St Hubert's Well, Winkfield

Dedication: Saint Hubert

Location: Foliejon Park

Coordinates: 51.45882N, -0.69835W

Grid reference: SU905741

Heritage designation: none

St Hubert was a European bishop who lived during the late 7th and early 8th centuries. A peculiar implement named "St Hubert's Key" was widely used in Europe until the 20th century to cure rabies. This instrument took the form of a metal bar with a decorative head of some sort that vaguely resembled a key (although all versions varied); the decorative head would be heated and applied to the infected wound, like a brand, and Hubert would be called upon to effect a cure. Unlike most traditional cures of the time, this one actually worked: if the "key" was used before the infection had spread, then the heat would sterlise the wound and kill the virus. As St Hubert is not known to have ever visited England, and does not appear to have any particular links to the area, it is likely that the well's dedication to him was introduced by a previous resident of Foliejon park who particularly enjoyed deer hunting (of which Hubert is the patron saint).

Although the age of the site's association with St Hubert is uncertain, Victoria County History's History of the County of Berkshire (volume 3), which was published in 1923, states that "the legend of St. Hubert's Well in the park is told in an old Berkshire song or poem now quite forgotten", which would imply that the dedication to St Hubert is relatively old. The well, or, at least, a water source in Foliejon Park (of which there are few), does seem to have once been held in some repute. A letter that forms the preface to Thomas Hearne's 1710 version of Leland's Itinerary mentions the "waters" of Foliejon Park, which almost certainly refers to St Hubert's Well:

As for Mineral Waters, they are of great Variety in England, and new Springs are frequently diſcover'd; eſpecially the Chalybeat and Purging Waters. To omit the celebrated Springs at Tunbridge, Epſom, &c. I ſhall not need to tell you of the Sunninghill Waters, which are of the firſt kind; nor of Holy John (commonly call'd Folly John) Waters, of the ſecond ſort, theſe being in Berkſhire, near the Place of your Nativity.

According to some sources, the well was once thought to be effective in the curing of eye problems (of course), although I have been unable to find any historical mentions of this tradition.

Apart from the above information, very little has ever been recorded about the site. It has been marked, as a small rectangular structure on old Ordnance Survey maps, but never named (see the 1933 OS map above), and it seems to have been ignored by Victorian antiquarians. Today, the exact condition of the well remains uncertain.

Access:

The well is located on private land in the grounds of Foliejon Park.