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Name
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The Holy Wells
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Description
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Over twelve hundred wells and springs were recorded on the first Ordnance Survey maps in the 1860s, a century after the Revestment. The holy wells among them were still visited. The practice was consistent: walk three times sunwise around the well, drop a pin or pebble into the water, make your prayer, drink, and tie a rag to the tree that overhung the pool. The rags accumulated, fading in sun and rain, testimony to generations of hopes and griefs that no parish record preserved. Chibbyr Lansh, St Maughold's Well, still drew pilgrims from across the Island. The wells survived because the people who visited them did not need permission.
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Type
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Sacred Landscape
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Water
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Source
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Moore, Folk-lore (1891), Ch. VI
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OS maps 1860s
