By the end it was rather delicious and I regretted not filling more bottles or having more liquorice. However as I progressed back along the path regular sips revealed a more flavoursome experience. Popping in my liquorice and giving it a shake I took a slip…it was refreshing but I could detect no real flavour. The name wort is suggestion of a long tradition of healing – wort is said to be a healing source, more frequently the end of a herb such as woundwort! Its other name Uzzle is suggestive that it derives from the Anglo-Saxon greeting Wæs þu hæl, meaning “be in good health” and thus again suggests it was a general cure-all. We were forbidden to drink much of it on the way home.”Ĭlose up of the iron rich waters of the Iron Well You take your bottle with the mixture in down to the well behind the kennels called the Iron Well. “Spanish Liquor is made up with some pieces of hard liquorice with two to three black gobstopper type sweets and white peppermints which were crushed, made up on Saturday night and shaken well on Sunday Morning. The name wort derives from healing suggesting its health giving properties. The Wort Well or another lost well called Uzzle were the most popular apparently around them would grow wild liquorice. ![]() Three wells can still be found in the estate – the Cyder, the Wort and the Spa or Iron Well. “This tradition took place all through the 20th century, and probably before, although the liquorice may have originally come from the root of the plant, rather than being shop bought.” The main aspect of this tradition undertaken was to make Spanish Water, using liquorice, brown sugar or sweets often black peppermints. Wells and springs were often visited on this date, but this one appeared to have the longest surviving tradition and from some accounts some people still did it. This was one of the main reasons also why the estate and its curious access tradition fascinated me. “Hast then a wound to heal The wych doth grieve thee? Come then unto this welle, It will relieve thee: Nolie me tangeries, And other maladies” A local historian, John Kibble, noted in 1928, recorded that prayers were said at the springs: One of the major reasons for the access on Palm Sunday was for the local community to visit the springs and wells, which were thought to have a healing tradition on the day. Everyone loves a mysterious place and getting access to it was part of the allure. Any other time of the year it was strictly out of bounds. It was a forest which could only be visited on Palm Sunday each year. “It was possible to meet people from Cornwall one minute, then a family from Durham a few yards later.”īut why? The name the ‘Secret Forest’ was part of the appeal no doubt. ![]() He notes the widespread nature of the visitors: In an excellent article by Roy Townsend on the Finstock Local History Website records the memories of a Mr Pratley of nearby Finstock. Large numbers of visitors could be found wandering the woods their cars lined the narrow streets around the forest. My aunt and uncle did not live far from this area and I have always been fascinated with this woods and their privacy. It is the latter of which is of considerable interest. The custom apparently was established to provide access of the local parishes adjacent – Leafield Five Ash, Charlbury and Finstock particularly – for the collection of wood and the visiting of the springs and wells of the estate. To which I might add just! This is a curious custom where part of the tradition remains, but aspects of it appear to have disappeared. It was the one day of the year – Palm Sunday – when Lord Rotherwick the owner of the 2150 acre medieval woodlands, allows public access.” Hundreds of ramblers and conservationists converged on the secret Wychwood Forest on Sunday to walk through its leady glades.
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