Dennis Williams
Gone but not forgotten
Another new find of an old chestnut....and a revived story....Anyone feeling a bit grubby? Well the Shoothill Hoard contained this marvelous old photo of the Gateway to Ladywell Baths in Ladywell Walk…and I was reminded of conversations regarding same some four of five years ago with Aidan and Peter on the BHF Forum....
OUR LADY'S WELL
O GLADLY men go on Our Lady's Day,
Through Our Lady's wood to Our Lady's well.
Her shrine is decked with trophies. Way
For the cripple's crutch and the blind man's bell.
The blind, the lame, and the sick, they tread
The path of the wood, nor ask for alms ;
The eager cripple, the blind man led,
Singing Our Lady's praise and psalms.
Who bows at Our Lady's shrine the morn,
And drinks of Our Lady's well ; for him,
The healing hand and the joy newborn.
Gladness and wholeness of life and limb.
O priests, who stand at Our Lady's shrine,
And pray at Her well ; men bring me these -
Hearts that leap at the name divine.
And stricken bodies and bended knees,
The lame, the blind, and the sick, they kneel
At Our Lady's well, and drink and call
On Our Lady's name, that shall haply heal,
And lo ! Her hand hath mended them all.
They throw their crutches ; they freely roam ;
They see, are whole. There are trophiesnew
At Our Lady's shrine, and they haste them home.
And lo ! the wood is a-blossom through.
by Brummie bard Ernest Marston Rudland ... who apparently came into this vale of tears in 1875 ... ... here is an extended edition of Ballads of Old Birmingham
Note —Mention is made in a document dated 1347 of a dwelling in Egebaston Strete leading towards "God well field," and there can be no doubt that this alluded to the Lady Well, possessed of wonderful healing virtues, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and close to the Priest's House, afterwards called the Rectory or Parsonage of St. Martin. The overflow from the well helped to sustain the moat round the Parsonage, and joined by other waters from the neighbourhood of Holloway Plead and the hill above Pinfold Street, passed into the Manor House moat. The Lady Well Baths were historically famous. Hutton says they were the finest in the kingdom. The Holy Well of the Blessed Virgin, towards which mediaeval pilgrims wended their way through the Hurst and Lady Wood, still exists, covered over, its miraculous waters turned into the drains, Lady Well Walk being the only reminder left to us of the name. Exhibit 'A' M'lud...
OUR LADY'S WELL
O GLADLY men go on Our Lady's Day,
Through Our Lady's wood to Our Lady's well.
Her shrine is decked with trophies. Way
For the cripple's crutch and the blind man's bell.
The blind, the lame, and the sick, they tread
The path of the wood, nor ask for alms ;
The eager cripple, the blind man led,
Singing Our Lady's praise and psalms.
Who bows at Our Lady's shrine the morn,
And drinks of Our Lady's well ; for him,
The healing hand and the joy newborn.
Gladness and wholeness of life and limb.
O priests, who stand at Our Lady's shrine,
And pray at Her well ; men bring me these -
Hearts that leap at the name divine.
And stricken bodies and bended knees,
The lame, the blind, and the sick, they kneel
At Our Lady's well, and drink and call
On Our Lady's name, that shall haply heal,
And lo ! Her hand hath mended them all.
They throw their crutches ; they freely roam ;
They see, are whole. There are trophiesnew
At Our Lady's shrine, and they haste them home.
And lo ! the wood is a-blossom through.
by Brummie bard Ernest Marston Rudland ... who apparently came into this vale of tears in 1875 ... ... here is an extended edition of Ballads of Old Birmingham
Note —Mention is made in a document dated 1347 of a dwelling in Egebaston Strete leading towards "God well field," and there can be no doubt that this alluded to the Lady Well, possessed of wonderful healing virtues, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and close to the Priest's House, afterwards called the Rectory or Parsonage of St. Martin. The overflow from the well helped to sustain the moat round the Parsonage, and joined by other waters from the neighbourhood of Holloway Plead and the hill above Pinfold Street, passed into the Manor House moat. The Lady Well Baths were historically famous. Hutton says they were the finest in the kingdom. The Holy Well of the Blessed Virgin, towards which mediaeval pilgrims wended their way through the Hurst and Lady Wood, still exists, covered over, its miraculous waters turned into the drains, Lady Well Walk being the only reminder left to us of the name. Exhibit 'A' M'lud...
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