ABSTRACT
Healing wells have long played a role in the folklore of Wychwood. Some, like Bridewell, with ancient, pre-Christian and pre-Roman roots, remain active in the present day, although today there are few votive offerings and their healing functions largely forgotten. Until the mid-twentieth century, community engagement focused on Palm Sunday festivals, when local villagers processed to Bridewell and other wells to make curative Spanish Water, a mixture of well-water, liquorice, sugar and/or peppermint. Today, this tradition persists at the wells of Cornbury Park estate but because, until 1990, Palm Sunday was the only day that the public was allowed access to its “Secret Forest,” a large Wychwood fragment. Eventually, this event became a campaign for greater public access and declined once this was conceded. Subsequently, the tradition has recovered some spiritual associations through engagement of varied interest and alternative religious groups.
