MORE SAINTS AND SPRINGS.
Ronan--Dow Well--Influence on Topography--Ronan's
Springs--Pol Ronan and Feill Ronan--Fergus--His Well in
Banffshire--Glamis--His Relics--His Wells at Montrose and
Wick--Helen--St. Helen's Kirk--Her Springs--Her connection
with Britain--Her Wells and Churches in England--Welsh
Traditions--St. Abb's Well--Ebba--Aidan--His Wells--Boisil--His
Springs--St. Boswell's Fair--Bathan--Abbey St. Bathan's--His Well
there--Boniface--His Well and Fair at Rosemarkie--Catherine
of Alexandria--Her Legend--Her Wells--Various other
Dedications--Lawrence--His Wells--St. Lawrence's Fair--His
Church Dedications--Laurencekirk--Margaret--Her connection with
Queensferry and Forfar--Her Wells at Edinburgh--Her Cave and
Spring at Dunfermline--Wells dedicated to various Characters in
Sacred Story.
In any notice of early saints Ronan must not be forgotten, especially
when we remember that perhaps no spring, thanks to Sir Walter Scott,
is so familiar to the general reader as St. Ronan's Well. It has
been commonly identified with the mineral well at Innerleithen, in
Peeblesshire for long held in much favour in cases of eye and skin
complaints, and also for the cure of dyspepsia. The spring is situated
a short distance above the town on the skirt of Lee Pen. The writer of
the article on Innerleithen parish in the "New Statistical Account of
Scotland" says that this spring "was formerly called the 'Dow-well'
from the circumstance that, long before the healing virtues of the
water were discovered, pigeons from the neighbouring country resorted
to it." The name, however, is more probably derived from the Gaelic
dhu or dubh, signifying black. This is all the more likely when we
remember that the ground around was wet and miry before the spring
was put into order, and the present pump-room built, in 1826. We
find marks of Ronan in Scottish topography. In Dumbartonshire is
Kilmaronock, meaning, literally, the Church of my little Ronan;
Kilmaronog near Loch Etive has the same signification. Dr. Skene
refers to these two dedications, and adds, "Ronan appears to have
carried his mission to the Isles. He has left his trace in Iona,
where one of the harbours is Port Ronan. The church, afterwards the
parish church, was dedicated to him, and is called Teampull Ronaig,
and its burying-ground, Cladh Ronan. Then we find him at Rona, in the
Sound of Skye, and another Rona, off the coast of Lewis; and, finally,
his death is recorded in 737 as Ronan, abbot of Cinngaradh or Kingarth,
in Bute." Ronan is patron of various springs. There is one sacred to
him near Kilmaronock, another in the Aberdeenshire parish of Strathdon,
and another, already referred to, beside Teampull Mòr, in the Butt
of Lewis. The parish of Strowan, now joined to that of Monzievaird,
has a well to the saint. This was to be expected, since the name of the
parish is merely an altered form of St. Rowan or Ronan. About a hundred
yards above the bridge of Strowan, there is a deep pool in the river
Earn, called Pol-Ronan, and a piece of ground hard by was formerly the
site of the yearly gathering known as Feill-Ronan or St. Ronan's Fair.
The parish of St. Fergus, in Buchan, known till the year 1616 as
Langley, commemorates an Irish missionary of the eighth century, who
led a roving life, if we can believe the tradition, that he evangelised
Caithness, Buchan, Strathearn, and Forfarshire, as well as attended an
Ecclesiastical Council at Rome. The legend that his well in Kirkmichael
parish, Banffshire, was at one time in Italy may be connected with
his visit to Rome. Concerning this spring, the Rev. Dr. Gregor gives
the following particulars:--"Fergan Well is situated on the south-east
side of Knock-Fergan, a hill of considerable height on the west side
of the river Avon, opposite the manse of Kirkmichael. The first Sunday
of May and Easter Sunday were the principal Sundays for visiting it,
and many from the surrounding parishes, who were affected with skin
diseases or running sores, came to drink of its water, and to wash in
it. The hour of arrival was twelve o'clock at night, and the drinking
of the water and the washing of the diseased part took place before
or at sunrise. A quantity of the water was carried home for future
use. Pilgrimages were made up to the end of September, by which time
the healing virtues of the water had become less. Such after-visits
seem to have begun in later times." Fergus died at Glamis, and his
relics soon began to work cures. His head was carried off to the
monastery of Scone, and was so much esteemed in later times that,
by order of James IV., a silver case was made for it. His cave and
well are to be seen at Glamis. There is a spring dedicated to him
near Montrose, and there is another at Wick.
Various other saintly personages have left traces of their names
in holy wells. Chalmers, in his "Caledonia," mentions that the
ancient church of Aldcamus, in Cockburnspath parish, Berwickshire,
was dedicated to Helen, mother of Constantine, and that its ruins were
known as St. Helen's Kirk. A portion of the building still stands. To
the north of it is a burying-ground; but, curiously enough, as Mr. Muir
points out in his "Ancient Churches of Scotland," the spot does not
appear ever to have been used for purposes of sepulture. We do not know
surely of any spring to Helen in the immediate neighbourhood, but there
is one at Darnick, near Melrose. Another is in Kirkpatrick-Fleming
parish, Dumfriesshire. Perhaps the best known is St. Helen's Well,
beside the highway from Maybole to Ayr, about two-and-a-half miles
from the former town. It was much resorted to on May Day for the
cure of sickly children. On Timothy Pont's map, of date 1654, there
is a "Helen's Loch" marked a little to the south-west of Camelon,
in Stirlingshire. Some writers have attempted to claim Helen as
a native of Britain, and Colchester and York have, for different
reasons, been fixed on as her birth-place. The circumstance that
Constantine was proclaimed Emperor at the latter town, on the
death there of his father, Constantius Chlorus, probably gave rise
to the tradition. Anyhow, Helen seems to have been held in high
honour in England. In an article in the "Archæological Journal"
for December, 1891, Mr. Edward Peacock mentions that there are at
least fifteen wells named after her south of the Tweed. He adds,
"there are many churches dedicated to the honour of St. Helen in
England, but they are very irregularly distributed. None seems to
occur in Cumberland, Westmoreland, or Essex. The rest of the English
shires, for which we have authentic information, give the following
results:--Devonshire, three; Durham, two; Kent, one; Lincolnshire,
twenty-eight; Northumberland, three; Nottinghamshire, fifteen;
Yorkshire, thirty-two." Helen's name occurs in Welsh legends; but,
as Mr. Peacock observes, "early history is so much distorted in them,
that, if we did not know of her from more authentic sources, we might
well believe Helen to have been a mere creation of the fervid Keltic
imagination." As far as is known there are neither wells nor church
dedications to her in the Principality.
At Ayton, in Berwickshire, we find St. Abb's Well, recalling Abb or
Æbba, who, in the seventh century, presided over a monastery on the
headland still bearing her name, and in whose honour the priory at
Coldingham was founded by Edgar, son of Malcolm Canmore, some four
centuries and a half later. Her monastery on the headland was founded
by Aidan, who was sent from Iona to the North of England in response
to a request from King Oswald, of Bernicia, for a missionary to preach
Christianity to his pagan subjects. This was about the year 635. Aidan
made the island of Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumberland,
his head-quarters. It is still known as Holy Island. Aidan has not
been forgotten in the matter of wells. There are four to him, viz.,
at Menmuir and at Fearn, in Forfarshire; at Balmerino, in Fife; and
at Cambusnethan, in Lanarkshire. This last, called St. Iten's Well,
was noted for the cure of asthma and skin-disease.
Boisil, abbot of the monastery of Old Melrose, about the middle of
the seventh century, still lives in the name of the Roxburghshire
village and parish of St. Boswell's. There is a spring in the parish
bearing the name of The Well-brae Wall. Boswell's own spring is
popularly styled the Hare-well. Not far from both is St. Boswell's
Burn, a tributary of the Tweed. The local fair held on July 18th, in
honour of the saint, used to be a notable one in the border counties,
and was frequented by large numbers of gipsies who set up booths for
the sale of their wares.
Bathan, who flourished in the early seventh century, had to
do with Shetland, and with the region about the Whittadder, in
Berwickshire. Abbey St. Bathans, in the latter county, is named after
him. His well is on one of the haughs beside the river, not far from
the ruined nunnery. Its water is believed never to freeze.
Boniface belonged to the same century. He is said to have preached
Christianity at Gowrie, in Pictavia, and afterwards at Rosemarkie,
in the Black Isle, where he died at the age of eighty, and was buried
in the church of St. Peter. A well and a fair at Rosemarkie still
keep alive his memory.
The fame of Catherine of Alexandria travelled to Scotland at a
comparatively early period. This holy maiden was noted for her
learning. Indeed she was so wise that Maxentius the Emperor called
her a "second Plato." The Emperor's compliments, however, stopped
there, for he ordered her to be executed on account of her contempt
for paganism. The wheel, her usual attribute in art, was not the
instrument of her martyrdom, as it was miraculously destroyed. She
met her death by being beheaded, and, immediately thereafter, her
body was carried by angels to Mount Sinai. These and other legendary
incidents must have conduced to make the saint popular. St. Catherine's
Balm-well, at Liberton, Mid-Lothian, had a high reputation for
curing skin-disease. Martin speaks of a well to St. Catherine on
the south coast of Eigg, reckoned by the islanders a specific in all
kinds of disease. He gives the following account of its dedication
by Father Hugh, a priest, and of the respect paid to the spring in
consequence:--"He (the priest) obliged all the inhabitants to come to
this well, and then employed them to bring together a great heap of
stones at the head of the spring by way of penance. This being done,
he said Mass at the well, and then consecrated it; he gave each of the
inhabitants a piece of wax candle, which they lighted, and all of them
made the Dessil,--of going round the well sun-ways, the priest leading
them; and from that time it was accounted unlawful to boil any meat
with the water of this well." In the south-west of Scotland, Catherine
has, or had, three wells, viz., at Stoneykirk, at Low Drumore, and
at Old Luce, opposite the Abbey. In the north-east there are three,
viz., at Fyvie, Aberdeenshire; and in Alvah parish, Banffshire; and at
Banff itself. At Shotts, in Lanarkshire, the fountain by the roadside
immediately below the parish church is, or at least was, locally known
as Cat's or Kate's Well--a contraction of the Saint's name--reminding
one of the Kate Kennedy celebration at St. Andrews University, which
originated in connection with the gift of a bell by Bishop Kennedy in
honour of the saint. The ruins of Caibeal Cairine, i.e., Catherine's
Chapel, are in Southend parish, Kintyre, and two farms called North
and South Carine are in the immediate neighbourhood. Captain White,
when exploring the district, sought for St. Catherine's Well in the
adjoining glen, but failed to find it. A chapel to the saint once
stood in the quondam town of Kincardine in the Mearns. Its graveyard
alone remains. St. Catherine's Fair, held at Kincardine till the year
1612, was then transferred to the neighbouring Fettercairn. There
is perhaps no place-name more familiar to visitors to Inveraray
than St. Catherine's, on the opposite shore of Loch Fyne. It was in
St. Catherine's Aisle, within the parish church of Linlithgow, that
James IV. saw the mysterious apparition that warned him to beware of
Flodden. At Port-Erin, in the Isle of Man, is a spring close to the
beach, and on a stone beside it in old lettering, can be read the
piece of advice:--
"St. Catherine's Well,
Keep me clean."
Lawrence is represented by various springs, viz., by one in
Kirkcudbrightshire, at Fairgirth; by one in Elginshire, at New Duffus;
and by two in Aberdeenshire, at Kinnord; and at Rayne, where a horse
market, called Lawrence Fair, is still held annually in August. Near
the Fairgirth spring stand the ivy-clad ruins of St. Lawrence's Chapel,
at one time surrounded by a graveyard. The parish of Slamannan, in
Stirlingshire, was anciently called St. Lawrence, its pre-Reformation
church having been dedicated to him. An excellent spring, not far
from the parish church, is known as St. Lawrence's Well. There is
reason to believe that all these dedications relate to Lawrence,
who, about the middle of the third century, suffered at Rome, by
being broiled over a slow fire, and in whose honour the Escurial in
Spain was built in the form of a gridiron--the supposed instrument
of his martyrdom. Laurencekirk, in Kincardineshire, anciently called
Conveth, received its name, not from the martyr, but from Lawrence,
archbishop of Canterbury, successor of Augustine, early in the seventh
century. He is said to have visited the Mearns. The church of Conveth
was named in his honour Laurencekirk. As far as we know, however,
there is no spring to him in the district.
Margaret, queen and saint, wife of Malcolm Canmore, was a light
amid the darkness of the eleventh century. Indeed she was a light
to many later centuries. The secret of her beneficial influence
lay in her personal character, and she undoubtedly did much to
recommend civilisation to a barbarous age. At the same time it
must not be forgotten that through her English training she was
unable to appreciate either the speech or the special religious
institutions of her Scottish subjects, and that, accordingly, the
changes introduced by her were not all reforms. When sketching her
influence on the history of her time, the Rev. Dr. M'Lauchlan, in his
"Early Scottish Church," observes, "She was somewhat unwillingly
hindered from entering a monastery by her marriage with Malcolm,
and the latter repaid the obligation by unbounded devotion to her and
readiness to fall in with all her schemes. She was brought up in the
Anglo-Saxon Church, as that Church was moulded by Augustine and other
emissaries of Rome, and was in consequence naturally opposed to many
of the peculiarities of the Scottish Church, which was still without
diocesan bishops, and had many things in its forms of worship peculiar
to itself." Dunfermline was Malcolm's favourite place of residence, and
many were the journeys made by his wife between it and Edinburgh. The
names of North and South Queensferry, where she crossed the Forth,
tell of these royal expeditions. Malcolm and Margaret were associated
with the town of Forfar. Local topography has still its King's Muir,
and its Queen's Well to testify to the fact; and on the Inch of Forfar
Loch, where Margaret had a residence, an annual celebration was long
held in her honour. She had a spring at Edinburgh Castle, described as
"the fountain which rises near the corner of the King's Garden, on the
road leading to St. Cuthbert's Church." St. Margaret's Well--once at
Restalrig, now in the Queen's Park--has already been referred to. At
Dunfermline there is a spring in a cave where, according to tradition,
she spent many an hour in pious meditation. The cave is about seven
feet in height, fully eight in breadth, and varies in depth from
eight to eleven. "This cave," remarks the Rev. Peter Chalmers in his
"History of Dunfermline," "is situated at a short distance north from
the Tower Hill, and from the mound crossing the ravine on which part
of the town stands. There is at present a small spring well at the
bottom, the water of which rises at times and covers the whole lower
space; but anciently, it is to be presumed, there was none, or at
least it must have been covered, and prevented from overflowing the
floor, which would either have been formed of the rock or have been
paved." A considerable amount of rubbish accumulated in the cave,
but this was removed in 1877. "During the process of clearing out
the cave," remarks Dr. Henderson in his "Annals of Dunfermline,"
"two stone seats or benches were discovered along the base of the
north and south sides, but there were no carvings or devices seen on
them. Near the back of the cave a small sunk well was found, but it
is now covered over with a stone flag."
Several Scripture characters have wells named after
them. St. Matthew has springs at Kirkton, Dumfriesshire, and at
Roslin, Midlothian. St. Andrew's name is attached to wells at
Sandal, in Kintyre; at North Berwick, in East Lothian; at Shadar,
in Lewis; and at Selkirk--this last having been uncovered in 1892,
after remaining closed, it is believed, for fully three hundred
years. A spring at St. Andrews, called Holy Well, is understood to
have been dedicated either to Andrew or to Regulus. St. Paul has
springs at Fyvie and at Linlithgow; St. Philip is patron of one
in Yarrow parish, Selkirkshire; St. James has one at Garvock, in
Aberdeenshire; St. Thomas has three--at Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire;
at Crieff, in Perthshire; and near Stirling; and St. John has a
considerable number of springs. Some of these are to the Evangelist,
and some to the Baptist. It is often difficult to know to which of
the two the patronage of a given well should be ascribed. Of the four
chapels along the east wall of the lower church of Glasgow Cathedral,
the one next to St. Mungo's Well was dedicated in pre-Reformation
times to St. John the Evangelist. It would have been more appropriately
dedicated to the Baptist. St. John's Wells are to be found at Moffat,
in Dumfriesshire; at Logie Coldstone, in Aberdeenshire; near Fochabers,
in Elginshire; at Inverkeithing, Balmerino; and Falkland, in Fife;
at Kinnethmont, and in New Aberdour, in Aberdeenshire; at Marykirk, in
Kincardineshire; at Kirkton of Deskford, at Ordiquhill, and also near
the old church of Gamrie, in Banffshire; at Stranraer, in Wigtownshire;
at Dunrobin, in Sutherland; and elsewhere. There are more than a dozen
wells to St. Peter. These are to be found mainly in counties in the
south-west, and in the north-east. In the latter district there is
a well at Marnoch, in Banffshire, called Petrie's Well.
St. Anne, the reputed mother of the Virgin, presided over wells at
Ladykirk, in Berwickshire; near the old church of St. Anne, in Dowally
parish, Perthshire; and at Glass, on the Deveron. The Virgin herself
was specially popular as the patroness of fountains. There are over
seventy dedicated to her under a variety of names, such as, St. Mary's
Well, Maria Well, &c. The town of Motherwell, in Lanarkshire,
was so called after a famous well to the Virgin. Tobermory, in
Mull--literally, Well of Mary--was originally a fountain. A village
was built beside it, in 1788, as a fishing centre for the British
Fisheries' Company. A curious legend about the now ivy-clad ruins of
the church of St. Mary in Auchindoir parish, Aberdeenshire, is thus
referred to by Mr. A. Jervise in the "Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland," vol. viii. (old series):--"According to
tradition, it was originally proposed to rebuild the church at a place
called Kirkcairns (now Glencairns) to the south of Lumsden village,
and but for the warning voice of the Virgin, who appears to have been a
good judge both of locality and soil, the kirk would have been placed
in an obscure sterile district. Besides being in the neighbourhood
of good land, fine views of the upper part of Strathbogie and of the
surrounding hills are obtained from the present site.... St. Mary's
Well is about a hundred yards to the west."
If Michael the Archangel did not fold his wings over any Scottish
wells, he at least gave name to several. There is a St. Michael's
Spring in Kirkmichael parish, Banffshire, and another at Dallas
in Elginshire. In both cases, the ancient church was dedicated to
him. Culsalmond, in Aberdeenshire, and Applegarth, in Dumfriesshire,
have, and Edinburgh once had, a St. Michael's Well. The best known is
probably the one at Linlithgow, with its quaint inscription--"Saint
Michael is kinde to straingers." Mr. J. R. Walker--to whose list
of Holy Wells in the "Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland," vol. v. (new series), we have been indebted for various
useful hints--remarks, "The building covering this well dates only
from 1720.... It is conjectured that the statue was taken from the
Cross-well when restored about that date and placed here to represent
St. Michael, who is the patron saint of Linlithgow Church.... With the
exception of the statue, which is undoubtedly of much earlier date
than 1720, the structure shows the utter absence of architectural
knowledge--especially Gothic--characteristic of the last century
in Scotland. Michael was tutelar saint, not only of the church, but
also of the burgh of Linlithgow. In the town Arms he is represented
with outspread wings, standing on a serpent whose head he is piercing
with a spear. He was also the guardian of the burgh of Dumfries. At
Inverlussa, in North Knapdale parish, Argyllshire, may be seen
the ancient chapel and burying-ground of Kilmichael. A well in the
immediate neighbourhood is dedicated, not to the archangel, but to
some local ecclesiastic, whose name is now forgotten. In reference to
this spring, Captain White says, "Trickling out from under a rock,
is the Priest's Well (Tobar-ant-Sagairt), famous, like many another
spring of so-called holy water, for its miraculous healing virtues. I
believe the country people have by no means lost their faith in its
powers." The extent of the archangel's popularity in Scotland is shown
by his impress on topography. Among place-names we find at least
three Kilmichaels, and there are five parishes called Kirkmichael,
respectively in the counties of Dumfries, Ayr, Perth, Ross and
Cromarty, and Banff. A chapel is said to have been dedicated to him at
a very early date on the top of the Castle Rock at Edinburgh. Another
once stood in the demesne of Lovat, where was founded, about 1232,
a Priory for French monks, who were so struck with the beauty of the
spot that they called it Beau-lieu, now Beauly. Far west, in the outer
Hebrides, he had faithful votaries. On the island of Grimisay, close to
North Uist, a chapel styled Teampull Mhicheil was built in his honour
towards the close of the fourteenth century. It was the work of Amie,
otherwise Annie, wife of John of Isla, first Lord of the Isles, and
was used by her as an oratory when prevented by rough weather from
crossing the Minch to visit her friends in Lorne. That the archangel
should have had wells named after him is therefore not surprising.