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Holy well

St Anthony's Well

Holyrood Park, Edinburgh

A well below a ruined chapel on the slopes of Arthur's Seat.

Below the ruins of St Anthony's Chapel in Holyrood Park is a small well, once believed to be holy. Edinburgh tradition said that washing your face in its water at dawn on May Day would make you beautiful.

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When
Medieval
Where
55.9500, -3.1650
Group
Holy wells & springs

Visiting

Holyrood Park is free to walk, below Arthur's Seat.

Cover of The Ledger of Lost Britain by Cale Mills
Read the full story in the book

The Ledger of Lost Britain

The Romans arrived in AD 43. For most people that is where the history of Britain begins. But by the time the legions landed, people had already been living on these islands for thousands of years. They had hunted, farmed, mined flint, dragged stones across the country, raised a hill by hand, and buried their dead in great tombs. They left no written words. What they left was the ground itself. Every place in this book can be visited, or has been dug up, or is in a museum.

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