This extract is from "Samuel Lewis Topographical Gazeetter - 1831"
HOLYWELL, a parish in the hundred of HURSTINGSTONE, county of HUNTINGDON, 2 miles (E. by S.) from St. Ives, containing, with the hamlet of Needingworth, 782 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Huntingdon, and diocese of Lincoln, rated in the king's books at £30.6.3. The Duke of Manchester was patron in 1804. The church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, stands on a hill, at the foot of which is a spring of clear and excellent water, called the Holy Well, formerly held in great veneration, but now neglected. The river Ouse runs through the parish.