St Anthony’s Well: A Community Effort to Protect a Sacred Water Source

This weekend marked another powerful moment of collective care at St Anthony’s Well. Over 20 local volunteers gathered with spades, determination, and good humour to continue the work of protecting one of the Forest of Dean’s most treasured and healing water sources.

Together, we dug out the silt that had been steadily collecting around the well and beginning to block the source collection point. What emerged was not just cleaner flow, but a quiet piece of beauty and intelligence revealed by drone footage: without planning it, we had created a circular drainage area around the well.

That circle now means that on heavy rain days, silt is guided around the well rather than straight into it. A simple intervention, but one that makes a real difference to the long-term health of the spring.

Since the original clean-up three years ago, more and more people are finding their way to St Anthony’s Well — for water, for reflection, for connection. With that comes responsibility. These places don’t look after themselves; they rely on human hands acting with respect and care.

We’ll be holding ongoing volunteer days for anyone who feels called to give back to this ancient site. Donations are also still open and deeply appreciated. They help us keep these days running, cover basic costs like refreshments, maintain this website, and support the development of an upcoming online course exploring Forest of Dean water sources — the history, the ecology, and the very practical whys and hows of clean, pure water.

This work is slow, physical, muddy, and deeply worth it. Sacred water doesn’t survive on good intentions alone — it survives because communities choose to show up.