Phil Cope – författare

The border country between Wales and England is a fertile place in many senses. Settled for millennia, one of the few links we have with early man here are their surviving pagan, pre-Christian wells. Sacred wells have played an important part in the culture and landscape of the region, and continue to do so. Following his books on wells in Wales and Cornwall, Phil Cope journeys up and down the borderlands, and through history from pre-Christian times through Roman and early Christian times, the medieval Age of the Princes in Wales and on to Victorian and the contemporary period. His discoveries are recorded in striking and atmospheric photographs which are accompanied by the remarkable histories of the wells, and the legends attached to them. Wronged suitors, magic horses, Dark Age battles, the reign of King Arthur, and innumerable decapitations feature among the vividly magical tales. Alongside them rests a different kind of magic in the healing wells of the Christian saints, some of which are also sources of prophecy. As the centuries past healing mutated into health and the development of the spa, until, in the twentieth century a full circle was turned and wells once again acquired a pagan significance. Richly illustrated in colour throughout the wells from Cheshire to Monmouthshire, from the Dee to the Severn are here displayed in all their glory, be they in remote countryside or city centre.

As in so many areas of Britain sacred wells persist in Scotland in the face of modernity. Holy Wells: Scotland is an exploration of just some of the many hundreds of wells in the country, carefully researched and beautifully photographed by experienced well-hunter Phil Cope. The book is a sweeping journey from the northwards from the Borders through mainland Scotland to the Orkney s before sweeping through the Hebrides to end on the sacred isle of Iona. On his travels Cope finds a multiplicity of wells with a variety of functions, ancient and modern. From the wells of Calton Hill in Edinburgh (place of an annual pagan festival), to modestly developed springs in fields or on the deserted coastline come healing wells, cursing wells, and wells named for saints, Satan, witches, angels, fairies, heroes and poets. And attached to many are folk tales, myths and legends, which Cope relates in his accompanying narrative, along conversations with contemporary well-users and poems inspired by Scottish wells. The first book on Scottish wells for over three decades, and the first to be so lavishly illustrated with colour photographs, Holy Wells: Scotland is both a record of some of the country's many wells and a celebration of their continuing relevance to the identity of Scotland today. Holy Wells: Scotland is the fourth title in the Holy Wells series, which includes books on Wales, Cornwall and Borderlands.

Author and photographer Phil Cope takes the reader on a journey through the sacred wells of Wales from the Anglesey to the Gwent. He discovers wells in city centres and, quite literally, in the middle of nowhere – on mountainsides, in deserted valleys, on the coast, in sea caves. They include healing wells, cursing wells, and wells named for saints, Satan, witches, angels, fairies, friars, nuns, hermits, murderers and hangmen. His stunning, atmospheric photographs are accompanied by folk tales, myths and legends, conversations with well-keepers and poems inspired by Welsh wells. Wales has an abundance of wells both in the natural state and domesticated for private or civic use. Published in conjunction with the Keep Wales Tidy Living Wells project, The Living Wells of Wales is a guide to historic sites important to Welsh identity which have been hidden and neglected in town and countryside, and which now have new life as a result of the project. Packed with colour photographs, including some of long-forgotten wells now rediscovered, The Living Wells of Wales is the new definitive volume on a subject gaining a new popularity.The Living Wells of Wales is a new title in the Holy Wells series, and is preceded by volumes on Scotland, Cornwall and the Borderlands.

The Golden Valley is a personal account in words and photographs of the Garw where Phil Cope has lived for thirty-five years. In it he explores the valley’s history: sparsely worked agriculture; boom-town coal exploitation; sudden, followed by gentle, post-industrial decline; attempts at re-invigoration through heritage and leisure; and now, existing in a post-covid world. This is a classic example of close-knit communities shattered by the removal of the thing that bound them together.Cope photographs the entire valley between March 2019 and January 2021, to create a contemporary, twenty-first century record. The ancient Garw hilltops above the valley, sometimes snow-capped, with their tombs and lost settlements are present. As are the much more recent settlements of the coal villages with their terraces once occupied by colliers, the repurposed miners’ institutes, the shops and chapels, and the now almost obligatory public memorials to a lost industry (and, in some cases, lost lives).The valley’s natural beauty – some might say returning natural beauty – is also present, from the minutiae of the lichen on its windswept trees to the river which has shaped the valley with its timeless flow. The centrality of nature and landscape to the current and future life of the valley are also recorded, the walks and bike trails, the sports fields and wind turbines.The Garw Valley has its own particular character as this book records so richly and compassionately yet it shares with other valleys the sense of creating a haven between its steep sides. Most of all its story is also the story of all the valleys of the former south Wales coalfield: in the Golden Valley lie all the other valleys of Glamorgan and beyond.

Sacred wells have played an important part in the culture and landscape of Cornwall for several millennia, and continue to do so. Holy Wells: Cornwall is a collection of beautiful colour photographs of forty-five of the most important and pre-eminent wells in the county, accompanied by an informative text about the history and legends associated with them, and a number of poems celebrating them by Robert Southey, Arthur Quller Couch and others. Like Wales and Ireland, Cornwall was an influential centre for the Celtic church and pagan places of worship were taken over by Christianity. Many Celtic saints - St Piran, St Euny, St Nonna, St David, St Mary, St Cuby, St Anne, St Sampson - are referenced in the names of churches and wells which stand in towns and villages, alone on moorland next to stone circles and iron age settlements, hidden in valleys and even in sea caves. Phil Cope takes the reader on a journey of discovery through densely wooded terrain, past bare tors, into ancient churches and along almost forgotten road and tracks, to lead us to special places of wonder and enrichment. Holy Wells: Cornwall includes over 256 photographs, together with a map, bibliography and index.