Saints in Scottish Place-Names
Funded by a Leverhulme Trust Project Grant
Sancta Crux Well, Dunkeld & Dowally
Grid reference
NO 049 487 (accurate position)
Six-figure easting & northing
304900 748700
Latitude
56.62061402693452
Longitude
-3.5499760330492016
Altitude (metres)
275
County
Perthshire
Nearby places
St Colme's Loch, Dunkeld & Dowally (2.03 miles)
St Anne's Well, Dowally, Dunkeld & Dowally (3 miles)
St Anne's Church, Dowally, Dunkeld & Dowally (3.01 miles)
Dowally, former parish, Dunkeld & Dowally (3.01 miles)
St Muireach's Well, Dunkeld & Dowally (3.04 miles)
Object Classification
Water
Is linear feature?
No
Notes
NMRS records: A "mystic well" in natural rock used for medicinal purposes; some remains of a wall around it are recorded in 1971. "Santa Crux Well south east of Loch Ordie locally known as Grew’s Well or in Gaelic Tobar Craoibh was wont to be resorted to as a healing well. [For] forty years the older people believed firmly in its efficacy for cursing whooping cough, and children suffering from that complaint were not infrequently taken thither in quest of curse P.M.P[ullar] among others. There are ruins of a chapel by the well. The hill rising above the well to the west is called Deuchary. Two or three miles or more to the north and north east of Loch Ordie is the Chapel Hill once wooded but now here. From the summit of Deuchary which is wooded the town of Perth may be seen" (Robertson 2019). Note that 'tobar craoibh' means 'tree well'. Perhaps in addition to the well and the chapel here there was a significant tree, one draped with offerings etc.
Relationships with other parishes
Within Dunkeld & Dowally
Names
1 head-name linked to this place ?Sancta Crux Well
Head name
Sancta Crux Well
Place
Sancta Crux Well, Dunkeld & Dowally
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
Sancta Crux Well 1843, OS 6 inch first edn.
Historic formSancta Crux Well Head nameSancta Crux Well PlaceSancta Crux Well, Dunkeld & Dowally 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
Cross (ns) (certain)
Cross, Crux (certain)