The Potok (Bachborn) Secret Well

Walking from Dolní Černá Studnice to Huť, the road soon enters a mature forest, and after a few dozen yards a forest track opens up on the right. Walk up the track to find the Potok (Bachborn or Báchorn) secret well on the left. Its name comes from the bubbling spring at its source which immediately forms a distinct rill, almost a stream. This spring was for many years an important water source for the nearby houses, and in dry years for the whole settlement and indeed people from surrounding villages. The original well was constructed from stone; however, in the 1960s it was concreted round and covered with a heavy lid.

The spring lies between granite and slate and is considered to be the source of the Žernovník (quern stone) stream, which by its very name, turned the stones at many mills downstream. The water of the Potok spring was thought to posses magical healing powers. Below the spring, on the old road to Huť there is still the outline of a fish pond, once surrounded by hundred-year-old beeches hung with pictures of the Saints painted on glass. When the landowner ordered the beeches to be felled the pictures were moved to a newly fenced enclosure, and when the forest had grown again the pictures were hung once more from the trees. The glass paintings were last seen in the 1920s. A washing stone was installed at the fish pond and people from far and wide came to wash their clothes believing that the power of the healing waters would be transferred to their garments and thus improve their wellbeing. Not far from the well there was an impressive rock known as the Obětní kámen (sacrificial stone) (also known as Opferstein, Heidenstein or Fassstein). This was an isolated rock with a large stone bowl at the top which, according to legend, was used for Pagan rituals. The boulder, also called Čertův (of the devil), after which the Čertovník (Čertovka) stream was named, was unfortunately broken up for building materials by local stone masons in the late 19th century. The site is of continuing interest, however, as new research has uncovered the existence nearby of a Neolithic quarry site. Indeed, according to legend the notorious Dr Kittel was active here as well. One tale tells the story that the magic Šumburk doctor and “North Bohemian Faust” here offered his soul to the Devil, and that he healed his poor eyesight by bathing in the healing waters of the spring. Another legend tells of his finding the body of a veteran soldier of the Seven Years War, whom Kittel magically boiled in the mysterious waters of the well, so gaining a clean skeleton for his secret cabinet..