A popular theory is that the chapel was built for pilgrims traveling from Winchester to the martyr St Thomas à Becket’s tomb at Canterbury, at which they could pause for worship and rest.
St Catherine’s Hill was perfectly located for such a purpose, as the Pilgrim’s route, the travelers followed, drops down through golden sands to a point on the River Wey where they could call for the ferryman to row them across.
The Sacred Spring flows into the river at this point and had the ancient reputation of having astounding medicinal properties, believing that that the water was an effective cure for eye complaints.
The spring had been held in sacred regard for centuries highlighted by the original Saxon name of Drakehull, translating to Dragon Hill, with contemporary legend stating that the healing spring was guarded by dragons.
Modern scientific analysis of the waters have confirmed that like many springs in the area the Artington waters benefit from filtering through sandy and chalky soils which gives the water particular purity.
Significantly the name of Artington itself hints at the strong religious history of the area with 'Artington' having evolved from the Old English 'Hertindon' meaning 'hill of the people of the sacred hart'.
