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It is an unusual half-moon stone structure holding the water, with three strange heads out of whose mouths the water flows down to the river.

If you follow the beautiful trail that departs from Southam heading east and runs alongside the River Stowe, you will come across The Holy Well, believed to be the oldest recorded Holy Well in England. It has been there for over a thousand years, with its most recent renovation taking place almost twenty years ago.

This church is located in the center of Southam, very close to the River Stowe. The church, dedicated to the Apostle Saint James, was built during the 14th century with lias and red sandstone. The structure consists of a nave, chancel, aisles, and north and south porches, as well as a west tower with a spire

Cycling paradise as the gates keep most cars out - allowing you to ride freely. A greta pace for beginners to build up confidence.

A fine example of a Warwickshire town. Lovely old town centre with plenty of options for refreshments.

This Methodist Church has been here since 1837.

The site of a holy well which dates to the Medieval period, though the stone work surrounding the well dates to the Imperial period. Further restoration has taken place in the 20th century. It is situated 800m west of the church, Southam. Oldest recorded holy well in England? The first mention of the well is apparently 998, when it is mentioned in a charter to Leofwine by King Ethelred the Unready as a consequence as the term holy well per se derives from Old English halig this is probably the oldest recorded. However, it does not appear to be specifically mentioned as such. However in a Feet of Fines there is a notice in 1206 of a: “half acre land at Hallewellcul to the north” Over the next 800 years there then appear to be regular references to the well. By the 18th century there is reference to some sort of protective structure, although the date of the current structure cannot perhaps be gauged from these references. By 1701 a record notes that the Rector was exempted from keeping the well and fencing in repair: “one footway of the breadth of three feet leading from a certain stile at the bottom of an ancient enclosed ground called Bury Orchard towards Ufton by the Brook to the said well called Holy Well.” By 1760, a public footpath to the well was made permanent in an Act of Parliament and the enclosures act noting: “it is hereby further enacted and declared, That the said Well, called Holy Well, in the said Open Fields of Southam aforesaid, shall not be allotted to any of the said Proprietors, but shall be inclosed round with Posts and Rails, Three Yards at least distant from the Stone-work of the said Well, by, and at, the Expence of all the said Proprietors, and shall be kept for the Benefit of all the Inhabitants of the Parish of Southam aforesaid; and which said Posts and Rails shall, forever thereafter, be repaired and kept in Repair by, and at, the Expence of the Inhabitants of Southam aforesaid; and that the said Commissioners, or their Successors, or any three or more of them, shall assign, or lay out, a Footway from the Town of Southam aforesaid, to the said Well..” Healing eye water The main two properties, other than a possibly being better than beer, is that it was very cold but never froze and that it was good for eyes. Indeed, its powers in restoring eyes lead to a Henry Lilley-Smith establishing in 1818 an eye and ear hospital not far. Local remedies also recall how to make a tincture with the well water for eyes. The well of St Fremund? One of the possible reasons for the site being a holy well is that it was associated with the Mercian saint Fremund. The Life and Death of the Most Holy Fremund, King and Martyr by Burghard, 12th century (tr. from text in Nova Legenda Anglie ) tells how St Fremund, having been beheaded: “stood up as if nothing had happened, picked his head up off the ground, and set out with the head in his hands. The crowd were amazed at this miracle and followed in his tracks, praising God. He made his way to a spot between Itchington and Harbury, and when he got there he took a stand and thrust the point of his sword in the ground. He prayed to God for a little water to wash his head and body, and what he sought, he gained. For a spring welled up at this very spot, flowing in an unfailing stream and proving the merits of this famous martyr before all the world. He drank of its waters, he washed his wounds, he gave honour to that God in whom all live and have their being. Then turning his head to the east, he sank dead to the ground”. The Metrical Life of St Fremund by William of Ramsay, 1194×1220 (tr. from text in Pinchbeck Register 1925) repeats the story from Burghard, detailing how ‘No sooner had he wished for water than a spring appeared/ Purer than dew, clearer than crystal, finer/ Than gold, and scattering silver sands’. Later, the Life of Sts. Edmund and Fremund by John Lydgate, 1434 tells how “there sprong up a welle/ With crystal watrys the stremys gan up welle;/ And wessh away the blood that was so red,/ Which doun disttillyd from his hooly hed”. egend has it that Fremund was a son of Kind Offa of Mercia. After his death, a great battle ensued at Radford Semele against the invading Vikings in which Fremund was completely victorious. However as Fremund knelt in prayer of thanksgiving one of his own men envious of his success struck off his head. However the legend suggests that the well was not at Southam. For when his corpse stood up, picking up his head and walking away; he stopped somewhere between Harbury and Whitton, possibly Whitnash and there a miraculous well sprung up at his feet, in the water of which he washed his head then lay down and died. This would go against the view that the Southam well is the same. Well preserved fabric The first description of the site is Carlisle (1812) ‘Observations on the positions of the alien cell of Begare, and of Halywell upon Watling Street’ who describes: “a well of very fine clear water, called Holywell, or Halywell, which has always been reputed salubrious. It is… perpetually overflowing, without much variation from the seasons. It is a basin on the declivity of a rising ground. Its form is the larger section of a circle; the bottom is paved with smooth stones; and the sides are walled with the same, a little higher than the water stands, which is about two feet deep. It was formerly nearly encompassed with another wall, and upon a stone, at the mouth of the well, the words Utere, sed non abutere were inscribed.” However it was apparently in decline by the 1850s as an article written on the 6th October 1855 in the Warwickshire Advertiser describes: “on the foot road from Southam to Stoney-Thorpe, the residence of H T Chamberlain Esq., is an Ancient Well called ‘Holy Well’ now in a dilapidated condition; but even in its present state, the massive stone work, with curious and not very elegant carved head shews it to have been at one time an object of interest. Its earlier history is not clear, some asserting that it was the source from which Stoney Thorpe was supplied with water when used as a Priory ……it is a large semi-circular well about five feet deep embanked with massive stone masonry, and is supplied by a powerful spring of the Purest Water. It lies at a lower level than the Town, otherwise it might without much expense, be made most valuable for domestic and sanitary purposes. Tradition says it formally had a stone seat placed round it; was furnished with drinking vessels, and covered by an Arched Stone Roof; thus affording refreshment to the Traveller, and a pleasant resort to the health seeker. It is now proposed to restore by a public subscription, this beautiful relic of antiquity, and a considerable sum has already been promised.” This restoration is described by Freton (1890) in his The Warwickshire Feldon: a sketch of its hills and valleys, waters, famous trees, and other physical features in the Proceedings of Warwickshire Naturalists’ & Archaeologists’ Field Club, states that around 40 years ago: “I and a few enthusiastic friends undertook to clear out this old well, in the hopes that it might lead to its ultimate restoration. Our efforts as amateur navvies excited little sympathy among the rough labouring lads of the neighbourhood, who seemed to look upon us as having a slate off, and we invariably found our labour of one evening fruitless the next, so after a week’s hard work we gave it in.” Certainly when Richardson (1928) found it as: “a semicircular recess in the bank. A low retaining wall – recently renovated – prevents the bank from slipping down into it. At its foot is a flagged path along the curved margin of the semicircular well. Impounding the water in the well… is low two buttressed stonework. The stonework is much mutilated, the water flowing over the two broken and worn ends; but the central portion is higher and has three faces sculptured on it from orifices below which the water spouts out. Two flights of steps– that on the left with three steps, that on the right with four – lead down to a “trough” below the stonework”. The most curious facet of the well are the well worn, and hence presumably ancient carved heads. What is their origin? Thoughts have ranged from effigies of sun gods to the recycled remains from a priory or church. I certainly favour the later and they were probably gargoyles and incorporated in the fabric in the 18th century. This may explain why they look more worn than would be expected if was last constructed in that century. However, it seems odd to have incorporated them and it may have been an attempt to produce a folly for a local lord. Well restored However, despite Richardson’s favourable visit, not everything was positive. In 1925 the water was diverted into a reservoir and the provision of mains water artesian wells in the 1930s took their toll on the flow, an article in a local newspaper noting that: “the Holy Well itself a few yards away has been partly emptied, and no water now flows into its basin in dry weather.” By 1981, Brian Townsend noted in Southam Through the Centuries III notes it was little more than a trickle but a year after clearing out and restoration by the Community Enterprise Programme restored the flow through the heads. Yet by 1991 it was dry again, possibly as the result of quarrying and work on a by-pass. This is what it was like when I first visited…filled with rain water and polluted by crab apples. Through the 1990s restoration was planned but due to various reasons it was never attempted until the early 2000s. By 2005 the water supply was relocated and it could be restored, a Holy Well community was established an Heritage Lottery Fund money of £102,500 was successfully obtained. By 2005-7 the site was splendidly restored with seats and a palisade fence with delightful well related carvings on the posts…a fantastic return to the glory..the crowning of that glory the fact the water flows as profusely as ever. A delightful site and a holy well must.

Church. C14, with C15, early C16 and C19 alterations and additions. Squared coursed lias chancel, nave and tower with sandstone dressings, and sandstone ashlar clerestory and spire. Fish-scale tile chancel and porch roofs with flashing. Lead nave roof. Chancel with north aisle, nave with north and south aisles and west tower. Chancel of C14 origins, rebuilt C15. Three bays with moulded plinth, offset buttresses, chamfered eaves cornice and coped gable to east with cross at apex. Restored east window of 4 cusped lights with curvilinear tracery within a moulded surround. 3 part-restored C15 windows to south, each of 3 cusped and ogee-headed lights with moulded surround. Central window truncated with restored ogee-headed doorway below with plank door. C19 north aisle of 2 bays with 2 windows to north, each of 2 ogee-headed lights and trefoil tracery. C19 vestry to east with one C13-style 3-light window to east and one C13-style lancet to north. Also to north a small C20 lias and sandstone kitchen extension. C14 nave with aisles widened C15. Early C16 clerestory. Nave of 4 bays, the aisles with chamfered plinths and offset buttresses. South aisle has hollow-chamfered eaves cornice with paterae. Parapetted nave roof with moulded eaves cornice. North aisle has two C15 windows to east of porch, each of 3 ogee-headed lights within square-headed chamfered surround. C19 restored window to west of porch of 2 cusped lights and tracery. C19 west window to north aisle of 2 cusped lights and curvilinear tracery. C19 gabled porch with offset buttresses and coped gable on kneelers. Plank door within moulded pointed-head surround with hood mould and labels. Trefoiled lancets to east and west. Re-used doorway of 2 orders, the inner a roll with small moulded capitals. Hood mould with carved foliage labels. C19 plank door. South aisle has 3 windows to south, that towards east C19 in C15 style, of 3 cusped lights within a segmental pointed-head surround. Restored windows to east and west of porch, each of 2 cusped lights with C15 tracery. 3-light traceried window with segmental pointed-head surround in each wall. C19 window in west wall of 3 cusped lights and reticulated tracery. C19 gabled porch with moulded plinth and hollow-chamfered eaves cornice with paterae. Double plank doors within pointed, moulded, arch with columns with carved foliage capitals and moulded bases. Re-used pointed-arched doorway with moulded surround. North and south windows of two C13-style lancets. Early C16 clerestory of 8 windows, each of 2 scalloped lights with 4 trefoiled tracery lights within hollow-moulded, 4-centred-head surrounds with continuous hood mould. Scalloped panel tracery below windows. C14 tower of 3 stages with moulded plinth, large offset diagonal buttresses rising to top, string course at second stage and hollow-moulded eaves cornice with carved heads in hollow. Part-restored C14 west window to first stage of 2 cusped lights within ogee-headed surround. C16 west door immediately below, with moulded shoulder-arched surround. C19 plank door. C14 two-light windows with moulded surrounds to all faces of third stage, with pointed light to second stage south. C15 octagonal broach spire, part rebuilt at top, with pinnacles on broaches and 2 tiers of lucarnes. Interior: below east window of chancel a C19 stone-panelled reredos. South windows have moulded rere-arches. C19 north aisle arcade of 2 bays. Ogee-headed piscina. C14 rood-loft doorway. C19 open-trussed rafter roof. C15 double-chamfered chancel arch. Nave arcade of 4 bays with double-chamfered arches and octagonal piers with moulded bases and capitals. Hood mould with C19 carved head labels. Clerestory has panelled tracery below windows, echoing exterior. Early C16 roof with moulded tie-beans, moulded rafters and moulded purlins. Carved wood bosses representing Tudor roses, angels and foliage. Traceried brackets support tie beams, and rest on carved head and angel corbels. Double-chamfered tower arch. C19 north aisle roof with C17 chamfered-beam south aisle roof. 2 moulded, pointed-arched, tomb recesses in south aisle wall, with C14 ogee-headed piscina with fluted basin. Fragments of medieval wall painting remain on west wail. C17 polygonal pulpit, part-restored, with carved tracery panels. C19/C20 screen with rood loft, replacinq earlier screen. C18 floor slabs in chancel, and C18 and C19 floor slabs in nave. Wall tablets in south aisle to the Wood family, late C18, and to members of the Barnacle family, died 1741 and 1781, also one dated 1745, with carved surround. Wall tablet in north aisle to Daniel and Martha Attrick, who died in 1765 and 1772 respectively. Two C17 chests in nave, one dated 1620. C19 polygonal pulpit in south aisle.