Marmion Well

For a tiny place, Branxton is well served by wells!

The Marmion Well or Marmion's Well is hidden away in the bend of a road behind the church and would have been a welcome sight and sip for Lord Marmion. He was a fictional knight who, before being brought to a prompt end in the Battle of Flodden Field, was said to have taken refreshment from a spring below the Flodden Fields in 1513.

The event is immortalised in the face of the well, where inscribed are the words from Sir Walter Scott's epic poem “Drink weary pilgrim and pray, For the kind soul of Sybil Grey, Who built this cross and well.”

Sybil Grey is herself a character of fiction, portrayed as a kind and supportive soul who built the well and provided succour to the wounded in battle, as illuminated in Scott's poem.

In reality, the romance is less symbolic, and the well is a more practical means of providing the village with a water source.

In 1912 plans emerged to build a commemorative fountain to mark Marmion's Well mentioned in Scott's poem and in remembrance of an earlier well on Flodden Hill known as Sybil's Well. An appeal was launched within the village to raise £100 for the construction of the well, however the sum fell short of its total and at that time, the plan did not come to fruition.

We found it nestled in the hedge, in a grassy verge, to the west of the village, to the rear of St Paul's Church.

The well is not ancient, and was said to have been a way to mark the village spring in the 19th century, and a more accessible well to commemorate the themes in Scott's poem, as opposed to Sybil's Well, which is a short climb out of the village up to Flodden Quarry.

The well head was built in 1935 at the behest of Colonel Gerard Leather and built by Pattersons of Branxton. Colonel Leather, who'd lived at Middleton Hall near Belford, was a history enthusiast and president of the Berwickshire Naturalists Club in 1925 and again in 1937.

In 1937 he published a 65 page booklet about the Battle at Branxton called 'New Light on Floddon'. This was his little way of shining his own light on such a significant slice of history that happened just beyond this hedgerow.

Chatting to people who know and used the well was insightful and brought it properly to life, which makes the stories stand proud on the page.

Babs Gibson told me that her family had lived in Well House next to the church.

Babs was so interesting and shared loads of lovely information.

And this is an old image from Babs of Well Bank. The well is situated on the corner of this picture, not far from the Flodden Memorial Cross.

The well face is quite faded now, eroded by Branxton winters and licked by lichen, and in comparison to Sybil's Well, further out of the village, it is plainer in looks, less grandiose and more functional.

There's a small sandstone bowl, moss topped and usually hidden by long grass, though it had been freshly strimmed, like it knew we were coming. And arch straddles the bowl, and a plain outline of a Latin cross is punctuated by small corners of Celtic interlacing like cat's ears on the edges of the well face. Thanks to Babs for the personal well tales and to Paul Bartlett for the extra s-well pictures!