The Legendary Lore of the Holy Wells of England
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'? '/-'#'•'/ ' ^7 f CX*->C5CS- '^ OF CP^ 59§70^ l-SSi"-.". -,, 3 ,.. -SJi f, THE LEGENDARY LORE OF THE HOL Y WELLS OF ENGLAND. : THE LEGENDARY LORE ' t\Q OF THE ~ 1 T\ I Holy Wells of England: INCLUDING IRfpers, Xaftes, ^fountains, ant) Springs. COPIOUSLY ILLUSTRATED BY CURIOUS ORIGINAL WOODCUTS. ROBERT CHARLES HOPE, F.S.A., F.R.S.L., PETERHOUSE, CAMBRIDGE; LINCOLN'S INN; MEMBER,OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY, AUTHOR OF "a GLOSSARY OF DIALECTAL PLACE-NOMENCLATURE," " AN INVENTORY OF THE CHURCH PLATE IN RUTLAND," "ENGLISH GOLDSMITHS," " THE LEPER IN ENGLAND AND ENGLISH LAZAR-HOUSES ;" EDITOR OF BARNABE GOOGE'S " POPISH KINGDOME." LONDON ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. 1893. PREFACE, THIS collection of traditionary lore connected with the Holy Wells, Rivers, Springs, and Lakes of England is the first systematic attempt made. It has been said there is no book in any language which treats of Holy Wells, except in a most fragmentary and discursive manner. It is hoped, therefore, that this may prove the foundation of an exhaustive work, at some future date, by a more competent hand. The subject is almost inexhaustible, and, at the same time, a most interesting one. There is probably no superstition of bygone days that has held the minds of men more tenaciously than that of well-worship in its broadest sense, "a worship simple and more dignified than a senseless crouching before idols." An honest endeavour has been made to render the work as accurate as possible, and to give the source of each account, where such could be ascertained. That sins of omission and of commission may herein be found it is not denied, but they are, it is hoped, few and far between. No attempt has been made at scientific classification or arrange- ment other than the placing of the wells under their respective counties. Until those of Scodand, Wales, and Ireland have been collected, such a course would seem premature. Should this work be favourably received, it is proposed to issue at no distant date similar collections of the Holy Wells, etc., in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. The writer will be very grateful for any traditions or superstitions connected therewith, also any photo- graphs or sketches illustrating the same for use and incorporation in the collections. A portion of the legends appeared from time to time in the pages of the Antiquary ; these have been revised and largely iv PREFACE. added to. A considerable number of them, however, and all the illustrations, are new. For the kind and willing loan of blocks, etc., for illustrating the book, the best thanks are due, and here given, to Messrs. Netherton and Worth, Printers, 6 and 7, Lemon Street, Truro, who have gener- ously supplied no less than eighteen ; Messrs. W. Bemrose and Sons, Derby, for fifteen ; Derby and Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, for those of St. Thomas a Becket's Well ; Mr. J. P. Birtwhistle, Halifax, for that of Stainland, York- shire ; Newcastle Society of Antiquaries, for those of Coventina and nymphs ; Miss Cooper of Scarborough, for the well at Carraw- burg ; Messrs. Hall, for Bretton and Heath ; and to Mr. John Owen for that of Oswestry. For much valuable information respecting, and legends of, wells, my best thanks are given to Miss C. S. Burne, for so kindly placing her magnificent volume of Shropshire Folk-lore at the disposal of the writer ; to Mr. G. T. Lawley, for Staffordshire Wells ; to Mr. C. T. Phillips, Hon. Lib. Sussex Archaeological Society, for those of Sussex ; the Rev. J. Wilson, Chaplain to her Majesty's Prison, Carlisle, for those of Cumberland; Mr. A. C. G. Cameron, H.M. Geological Survey, for those of Bedfordshire; Rev. Dr. Cox., F.S.A., Editor of the Antiquary., for many of Derbyshire, etc., etc. ; and also to the WTiters of various articles on the subject in the numerous archaeological and other publications. CONTENTS. TITLE PREFACE CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Vll WORKS QUOTED FROiM XXV ILLUSTRATIONS, LIST OF xxvii WELLS UNDER RESPPXTIVE COU 1-209 APPENDIX 211 INDEX ... ... , 217 — INTRODUCTION, WELL-WORSHIP, embracing that of Rivers, Lakes, Foun- tains, and Springs generally, is of great antiquity. From all parts of the globe a vast accumulation of legendary lore connected with this cult has from time to time been brought to light, taking us back to ages far anterior to Christianity, through days of darkness, when all traces of the one and only true religion, revealed to man by God, as recorded in Holy Scripture, had been forgotten, or had died out. The tower of Babel had caused the dispersion of nations, and the farther they receded from the common centre, which was also the seat of the religion, the more corrupted became the forms of worship adopted, and gradually,, in course of time, retained little, if any, of the truth at all. These legends and traditions have, in the main, a twofold origin or source, sacred and pagan. The sacred are derived from the accounts of the Deluge, the miraculous passages of the Red Sea and of Jordan—the Jordan is still a sanctified stream, to which thousands make pilgrimages to perform ablutions in it ; the members of the Royal Family are baptized with water brought specially from this river—the pools of Bethesda and of Siloah the latter t'ne precursor of eye we^—and other similar miracles recorded. Those of a purely pagan source are the growth of a primitive belief in what has been termed Naturalism, or the worship of Nature. In countries, in early times, where all trace of the true religion had disappeared, the heathen, ever prone to obey a natural instinct to worship something, looked upon every object around him from which he derived personal benefits, as a physical iota like himself—the sun, which gave him warmth and light, hence fire-worship; the trees, that sheltered him, hence tree- ! " INTRODUCTION. worship ; and, in an especial manner, the waters from above that moistened his soil, and those below which provided him with a very necessity of life. The upheaval of the waves, the rise and fall of the tides and floods, would greatly intensify his behef in the vitality and reality of their powers. As he advanced in this "Natural Religion" his mind would, at a later stage, associate a specific deity with attendants, as presiding over these physical objects of adoration. The water gods were aided by nymphs or naiads, one or more of whom had the care of, and watched or pre- sided over, particular wells, rivers, lakes, etc. The Indians, Egyptians, Persians, and Greeks all had deities of fountains and streams. In Roumania each spring was supposed to be presided over by a spirit called Wodna zena or zotta. The river Seine was under the protection of the goddess Sequana. In our own country we find the river Wharfe under the guardianship of Verbeia, the Tees of Peg Powler, who has an insatiable desire for human life, as also has the Jenny Greenteeth of Lancashire streams, the Ribble of Peg o'Nell, Blackwater of Easter, the Severn of Sabrina and of Nodens, the Skerne, etc. At Proclitia, i.e.., Carrawburg, on the Roman wall in Northumberland, was a well under the care of a British water goddess, Coventina. The river Dee was worshipped as the image of a deified patriarch and his supposed consort. Among the rustics only, now, does the nymph or mermaid, as <it Rostherne, Cheshire, Chapel-en-le-Frith and Hayfield, Derby- shire, in the Shropshire meres, etc., find belief and inspire awe. The rapacity for human life has been traditionally attributed to several of our rivers as the old rhymes relate : THE RIVER PART. / " River of Dart, river of Dart Every year thou claims't a heart. THE RIVERS TWEED AND TILL. " Tweed said to Till, ' What gars ye rin sae still ?' Till said to Tweed, ' Though ye rin wi' speed, And I rin slaw, Yet where ye drown ae man, " I drown twa. ' INTRODUCTION. Or, " Div ye no ken Where ye drown ae man I drown ten." THE DELUGE. The following is a small selection of legends from a large number, scattered all over the globe, which preserve to some extent the account given to us in Genesis : " In the Eddie, the flood is caused by the blood which sprang up to heaven from the body of the giant Ymer, whom Odin, Vilj, and Ve, the sons of Bor, slew, and not by rain as in the Bible." " " The Indian Mahabharata gives us the following version : " King Manus one day standing on the bank of a river, doing penance, suddenly heard the voice of a small fish imploring him to save it. He caught it in his hand, and laid it in a vessel ; but the fish began to grow, and demanded wider quarters. Manus threw it into a large lake, but the fish grew on, and wished to be taken to Ganga, the bride of the sea. Before long he had not room to stir even there, and Manus was obliged to carry it to the sea ; but when launched in the sea, it foretold the coming of a fearful flood. Manus was to build a ship, and go on board with the seven sages, and preserve the seeds of all things, then it would show itself to them horned. Manus did as he was commanded, and sailed in the ship ; the monster fish appeared in fulfilment of his promise, had the ship fastened to its horn by a rope, and towed it through the sea for many years, till it reached the summit of the Himavdn.