Coventina – Celtic Goddess of Healing and Springs

Coventina was a goddess of wells and springs in northern Britain, southern Gaul and northern Spain.

Historians believe Coventina was possibly a goddess of healing, springs and protection. There has been difficulty in establishing the divine attributes as the evidence found of Coventina are vague.

 No other evidence has been found of the goddess in Britain.

A shrine and numerous offerings dedicated to the Coventina was discovered at an old Roman fort at Carrawburgh near Hadrian's Wall in northern Britain. 

The Brigantes were most associated with  Coventina and paid homage to the goddess during the Iron Age. They were possibly responsible for the strength of the cult of Coventina as the largest tribe in northern Britain. 

The Brigantes were a confederation of smaller tribes who were regarded by the Romans as a threat to their occupation of the Roman province.

The goddess, Coventina, was later widely venerated by the Roman soldiers stationed at Hadrian's Wall from the second century AD. 

The soldiers joined local people who visited the shrine of Coventina and prayed to the goddess as the divine guardian of the well and spring.

Twelve inscriptions invoking Coventina were present at an open-air shrine dedicated to the goddess at Carrawburgh Fort in northern Britain. Carrawburgh Fort was one of the Roman forts which guarded Hadrian's Wall.

The large, stone shrine devoted to Coventina indicated Carrawburgh was the centre of the goddess's cult. 

The Romans built a temple over the site of an earlier sacred pagan shrine around a freshwater spring. The waters of the spring flowed into a well in the middle of the temple.

The most significant finds in Coventina's Well included sixteen thousand Roman coins which were dated from the building of the shrine in 128 AD and continued until 388 AD. The number of items found suggested Coventina was venerated as an important local pagan goddess for hundreds of years.

The coins were votive offerings thrown into the well from devotees who sought the aid of the goddess.

Inscriptions to Coventina, were also discovered on a wide range of gifts in the well. The offerings included jewellery such as brooches, bracelets and rings, sculptures of a dog and a horse, hairpins, glass beads, animal bones including deer, wild boars, oxen and sheep and shoes.

The shoes were possibly a prayer for the protection of Coventina during a journey over the land. Some theories claimed the shoes belonged to a loved one who had died. The protection of the goddess was sought to guide the soul of a loved one in the afterlife.

The presence of part of woman's skull in the well suggested she was buried in the waters after her death. Others believe a severed head was ritually placed in the well to enhance the spiritual energy of the waters.

 Coventina was venerated as a Celtic deity in her own right. The shrine and the inscriptions indicated Coventina was recognised as an important local and regional goddess by the Romans.

An inscription on a vase made by a Roman soldier described Coventina as “Augusta” meaning “most venerable” . The phrase Sancta, or “sacred” was also used to describe Coventina.

“Coventina Augusta” enjoyed a high status as a goddess among the Romanised Celts and Germanic tribes in the legions stationed around Hadrian's Wall.

The Roman soldiers and officers who venerated Coventina at the shrine were from an area known today as the Netherlands. They joined native Britons who undertook pilgrimages to the shrine of Coventina from the furthest parts of northern Britain.

Coventina was identified by an inscription as a water nymph on an altar built by her grateful followers at Carrawburgh (Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hope-coventina02.jpg ).

A relief on a wall of another altar portrayed Coventina in the form of a triple goddess (Wikimedia Commons -https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hope-coventina01.jpg ).

The items in the well together with depictions of Coventina as a triple goddess suggested she was associated with childbirth, fertility, protection and healing. 

There is some ambiguity concerning the attributes of Coventina other than she was venerated as a goddess, or guardian spirit, of the waters of the spring.

Celtic goddesses as, for example, Sulis in Bath were often associated with healing springs and sacred wells.

Springs and wells held great mystical and spiritual power as they were thought to be entrances to the Otherworld. The supernatural forces of the Otherworld flowed through the waters of springs and wells.

Those who bathed in the waters were granted divine gifts such as healing, fertility, prophecy and protection by the god, goddess or nature spirit who made the well or spring their home. The divine being of the sacred well or spring was also able to influence nearby vegetation, animals and even the weather.

Altars and inscriptions to the goddess, Coventina, were also unearthed at Lugo in northern Spain. There seems to have been a strong Celtic tradition in some part of Spain as Lugo was named after the Celtic god, Lugh.

The Gallaeci was a large confederation of Celtic tribes in Iberia, or present-day Spain and Portugal.

Coventina was one of the well-known Celtic deities of Europe who were honoured in the territories of the Gallaeci during the era of the Roman Empire. 

An inscription mentioning Coventina was evidence that the cult of the goddess flourished in the Roman town of Narbo, or present-day Narbonne, in southern Gaul. 

Narbonne was the first Roman colony in Gaul and founded during the early second century BC. The seaport of Narbonne became prosperous through trade.

The importance of Coventina's Well in northern Britain was evidence that Christianity made little impact on the Celtic tribes in Britain during the Roman occupation.

 Some historians believe the culture and religion of the Celts in northern Britain remained almost untouched by the changes brought by the Romans.

Constantine was the first Roman Emperor to be sympathetic to Christianity and converted on his deathbed in 337 AD. He passed the Edict of Milan in 313 less than ten years after becoming Emperor (306 AD).

The Edict of Milan made Christianity an official religion of the Roman Empire. The persecution of the Christians which began under Nero in 68 AD finally ended during the reign of Constantine. 

Christianity became the only official religion of the Roman Empire in 380 AD. Paganism was outlawed in the Roman provinces.

The Roman legions withdrew from Britain following the fall of Rome in 410 AD. The Angles, Saxons and Jutes migrated in huge numbers to the shores of Britain during the mid-fifth century. Their descendants, the Anglo-Saxons, ushered in an age of paganism dominated by the Germanic gods.

Coventina remained a popular goddess of the Celtic tribes in northern Britain throughout the Iron Age and era of the Roman Empire. 

The longevity and widespread devotion to the shrine of the goddess in Carrawburgh suggested Coventina was a well-known deity in the Roman province of Britannia.

The strength of the cult of Coventina ensured the goddess survived into the modern era as a familiar deity. Coventina is a mysterious, fascinating pagan goddess who was held in the highest esteem by her numerous followers and admirers for thousands of years.

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