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The first time a Holy Well can be seen, in the full sense of the term, is with the arrival of Christianity. However, the simplicity of this statement perhaps hides the complexity of the process, for Christianity was not the rigid belief that we have today, but was in fact a fusion of the pagan and the Christian, in which the iconography of pre Christian Celtic society was to play a pervasive role. We should perhaps start by understanding exactly when Christianity reached the shores of Britain, and how. It was in fact, a late Roman state religion made law under Constantine in the 4th century AD. What is curious is that although wielded by the state, it did not diffuse a growth in late Roman paganism, including the occurrence of water veneration. In fact, it can be argued that, in the late Roman world, little had changed from earlier pagan practices. Partially in response to this situation, a steady flow of missionaries were sent to Britain to convert the heathens.
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