Saints in Scottish Place-Names
Funded by a Leverhulme Trust Project Grant
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.
Relationships with other places
Adjacent St Eata's Chapel, Alvie
Names
1 head-name linked to this place ?St Eata's Well
Head name
St Eata's Well
Place
St Eata's Well, Alvie
Certainty that this name applies to this place
Certain
The status of this name is
Current
Is this a current OS form? ?
Yes
Is this the original referent of the place?
Yes
Is the association of this name to this object hypothetical?
No
St Eata's Well 1843, OS 6 inch first edn.
Historic formSt Eata's Well Head nameSt Eata's Well PlaceSt Eata's Well, Alvie Certainty that this name applies to this placeCertain SourceOS 6 inch first edn. Date of citation1843 x 1882 Notes on the context of this place-nameMid to late 19th c. |
Source code
OS 6 inch first edn.
Source title
Ordnance Survey 6 Inch to the Mile, First Edition
Notes
Mid to late 19th c.
Saints in this place-name
Eata (ns) (probable)
Eata bishop of Hexham (probable)