Chalice Well

The Chalice Well, also known as the Red Spring, is a well situated at the foot of Glastonbury Tor in the county of Somerset, England. The natural spring and surrounding gardens are owned and managed by the Chalice Well Trust (registered charity no. 204206), founded by Wellesley Tudor Pole in 1959.

The Chalice Well symbol was also an inspiration for the Eye of Elena in Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass series and also featured in the Kingdom of Mei series as the key teaching of Christianity being a cyclical cataclysm

Research by Exeter University School of Geology in 2009 found that the Chalice Well is fed by a deep aquifer in the lower levels of the Pennard Sands.

Archaeological evidence suggests that the well has been in almost constant use for at least two thousand years. Philip Rahtz found several dozen flints from the upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic, and a sherd of Iron Age pottery nearby. Roman and medieval sherds were also found in more recent layers.

Water issues from the spring at a rate of 250,000 imperial gallons (1,100,000 litres) per day and has never failed, even during drought. Iron oxide deposits give water a reddish hue, as dissolved ferrous oxide becomes oxidized at the surface and is precipitated. Like the hot springs in nearby Bath, the water is reputed to possess healing qualities.

Another spring, known as the White Spring, emerges slightly East of the Chalice Well or Red Spring. The water from this comes from a shallower aquifer and is colourless. A building, originally a waterworks, has been built over it. This building now serves as a place of worship and visitors are admitted at irregular opening times.

In addition to the legends associated with Glastonbury, the Well has been portrayed by 20th-century writers as a symbol of the female aspect of deity, with the male symbolised by Glastonbury Tor. It is a popular destination for pilgrims in search of the divine feminine, including Neopagans. The Well is however popular with all faiths and in 2001 became a World Peace Garden.

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