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Votive Offerings—Gifts
usually of Small Value—Toubir-nim-buadh—Rumbling Well—Heath—Rags—St.
Wallach's Bath —Pins at St. Wallach's Well—Luckiness of Things Crooked —Pins
Rising in Wells--Tobar-na-Glas-a-Coille—Lia Well — Pebbles — Coins --- St.
Jergon's Well — Silver Wells —Brass Well—Well at Avoch Castle—Introduction
of Loch Katrine Water into Glasgow—Some Glasgow Springs—St. Tbenew's
Well—St. Winifred's Well—Dr. Patrick Anderson—Offerings in France—Gifts in
Consecrated Buildings—Philosophy of Votive Offerings—Infection in
Folklore—Safety of Offerings —Transference of Disease—Results of Theft of
Offerings—Pennies in Holy Loch—Money in Clach-nan-Sul —Well—Dressing—Not
Found in Scotland—Festival at Tissington—Roman and English Fontinalia-—Royal
Oak-Day at Endon.
OFFERINGS at lochs and
springs have been incidentally mentioned more than once, but the subject is
one deserving separate treatment. Wells were not merely so much water, with
stones and turf round them, and lochs, sheets of water, encompassed by
moorland or forest. They were, as we have seen, the haunts of spirits,
propitious if remembered, but resentful if neglected. Hence no one thought
it proper to come to them empty-handed. The principle was, no gift, no cure.
Classical literature contains allusions to such votive offerings. Numa
sacrificed a sheep to a fountain, and Horace promised to offer to his sweet
Bandusian spring a kid not without flowers. Near Toulouse, in France, was a
sacred lake, into whose water the neighbouring tribes anciently threw
offerings of gold and silver. In our own country, the gifts were, as a rule,
of small intrinsic value. When speaking of Toubir-nim-buadh, in St. Kilda,
Macaulay says:—"Near the fountain stood an altar on which the distressed
votaries laid down their oblations. Before they could touch the sacred water
with any prospect of success, it was their constant practice to address the
genius of the place with supplication and prayer. No one approached him with
empty hands. But the devotees were abundantly frugal. The offerings,
presented by them, were the poorest acknowledgments that could be made to a
superior being, from whom they had either hopes or fears. Shells and
pebbles, rags of linen, or stuffs worn out, pins, needles, or rusty nails,
were generally all the tribute that was paid; and sometimes, though rarely
enough, copper coins of the smallest value." The appearance of this well is
thus described by the author of "Ecclesiological Notes":—"A low
square-shaped massy stone building with a stone roof, covers the spring,
which, after forming a pool in the floor of the cell, runs down the russet
slope like a thread of silver to join the stream in the valley."
The offerings, made by the St. Kildians, were
indeed much the same as those commonly made in other parts of the country.
We get a glimpse of what was done in the south of Scotland from Symson, who,
in his quaint "Description of Galloway," remarks:—"In this parish of Bootle,
about a mile from the kirk, towards the north, is a well called the Rumbling
Well, frequented by a multitude of sick people for all sorts of diseases the
first Sunday of May; lying there the Saturday night, and then drinking of it
early in the morning. There is also another well, about a quarter of a mile
distant from the former, towards the east. This well is made use of by the
country people when their cattle are troubled with a disease called by them
the Connoch. This water they carry in vessels to many parts and wash their
beasts with it, and give it them to drink. It is, too, remembered that at
both the wells they leave behind them something by way of a thank-offering.
At the first, they leave either money or clothes; at the second, they leave
the bands and shackles wherewith beasts are usually bound." The objects,
commonly left on the cairns beside the Holy Pool in Strathfillan, have
already been enumerated. In addition, bunches of heath, tied with worsted,
were occasionally left. The Cheese Well, on Minchmoor, in Peeblesshire, was
so called from the pieces of cheese thrown into it by passers-by as
offerings to the fairies. Around a certain spring near Newcastle, in
Northumberland, the bushes were so covered with shreds of clothing that the
spring went by the name of the Rag Well. At St. Oswald's Well, near the foot
of Roseberry Topping, in Yorkshire, the pieces of cloth were so numerous
that, as a spectator once remarked, they "might have made a fair ream in a
paper-mill." A contributor to "Notes and Queries," in 1876,
observes:----"The custom of hanging shreds of rags on trees as votive
offerings still obtains in Ireland. I remember as a child to have been
surreptitiously taken by an Irish nurse to St. John's Well, Aghada, County
Cork, on the vigil of the saint's day, to be cured of whooping-cough by
drinking three times of the water of the holy well. I shall never forget the
strange spectacle of men and women, creeping on their knees in voluntary
devotion, or in obedience to enjoined penance, so many times round the well,
which was protected by a grey stone hood, and had a few white thorn trees
growing near it, on the spines of which fluttered innumerable shreds of
frieze and vary-coloured rags, the votive offerings of devotees and
patients." In the Isle
of Man, also, the custom of hanging up rags was at one time much in vogue.
In Malew parish there is Chibber-Undin, signifying the Foundation Well, so
called from the foundations of a now almost obliterated chapel hard by. The
ritual practised at the well is thus described by Mr. A. W. Moore in his "Sv,rnarnes
and Place-names of the Isle of Man":---"The patients who came to it, took a
mouthful of water, retaining it in their mouths till they had twice walked
round the well. They then took a piece of cloth from a garment which they
had worn, wetted it from the water from the well, and hung it on the
hawthorn tree which grew there. When the cloth had rotted away the cure was
supposed to be effected." Evidence from Wales to the same effect is
furnished by Professor Rhys in "Folklore" for September, 1892. He there
gives the following information, lately sent to him by a friend, about a
Glamorganshire holy well situated between Coychurch and Bredgled:—"It is the
custom," he writes, "for people suffering from any malady to dip a rag in
the water, and bathe the affected part. The rag is then placed on a tree
close to the well. When I passed it, about three years ago, there were
hundreds of these shreds covering the tree, and some had evidently been
placed there very recently." Professor Rhys also refers to other
Glamorganshire springs where rags are to be seen hanging on trees.
Scottish examples of the same superstition are
numerous. At Montblairie, in Banffshire, pieces of linen and woollen stuffs
were hung on the boughs beside a consecrated well, and farthings and bodies
were thrown into the spring itself. The bushes around a well at Houston, in
Renfrewshire, were at one time the recipients of many a rag. Hugh Miller,
who took so keen an interest in all such relics of superstition, has not
failed to notice the custom as practised near his native town of Cromarty.
In his "Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland," he says:—"It is not
yet twenty years since a thorn bush, which formed a little canopy over the
spring of St. Bennet, used to be covered anew every season with little
pieces of rag, left on it as offerings to the saint by sick people who came
to drink of the water." St. Wallach's Bath, in Strathdeveron, was a popular
health-resort till the beginning of the present century. Non-thriving
children were brought to it annually in large numbers. No longer ago than
1874 an invalid from the seaside sought its aid. The bath—a cavity in the
rock fully a yard in depth—is close to the river, and is supplied with water
from a scanty spring, several yards higher up the slope. The supply trickles
over the edge of the bath into the river, some four feet below. A bib or
other part of the child's clothing was hung on a neighbouring tree or thrown
into the bath. Sometimes when the Deveron was in flood, it submerged the
bath, and swept these offerings down to the sea. As previously mentioned,
St. Wallach's Well, hard by, was much resorted to for the cure of sore eyes.
Pins were the usual offerings. They were left in a hole in a stone beside
the well. May was the favourite season for visiting the spring, and by the
end of the month the hole was often full of pins. This was the case down to
a comparatively recent date.
Offerings, such as pins, were often thrown into
the well itself instead of being left beside its margin. Near Wooler, in
Northumberland, on the southern slopes of the Cheviots, is a spring locally
styled the Pin Well. A fairy was believed to make it her home, and maidens,
as they passed, dropped in a crooked pin to gain her good graces. Crooked
pins were rather popular, anything so bent—e.g., a crooked sixpence—being
deemed lucky. In the case of more than one English spring the notion
prevailed that, when a pin was thrown in, the votary would see the pins
already there rise to meet the newcomer. But faith was essential. Otherwise
the mysterious vision would be withheld. We do not know that a corresponding
belief prevailed north of the Tweed. Between the glens of Corgarff and
Glengairn in Aberdeenshire, is the spring known as Tobar-na-Glasa-Coille or
The Well in the Grey Wood. A pin or other piece of metal had to be dropped
into it by anyone taking a draught of its water. Whoever neglected this
duty, and at any time afterwards again drew water from the spring, was
doomed to die of thirst. Some of these votive pins were found at the bottom
of the well, no longer ago than the autumn of 1891.
Probably very few travellers by the Callander
and Oban railway are aware of the existence of an interesting, but now
neglected holy well, only a few yards distant from the line. It is situated
at the entrance of rugged Glen Ogle, and from the spot a fine view can be
had of Ben Lawers, Ben Moro, and Ben Loy. The well is on Wester Lix farm,
and is locally known as the Lix Well. The spring rises in one of the many
hillocks in the neighbourhood. The top of the hillock had been levelled.
Round the spring is built a wall of stone and turf, about two feet in
height, and shaped like a horse-shoe, the opening being to the east. The
distance across the enclosed space is about fourteen feet. In the centre is
the well, in the form of a parallelogram, two feet by one and a half, with a
long drain leading from it through the opening of the horse-shoe. This drain
was at one time covered with flagstones. Four shapely lintels of micaceous
schist enclose the well. The spot used to be frequented at the beginning of
May, the wall already referred to forming a convenient resting-place for
visitors. Quartz pebbles were the favourite offerings on these occasions.
Immediately behind the well, quite a small cairn of them can still be seen.
Pebbles were among the cheapest possible offerings, the only cost being the
trouble of picking them up. Coins were rather more expensive; but, as they
were commonly of small value, the outlay was trifling even in their case.
The more fervent the zeal of the votary, the greater would doubtless be the
length he or she would go in the matter of expense. In the parish of
Culsalmond, in Aberdeenshire, a gold coin of James I. of Scotland was found
associated with an ancient healing-well. Such liberality, however, was rare.
After desribing St. Maelrubha's Well on Innis Maree in the "Proceedings of
the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland," volume iv., Sir Arthur Mitchell
observes, "Near it stands an oak tree, which is studded with nails. To each
of these was originally attached a piece of the clothing of some patient who
had visited the spot. There are hundreds of nails, and one has still
fastened to it a faded ribbon. Two bone buttons and two buckles we also
found nailed to the tree. Countless pennies and halfpennies are driven
edgeways into the wood—over many the bark is closing, over many it has
already closed." Within recent years, another visitor from the south
examined one of the coins stuck into the tree. It was ostensibly silver, but
proved on examination to be counterfeit. The pilgrim, who left it as an
offering, evidently thought that the saint could be easily imposed upon.
As in the case of the pins, the coins, given as
offerings were, as a rule, thrown into the spring itself. As an example, we
may cite the case of St. Jergon's or St. Querdon's Well in Troqueer parish,
Kirkcudbrightshire. In an article in the "Transactions of the Dumfries and
Galloway Natural History Society" for 1870, Mr. Patrick Dudgeon remarks,
"Taking advantage of the very dry summer of last year when the spring was
unusually low, I had the well thoroughly cleaned out and put in order, it
having been almost obliterated by cattle being allowed to use it as a
watering-place. Several hundreds of coins were found at the bottom—almost
all being of the smallest description of copper coin, dating from the time
of Elizabeth to that of George III. . . . None were of any particular
interest or value; the greatest number are Scottish, and belong to the time
of James VI., Charles I., and Charles II. The. circumstance that no coins
were found of an older date than the reign of Elizabeth is not at all
conclusive that offerings of a similar nature had not been made at much
earlier periods. It will be observed that the oldest coins are the thinnest,
and that, although many are as thin as a sheet of writing paper, the legend
on them is perfectly distinct and legible; this, of course, would not have
been the case had the thinning process been owing to wear and tear. When
first taken out, they were perfectly bright—as new copper—and had all the
appearance of having been subjected to the action of an acid. Something in
the water has acted very slowly as a solvent on the metal, and, acting quite
equally over the whole surface, has reduced the coins to their present
state: it is, therefore, reasonable to conclude that, owing to the solvent
properties of the water, any coins thrown into the well anterior to the date
of those found may have been completely dissolved." Mr. Dudgeon mentions
having been told by old people in the neighbourhood, that they remembered
the time, when rags and ribbons were hung on the bushes around the well. It
is a remarkable circumstance that even since the cleaning out of the spring
above referred to, coins have been thrown into it. A recent examination of
the spot brought these to light, and showed the persistence of this curious
phase of well-worship.
What would be styled "a
collection in silver" in modern ecclesiastical language was sometimes
regarded with special favour. The name of the Silver Wells in different
parts of the country can thus be accounted for. There is a Siller Well in
Walston parish, Lanarkshire. Arbroath, in Forfar-shire; Alvah, in
Banffshire; and Fraserburgh, in Aberdeenshire, have each their Silver Well.
At Turriff, in the last-mentioned county, there is a farm on the estate of
Gask called Silver Wells after a local spring. At Trelevean, in Cornwall, is
a spring known as the Brass Well. Its name, however, is derived not from the
nature of the offerings left there, but from the colour of the scum on its
surface. Close to the ruins of Avoch Castle, in the Black Isle, is a well
hollowed out of the conglomerate rock. Tradition says, that the treasures of
the castle were thrown into it about the middle of the seventeenth century.
This was done, not by way of offering a gift to the presiding spirit of the
water, but to prevent the valuables from falling into the hands of
Cromwell's troops. A diamond ring was dropped, not very long ago, into St.
Molio's Well, on Holy Island, near Lamlash. It fell into the water by
accident, and, after remaining in it for some time, was found and restored
to its owner. The
present ample water-supply of Glasgow from Loch Katrine was introduced in
1859. For about fifty years before that date, the city looked mainly to the
Clyde for the supply of its daily needs. Still earlier, it depended entirely
on its wells. In 1736 these are believed to have numbered about thirty in
all. Among the best known were the Deanside or Meadow Well, Bogle's Well,
Barrasyett Well near the foot of Saltmarket, the Priest's or Minister's Well
and Lady Well beside the Molendinar, the Arns Well in the Green—so-called
from the alders on its brink, and St. Thenew's Well, near what is now St.
Enoch's Square. Not far from the well was a chapel dedicated to St. Thenew,
with a graveyard round it. Some remains of the chapel were to be seen in
1736, when M`Ure wrote his history of the city. Dr. Andrew MacGeorge, in his
"Old Glasgow," when describing St. Thenew's Well, remarks, "It was shaded by
an old tree which drooped over the well, and which remained till the end of
the last century. On this tree, the devotees, who frequented the well, were
accustomed to nail, as thank-offerings, small bits of tin-iron---probably
manufactured for that purpose by a craftsman in the
neighbourhood—representing the parts of the body supposed to have been cured
by the virtues of the sacred spring, such as eyes, hands, feet, ears, and
others." Dr. MacGeorge further mentions that the well was cleaned out about
a hundred years ago. On that occasion there were "picked out from among the
debris at the bottom several of these old votive offerings which had dropped
into it from the tree, the stump of which was at that time still standing."
Horace tells of a shipwrecked sailor, hanging up
his garments, as a thank-offering in the temple of the divinity who
delivered him from the angry sea. In like manner, Pennant describes what he
saw at St. Winifred's Well, in North Wales. "All infirmities," he says,
"incident to the human body, met with relief; the votive crutches, the
barrows and other proofs of cures, to this moment remain as evidence pendent
over the well." In his "Spring of Kinghorn Craig," published in Edinburgh in
1618, Dr. Patrick Anderson has some curious remarks on the subject of votive
offerings. He speaks of wells as being "all tapestried about with old rags,
as certaine signes and sacraments wherewith they arle the well with ane
arls-pennie of their health." He continues, "So suttle is that false knave
making them believe that it is only the virtue of the water, and no thing
else. Such people cannot say with David, `The Lord is my helper,' but the
Devill." What can still be seen on the other side of the English Channel is
thus described by the Rev. C. N. Barham, in an article on Ragged Relics, in
"The Antiquary" for January, 1893:—"At Wierre Effroy, in France, where the
water of St. Godeleine's Well is esteemed efficacious for ague, rheumatism,
gout, and all affections of the limbs, a heterogeneous collection of
crutches, bandages, coils of rags, and other rejected adjuncts of medical
treatment, is to be seen hanging upon the surrounding shrubs. They are
intended as thankofferings and testimonies of restoration. Other springs,
famous for curing ophthalmia, abound in the same district, and here too,
bandages, shades, guards, and rags innumerable are exhibited."
The leaving of offerings at wells finds a
parallel in the practice, at one time common, of depositing gifts in
consecrated buildings. The chapel of St. Tears, in the parish of Wick,
Caithness, used to be visited on Childermas (December 28th) by devotees, who
left in it pieces of bread and cheese as offerings to the souls of the Holy
Innocents slain by Herod. This was done till about the beginning of the
present century. Till even a later date it was customary for the inhabitants
of Mirelandorn to go to the Kirk of Moss, in the same parish, on Christmas
before sunrise. They took bread and cheese as offerings, and placed them
along with a silver coin on a certain stone. The Kirk of Moss was dedicated
to Duthac, patron saint of Tam; and the gifts were doubtless destined for
him. On Eilean Mar is a chapel said to have been built by Charmaig, the
tutelar saint of the island. In a recess in this building is a stone coffin,
anciently used for the interment of priests. The following statement occurs
in the "Old Statistical Account of Scotland":—"The coffin, also, for ages
back, has served the saint as a treasury; and this, perhaps, might be the
purpose for which it was originally intended. Till of late, not a stranger
set foot on the island who did not conciliate his favour by dropping a small
coin into a chink between its cover and side."
When we examine the motives prompting to the
practice under review, we can discover the working of a principle, vaguely
grasped perhaps, but sufficiently understood to serve as a guide to action.
This crude philosophy was two-fold. On the one hand, the gift left at a loch
or spring was what has been facetiously styled a "retaining fee." It secured
the goodwill of the genius loci, and thereby guaranteed to a certain extent
the fulfilment of the suppliant's desire. This desire, as we have seen, was
commonly the removal of a definite disease. On the other hand, the disease
to be removed was in some mysterious way identified with the offering. The
latter was the symbol, or rather the embodiment of the former, and,
accordingly, to leave the gift was to leave the ailment—the patient being
thus freed from both. The corollary to this was, that whoever removed the
offering took away also the disease represented by it. According to a
well-established law of medical science, infection is transferred from one
person to another by clothing, or indeed by whatever comes into contact with
the morbid particles from the patient's body. But infection in folklore is
something different from this. Disease of any kind, whether usually reckoned
infectious or not, passed via the offering to the person lifting it. Hence
such gifts had a charmed existence, and were as safe as if under the sweep
of the "Ancient Monuments Protection Act." The Rev. Dr. Gregor thus
expresses the feeling on this point, as it prevailed till lately in the
north-east of Scotland:--"No one would have been foolhardy enough to have
even touched what had been left, far less to have carried it off. A child,
or one who did not know, was most carefully instructed why such things were
left in and around the well, and strict charge was laid not to touch or
carry any of them off. Whoever carried off one, of such relics contracted
the disease of the one who left it."
The notion that disease can be transferred lies
at the root of various folk-cures. Dalyell, in his "Darker Superstition.s,"
remarks, "It is said that, in the Highlands, a cat is washed in the water
which has served for the ablution of an invalid, as if the disease absorbed
from one living creature could be received by another, instead of being let
free." In some parts of the Highlands, a common cure for an ailing cow was
to make the animal swallow a live trout, so that the disease might pass from
the one creature to the other. This was done not long ago, at a farm near
Golspie, in Sutherland. In Norfolk, as a remedy for whooping-cough, a spider
was caught, tied up in a piece of muslin, and pinned over the mantelpiece.
The cough disappeared when the spider died. In Gloucestershire, ague was
cured in the following way:—A living snail was worn in a bag round the neck
for nine days. The snail was then thrown upon the fire when it was believed
to shake as if with ague, and the patient recovered. Many more illustrations
of this principle might be given, but the above are sufficient to show how
it was applied. Symson
records an instance in Galloway of swift vengeance following the theft of
certain votive offerings. He says. "Hereabout, i.e., near Larg, in Minnigaff
parish, is a well called the Gout Well of Larg, of which they tell this
story—how that a piper stole away the offering left at this well, but when
he was drinking of ale, which he intended to pay with the money he had taken
away, the gout, as they say, seized on him, of which he could not be cured,
but at that well, having first restored to it the money he had formerly
taken away." Accident, rather than disease, sometimes resulted from such
sacrilegious acts. The offerings were the property of the guardian spirit
who was quick to resent their removal and to punish the doer of the deed. In
the district of Ardnamurchan is a cave, associated with Columba, who there
baptised some freebooters. The water used for the purpose lay in a hollow of
the rock, and, in after times, votive gifts were left beside it. On one
occasion, a young man stole some of these, but he did not remain long
unpunished, for before reaching home he fell and broke his leg. Tobarfuar-Marie,
i.e., The big cold Well, situated at the foot of a steep hill in the parish
of Corgarff, Aberdeenshire, consists of three springs about a yard distant
from each other. Each spring formerly cured a separate disease—one,
blindness; the other, deafness; and the third, lameness. The guardian spirit
of the springs lived under a large stone called the kettle stone, because
below it was a kettle where she stored her votive offerings. She was
somewhat exacting in her demands, for no cure could be expected unless gold
was presented, These particulars were obtained in the district by the Rev.
Dr. Gregor, who records them in "Folklore" for March, 1892, and adds, "If
one tried to rob the spirit, death by some terrible accident soon followed.
My informant, more than fifty years ago, when a lad, resolved to remove the
kettle stone from its position, and so become possessor of the spirit's
gold. He accordingly set out with a few companions all provided with picks
and spades, to displace the stone. After a good deal of hard labour the
stone was moved from its site, but no kettle full of gold was found. An old
woman met the lads on their way to their homes, and when she learnt what
they had been doing, she assured them they would all die within a few weeks,
and that a terrible death would befall the ring-leader."
That the guardians of spring look well after
their possessions in the new world, as well as in the old, is proved by the
following quotation from Sir J. Lubbock's "Origin of Civilisation":--"In
North Mexico," he says, "Lieutenant Whipple found a sacred spring which,
from time immemorial `had been held sacred to the rain-god.' No animal may
drink of its waters. It must be annually cleansed with ancient vases, which,
having been transmitted from generation to generation by the caciques, are
then placed upon the walls, never to be removed. The frog, the tortoise, and
the rattlesnake represented upon them, are sacred to Montezuma, the patron
of the place, who would consume by lightning any sacrilegious hand that
should dare to take the relics away." With the growth of enlightenment men's
minds rose above such delusions. Had it not been so, the Holy Wells in our
land would still have presented the appearance of rag fairs, or served as
museums for old coins. Holy Loch, in Dunnet, Caithness, used to be much
resorted to as a place of healing. The invalids walked or were carried round
the lake and threw a penny into the water. Some of these pennies have been
picked up from time to time by persons who have outgrown the old
superstition. The hollow in the Clach-nan-Sul at Balquhidder, already
referred to, contained small coins placed there by those who sought a cure
for their sore eyes. Mr. J. Mackintosh Gow was told by some one in the
district, that "people, when going to church, having forgotten their small
change, used in passing to put their hands in the well and find a coin." Mr.
Gow's informant mentioned that he had done so himself.
In the ceremony known as "well-dressing" or
"well-flowering," the offerings took the form of blossoms and green boughs.
For different reasons Scotland has not been abreast of England in floral
matters. Only in the latter country did the practice take root, and even
there only within a somewhat limited area. We must seek for its home in
Derbyshire and the adjacent counties. At some places it has died out, while
at others it still survives, and forms the excuse for a pleasant holiday. At
Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, indeed, St. Boniface's Well was decorated with
wreaths of flowers on the saint's day; but this was an exceptional instance
so far south. Within comparatively recent years well-flowering has, at one
or two places, been either instituted, as at Belper, in Derbyshire, in 1838,
or revived, as at St. Alkmund's Well in Derby, in 1870. The clergy and choir
of St. Alkmund's Church celebrate the day by meeting at the church and
walking in procession to the well. Writing in the seventeenth century,
Aubrey says, "In Cheshire, when they went in perambulation, they did bless
the springs, 'i.e., they did read the Gospel at them, and did believe the
water was the better." At Droitwich, in Worcestershire, a salt spring,
dedicated to St. Richard, used to be annually adorned with flowers.
A correspondent of the "Gentleman's Magazine" of
1794 remarks, "In the village of Tissington, in the county of Derby, a place
remarkable for fine springs of water, it has been a custom, time immemorial,
on every Holy Thursday, to decorate the wells with boughs of trees, garlands
of tulips, and other flowers, placed in various fancied devices, and, after
prayers for the day at the church, for the parson and singers to pray and
sing psalms at the wells." In Hone's "Every Day Book," under date 1826, are
the following remarks by a correspondent.—"Tissington `well - dressing' is a
festivity which not only claims a high antiquity, but is one of the few
country fetes which are kept up with anything like the ancient spirit. It is
one which is heartily loved and earnestly anticipated; one which draws the
hearts of those who were brought up there, but whom fortune has cast into
distant places, homewards with an irresistible charm. I have not had the
pleasure of witnessing it, but I have had that of seeing the joy which
sparkled in the eyes of the Tissingtonians as they talked of its approach
and of their projected attendance." The festival is still held in honour at
Tissington, and elaborate preparations continue to be made for its
celebration. Flowers are arranged in patterns to form mottoes and texts of
Scripture, and also devices, such as crosses, crowns, and triangles, while
green boughs are added to complete the picture. A correspondent of "Notes
and Queries" thus describes the decorations on Ascension Day in 1887: "The
name of 'well-dressing' scarcely gives a proper idea of these beautiful
structures. They are rather fountains or cascades, the water descending from
above, and not rising as in a well. Their height varies from ten to twelve
feet, and the original stone frontage is on this day hidden by a wooden
erection in the form of an arch or some other elegant design. Over these
planks a layer of plaster of Paris is spread, and whilst it is wet, flowers
without leaves are stuck in it, forming a most beautiful mosaic pattern. On
one the large yellow field ranunculus was arranged in letters, and so a
verse of Scripture or of a hymn was recalled to the spectator's mind. On
another a white dove was sculptured in the plaster and set in a groundwork
of the humble violet. The daisy, which our poet Chaucer would gaze upon for
hours together, formed a diaper-work of red and white; the pale yellow
primrose was set off by the rich red of the ` ribes.' Nor were the coral
berries of the holly, mountain ash, and yew forgotten; they are carefully
gathered and stored in the winter to be ready for the May Day fete. It is
scarcely possible to describe the vivid colouring and beautiful effect of
these favourites of nature arranged in wreaths and garlands and devices of
every hue. And then the pure sparkling water, which pours down from the
midst of them on to the rustic moss-grown stones beneath, completes the
enchantment, and makes this feast of the `well-flowering' one of the most
beautiful of all the old customs that are left in Merrie England."
Well-flowering also prevails at Buxton, and is a source of interest to the
many visitors to that airy health resort.
Such floral devices do not now rank as votive
gifts. They are merely decorations. The custom may have originated in the
Roman Fontinalia. At any rate it had at one time a corresponding object. The
Fontinalia formed an annual flower-festival in honour of the nymphs
inhabiting springs. Joyous bands visited the fountains, crowned them with
boughs, and threw nosegays into their sparkling water. The parallelism
between the Roman and the English Fontinalia is too well marked to be
overlooked. In Derbyshire and Staffordshire the ceremony of well-dressing is
usually observed on Ascension Day. In more than one instance the festival
has attracted to itself various old English sports commonly associated with
May Day. Among these may be mentioned May-pole and Morris-dancing and
crowning the May-queen.
At Endon, in Staffordshire, the festival is
celebrated on Royal Oak Day (May 29th), or on the following day if the 29th
is a Sunday. The following account—somewhat abbreviated—is from the
"Staffordshire Evening Post" of 31st May, 1892, and gives some interesting
particulars about the festival: "The secluded village of Endon yesterday
celebrated the well-dressing feast. This institution, dear to the heart of
every loyal inhabitant, holds foremost rank in the local calends, for it is
not a holiday of ordinary frivolous significance, but a thanksgiving
festival. The proceeds, which generally amount to some hundreds of pounds,
are divided between the poor of the parish and the parochial schools. There
are two wells at Endon. One is very old and almost dry, and has long since
fallen into disuse. The other alone supplies the village with water. From a
very early hour in the morning the whole village was astir, and those people
who were gifted with taste and a delicate touch busied themselves in
bedecking the wells for the coming ceremony. As the day advanced, crowds of
visitors poured in from all parts of the potteries; and towards evening the
village green probably held no fewer than two thousand people. The
proceedings, which were under the personal guidance of the vicar, commenced
a little before two o'clock. A procession of about a hundred and twenty
Sunday-school children was formed at the new well, with the Brownedge
village brass band at its head. The children carried little flags, which
they vigorously waved in excess of glee. The band struck up bravely, and the
procession marched in good order up the hill to the old parish church, where
a solemn service was conducted. The villagers attended in overwhelming
numbers, and completely thronged the building. There was a fully surpliced
choir, whose singing, coupled with the music of the organ, greatly added to
the impressiveness of the service. Hymns and psalms, selected by the vicar
as applicable to a thanksgiving service for water, were sung by the
congregation in spirited style. At the conclusion of the service the
procession was reformed, the band leading the way back to the new well. Upon
arrival, the clergy and choir, who had retained their surplices, walked
slowly round the well, singing `Rock of Ages' and 'A living stream as
crystal clear.' Both wells were very beautifully decorated; but the new well
was a masterpiece of elaborated art. A large wooden framework had been
erected in front of the well, and upon this a smooth surface of soft clay
had been laid. The clay was thickly studded with many thousands of flower
heads in great variety of kind and hue, and in pictorial as well as
geometrical arrangement. There were two very . pretty figures of peacocks in
daisies, bluebells, and dahlias, and a resplendent motto, '0, ye wells!
bless ye the Lord!' (from the Benedicite) garnished the summit. The old well
was almost deserted, although its decorations were well worthy of
inspection. Its motto, `Give me this water' (from the fourth chapter of St.
John) was very finely traced, and its centre figures—two white doves and a
crown—were sufficiently striking. Maypole dances, including the crowning of
the May-queen, occupied the greater part of the afternoon. In the evening
the band played for dancing, and there was a repetition of the May-pole
dances. After dusk there was a display of fireworks."
Though, as already stated, well-dressing was
unknown north of the Tweed, any account of votive offerings would be
incomplete without a reference to the picturesque ceremony. |
