
The Lady Well is a
holy well in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
.
Also known as 'Our Lady's Well', Glasgow's Ladywell is an artesian spring noted on early
city map
A city map is a large-scale thematic map of a city (or part of a city) created to enable the fastest possible orientation in an urban space. The graphic representation of objects on a city map is therefore usually greatly simplified, and reduced ...
s and can be reliably assumed to predate the city. It lay just outside the city wall and Drygate Port in medieval times and will have refreshed Romans traveling the old
Carntyne
Carntyne ( gd, Càrn an Teine) is a suburban district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated north of the River Clyde, and in the east end of the city. Since 2007 it has formed the core of the East Centre ward under Glasgow City Coun ...
Highway east-west between forts along the
Antonine Wall
The Antonine Wall, known to the Romans as ''Vallum Antonini'', was a turf fortification on stone foundations, built by the Romans across what is now the Central Belt of Scotland, between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth. Built some twe ...
. Today it is erroneously believed to have been sunk for use of commoners denied access to a nearby Priest's Well, and/or to have been capped in the early 19th century out of fears of pollution or plague.
Its wellhead was jointly rebuilt by the Merchants House and City Council in 1835-6 for enclosure in a new wall when the Fir Park behind it was turned into a gardened burial ground. While most wells in Glasgow were closed after freshwater piped from
Loch Katrine
Loch Katrine (; or ) is a freshwater loch in the Trossachs area of the Scottish Highlands, east of Loch Lomond, within the historic county and registration county of Perthshire and the contemporary district of Stirling. The loch is about lon ...
transformed the city's health and sanitation in the 1860s, the Ladywell remained open for the public. An old article says the Ladywell was the last public well to be closed but gives no date. The classical wellhead installed by the 1836 restoration bears no resemblance to the original - an open round one - and remains there today. The current lintel stone (its second) notes the 1836 rebuild and another by the Merchant's House in 1874. A plaque commemorates its most recent refurbishment by
Tennent Caledonian Breweries
Tennent Caledonian is a brewery based in Glasgow, Scotland. The Wellpark Brewery is situated in the city's East End, between the Townhead and Dennistoun districts along Duke Street.
It was founded in 1740 on the bank of the Molendinar Burn ...
in 1983. The Ladywell remains capped.
See also
*
Scottish Reformation
The Scottish Reformation was the process by which Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland broke with the Pope, Papacy and developed a predominantly Calvinist national Church of Scotland, Kirk (church), which was strongly Presbyterianism, Presbyterian in ...
Buildings and structures in Glasgow
Springs of Scotland
Holy wells of St Mary
Holy wells in Scotland
Landforms of Glasgow
Christian holy places
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