St Fillan's Well, Milton

Dedication: Saint Fillan of Strathfillan

Location: Milton

Coordinates: 54.85388N, -4.78698W

Grid reference: NX211545

Status: destroyed?

It is believed that the most likely contender for the patronage of this holy well is St Fillan of Strathfillan, simply because of its geographical location. Fillan of Strathfillan, an 8th century Irish monk who travelled mainly to Perthshire as a missionary, may have spent some time in this area. Of course, there are multiple saints with the name of "Fillan", so it really could have been any one of them.

It is said that St Fillan's Well was once associated with the nearby "Kirkchrist Chapel" (Ordnance Survey maps actually called the site "Chapel Well"), which itself served a small settlement that has now completely vanished. This chapel was an off-shoot of Glenluce Abbey; it can be presumed that St Fillan's Well was also under the ownership of the same institution. Apart from the fact that the well's water may have been used for baptismal purposes (of course, this is not certain as the water could instead have been obtained from Milton's Lady Well), absolutely nothing is known of the well's early history.

As is the case with many sites that are found in remote locations, the earliest reference to the well that I have been able to find dates from the late 19th century, by which time the well's existence had already been acknowledged by Ordnance Survey maps, which named it "Chapel Well". The site was mentioned in volume 3 of a publication entitled Archaeological and Historical Collections Relating to the Counties of Ayr and Wigton (1882), which called it "St. Fillan's Well, on the Farm of Kilfillan, Old Luce", and quoted part of a letter that had been written by the Rev. George Wilson on the 19th of July, 1880:

Here a white thorn tree, in the Jerusalem Fey, is supposed to mark the site of the old chapel. There had been a village there, and the Ordnance surveymen, in digging, found a place where the roof had been covered with slates, and marked that spot as the site of the chapel. A little way off, in a marshy place on the opposite side of the brook, on the South Milton farm, is a well, said to have been the Holy Well of the chapel, but I have not heard the name of any saint connected with it.

It is worth noting that George Wilson, who was something of an expert on the history of Glenluce, did not seem to believe that the well really was dedicated to St Fillan. It is, of course, possible that the well was given the title of "St Fillan's" by Victorians who simply read into the name of the farm (Kilfillan) too deeply. Nonetheless, the site almost certainly had some link to the nearby medieval chapel.

By 1977, it was reported by surveyors that there was "no longer any trace" of St Fillan's Well (although Ordnance Survey maps had for some time already marked the "site of" the well). However, its condition is uncertain, as modern Ordnance Survey maps mark a newer spring just a few metres to the south of the site of St Fillan's Well; as this spring was not previously marked on OS maps, it is possible that St Fillan's Well was filled in, and that it sprung up a few metres to the south of its original position, thus creating this new well.

Access:

The new spring that may well be St Fillan's Well is located on private land; permission is to be obtained from Kilfillan Farm, assuming that they still own the land.