Revel of Mary Magdaline - Stocklinch

Stocklinch Village today - image by Nigel Mykura [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"In Collinson's History of Somersetshire, vol. i. Abdick and Bulston Hundred, p. 64, speaking of Stocklinch, St. Magdalen Parish, the author says : "A Revel is held here on St. Mary Magdalen's day.""

Brand 1813

 






 

Map - Stocklinch

[Mary Magdalene was a disciple of Jesus, and a saint in the Catholic church.  After the first half of the first millennium AD it was suggested by Pope Gregory that she was a prostitute, although the Vatican revised this in 1969 (Wikipedia!) - so for the period Brand and Collinson where talking about she would have been thought of as a 'repentant' prostitute - It makes me wander what nature her revel took...  Saint Mary Magdalene's day was the 22nd of July]

Saint Decuman part 1

Saint Decuman Church, Watchet - ChurchCrawler [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"Happy Decuman was born of a good family in the western part of Wales, of parents strict observers of the Christian religion. He, after he had passed his childhood at home, as he advanced in years, was of a very good disposition; and at length crossed the Severn unknown to all his acquaintance, especially to his relations, and to those who seemed to be more nearly concerned for his welfare; trusting in Christ alone for his protection. But not to mention anything more, he paid no freight and had no ship. This good man relying upon the mercy of God, not doubting but that He would protect him, bound shrubs together, which he found growing by the sea-side, and making use of such a vehicle committed himself to the ocean. Being by divine providence directed, he was carried to the opposite shore, near Dart's Castle.

There was in that part of the country in which he landed, a desert place (presumably Exmoor) beset with shrubs and briars, which were very long and large, and by the hollowness of the vathes was wonderfully separated. This place pleased him much : changing his native country for a sort of exile, the luxury of a palace for the dens of a desert. There he began to dwell and to live upon roots and herbs, leading the life of a hermit, and by such government in the above-mentioned desert, he lived many years...." [cont.]

Hewett 1900

Other Graves at Glastonbury Abbey

Joseph of Aramathea - west front of Glastonbury parish church

 "Here also are buried Coel, king of Britain,; father of the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, Edmund the Elder, King Edgar, Edmund Ironside, St. Joseph of Arimathea (it is said), St. Patrick, St. Dunstan, and Gildas, one of our earliest historians."

Valentine (undated)

Map - Glastonbury Abbey

Edmund Ironside

Saint John's Well, Wemdon

A medieval leper bell at the museum Ribes Vikinger, Ribe, Denmark - Public Domain

"There was, in 1464, a well in this parish called St. John's Well, to which an immense concourse of people resorted, and many who had for years laboured under various bodily diseases, and had found no benefit from physic and physicians, were, by the use of these waters, after paying their due offerings, restored to their pristine health.—Collinson's H. of S., iii. 104."

Hope 1893

Map - Wembdon

Ashill: St. Nipperham's

Picture from http://www.flickr.com/photos/snapr/484776493/sizes/z/in/photostream/ Under Creative Commons license

Attribution 2.0 Generic

"At Ashill, near Ilminster, is a well which on the first Sunday in May is agitated by bubbles, and the sick and lame used to be brought to bathe there. St. Nipperham is believed to be a corruption of St. Cyprian."

Hope 1893

Map - Ashill

Saint Cuthberts Well, Holywell, Cubert.

Nr Cubert and Holywell

Tony Atkin [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"In this parish (St. Cuthbert) is that famous and well-known spring of water, called Holy Well, so named, the inhabitants say, for that the virtues of this water were first discovered on All Hallow's Day. The same stands in a dark cavern of the sea cliff rocks, beneath full sea-mark on spring tides. The virtues of the waters are, if taken inward, a notable vomit, or as a purgent. If applied outward, it presently strikes in, or dries up, all itch, scurf, dandriff, and such-like distempers in men or women. Numbers of persons in summer season frequent this place and waters from countries far distant. It is a petrifying well.--Ibid., 53." 

Hope 1893

[I can only deduce this must be Cubert, where between it and the sea is a small hamlet called Holywell. Seems likely. The Megalithic Portal puts a holy well at Trevornick Farm, but also mentions rockpools further up the coast.]

Map - Holywell, Cubert

Saint Breward's Well

"This well is situated in a valley near a farm called "Chapel," close to Camelford. It is, or was, visited by sufferers from inflamed eyes and other complaints. As an offering, the sufferer threw in a pin, or small coin, to the saint.--Western Antiquary, 37."

 

Hope 1893

Map - Saint Breward's Well

Saint Neot's Well - part 1

Saint Neot at prayer in his well - Please credit this website if you wish to use this image

"St. Neot's Well, not far west from the church, was arched over in granite by the late General Carlyon, the old arched covering, having fallen in many years ago. St. Neot, said to have been learned, eloquent, and intelligent, was a monk of Glastonbury, and supposed to have been brother to Alfred the Great, contemporary with St. Dunstan ; he died 800. Many sought his prayers, either for relief of their infirmities, or for spiritual comfort. Wearied of his fame he retired to his hermitage here, with one attendant, Barius. It was in this well that he stood up to his chin daily, and chanted the Psalter throughout...." [cont...]

Hope 1893

Saint Levan

"Near the edge of the cliff, on the right bank of the stream, close to the church, is the ruin of the ancient baptistery or Well of St, Levan, who, according to the legend, supported himself by fishing. He caught only one fish a day. But once, when his sister and his child came to visit him, after catching a chad, which he thought not dainty enough to entertain them, he threw it again into the sea. The same fish was caught three times, and at last the saint accepted it, cooked and placed it before his guests, when the child was choked by the first mouthful, and St. Levan saw in the accident a punishment for his dissatisfaction with the fish which Providence had sent him. The chad is still called here "chack-cheeld"--choke-child. The chapel has disappeared."

Hope 1893

Map - St. Levan

Gwavas Lake

Chyandour, 2008 -   © Copyright Bob Embleton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

"On the western side of Mount's Bay, between the fishing towns of Newlyn and Mousehole, is the well-known anchoring place known by the above name. It is not a little curious that any part of the ocean should have been called a lake. Tradition, however, helps us to an explanation. Between the land on the western side of the bay and St. Michael's Mount on the eastern side, there at one time extended a forest of beech-trees. Within this forest on the western side was a large lake, and on its banks a hermitage. The saint of the lake was celebrated far and near for his holiness, and his small oratory was constantly resorted to by the diseased in body and the afflicted in mind. None ever came in the true spirit who failed to find relief. The prayers of the saint, and the waters of the lake, removed the pains from the limbs and the deepest sorrows from the mind. The young were strengthened, and the old revived, by their influences. The great flood, how ever, which separated the islands of Scilly from England submerged the forest, and destroyed the land enclosing this lovely and almost holy lake, burying beneath the waters churches and houses, and destroying alike both the people and the priest. Those who survived this sad catastrophe built a church on the hill, and dedicated it to the saint of the lake, or, in Cornish, St. Pol, modernised into St. Paul. In support of this tradition, we may see on a fine summer day, when the tide is low and the waters clear, the remains of a forest, in the line passing from St. Michael's Mount to Gwavas. At neap tides the people have gathered beech-nuts from the sands below Chyandour, and cut the wood from the trees embedded in the sand.--ibid., 218."

Hope 1893

Map - Gwavas Lake

Polperro: Saint's Well

"The reputed virtues of this well have survived the entire destruction of the edifice which enclosed the spring, for it is still resorted to by those afflicted with inflamed eyes and other ailments, and if "ceremonies due" are done aright, with great benefit. It must be visited on three mornings before sunrise, fasting, a  relic of a veritable ceremony, as witnesseth Chaucer's Pardoner's Tale, line 33. 

If the goode man that the beest oweth,
Wol every wike er that the cok him croweth,
Fastynge, drinke of this well a draugbt,
As thilke holy Jew oure eldres taught,
His beestes, and his stoor schal multiplier "

Hope 1893

Map - Polperro

Cornish Holy Wells - Part 1

"A CORRESPONDENT of the Gentleman's Magazine, writing on this interesting subject, says: "In Cornwall there are several wells which bear the name of some patron saint, who appears to have had a chapel consecrated to him or her on the spot. This appears by the name of Chapel Saint-attached by tradition to the spot. These chapels were most probably mere oratories; but in the parish of Maddern there is a well called Maddern Well, which is inclosed in a complete baptistery, the walls, seats, doorway, and altar of which still remain. The socket which received the base of the crucifix or pedestal of the saint's image is perfect. The foundations of the outer walls are apparent. The whole ruin is very picturesque, and I wonder that it is passed in so slight a manner by all Cornish historians, and particularly by Dr. Borlase, who speaks merely of the virtues superstitiously ascribed to the waters. This neglect in Borlase is the more to be wondered at, as the ruin is situated' in his native parish. I was struck with being informed that the superstitious of the neighbourhood attend on the first Thursday in May to consult this oracle by dropping pins, etc. Why on Thursday? May not this be some vestige of the day on which baptisteries were opened after their being kept shut and scaled during Lent, which was on Maundy Thursday ? My informant told me that Thursday was the particular day of the week, though some came on the second and third Thursday..." [to be cont.]

Hope 1893

Madron - Saint Madern or Doom Well - Part 1

"To this well, about a mile to the north, in the parish of St. Madron, many extraordinary properties have been ascribed. Dr. Borlase says: "The soil round this well is black, boggy, and light; but the strata through which the spring rises is a gray moorstone gravel. Here people who labour under pains, aches, and stiffness of limbs, come and wash; and many cures are said to have been performed, although the water can only act by its cold and limpid nature, as it has no mineral impregnation."

"Its fame in former ages was greater for the supposed virtue of healinge which St. Madderne had thereinto infused, and manie votaries made anuale pylgrimages unto it, as they doe even at this day, unto the Well of St. Winnifrede beyond Chester in Denbighshire, whereunto thousands doe yearelye make resort: but of late St. Maderne hath denied his (or her I know not whether) pristine ayde; and he is coye of his cures, so now are men coy of comynge to his conjured well, yet soom a daye resort."

Though this writer seems to despise the efficacy of these waters, the tradition of their virtues still remained amongst the Cornish, only a century ago. Borlase said: To this miraculous fountain, the uneasy, the impatient, the fearful, the jealous, and the superstitious, resort to learn their future destiny from the unconscious water. By dropping pins or pebbles into the fountain, by shaking the ground around the spring, or by continuing to raise bubbles from the bottom, on certain lucky days, and [11] when the moon is in a particular stage of increase or decrease, the secrets of the well are presumed to be extorted. This superstition continued to prevail up to the beginning of the present century, and is still spoken of with respect by some, particularly the aged..." [to be continued...]

 
Hope 1893

The Traceys and Thomas a Becket

"Bovey Tracey was, says Risdon, the "ancient inheritance of the Traceys, Barons of Barnstaple". They have also historical notoriety for the murder of St. Thomas a Becket ; And the ill-luck of the family has ever since been proverbial :-

All the Traceys

Have the wind in their faces.

The fine old church which stands at the top of the town is dedicated to the saint, and is said to have been founded by William de Tracey in expiation of the murder.

Like most Devon churches the present building belongs to the fifteenth century.  The richly carved and painted screen should be noticed, Devonshire churches being as famous for their screens, as those of Somerset are for towers. The figures on the panels are probably intended to represent, alternatively, and apostle and a prophet, as are those on the neighboring parish of Chudliegh ; but they appear unfinished.

However, Bovey folk will tell you that they represent St. Thomas and his murderers! as the panels have upon them a bishop, a king, and two other people, whom we may suppose are William de Tracey and Reginald Fitzurse."

Creswell, 1921

 

Map - Bovey Tracey

Wareham - St. Edward's Well

"This well, of miraculous virtue, is said to have sprung up on the spot where St. Edward the Martyr, King of England, died 979."

 Hope 1893

Map - Wareham

Cerne - St. Augustine's Well

"St. Augustine destroyed the idol Heil or Heile, or, according to Leland, Helith, the Saxon Æsculapius, or preserver of health, who was worshipped here at that time. This saint's company being weary and thirsty, he stuck his staff in the ground, and fetched out a crystal fountain, whence this Place was called Cernel, from Cerno and El. Fuller thinks it should be Cerneswell, behold the fountain, or Cerne Heal, i.e., see the destruction of the idol.-- Author of Flores Sanctorum in Life of St. Augustine (pp. 515, 516) ; Fuller's Ch. Hist. (pp. 66, 67) ; Dugdale (ii. 621)."

Hope 1893

Map - Cerne Abbas and St Augustine's Well

Ibberton - St Eustachius

"At the north side of the churchyard is a spring which bursts out of the rock dedicated to St. Eustachius. It is locally called Stachy's Well, or the Waterpond.--Hutchins' History of Dorset, iv. 361"

Hope 1893

Map - Ibberton

Saint Nectan

Foxglove - Pam Brophy [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

[The Christian Nectan was the eldest of a royal house in Wales in the sixth century, or so the legend goes. It was said that he felt the calling of the ascetic life of a hermit, and so set his coracle onto the sea and aloud the Lord to take him where he would. The wind and waves pushed him hither and thither, before finally setting him down safely on the rugged north Devon shoreline, near Hartland (a minor miracle in its self, given the fierceness of that storm blighted peninsular). It was here that he built is Hermits hut by the well that bares his name. Seeing his absolute poverty a kindly local farmer by the name of Huddon gifted Nectan two cows, ostensibly in return for helping him locate some lost pigs.

One day Nectan found his cows gone, and by following their hoof marks soon overtook the thieves who where in the process of stealing them. Seeing nothing more than a week skinny hermit the thugs knocked him down and killed the Saint. It is said that where ever the Saints blood flowed foxgloves grew. Nectan became so venerated that 500 or so years later a total of 39 churches where erected and dedicated to the Welsh Saint (34 in Cornwall and 5 in Devon)

- Thanks to Ann from Ideford for forwarding me this story, probably written by a former vicar of Ashcombe (though here retold in my own words). She added that next Sunday (the 13th of June) the people of Ashcombe Church will be celebrating Saint Nectan, it being the nearest Sunday to his day (he is the saint to whom their church is dedicated). They will also sing a hymn about the Saint, written by the same Vicar who put the above story to paper.

I have a few years ago also been told this story by a north Devon resident, who adds to the story, saying that not only was the saints head cut off, but he then picked it up and carried it under his arm back to his well, dripping blood and conjuring foxgloves for 2 or 3 miles. She had part of an old green lane running across the back of her overgrown orchard (we estimated from the age of the age and uncared for nature of trees and the spread of bluebells from the bank it had been abandoned for around 40 years - having been told bluebells spread one meter every ten years!). The lane, though hard to use, did indeed contain masses of foxgloves, despite the overgrown hedges.]

Map - Hartland
Map - Ashcombe

The Demon Tregeagle - part 8

'...The monks of Bodmin and the priests from the neighbouring churches gathered together, and the result of their long and anxious deliberations was, that Tregeagle, guarded by two saints, should be taken to the north coast, near Padstow, and employed in making trusses of sand, and ropes of sand with which to bind them. By powerful spell, Tregeagle was removed from Roach, and fixed upon the sandy shores of the Padstow district. Sinners are seldom permitted to enjoy any peace of soul. As the ball of sand grew into form, the tides rose, and the breakers spread out the sands again a level sheet; again was it packed together and again washed away.--Toil! toil ! toil! day and night unrestingly, sand on sand grew with each hour, and ruthlessly the ball was swept, by one blow of a sea wave, along the shore.


The cries of Tregeagle were dreadful; and as the destruction of the sand heap was constantly recurring, a constantly increasing despair gained the mastery over hope, and the ravings of the baffled soul were louder than the roarings of the winter tempest.
 
Baffled in making trusses of sand, Tregeagle seized upon the loose particles and began to spin them into a rope. Long and patiently did he pursue his task, and hope once more rose like a star out of the midnight darkness of despair. A rope was forming, when a storm came up with all its fury from the Atlantic, and swept the particles of sand away over the hills.

The inhabitants of Padstow had seldom any rest. At every tide the howlings of Tregeagle banished sleep from each eye. But now so fearful were the sounds of the doomed soul,: in the madness of the struggle between hope and despair, that the people fled the town, and clustered upon the neighbouring plains, praying, as with one voice, to be relieved from the sad presence of this monster...' [cont.]

Hunt 1903

The Demon Tregeagle - part 7

'...Tregeagle was safe, his head was within the holy church, though his body was exposed on a bare rock to the storm. Earnest were the prayers of the blessed hermit in his cell on the rock to be relieved from his nocturnal and sinful visitor.

In vain were the recluse's prayers. Day after day, as he knelt at the altar, the ghastly head of the doomed sinner grinned horridly down upon him. Every holy ejaculation fell upon Tregeagle's ear like molten iron. He writhed and shrieked under the torture; but legions of devils filled the air, ready to seize him, if for a moment he withdrew his head from the sanctuary, Sabbath after Sabbath the little chapel on the rock was rendered a scene of sad confusion by the interruptions which Tregeagle caused. Men trembled with fear at his agonising cries, and women swooned. At length the place was deserted, and even the saint of the rock was wasting to death by the constant perturbation in which he was kept by the unholy spirit, and the demons who, like carrion birds, swarmed around the holy cairn. Things could not go on thus...' [cont.]

Hunt 1903