FOLKLORE OF SCOTTISH LOCHS AND SPRINGS.
BY
JAMES M. MACKINLAY, M.A., F.S.A.Scot.
GLASGOW: WILLIAM HODGE & Co.
1893.
PREFATORY NOTE.
No work giving a comprehensive account of Well-worship in Scotland
has yet appeared. Mr. R. C. Hope's recent volume, "Holy Wells: Their
Legends and Traditions," discusses the subject in its relation to
England. In the following pages an attempt has been made to illustrate
the more outstanding facts associated with the cult north of the
Tweed. Various holy wells are referred to by name; but the list makes
no claim to be exhaustive.
J. M. M.
4 Westbourne Gardens,
Glasgow, December, 1893.
CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
I. Worship of Water, 1
II. How Water became Holy, 24
III. Saints and Springs, 39
IV. More Saints and Springs, 56
V. Stone Blocks and Saints' Springs, 72
VI. Healing and Holy Wells, 86
VII. Water-Cures, 108
VIII. Some Wonderful Wells, 128
IX. Witness of Water, 140
X. Water-Spirits, 155
XI. More Water-Spirits, 171
XII. Offerings at Lochs and Springs, 188
XIII. Weather and Wells, 213
XIV. Trees and Springs, 230
XV. Charm-Stones in and out of Water, 241
XVI. Pilgrimages to Wells, 263
XVII. Sun-Worship and Well-Worship, 280
XVIII. Wishing-Wells, 314
XIX. Meaning of Marvels, 324
Among the works consulted are the following, the titles being given
in alphabetical order:--
A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland. By John MacCulloch,
M.D. 1819.
A Description of the Western Islands. By M. Martin. Circa 1695.
A Handbook of Weather Folklore. By the Rev. C. Swainson, M.A.
A Historical Account of the belief in Witchcraft in Scotland. By
Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe.
A Journey through the Western Counties of Scotland. By Robert
Heron. 1799.
Ancient Legends: Mystic Charms and Superstitions of Ireland. By
Lady Wilde.
An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language. By John Jamieson,
D.D.
Annals of Dunfermline and Vicinity. By Ebenezer Henderson, LL.D.
Antiquities and Scenery of the North of Scotland. By Rev. Charles
Cordiner. 1780.
Archæological Sketches in Scotland: Districts of Kintyre and
Knapdale. By Captain T. P. White.
A Tour in Scotland and Voyage to the Hebrides, MDCCLXXII. By Thomas
Pennant.
A Tour in Scotland, MDCCLXIX. By Thomas Pennant.
Britannia; or, A Chorographical Description of the Flourishing Kingdoms
of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the Islands adjacent, from the
Earliest Antiquity. By William Camden. Translated from the edition
published by the Author in MDCVII. Enlarged by the latest discoveries
by Richard Gough. The second edition in four volumes. 1806.
Celtic Heathendom. By Professor John Rhys.
Celtic Scotland: A History of Ancient Alban. By William Forbes Skene.
Churchlore Gleanings. By T. F. Thiselton Dyer.
Daemonologie in Forme of a Dialogve. Written by the High and Mightie
Prince James, by the Grace of God King of England, Scotland, France,
and Ireland; Defender of the Faith. 1603.
Descriptive Notices of some of the Ancient Parochial and Collegiate
Churches of Scotland. By T. S. Muir.
Domestic Annals of Scotland from the Reformation to the Revolution. By
Robert Chambers, LL.D.
Ecclesiological Notes on some of the Islands of Scotland. By
T. S. Muir.
English Folklore. By the Rev. T. F. Thiselton Dyer, M.A.
Essays in the Study of Folk Songs. By the Countess Evelyn
Martinengo-Cesaresco.
Ethnology in Folklore. By G. L. Gomme.
Folklore.
Folklore Journal.
Folklore of East Yorkshire. By John Nicholson.
Folklore of Shakespeare. By Rev. T. F. Thiselton Dyer, M.A. Oxon.
Folklore; or, Superstitious Beliefs in the West of Scotland within
this Century. By James Napier, F.R.S.E.
Gairloch in North-west Ross-shire: Its Records, Traditions,
Inhabitants, and Natural History. By John H. Dixon.
Historical and Statistical Account of Dunfermline. By Rev. Peter
Chalmers, A.M.
Kalendars of Scottish Saints. By the late Alexander Penrose Forbes,
Bishop of Brechin.
Letters from a Gentleman in the North of Scotland to his Friend in
London. Burt's Letters. 1754.
List of Markets and Fairs now and formerly held in Scotland. By Sir
James David Marwick, LL.D.
Memorabilia Domestica; or, Parish Life in the North of Scotland. By
the late Rev. Donald Sage, A.M., Minister of Resolis.
New Statistical Account of Scotland. Circa 1845.
Notes and Queries.
Notes on the Folklore of the North-east of Scotland. By the Rev. Walter
Gregor.
Notes on the Folklore of the Northern Counties of England and the
Borders. By William Henderson.
Observations on Popular Antiquities, including the whole of
Mr. Bourne's Antiquitates Vulgares. By John Brand, A.M.
Old Glasgow: The Place and the People. By Andrew MacGeorge.
Old Scottish Customs, Local and General. By E. J. Guthrie.
Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland. Edited by Francis H. Groome.
Peasant Life in Sweden. By L. Lloyd.
Popular Antiquities of Great Britain. By John Brand, M.A.
Popular Romances of the West of England. By Robert Hunt, F.R.S.
Popular Tales of the West Highlands. By J. F. Campbell.
Pre-historic Annals of Scotland. By Daniel Wilson, LL.D.
Pre-historic Man. By Daniel Wilson, LL.D.
Primitive Culture. By Edward B. Tylor, D.C.L.
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Old Series,
1851-1878; New Series, 1878-1891.
Rambles in the Far North. By R. Menzies Fergusson.
Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland; or, The Traditional
History of Cromarty. By Hugh Miller.
Scotland in Early Christian Times. By Joseph Anderson, LL.D.
Scotland in Pagan Times: The Bronze and Iron Ages. By Joseph Anderson,
LL.D.
Scotland in the Middle Ages. By Professor Cosmo Innes.
Social Life in Scotland. By Charles Rogers, LL.D.
Statistical Account of Scotland. By Sir John Sinclair. Circa 1798.
The Antiquary.
The Archæological Journal. Published under the direction of The Council
of the Royal Archæological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.
The Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in connection
with the Calendar. Edited by R. Chambers.
The Darker Superstitions of Scotland. By John Graham Dalyell. 1834.
The Early Scottish Church: Ecclesiastical History of Scotland from
the First to the Twelfth Centuries. By the Rev. Thomas M'Lauchlan.
The Every-Day Book. By William Hone.
The Folklore of Plants. By T. F. Thiselton Dyer.
The Gentleman's Magazine Library--Manners and Customs. Edited by
G. L. Gomme, F.S.A.
The Gentleman's Magazine Library--Popular Superstitions. Edited by
G. L. Gomme, F.S.A.
The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion. By J. G. Frazer,
M.A.
The History of St. Cuthbert. By Charles, Archbishop of Glasgow.
The History of St. Kilda. By the Rev. Kenneth Macaulay, minister of
Ardnamurchan. 1769.
The Legendary Lore of the Holy Wells of England, including Rivers,
Lakes, Fountains, and Springs. By R. C. Hope, F.S.A.
The Origin of Civilisation. By Sir J. Lubbock, Bart.
The Past in the Present. By Arthur Mitchell, M.D., LL.D.
The Popular Rhymes of Scotland. By Robert Chambers. 1826.
The Popular Superstitions and Festive Amusements of the Highlanders
of Scotland. By William Grant Stewart.
The Surnames and Placenames of the Isle of Man. By A. W. Moore, M.A.
Traditions, Superstitions, and Folklore (chiefly Lancashire and the
North of England). By Charles Hardwick.
Tree and Serpent Worship. By James Fergusson, D.C.L., F.R.S.
'Twixt Ben Nevis and Glencoe: The Natural History, Legends, and
Folklore of the West Highlands. By the Rev. Alexander Stewart, LL.D.
Unique Traditions, chiefly of the West and South of Scotland. By John
Gordon Barbour.
Wayfaring in France. By E. H. Barker.
Weather-lore: A Collection of Proverbs, Sayings, and Rules concerning
the Weather. By R. Inwards, F.R.A.S.
Witch, Warlock, and Magician. By W. H. Davenport Adams.
FOLKLORE OF SCOTTISH LOCHS AND SPRINGS.
CHAPTER I.
WORSHIP OF WATER.
Archaic Nature-worship--Deification of Water Metaphors--Divination
by Water--Persistence of Paganism--Shony--Superstitions of Sailors
and Fishermen--Sea Serpent--Mer-folk--Sea Charms--Taking Animals
into the Sea--Rescuing from Drowning--Ancient Beliefs about
Rivers--Dead and Living Ford--Clay Image--Dunskey--Lakes--Dow
Loch--St. Vigeans--St. Tredwell's Loch--Wells of Spey
and Drachaldy--Survival of Well-worship--Disappearance of
Springs--St. Margaret's Well--Anthropomorphism of Springs--Celtic
Influence--Cream of the Well.
In glancing at the superstitions connected with Scottish lochs and
springs, we are called upon to scan a chapter of our social history
not yet closed. A somewhat scanty amount of information is available
to explain the origin and growth of such superstitions, but enough can
be had to connect them with archaic nature-worship. In the dark dawn
of our annals much confusion existed among our ancestors concerning
the outer world, which so strongly appealed to their senses. They
had very vague notions regarding the difference between what we now
call the Natural and the Supernatural. Indeed all nature was to them
supernatural. They looked on sun, moon, and star, on mountain and
forest, on river, lake, and sea as the abodes of divinities, or even
as divinities themselves. These divinities, they thought, could either
help or hurt man, and ought therefore to be propitiated. Hence sprang
certain customs which have survived to our own time. Men knocked at
the gate of Nature, but were not admitted within. From the unknown
recesses there came to them only tones of mystery.
In ancient times water was deified even by such civilised nations as
the Greeks and Romans, and to-day it is revered as a god by untutored
savages. Sir John Lubbock, in his "Origin of Civilisation," shows, by
reference to the works of travellers, what a hold this cult still has
in regions where the natives have not yet risen above the polytheistic
stage of religious development. Dr. E. B. Tylor forcibly remarks, in
his "Primitive Culture," "What ethnography has to teach of that great
element of the religion of mankind, the worship of well and lake, brook
and river, is simply this--that what is poetry to us was philosophy
to early man; that to his mind water acted not by laws of force, but
by life and will; that the water-spirits of primæval mythology are
as souls which cause the water's rush and rest, its kindness and its
cruelty; that, lastly, man finds in the beings which, with such power,
can work him weal and woe, deities with a wider influence over his
life, deities to be feared and loved, to be prayed to and praised,
and propitiated with sacrificial gifts."
In speaking of inanimate objects, we often ascribe life to them;
but our words are metaphors, and nothing more. At an earlier time
such phrases expressed real beliefs, and were not simply the outcome
of a poetic imagination. Keats, in one of his Sonnets, speaks of
"The moving waters at their priest-like task
Of pure ablution round Earth's human shore."
Here he gives us the poetical and not the actual interpretation of
a natural phenomenon.
We may, if we choose, talk of the worship of water as a creed outworn,
but it is still with us, though under various disguises. Under the form
of rites of divination practised as an amusement by young persons, such
survivals often conceal their real origin. The history of superstition
teaches us with what persistence pagan beliefs hold their ground
in the midst of a Christian civilisation. Martin, who visited the
Western Islands at the close of the seventeenth century, found how
true this was in many details of daily life. A custom connected with
ancient sea-worship had been popular among the inhabitants of Lewis
till about thirty-years before his visit, but had been suppressed
by the Protestant clergy on account of its pagan character. This was
an annual sacrifice at Hallow-tide to a sea god called Shony. Martin
gives the following account of the ceremony:--"The inhabitants round
the island came to the church of St. Mulvay, having each man his
provision along with him; every family furnished a peck of malt, and
this was brewed into ale; one of their number was picked out to wade
into the sea up to the middle, and, carrying a cup of ale in his hand,
standing still in that posture, cried out with a loud voice, saying,
'Shony, I give you this cup of ale, hoping that you'll be so kind as
to send us plenty of sea-ware for enriching our ground the ensuing
year,' and so threw the cup of ale into the sea. This was performed
in the night-time."
Sailors and fishermen still cherish superstitions of their own. Majesty
is not the only feature of the changeful ocean that strikes them. They
are keenly alive to its mystery and to the possibilities of life
within its depths. Strange creatures have their home there, the mighty
sea serpent and the less formidable mermen and mermaidens. Among
the Shetland islands mer-folk were recognised denizens of the sea,
and were known by the name of Sea-trows.
These singular beings dwelt in the caves of ocean, and came up
to disport themselves on the shores of the islands. A favourite
haunt of theirs was the Ve Skerries, about seven miles north-west
of Papa-Stour. They usually rose through the water in the shape of
seals, and when they reached the beach they slipped off their skins
and appeared like ordinary mortals, the females being of exceeding
beauty. If the skins could be snatched away on these occasions, their
owners were powerless to escape into the sea again. Sometimes these
creatures were entangled in the nets of fishermen or were caught by
hooks. If they were shot when in seal form, a tempest arose as soon
as their blood was mingled with the water of the sea. A family living
within recent times was believed to be descended from a human father
and a mermaid mother, the man having captured his bride by stealing her
seal's skin. After some years spent on land this sea lady recovered
her skin, and at once returned to her native element. The members of
the family were said to have hands bearing some resemblance to the
forefeet of a seal.
"Of all the old mythological existences of Scotland," remarks Hugh
Miller, in his "Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland," "there
was none with whom the people of Cromarty were better acquainted than
with the mermaid. Thirty years have not yet gone by since she has
been seen by moonlight sitting on a stone in the sea, a little to the
east of the town; and scarcely a winter passed, forty years earlier,
in which she was not heard singing among the rocks or seen braiding
up her long yellow tresses on the shore."
The magical power ascribed to the sea is shown in an Orcadian witch
charm used in the seventeenth century. The charm had to do with the
churning of butter. Whoever wished to take advantage of it watched on
the beach till nine waves rolled in. At the reflux of the last the
charmer took three handfuls of water from the sea and carried them
home in a pail. If this water was put into the churn there would be
a plentiful supply of butter. Sea water was also used for curative
purposes, the patient being dipped after sunset. This charm was thought
to savour strongly of the black art. Allusion has been made above to
the rising of a storm in connection with the wounding of a sea-trow
in Shetland. According to an Orcadian superstition, the sea began
to swell whenever anyone with a piece of iron about him stept upon a
certain rock at the Noup Head of Westray. Not till the offending metal
was thrown into the water did the sea become calm again. Wallace,
a minister at Kirkwall towards the end of the seventeenth century,
mentions this belief in his "Description of the Isles of Orkney,"
and says that he offered a man a shilling to try the experiment,
but the offer was refused. It does not seem to have occurred to him
to make the experiment himself.
Among the ancient Romans the bull was sacred to Neptune, the sea
god, and was sacrificed in his honour. In our own country we find a
suggestion of the same rite, though in a modified form, in the custom
prevailing at one time of leading animals into the sea on certain
festivals. In the parish of Clonmany in Ireland it was formerly
customary on St. Columba's Day, the ninth of June, to drive cattle
to the beach and swim them in the sea near to where the water from
the Saint's well flowed in. In Scotland horses seem at one time to
have undergone a similar treatment at Lammas-tide. Dalyell, in his
"Darker Superstitions of Scotland," mentions that "in July, 1647,
the kirk-session of St. Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh, resolved on
intimating publicly 'that non goe to Leith on Lambmes-day, nor tak
their horses to be washed that day in the sea.'"
A belief at one time existed that it was unlucky to rescue a drowning
man from the grasp of the sea. This superstition is referred to by
Sir Walter Scott in "The Pirate," in the scene where Bryce the pedlar
warns Mordaunt against saving a shipwrecked sailor. "Are you mad,"
said the pedlar, "you that have lived sae lang in Zetland, to risk the
saving of a drowning man? Wot ye not, if you bring him to life again,
he will be sure to do you some capital injury?" We discover the key
to this strange superstition in the idea entertained by savages that
the person falling into the water becomes the prey of the monster
or demon inhabiting that element; and, as Dr. Tylor aptly remarks,
"to save a sinking man is to snatch a victim from the very clutches
of the water-spirit--a rash defiance of deity which would hardly
pass unavenged."
Folklore thus brings us face to face with beliefs which owe their
origin to the primitive worship of the sea. It also allows us to catch
a glimpse of rivers, lakes, and springs as these were regarded by our
distant ancestors. When we remember that, according to a barbaric
notion, the current of a stream flows down along one bank and up
along the other, we need not be surprised that very crude fancies
concerning water at one time flourished in our land.
Even to us, with nineteenth-century science within reach, how
mysterious a river seems, as, in the quiet gloaming or in the grey
dawn, it glides along beneath overhanging trees, and how full of
life it is when, swollen by rain, it rushes forward in a resistless
flood! How much more awe-inspiring it must have been to men ignorant
of the commonest laws of Nature! Well might its channel be regarded as
the home of a spirit eager to waylay and destroy the too-venturesome
passer-by. Rivers, however, were not always reckoned the enemies of
man, for experience showed that they were helpful, as well as hurtful,
to him. The Tiber, for instance, was regarded with reverence by the
ancient inhabitants of Rome. Who does not remember the scene in one
of Macaulay's Lays, where, after the bridge has been hewn down to
block the passage of Lars Porsena and his host, the valiant Horatius
exclaims--
"O Tiber! father Tiber!
To whom the Romans pray;
A Roman's life, a Roman's arms,
Take thou in charge this day?"
Then with his harness on his back he plunges headlong into the flood,
and reaches the other side in safety.
In Christian art pagan symbolism continued long to flourish. Proof
of this bearing on the present subject is to be found in a mosaic at
Ravenna, of the sixth century, representing the baptism of Christ. The
water flows from an inverted urn, held by a venerable figure typifying
the river god of the Jordan, with reeds growing beside his head,
and snakes coiling around it.
In our own country healing virtue was attributed to water taken
from what was called a dead and living ford, i.e., a ford where the
dead were carried and the living walked across. The same belief was
entertained with regard to the water of a south-running stream. The
patient had to go to the spot and drink the water and wash himself in
it. Sometimes his shirt was taken by another, and, after being dipped
in the south-running stream, was brought back and put wet upon him. A
wet shirt was also used as a Hallowe'en charm to foretell its owner's
matrimonial future. The left sleeve of the shirt was to be dipped
in a river where "three lairds' lands met." It was then to be hung
up overnight before the fire. If certain rules were attended to, the
figure of the future spouse would appear and turn the sleeve in order
to dry the other side. In the Highlands the water of a stream was used
for purposes of sorcery till quite lately. When any one wished evil to
another he made a clay image of the person to be injured, and placed
it in a stream with the head of the image against the current. It was
believed that, as the clay was dissolved by the water, the health of
the person represented would decline. The spell, however, would be
broken if the image was discovered and removed from the stream. In
the counties of Sutherland and Ross the practice survived till within
the last few years. Near Dunskey, in the parish of Portpatrick,
Wigtownshire, is a stream which, at the end of last century, was much
resorted to by the credulous for its health-giving properties. Visits
were usually paid to it at the change of the moon. It was deemed
specially efficacious in the case of rickety children, whose malady was
then ascribed to witchcraft. The patients were washed in the stream,
and then taken to an adjoining cave, where they were dried.
In modern poetry a river is frequently alluded to under the name of
its presiding spirit. Thus, in "Comus," Milton introduces Sabrina,
a gentle nymph,
"That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn stream,"
and tells us that
"The shepherds at their festivals
Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays,
And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream
Of pansies, pinks, and gaudy daffodils."
Lakes have always held an important place in legendary lore. Lord
Tennyson has made us familiar with the part played by the Lady of the
Lake in Arthurian romance. Readers of the Idylls will recollect it
was she who gave to the king the jewelled sword Excalibur, and who,
on the eve of his passing, received it again. The wounded Arthur thus
addresses Sir Bedivere:--
"Thou rememberest how,
In those old days, one summer morn, an arm
Rose up from out the bosom of the lake
Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful,
Holding the sword--and how I row'd across
And took it, and have worn it, like a king."
Scottish lochs form a striking feature in the landscape, and must have
been still more fitted to arrest attention in ancient times when our
land was more densely wooded than it is now. Dr. Hugh Macmillan,
in his "Holidays on High Lands," alludes to the differences in
the appearance of our lochs. "There are moorland tarns," he says,
"sullen and motionless as lakes of the dead, lying deep in sunless
rifts, where the very ravens build no nests, and where no trace of
life or vegetation is seen--associated with many a wild tradition,
accidents of straying feet, the suicide of love, guilt, despair. And
there are lochs beautiful in themselves and gathering around them
a world of beauty; their shores fringed with the tasselled larch;
their shallows tesselated with the broad green leaves and alabaster
chalices of the water-lily, and their placid depths mirroring the
crimson gleam of the heather hills and the golden clouds overhead."
Near the top of Mealfourvounie, in Inverness-shire, is a small lake
at one time believed to be unfathomable. How this notion arose it
is difficult to say, for when soundings were taken the depth was
found to be inconsiderable. In the parish of Penpont, Dumfriesshire,
about a mile to the south of Drumlanrig, is a small sheet of water
called the Dow, or Dhu Loch, i.e., Black Loch. Till towards the
end of last century the spot was much frequented for its healing
water. A personal visit was not essential. When a deputy was sent
he had to bring a portion of the invalid's clothing and throw it
over his left shoulder into the loch. He then took up some water in a
vessel which he carefully kept from touching the ground. After turning
himself round sun-ways he carried the water home. The charm would be
broken if he looked back or spoke to anyone by the way. Among the
people of the district it was a common saying, when anyone did not
respond to the greeting of a passer-by, that he had been at the Dow
Loch. Pilgrimages to the loch seem to have been specially popular
towards the close of the seventeenth century, for in the year 1695
the Presbytery of Penpont consulted the Synod of Dumfries about the
superstitious practices then current. The Synod, in response to the
appeal, recommended the clergy of the district to denounce from their
pulpits such observances as heathenish in character. There were persons
still alive in the beginning of the present century who had seen the
offerings, left by the pilgrims, floating on the loch or lying on
its margin. To the passer-by, ignorant of the superstitious custom,
it might seem that a rather untidy family washing was in progress.
The Church of St. Vigeans, in Forfarshire, is well known to
antiquaries in connection with its interesting sculptured stones. An
old tradition relates that the materials for the building were
carried by a water-kelpie, and that the foundations were laid on
large bars of iron. Underneath the structure was said to be a deep
lake. The tradition further relates that the kelpie prophesied that
an incumbent of the church would commit suicide, and that, on the
occasion of the first communion after, the church would sink into the
lake. At the beginning of the eighteenth century the minister of the
parish did commit suicide, and so strong was the superstition that
the sacramental rite was not observed till 1736. In connection with
the event several hundred people took up a position on a neighbouring
rising ground to watch what would happen. These spectators have passed
away, but the church remains.
St. Tredwell's Loch in Papa-Westray, Orkney, was at one time very
famous, partly from its habit of turning red whenever anything
striking was about to happen to a member of the Royal Family, and
partly from its power to work cures. On a small headland on the east
of the loch are still to be seen the ruins of St. Tredwell's Chapel,
measuring twenty-nine feet by twenty-two, with walls fully four feet
in thickness. On the floor-level about thirty copper coins were found
some years ago, the majority of them being of the reign of Charles the
Second. At the door of the chapel there was at one time a large heap
of stones, made up of contributions from those who came to pay their
vows there. Mr. R. M. Fergusson, in his "Rambles in the Far North,"
gives the following particulars about the loch:--"In olden times the
diseased and infirm people of the North Isles were wont to flock to
this place and get themselves cured by washing in its waters. Many
of them walked round the shore two or three times before entering the
loch itself to perfect by so doing the expected cure. When a person was
engaged in this perambulation nothing would induce him to utter a word,
for, if he spoke, the waters of this holy loch would lave his diseased
body in vain. After the necessary ablutions were performed they never
departed without leaving behind them some piece of cloth or bread as
a gift to the presiding genius of the place. In the beginning of the
eighteenth century popular belief in this water was as strong as ever."
Superstitions had a vigorous life last century. Pennant, who made
his first tour in Scotland in 1769, mentions that the wells of Spey
and Drachalday, in Moray, were then much visited, coins and rags
being left at them as offerings. Nowadays holy wells are probably
far from the thoughts of persons living amid the stir and bustle
of city life, but in rural districts, where old customs linger,
they are not yet forgotten. In the country, amidst the sights and
sounds of nature, men are prone to cherish the beliefs and ways
of their forefathers. Practices born in days of darkness thus live
on into an era of greater enlightenment. "The adoration of wells,"
remarks Sir Arthur Mitchell in his "Past in the Present," "may be
encountered in all parts of Scotland from John o' Groats to the
Mull of Galloway," and he adds, "I have seen at least a dozen wells
in Scotland which have not ceased to be worshipped." "Nowadays," he
continues, "the visitors are comparatively few, and those who go are
generally in earnest. They have a serious object which they desire
to attain. That object is usually the restoration to health of some
poor little child--some 'back-gane bairn.' Indeed the cure of sick
children is a special virtue of many of these wells. Anxious mothers
make long journeys to some well of fame, and early in the morning
of the 1st of May bathe the little invalid in its waters, then drop
an offering into them by the hands of the child--usually a pebble,
but sometimes a coin--and attach a bit of the child's dress to a bush
or tree growing by the side of the well. The rags we see fastened to
such bushes have often manifestly been torn from the dresses of young
children. Part of a bib or little pinafore tells the sad story of a
sorrowing mother and a suffering child, and makes the heart grieve
that nothing better than a visit to one of these wells had been found
to relieve the sorrow and remove the suffering." Mr. Campbell of Islay
bears witness to the same fact. In his "Tales of the West Highlands"
he says, "Holy healing wells are common all over the Highlands,
and people still leave offerings of pins and nails and bits of rag,
though few would confess it. There is a well in Islay where I myself
have, after drinking, deposited copper caps amongst a hoard of pins
and buttons and similar gear placed in chinks in the rocks and trees
at the edge of the 'Witches' well.'"
A striking testimony to the persistence of faith in such wells
is borne by Mr. J. R. Walker in volume v. (new series) of the
"Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland," where he
describes an incident that he himself witnessed about ten years ago
on the outskirts of Edinburgh. Mr. Walker writes, "While walking in
the Queen's Park about sunset, I casually passed St. Anthony's Well,
and had my attention attracted by the number of people about it,
all simply quenching their thirst, some probably with a dim idea
that they would reap some benefit from the draught. Standing a little
apart, however, and evidently patiently waiting a favourable moment
to present itself for their purpose, was a group of four. Feeling
somewhat curious as to their intention I quietly kept myself in the
background, and by-and-by was rewarded. The crowd departed and the
group came forward, consisting of two old women, a younger woman
of about thirty, and a pale sickly-looking girl--a child three or
four years old. Producing cups from their pockets, the old women
dipped them in the pool, filled them, and drank the contents. A
full cup was then presented to the younger woman and another to
the child. Then one of the old women produced a long linen bandage,
dipped it in the water, wrung it, dipped it in again, and then wound
it round the child's head, covering the eyes, the youngest woman,
evidently the mother of the child, carefully observing the operation
and weeping gently all the time. The other old woman not engaged in
this work was carefully filling a clear glass bottle with the water,
evidently for future use. Then, after the principal operators had
looked at each other with an earnest and half solemn sort of look,
the party wended its way carefully down the hill."
Agricultural improvements, particularly within the present century,
have done much to abolish the adoration of wells. In many cases ancient
springs have ceased to exist through draining operations. In the
parish of Urquhart, Elginshire, a priory was founded in 1125. Towards
the end of last century the site was converted into an arable
field. The name of Abbey Well, given to the spring whence the monks
drew water, long kept alive the memory of the priory; but in recent
times the well itself was filled up. St. Mary's Well, at Whitekirk,
in Haddingtonshire, has also ceased to be, its water having been
drained off. Near Drumakill, in Drymen parish, Dumbartonshire, there
was a famous spring dedicated to St. Vildrin. Close to it was a cross
two feet and a half in height, with the figure of the saint incised
on it. About thirty years ago, however, the relic was broken up and
used in the construction of a farmhouse, and not long after, the
well itself was drained into an adjoining stream. In the middle ages
the spring at Restalrig, near Edinburgh, dedicated to St. Margaret,
the wife of Malcolm Canmore, was a great attraction to pilgrims. The
history of the well is interesting. There is reason to believe that
it was originally sacred to the Holy Rood; and tradition connects it
with the fountain that gushed out at the spot where a certain hart
suddenly vanished from the sight of King David I. Mr. Walker, in the
volume of the "Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland"
already referred to, throws out the suggestion that the well may have
had its dedication changed in connection with the translation of Queen
Margaret's relics about 1251, on the occasion of her canonization. With
regard to the date of the structure forming the covering of the well,
Mr. Walker, as an architect, is qualified to give an opinion, and
from an examination of the mason marks on it he is inclined to think
that the building was erected about the same time as the west tower of
Holyrood Abbey Church, viz., about 1170. The late Sir Daniel Wilson,
in his "Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time," gives the following
account of the structure, which, however, he by mistake describes
as octagonal instead of hexagonal:--"The building rises internally
to the height of about four and a half feet, of plain ashlar work,
with a stone ledge or seat running round seven of the sides, while the
eighth is occupied by a pointed arch which forms the entrance to the
well. From the centre of the water which fills the whole area of the
building, pure as in the days of the pious queen, a decorated pillar
rises to the same height as the walls, with grotesque gurgoils, from
which the water has originally been made to flow. Above this springs
a beautifully groined roof, presenting, with the ribs that rise from
corresponding corbels at each of the eight angles of the building,
a singularly rich effect when illuminated by the reflected light from
the water below. A few years since, this curious fountain stood by
the side of the ancient and little frequented cross-road leading
from the Abbeyhill to the village of Restalrig. A fine old elder
tree, with its knotted and furrowed branches, spread a luxuriant
covering over its grass-grown top, and a rustic little thatched
cottage stood in front of it, forming altogether a most attractive
object of antiquarian pilgrimage." The spot, however, was invaded by
the North British Railway Company, and a station was planted on the
site of the elder tree and the rustic cottage, the spring and its
Gothic covering being imbedded in the buildings. Some years later
the water disappeared, having found another channel. The structure
was taken down stone by stone and rebuilt above St. David's Spring,
on the north slope of Salisbury Crags, where it still stands.
In cases like the above, man interfered with nature and caused the
disappearance of venerated springs. But it was not always so. In the
parish of Logierait, in Perthshire, there was a spring that took the
matter into its own hands, and withdrew from public view. This was
the spring called in Gaelic Fuaran Chad, i.e., Chad's Well. An annual
market used to be held close by in honour of the saint, on the 22nd
August. The spring was gratified and bubbled away merrily. The market,
however, was at length discontinued. In consequence Fuaran Chad took
offence, and sent in its resignation. In one instance, at least, the
belief in the efficacy of a spring survived the very existence of the
spring itself. This was so in the case of a healing well near Buckie,
in Banffshire, filled up some years ago by the tenant on whose farm
it was situated. So great was its fame that some women whose infants
were weakly went to the spot and cleared out the rubbish. Water again
filled the old basin, and there the infants were bathed. While being
carried home they fell asleep, and the result was in every way to
the satisfaction of the mothers.
Certain characteristics of water specially recommended it as an object
of worship in primæval times. Its motion and force suggested that
it had life, and hence a soul. Men therefore imagined that by due
attention to certain rites it would prove a help to them in time of
need. What may be called the anthropomorphism of fountains has left
traces on popular superstitions. The interest taken by St. Tredwell's
Loch in the national events has been already alluded to, and other
examples will be noticed in future chapters.
One point may be mentioned here, viz., the power possessed by wells
of removing to another place. St. Fillan's Spring, at Comrie, in
Perthshire, once took its rise on the top of the hill Dunfillan,
but tradition says that it quitted its old site for the present one,
at the foot of a rock, a quarter of a mile further south. In the
article on Comrie in the "Old Statistical Account of Scotland,"
the well is described as "humbled indeed, but not forsaken." A
more striking instance of flitting is mentioned by Martin as having
occurred in the Hebrides. In his account of Islay, he says, "A mile
on the south-west side of the cave Uah Vearnag is the celebrated well
Toubir-in-Knahar, which, in the ancient language, is as much as to say,
'the well has sailed from one place to another'; for it is a received
tradition of the vulgar inhabitants of this isle, and the opposite isle
of Colonsay, that this well was first at Colonsay until an impudent
woman happened to wash her hands in it, and that immediately after,
the well, being thus abused, came in an instant to Islay, where it is
like to continue, and is ever since esteemed a catholicon for diseases
by the natives and adjacent islanders." Perhaps the instance that
puts the greatest strain on credulity is that of the spring dedicated
to St. Fergus on the hill of Knockfergan, in Banffshire. Tradition
reports that this spring came in a miraculous manner from Italy,
though how it travelled to its quiet retreat in Scotland we do not
know. There must have been some special attraction about the well,
for a market known as the Well-Market used to be held beside it every
year. On one occasion a fight took place about a cheese. In consequence
the market was transferred to the neighbouring village of Tomintoul,
where it continues to be held in August, under the same name.
In his "Romances of the West of England," the late Mr. Robert Hunt
puts in a plea for the preservation of holy wells and other relics
of antiquity, though he allows "that it is a very common notion
amongst the peasantry that a just retribution overtakes those who
wilfully destroy monuments, such as stone circles, crosses, wells,
and the like," and he mentions the case of an old man who altered a
holy well at Boscaswell, in St. Just, and was drowned the following
day within sight of his house. Mr. Hunt is speaking of Cornish wells;
but the same is doubtless true of those north of the Tweed. Springs
that can fly through the air and go through certain other wonderful
performances can surely be trusted to look after themselves.
In hot Eastern lands, fountains were held in special reverence. This
was to be expected, as their cooling waters were there doubly
welcome. In accounting for the presence of the cult in the temperate
zones of Europe, we do not need to trace it to the East as Lady
Wilde does in her "Ancient Legends of Ireland." "It could not have
originated," she says, "in a humid country ... where wells can be
found at every step, and sky and land are ever heavy and saturated
with moisture. It must have come from an Eastern people, wanderers in
a dry and thirsty land, where the discovery of a well seemed like the
interposition of an angel in man's behalf." In our own land there are
no districts where well-worship has held its ground so firmly as those
occupied by peoples of Celtic blood, such as Cornwall, Wales, Ireland,
the Isle of Man, and the Scottish Highlands. A curious instance of
the survival of water-worship among our Scottish peasantry was seen
in the custom of going at a very early hour on New-Year's morning
to get a pailful of water from a neighbouring spring. The maidens
of the farm had a friendly rivalry as to priority. Whoever secured
the first pailful was said to get the flower of the well, otherwise
known as the ream or cream of the well. On their way to the spring
the maidens commonly chanted the couplet--
"The flower o' the well to our house gaes,
An' I'll the bonniest lad get."
This referred to the belief that to be first at the well was a good
omen of the maiden's matrimonial future. It is a far cry from archaic
water-worship to this New-Year's love charm, but we can traverse in
thought the road that lies between.