Saint · Holywell
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Soft water under a brick arch, and a thousand years of hope.
See it clearly
The well lies in the churchyard of St John the Baptist, and A Church Near You says the church is open every day in daylight. The well is dressed on the weekend before 24 June.
Holywell takes its name from a spring under the churchyard. People came here for centuries hoping the water would heal them.
The village of Holywell takes its name from a spring that rises below the churchyard of St John the Baptist, under a small brick arch carrying a medieval carved stone and an 1845 plaque. Saunders in 1888 wrote that its very soft water was reputed to heal and drew large numbers of visitors. Local history repeated by Capturing Cambridge says people bathed sore eyes and foot complaints there, and that in 1934 a boy's sore was said to have healed after bathing it. The church says it has been venerated since pre-Christian times, and every June the parish dresses the well for its patronal festival.