St Richard’s Well, Upwich brine well, Droitwich Spa

The start of a one-day pilgrim route to Worcester Cathedral

‍Highlights

• Salt wells blessed by St Richard

The Malvern Hills region has so many holy wells they don’t just have an annual well-dressing festival, they have a full-blown competition. Dozens of springs and fountains in the area are decorated with flowers and other displays during the May Day bank holiday weekend, including several in and around Droitwich Spa. The well most closely associated with St Richard is decorated with flowers hung on its iron railings and blessed.

St Richard’s Well is more usually called simply the Upwich brine well. It is in the middle of a strip of land between two canals that have been turned into an attractive park. A statue of St Richard stands at one end, near a cheerful modern mosaic depicting the saint and other Droitwich notables. The well itself is 90m away, fenced off with a sign warning that it is both deep and corrosive, its structure a modern replacement set above the actual source.

It is unlikely this ever functioned as a regular holy well in any case. The brine is 10 times more concentrated than seawater, comparable to the water in the Dead Sea. The salty waters emerging here and elsewhere helped the town become a wealthy salt producer and later a fashionable spa resort.

A sign by the Upwich well says the saint blessed it in the 13th century when its flow began to fail, and the source was miraculously rejuvenated. It is perhaps just as accurate to say the townspeople came to regard the entire natural phenomenon as a sign of St Richard’s blessing. There have been well-dressing ceremonies here since medieval times, and the wells have been exploited since the Iron Age.

St Richard was born here in 1197 and probably baptised in St Andrew’s Church, a Norman building in the town centre. He is sometimes still called St Richard de Wych, referring to Droitwich. He ended up as Bishop of Chichester (page 101). Another well structure near this church is among those sometimes dressed, though it looks like something from an oil rig, with a cap, valves, and no sign of any flow. You can bathe in the natural salt waters at the town’s rejuvenated Droitwich Spa Lido.

Directions‍

In Vine Park, opposite Waitrose, Saltway (B4090), Droitwich Spa WR9 8EL

www.strichardsfestival.co.uk

W3W: hello.kinds.rang

GPS: 52.2697N 2.1480W

Droitwich Spa railway station 800m‍

The well is in the middle of Vine Park, on the narrow island next to Saltway road (the B4090). Cross the footbridge on the opposite side of the road from Waitrose and the brine well is 70m away on the left, the statue of St Richard 20m ahead of you.

St Andrew’s Church is on the corner of the High Street and St Andrew’s Street WR9 8DY. The nearby brine well pump is 90m away: walk east along the High Street, take the alleyway Gurneys Lane on the left and the pump is on your right.

The Droitwich Spa Lido open-air swimming pool is open in the summer, at Lido Park, Worcester Road, Droitwich Spa WR9 8AA.