old belfry
simple village church
rustic church
Binsey goats
cottage at Binsey
Binsey cottages
cows at Binsey
thatch fire
The Perch fire
1886 city boundary marker
Oxford boundary stone
diddy bridge in the meadow
Godstow Bridge
The Trout in summer
Welcome to the Trout
abbey ruin
Godstow Abbey ruin
abbey ruins
Godstow Abbey
airmen's memorial at Godstow
The Trout in spring
iris by the Isis
wind in the sails
churchyard goats
All Saints Church, Wytham
evening in the water meadow
child's eye view of the meadow
sundown in the water meadow
buttercups at sunset
eve of the flood
swans in the sunset
Thames Path starting to flood
footpath in flood
Port Meadow in flood
summer flood at Medley
a stroll in the river
summer flood
meadow grazer
kine coiffure
Rainbow Bridge
city boundary stone
old city boundary stone
boundary stone at Port Meadow
pony in the April snow
April snow
Location
See also...
Keywords
Authorizations, license
-
Visible by: Everyone -
All rights reserved
-
214 visits
St Margaret's Well, Binsey
believed to be the original "treacle well" from Alice in Wonderland,
the water is supposed to have healing properties
the water is supposed to have healing properties
- Keyboard shortcuts:
Jump to top
RSS feed- Latest comments - Subscribe to the comment feeds of this photo
- ipernity © 2007-2024
- Help & Contact
|
Club news
|
About ipernity
|
History |
ipernity Club & Prices |
Guide of good conduct
Donate | Group guidelines | Privacy policy | Terms of use | Statutes | In memoria -
Facebook
Twitter
Is best done after dark;
For it can make the follicles rot
And your skin will turn to bark.
Isisbridge club has replied to StudleyAnd my skin is coarse and hairy.
Meet me when the moon is bad
And you'd best be very wary.
www.britainexpress.com/counties/oxfordshire/churches/binsey.htm
Binsey is a small hamlet on the west bank of the River Thames, immediately east of Oxford. Down a quiet rural lane north of the village centre stands the 12th-century church of St Margaret, built on the site of a Saxon church linked to St Frideswide, the patron saint of Oxford, who established an oratory here in the early 8th century.
St Frideswide
Frideswide was the daughter of a Christian nobleman and is thought to have been born around AD 680. A Mercian prince named Algar wanted to marry Frideswide, but she rejected his advances and fled. She hid for three years at Binsey, where she worked as a swineherd while Algar searched for her in vain.
When Algar was blinded by lightning, Frideswide prayed to St Margaret of Antioch to come to his aid. A holy well appeared, just outside the west end of the present church, and Frideswide used the well water to cure Algar's blindness. Another version of the tale, however, says that Algar fell from his horse and was killed and that the well appeared after the nuns of Binsey complained of having to carry water all the way from the River Thames.
Alice in Wonderland
What, you might wonder, is the connection between a medieval holy well and Lewis Carroll's imaginative tale, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland? Carroll, who was a lecturer in mathematics at Christ Church College, based many of the stories on local people and places.
He seems to have used St Margaret's Well as the inspiration for the 'treacle well' that appears in a story related by the Dormouse during the Mad Hatter's tea party. According to the Dormouse, three sisters lived at the bottom of a treacle well.
There is an element of truth in the story; during the medieval period, the word treacle had a very different meaning than it does today. Our word treacle came from the ancient Greek term 'theriac' and could mean a healing liquid or panacea. During the Middle Ages, pilgrims flocked to St Margaret's Well, drawn there because the well waters were said to have healing properties. It was, therefore, a treacle well; healing well.
Even today, regular services are held at the well, carrying on the medieval tradition.
Sign-in to write a comment.