Colton's Holy Well

70 yards or so from Colton Church in old Lancashire-north-of-the-sands, is a holy well. This was a natural water source for which the ancients’ gratitude rendered it sacred. Later monks would have performed baptisms there until parish churches were built. At the Reformation, such receptacles of devotion and mystical powers were discouraged and they eventually fell into disuse. Still, there they sit, often in the shadows of the church buildings that replaced them, ancient springs trickling and wells stagnating. Nowadays, the churches have generally dried up, touting cheap and diluted substitutes for the pure gospel they once proclaimed. Like the wells they replaced, they might retain the word 'holy', but they are become clogged and blocked by debris and detritus. The church is always in need for reformation.