St Eata's Well, Alvie

Grid reference

NH 870 079 (accurate position)

Six-figure easting & northing

287000 807900

Latitude

57.14824160634158

Longitude

-3.867896803737016

Altitude (metres)

240

County

Inverness-shire

Nearby places

St Eata's Chapel, Alvie (0.22 miles)

Alvie, parish (0.95 miles)

Rothiemurchus, former parish, Duthil and Rothiemurchus (1.23 miles)

St Adomnán's Church, Insh (2.7 miles)

Insh, former parish, Kingussie & Insh (2.7 miles)

Object Classification

Water

Is linear feature?

No

Notes

NMRS: A stone-lined natural spring, but no local knowledge of the name in 1966. It does seem strange to have a dedication to St Eata here. This is not a saint with a popular cult in Scotland. If this is the bishop of Hexham and Lindisfarne (basically Bernicia, therefore) who died in 686, he was the bishop therefore when Ecgfrith led his ill-fated invasion of Pictland inn 685 and when he and his army were slaughtered at *Dun Nechtain. Eve Boyle (HES, pers. comm)has suggested that the battle was fought near Torr Alvie, on the summit of which is a large pre-historic fort (NH876088) which might be the dún in question. This background - or modern antiquarian speculation about it - might explain the otherwise strange dedication to Eata here.

http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/

Relationships with other parishes

Within Alvie, parish

Within Alvie, parish

Relationships with other places

Adjacent St Eata's Chapel, Alvie