The springs and holy well associated with the Friary are intrinsic to an understanding of the site as a whole. Several springs (known to some local people as ‘Friars Springs’) rise in hollows to the north of Friary Cottage, and their water flows along a pebbly channel (‘The Canal’) that connects to the River Burn. One spring comes up in, and fills, a small rectangular limestone cistern in the bed of The Canal and is identified as a holy well (Plate 21). Inside, pinhead-sized specks of flint gyrate in the eddies of the upwelling spring, and are captivating to watch. The ebullient water used to overtop the mossy edges of the cistern, though now it exits through a break in its side. The holy well is shaded by trees and is close to lush beds of watercress.

The early history of the springs, and whether any of them had sacred connotations before the Friary was built, is unknown. Assuming they flowed historically as they still do today, they would have formed an invaluable watering place for people and their animals crossing the River Burn valley via the now-lost thoroughfare and ford (see Fig. 1 and p.3), as well as for the villagers and livestock at Burnham Norton. At this early date, during the first half of the thirteenth century, the Burn valley was still tidal and the springs probably emptied into a small, winding creek, a tributary of the river. If this creek was large enough to be navigable at high water, there may have been a small staithe near the springs or perhaps just a simple ‘hard’ where the villagers could land their boats. Back then, it would have been part of an open, treeless, landscape of grazed saltmarsh vegetation.

An argument has been put forward that the spring(s) could not have been used when the Burn estuary was tidal because of salt water contamination. However, local knowledge proves that this is incorrect. Springs in the saltmarsh at Brancaster Staithe were once the source of drinking water for people living in the cottages there and were easily accessed at low water. Such springs can quickly flush away the sea water once the tide begins to ebb. In addition, if an adequate timber or masonry well-head was provided, sea water could be completely excluded from a spring at any state of the tide.