STONE BLOCKS AND SAINTS' SPRINGS.
Stone Beds and Chairs--Cave Life--Dwarfie Stone--Stone
Boats--Balthere--His Corpse--His Well and Cradle--Marnan--His
Influence on Topography--His Head--St. Marnan's
Chair and Well--Muchricha--Cathair Donan--St. Donan's
Well--Patrick--His Wells--St. Patrick's Vat--Quarry at
Portpatrick--Columbanus--Mark of his Hand--Kentigern's
Chair and Bed--His connection with Aberdeenshire--The Lady's
Bed--Thenew--Columba's Bed and Pillow--Holy Island--Traces
of Molio--St. Blane's Chapel--Kilmun--Inan--St. Innian's
Well--Tenant's Day--St. Inan's Chair and Springs--Kevin--Print
of Virgin's Knee--Traces of Columba at Keil--St. Cuthbert's
Stane--St. Madron's Bed--Mean-an-Tol--Morwenna--St. Fillan's
Chair--St. Fillan's Spring--Water for Sore Eyes--The Two
Fillans--Their Dedications--Queen Margaret's Seat--St. Bonnet's
Spring--The Fairies' Cradle--The Pot o' Pittenyoul--Church of
Invergowrie--Greystane--Cadger's Bridge--Wallace's Seat and Well.
Beds and Chairs of stone are connected with various early saints,
and as such relics are often associated with holy wells, some notice
of these may not be without interest. We have already seen that cave
life was rather popular among these early missionaries. Anything
of a rocky nature was therefore quite in line with their ascetic
ways. Hoy, one of the Orkney Islands, famous for its wild scenery,
and specially for the pillar of rock popularly styled The Old Man,
contains a curious monument of antiquity in the shape of a large
block of sandstone called The Dwarfie Stone, hollowed out long ago
by some unknown hand. The chamber, thus excavated, contains two beds
hewn out of the stone, one of them having a pillow of the same hard
material. On the floor of the chamber is a hearth where a fire had
evidently burned, and in the roof is a hole for the escape of the
smoke. Legend reports that a giant and his wife abode within; but the
hollow space was more probably the retreat of some hermit--perhaps,
of more than one, seeing there are two couches; though, possibly,
one of the supposed couches may have been a table and the other a
bed. Perhaps the anchorite had his spring whither he wandered daily
to slake his thirst; but, as far as we know, there is no tradition
regarding any holy well in the neighbourhood.
Martin, in connection with his visit to Orkney, refers to a stone
in the chapel of Ladykirk, in South Ronaldshay, called St. Magnus's
Boat. The stone was four feet in length, and tapered away at both ends;
but its special feature was the print of two human feet on the upper
surface. A local tradition affirmed that when St. Magnus wanted on one
occasion to cross the Pentland Firth to Caithness he used this stone
as his boat, and that he afterwards carried it to Ladykirk. According
to another tradition, the stone served in pre-Reformation times for
the punishment of delinquents, who were obliged to stand barefooted
upon it by way of penance. There is a St. Magnus's Well, not in South
Ronaldshay, however, but at Birsay, in the mainland of Orkney. When
Conval crossed from Ireland to Scotland, in the seventh century, he,
too, made a block of stone do duty as a boat. It found a resting-place
beside the river Cart, near Renfrew, and was known as Currus Sancti
Convalli. By its means miraculous cures were wrought on man and
beast. A rock at the mouth of Aldham Bay, in Haddingtonshire, is known
as St. Baudron's Boat, and tradition says that he crossed on it from
the Bass, where he had a cell. This saint--called also Balthere and
Baldred--founded the monastery of Tyningham, and died early in the
seventh century. He must have been popular in the district, for, if we
can believe an old legend, the parishioners of the churches of Aldham,
Tyningham, and Prestonkirk tried to get possession of his relics. To
satisfy their demands his body was miraculously multiplied by three,
and each church was thus provided with one. Near Tantallon Castle is
St. Baldred's Well, and a fissure in the cliff at Whitberry, not far
from the mouth of the Tyne, is known as St. Baldred's Bed or Cradle.
Marnan or Marnoch, besides giving name to the town of Kilmarnock, in
Ayrshire, and to the Island of Inchmarnoch, off Bute, is remembered in
the name of the Banffshire parish of Marnoch, where he laboured as a
missionary in the seventh century. His head was kept as a revered relic
in the church of Aberchirder, and solemn oaths were sworn by it. Use
was also made of it for therapeutic purposes. It was periodically
washed, and the water was given to the sick for the restoration of
their health. This was not an isolated case. Bede tells us, that after
Cuthbert's death, some of the water in which his body was washed,
was given to an epileptic boy along with some consecrated earth,
and brought about a cure. A stone, called St. Marnan's Chair, is,
or was till lately, to be seen at Aberchirder; and a spring, near
the parish manse, bears the saint's name. About a mile and a half
from the church of Aboyne, in Aberdeenshire, is St. Muchricha's Well,
and beside it is a stone marked with a cross. At one time, this stone
was removed. According to a local tradition, it was brought back by
Muchricha, the guardian of the well, who seemed unwilling to lose
sight of the lost property. In the parish of Kildonan, Sutherland, two
or three blocks of stone, placed in the form of a seat, went by the
name of Cathair Donan, i.e., Donan's Chair. In his cille or church,
Donan taught the truths of Christianity; and, seated in his cathair,
he administered justice to the people of the district. There is a
St. Donan's Well in Eigg, the island where the saint and his companion
clerics were murdered by the natives early in the seventh century.
Patrick, the well-known missionary of Ireland, was reverenced also in
Scotland. There is a well dedicated to him in the parish of Muthill,
Perthshire, and close to it once stood a chapel, believed to have borne
his name. From the article on Muthill parish, in the "New Statistical
Account of Scotland," we learn that in former times the inhabitants
of the district held the saint's memory "in such veneration that, on
his day, neither the clap of the mill was heard nor the plough seen
to move in the furrow." There is a well dedicated to him in Dalziel
parish, Lanarkshire. About sixty yards from St. Patrick's temple, in
the island of Tyree, is a rock, with a hollow on the top, two feet
across and four feet deep, known to the islanders as St. Patrick's
Vat. At any rate it was so named at the end of last century. In a
quarry at Portpatrick, Wigtownshire, used in connection with the
harbour works, once flowed a spring dedicated to the saint. On the
rock below were formerly to be seen certain marks, said, by tradition,
to be the impression made by his knees and left hand.
Columban or Columbanus, belonged, like Columba, to the sixth
century. Ireland was also his native land. When he left it he
travelled, not north like Columba, but south, and sought the sunny
lands of France and Italy. In the latter country he founded the
monastery of Bobbio among the Apennines. A writer in the "Antiquary"
for 1891 remarks, in connection with a recent visit to this monastery,
"I was taken to see a rock on the summit of a mountain called La
Spanna, near the cave to which the saint is said to have retired
for prayer and meditation. The impression of the saint's left hand
is still shown upon the face of this rock. The healing power of the
patron's hand is believed by the peasantry of the surrounding country
to linger still in the hollow marking, and many sufferers, climbing to
this spot, have found relief from laying their hand within its palm."
In addition to his well beside the Molendinar, at Glasgow, Kentigern
had a chair and bed, both of stone. Concerning the latter, Bishop
Forbes, in his "Kalendars of Scottish Saints," says, "Kentigern's couch
was rather a sepulchre than a bed, and was of rock, with a stone for
a pillow, like Jacob. He rose in the night and sang psalms and hymns
till the second cock-crowing. Then he rushed into the cold stream, and
with eyes fixed on heaven he recited the whole psalter. Then, coming
out of the water he dried his limbs on a stone on the mountain called
Galath, and went forth for his day's work." Kentigern's work took him
beyond the limits of Strathclyde. He seems to have visited the uplands
of Aberdeenshire. The church of Glengairn, a parish now incorporated
with Tullich and Glenmuick, was probably founded by him. At any rate,
it was dedicated to him. A tradition of his untiring zeal survived
in Aberdeenshire down to the beginning of last century. According to
a proverb then current, systematic beneficence was said to be "like
St. Mungo's work, which was never done." The Isle of May, in the
Firth of Forth, has, on one of its rocky sides, a small cave called
The Lady's Bed, containing a pool in its floor. As Mr. Muir points
out in his "Ecclesiological Notes," it is traditionally associated
with Thenew, Kentigern's mother, "who," according to the legend,
"after being cast into the sea at Aberlady, was miraculously floated
to the May, and thence, in the same manner, to Culross, where she
was stranded and gave birth to the saint." Columba, when in Iona,
had a stone slab as a bed, and a block of stone as a pillow. Adamnan
mentions that, after the saint's death, this pillow stone was placed
as a monument over his grave.
Guarding Lamlash Bay, where Haco gathered his shattered fleet after
the battle of Largs, in 1263, is Holy Island, known to the Norsemen
as Melansay. In this island is a cave, at one time inhabited by
the hermit Molio, and below it, near the beach, is his Holy Well,
for centuries reckoned efficacious in the cure of disease. A large
block of sandstone, flat on the top, with a series of recesses like
seats cut round its margin, constitutes the saint's chair and table
combined. Molio was educated in Bute by his uncle Blane, to whom the
now ruined St. Blane's Chapel was dedicated. He afterwards went to
Ireland, and was placed under Munna, who is still remembered in the
name of Kilmun, on Holy Loch, in the Firth of Clyde.
Inan, probably the same as Finan, gave name to Inchinnan, in
Renfrewshire, though the ancient church of the parish was dedicated,
not to him, but to Conval. The church at Lamington, in Lanarkshire,
was dedicated to Inan. St. Innian's Well is in the parish. He is the
patron saint of Beith, in Ayrshire. The annual fair held there in
August is popularly called Tenant's Day--Tenant being a corruption of
St. Inan. St. Inan's Well and St. Inan's Chair keep his memory fresh
in the district. Some particulars about them are given by Mr. Robert
Love in the "Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland",
vol. xi.:--"This chair is in the rocky hill-face at the west end of
the Cuff hills, and from its elevated position a wide tract of country
from south to north is overlooked. At the base of the hill, and distant
from the chair some hundred yards, is a well called St. Inan's Well,
a double spring, which issues from the rock at two points close by each
other, and which is almost unapproachable in respect of its abundance
and purity. This chair is formed in part, possibly by nature, out of
the rock of the hill. Its back and two sides are closed in, while,
in front, to the west, it is open. The seat proper is above the
ground in front about two feet two inches, is two feet four inches
in breadth, and one foot four inches in depth backwards." Visitors
to the seven churches at Glendalough, in county Wicklow, Ireland,
are usually shown St. Kevin's Seat on a block of rock. As a proof of
its genuineness the mark made by the saint's leg and the impression
of his fingers are duly pointed out by the local guide.
In Kirkmaiden parish, Wigtownshire, the print of the Virgin's knee
was at one time shown on a stone where she knelt in prayer. There was
a chapel dedicated to her in the neighbourhood. In Southend parish,
Kintyre, are the remains of St. Columba's Chapel, standing in the
ancient burying-ground of Keil. In his "Ecclesiological Notes" Mr. Muir
observes, "Under an overhanging rock, close by on the roadside,
is St. Columba's Well, and on the top of a hillock, overlooking the
west end of the burial ground there is a flat rock bearing on its
top the impress of two feet, made, it seems, by those of the saint
whilst he stood marking out and hallowing the spot on which his chapel
should rest." In Bromfield parish, Cumberland, is a piece of granite
rock called St. Cuthbert's Stane, and near it is a copious spring of
remarkably pure water. Brand, in his "Popular Antiquities," says that
"this spring, probably from its having been anciently dedicated to
the same St. Cuthbert, is called Helly Well, i.e., Haly or Holy Well."
Mr. R. C. Hope, in his "Holy Wells," refers to a block of stone
near St. Madron's Spring, in Cornwall, locally known as St. Madron's
Bed. We are told that "on it impotent folk reclined when they came
to try the cold water cure." In the same parish is a pre-historic
relic in the form of a granite block with a hole in the centre of
it. It is known in Cornish as Mean-an-Tol, i.e., the Stone of the
Hole. Its name in English is The Creeping Stone. Sickly children were
at one time passed through the hole a certain number of times, in the
belief that a cure would follow. This superstitious custom recalls what
was at one time done beside St. Paul's Well, in the parish of Fyvie,
Aberdeenshire. Close to the well were the ruins of an old church. One
of its stones was supported on other two with a space below. It
went by the name of The Shargar Stone--shargar signifying a weakly
child. The stone, in this instance, got its name from the custom in
the district of mothers passing their ailing children through the
space below the stone, in the belief that whatever hindered their
growth would thereby be removed. Mr. Hope recounts a tradition
concerning Morwenstowe, in Devon, and its patron saint, Morwenna,
to the effect that when the parishioners wished to build a church,
Morwenna brought a large stone from the foot of the cliff to form
the font. Feeling fatigued by the climb she laid down the stone to
rest herself, and from the spot a spring gushed forth.
On the top of green Dunfillan, in the parish of Comrie, is a rocky seat
known in the district as Fillan's Chair. Here, according to tradition,
the saint sat and gave his blessing to the country around. Towards
the end of last century, and doubtless even later, this chair was
associated with a superstitious remedy for rheumatism in the back. The
person to be cured sat in the chair, and then, lying on his back, was
dragged down the hill by the legs. The influence of the saint lingering
about the spot was believed to insure recovery. St. Fillan's Spring,
at the hill-foot, has already been referred to, in connection with its
mysterious change of site. It was much frequented at one time by old
and young, especially on 1st May and 1st August. The health seekers
walked or were carried thrice round the spring from east to west,
following the course of the sun. The next part of the ritual consisted
in the use of the water for drinking and washing, in throwing a white
stone on the saint's cairn, near the spring, and in leaving a rag as
an offering before departing. In 1791 not fewer than seventy persons
visited the spot at the dates mentioned. The writer of the article
on Comrie in the "Old Statistical Account of Scotland" supplies these
particulars, and adds, "At the foot of the hill there is a basin made
by the saint on the top of a large stone, which seldom wants water,
even in the greatest drought, and all who are distressed with sore eyes
must wash them three times with this water." Fillan, to whom Comrie
parish is thus so much indebted, flourished about the sixth century,
and must not be confounded with the other missionary of the same name,
who dwelt more than a century later, in the straths of the Fillan
and the Dochart, between Tyndrum and Killin. Concerning the former,
Dr. Skene writes in his "Celtic Scotland": "Fillan, called Anlobar or
'the leper,' whose day is 20th June, is said in the Irish calendar to
have been of Rath Erenn in Alban, or the fort of the Earn in Scotland,
and St. Fillans, at the east end of Loch Earn, takes its name from him;
while the church of Aberdour, on the northern shore of the Firth of
Forth, is also dedicated to him." The other Fillan had his Chapel
and Holy Pool halfway between Tyndrum and Crianlarich. He is also
connected with Fife. At Pittenweem, in that county, his cave is to be
seen, and in it is his holy well, supplied with water from crevices
in the rock. At the mill of Killin, in Perthshire, once stood a block
of stone, known as St. Fillan's Chair. Close to the spot flows the
Dochart, and some person or persons, whose muscles were stronger than
their antiquarian instincts, sought not unsuccessfully to throw the
relic into the river. The Renfrewshire parish of Killallan, united in
1760 to that of Houston, got its name from Fillan. Its ancient church,
now ruined, was dedicated to him. Near the ruins, are a stone with
a hollow in it and a spring, called respectively St. Fillan's Seat
and St. Fillan's Well.
About two miles and a half to the south-east of Dunfermline,
is a block of stone, believed to be the last remnant of a group
of pre-historic Standing Stones. According to tradition, it was
used by Queen Margaret, as a seat where she rested, when on her
way to and from the ferry over the Forth. A farm in the immediate
neighbourhood is called St. Margaret's Stone Farm, after the block
in question. In his "Annals of Dunfermline" Dr. Henderson says,
"In 1856 this stone was removed to an adjacent site, by order of the
road surveyor, in order to widen the road which required no widening,
as no additional traffic was likely to ensue, but the reverse; it is
therefore much to be regretted that the old landmark was removed. It
is in contemplation to have the old stone replaced on its old site
(as nearly as possible) and made to rest, with secure fixings, on a
massive base or plinth stone." Not far from the town of Cromarty is
St. Bennet's Spring, beside the ruins of St. Bennet's Chapel. Close to
the spot once stood a stone trough, termed The Fairies' Cradle. Hugh
Miller, in his "Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland," says
that this trough was "famous for virtues derived from the saint, like
those of the well. For, if a child was carried away by the fairies
and some mischievous imp left in its place, the parents had only to
lay the changeling in this trough, and, by some invisible process,
their child would be immediately restored to them. The Fairies'
Cradle came to a sudden end about the year 1745. It was then broken
to pieces by the parish minister, with the assistance of two of his
elders, that it might no longer serve the purposes of superstition."
The following, from the Rev. Dr. Gregor's "Folklore of the North-East
of Scotland," has certainly nothing to do with a saint, but in other
respects, has a bearing on the subject in hand:--"The Pot o' Pittenyoul
is a small but romantic rock-pool in a little stream called the 'Burn
o' the Riggins,' which flows past the village of Newmills of Keith. On
the edge of the pool are some hollows worn away by the water and the
small stones and sand carried down by the stream. These hollows to a
lively imagination have the shape of a seat, and the story is, that
the devil, at some far-back time, sat down on the edge of the pool and
left his mark." Probably at an equally distant date, the devil made
his presence felt, further south, though in a different way. He had
great objections to a church built at Invergowrie, in Perthshire, and,
in order to knock it down, hurled a huge boulder across the Tay from
the opposite coast of Fife. We are not aware that the stone struck
the church. At any rate it can be seen in the grounds of Greystane,
a property to which, according to local tradition, it gave name. Sir
William Wallace, though never canonized, had certainly more of the
saint about him than the last-mentioned personage. We find various
traditions concerning him in the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire. His
connection with Lanark is well known. At Biggar, he is said, by
Blind Harry, to have defeated the English, who greatly outnumbered
his forces. This battle took place on Biggar Moss. A few days before
the fight, he entered the enemy's camp, disguised as a cadger or
pedlar, to discover the strength of the English army. Being pursued,
he turned on his assailants while crossing a bridge over Biggar
Water, a little to the west of the town. A foot-bridge there still
goes by the name of The Cadger's Bridge. A rock with a hollow in it,
lying to the north of Vizzyberry, is locally styled Wallace's Seat,
and a spring near the spot is still known as Wallace's Well.