleu and Merlin in the bloodbath at Arthuret in AD573.
VISIT LONGTOWN: HISTORY, MYSTERY, LEGEND