Somersetshire | Suffolk
THIS beautiful spring was a favourite resort of the Lady Wulfruna, the
foundress of the old Collegiate Church at Wolverhampton; and from this
association with her sanc- tity, it acquired the reputation of possessing
some miraculous virtues, which were much in request by the devotees of
subsequent times, who named it Wulfruna's Well.
This was also a
Druidical appropriation: for with that order of men all running streams
which took a direction from west to east were accounted sacred. It supplies
the water to Dunstall Hall, near which it is situated, the home of the Hill
family.
Mr. Lawley, however, in the Midland Weekly News, has assigned a somewhat different site to this ancient well. He considers that it was situated at Spring Vale, near Bilston. In an old document belonging to Bilston occurs the following reference to it:
To ye South of Wolferhamtune is a famous springe, called
Ladie Wulfrune's Sprynge, where shee usyd to come and washe. Ye
legende tells us yt ye ladie Wulfrune prayede for
yt God woude endue ye well wyth powers of noe
ordinarie vyrtue, inasmoche as yt hath curyd manie, as it were
myraculouslie healynge ye lame, ye weake and
impotent, and dyvers sufferyng fro mortall diseases, as manie there bee
yt cann testifie.
It would be interesting to know the site of a well possessing such valuable powers; but though tradition has not left anything on record by which we can sufficiently localize it, its former existence is still preserved in the name of Spring Vale, by which the district is still known. Further, a street in Cann Lane, lying in the direction of Spring Vale, at its northern end, is known by the name of Holywell Street.
The custom of well-dressing is or was observed here.
The town was anciently the possessor of a famous well dedicated to some old
Saxon saint. The well in question was known in colloquial phrase as
Crudeley
or Cruddley
Well, and was situate just off Lichfield
Street, near to the entrance to Proud's Lane. In mediæeval times this
well was largely resorted to not only by the townspeople, but by others
from the surrounding neighbourhood, on account of its being a holy
well.
It gradually lost its sanctity as the people grew more enlightened (!), and
subsequently came under the control of the parish authorities who kept its
winding apparatus in proper repair, as is very clear from the parochial
accounts. To show this more clearly, I subjoin the following items taken
from the constables' accounts for the several years mentioned therein:
| 1809 | |||
| £ | s. | d. | |
| For repairing Cruddeley Well | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| " locking up the well | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| 1811. | |||
| For locking up the well | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1815. | |||
| For chain and ironwork for Cruddeley Well | 3 | 3 | 4 |
This latter item, it is most amusing to state, became the subject of an
appeal to the Stafford Quarter Sessions, when Edward Wooley (the famous
screw manufacturer and hero of the old story of How Wooley lost his
Watch
), John Bowen (the well-known landlord of the Angel Inn, Hall
Fold), J. B. Whitehead (the blank tray manufacturer), and William Taylor (a
former overseer), appealed against the legality of certain items in the
accounts of the overseers, of which the repairs of Crudeley Well was one.
This well continued to supply the townsfolk of the locality with water until towards 1830, when the supply ceased through the working of the mines, and the shaft was filled up. In the Saxon calendar we have a St. Creadda or Credda, and it was to his memory the well was in all probability dedicated. This well is said, on the authority of an old manuscript found among the town documents many years ago--which were, unfortunately, sold as waste paper!--on the building of the present Town Hall, to have borne a Latin inscription, running thus:
Qui non dat quod habet
Dæmon infra ridet.
Which has been Englished thus:
Who does not here his alms bestow
At him the demon laughs below.
--Contributed by G. T. Lawley.
Another famous local well, which has fortunately escaped the destructive
hand of time, is that near Wombourne, known by the name of Our Lady's
Well,
or Lady Well.
It is cut out of the solid rock, which crops
out at the top of a lofty hill, situate between Wombourne and Lower Fenn.
The well is of considerable antiquity, and several species of cryptogamic
plants give to the surface of the stone a venerable appearance. It is
supposed to have been sacred to the virgin in mediæval times, and its
waters to have possessed curative properties. Here, ages ago, a holy hermit
is said to have dwelt, and to have been visited by many persons in search
of consolation and instruction.
The well is still a favourite resort of local pleasure-seekers, who go to drink of the cooling and delicious beverage, and ruralize in the adjacent wood.--Ibid.
Dr. Plott gives us some particulars of a famous well, known as Tixall Well, near the church at that place, which, having survived the superstitious veneration formerly attaching to it, was afterwards used to supply, by some method of forcing, the district around.--Ibid.
The New Well, as it is called, is annually decorated with flowers and boughs, the festivities extending over two days. At noon, each day, a procession is formed at the well, and marched through the village, headed by a band, and followed by the May Queen riding on a gaily-decorated pony, attended by her maids of honour, Jack-o'-the-Green, Robin Hood, and the Morris-dancers. This motley cavalcade, accompanied by the inevitable crowd of hangers-on and sightseers, pause at vantage points along the line of route and go through some antics preliminary to the more serious performances that follow on the return to the fields adjoining the well. Here the customary maypole-dancing, old English sports, and amusements, such as wrestling, sack-racing, etc., are indulged in, and prizes distributed by the well-dressing committee to the various successful competitors.--Ibid.
At the village of Endon similar festivities attend the annual well-dressing--usually on May 29 or 30. The principal well in the village is most elaborately and even artistically adorned, and the smaller well--for there are two in this case--comes in for its share of floral decorations. Here the festival is under the patronage of the vicar of the parish, who opens the first day's proceedings by a service in the church and the delivery of an appropriate sermon. On the conclusion of this solemn preliminary, a procession is formed near the church of the maypole-dancers and other participators in the festival, and then they proceed to the enlivening strains of a brass band to the wells, where hymns are sung, and a few suitable words addressed to the audience by the vicar. At the conclusion of this semi-religious introduction to the two days' amusements, the most important feature of crowning the May Queen is performed. The girl selected for this honour is gaily decorated with flowers, and is conducted with much ceremony to a floral throne provided for her, where, being seated she is crowned with a wreath of flowers. Being thus invested with royal powers, she straightway signifies her pleasure that the maypole-dancers should go through their evolutions to the sounds of enlivening music. This over, the usual sports and amusements are indulged in.
Carried out as above, it is pleasant to contemplate the keeping up of such an old-fashioned custom; and it is only to be regretted that so few of our village communities retain it among their annual social relaxations. It is somewhat remarkable that in the south of the county well-dressing has become as extinct as the dodo.--Ibid.
The custom of well-dressing obtains, or did obtain here.
There is a well in a field at Croxton, in the parish of Eccleshall, called Pennyquart Well, because, it is said, the water from it, being especially pure, used to be sold at a penny a quart.--Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 70 n.
In a rental of the Earl of Uxbridge, written in the reign of Edward VI., it was specified that Andrew's Isle, alias Mudwin's Chapel, was let to John Hewitt at will at the annual rent or sum of three shillings and threepence. There is every reason to believe that this well and chapel were situate on the flat meadow opposite the churchyard, as this spot is still known as Annesley or Andressy, and the part of the river dividing the island from the adjacent shores is called the Modwens or Mudwens.--Ibid.
This well was once scrupulously kept, and flowers yearly adorned it,
because it was believed to possess great curative properties. According to
the Reliquary it was called Penny Croft,
from the pence
the afflicted offered for the use of its healing virtues. It has lately
been turned into a common drinking-place for cattle.--Midland Weekly
News, contributed by G. T. Lawley.
The ancient name Marian or Mary's Well has in more modern times been
changed to Maiden's
or Marden's Wall
(Well)--wall here having
the same meaning as well. It was situated on the rise of a hill called the
High Wood.
Its waters were once very famous for their healing
powers, and many people from the parts adjacent frequently fetched some of
its water to administer to persons suffering from various diseases, when
the medicine of the professional man had failed to effect a cure or give
relief.
It had also a strange legend attached to it, which may account for its modern name. It was believed to be haunted by the ghost of a young woman, and on this account people were so much afraid that few of them could be found hardy enough to go near it after dark. This superstition would appear to be a survival of the time when wells were believed to be inhabited by spirits, whose aid was invoked by means of divination. Fortune-tellers frequently took advantage of this superstition to extort money from the ignorant and foolish, pretending to call up the spirits to the surface of the water, in order that the person desiring knowledge of the future might question them. Females in particular were guilty of this superstition, arising out of a weakness and anxiety to know who would be their future spouse.--Ibid.
There was a famous well here known as St. Helen's, which was endowed by the superstitious with several very singular qualities. It sometimes became suddenly dry after a constant overflow for eight or ten years. This occurred in wet as well as in dry seasons, and always at the beginning of May, when springs are generally believed to be at their highest, and the dry season lasted till Martinmas. It was locally believed that this occurrence foretold some great calamity, as war, famine, pestilence, or other national disaster. It is said to have become dry before the outbreak of the Civil War, before the execution of Charles I., before the great scarcity of corn in 1670, and in 1679 when the miscalled Popish plot was discovered. So says Dr. Plott.--Ibid.
Between Upper and Lower Tean, in the parish of Checkley, is a spring of a
remarkable character, denominated the Well in the Wall,
as it rises
from under a rock. An old tradition says that this unaccountable spring
throws out all the year round--except in July and August--small bones of
different sorts, like those of sparrows and chickens.--Ibid.
Here is a noted well, known as Elder Well,
said to be blessed with
valuable medicinal properties, and to be a sovereign remedy for the eyes,
on which account it used to be annually dressed
with flowers and
branches of trees, and rustic games and amusements indulged in by those
attending.--Ibid.
At Shenstone, near Lichfield, a little distance from the church, was a well
called St. John's Well,
after the saint in whose honour the parish church
is dedicated. It was looked upon as sacred from the miracles or cures
wrought by its waters on St. John the Baptist's day, June 24. For this
reason was a sanctity placed upon it by the faithful, who brought alms and
offerings, and made their vows at it.--Ibid.
This well was at one period famous for the cure of the king's evil and other unaccountable cures, in grateful memory of which the people still adorn it with flowers and boughs.--Ibid. (Shaw 's Staffs.)
A custom similar to the above obtains here.--Ibid.
There was a famous sulphureous well here accounted a sovereign remedy for
leprosy. England's Gazetteer (1751) informs us it is used at
present
by both man and beast against cutaneous diseases, so that
many of the inhabitants boil their meat in and brew with it. Nightingale
(Beauties of England and Wales) tells us that processioning
was prevalent at Brewood at the annual celebration of well-dressing
there.
--Ibid.
Here is another well famous for the cure of the king's evil, known as St.
Erasmus's Well,
of sulphureous quality. In the reign of Henry VII. a
chapel was built near this spring. The Chetwynd MS., in the Salt Library,
at Stafford, records that an aged man, formerly clerk there, told Walter
Chetwynd that the adjoining wells were much frequented by lame and diseased
people, many whereof found there a cure for their infirmity, inasmuch
that at the dissolution thereof, the walls were hung about with crutches,
the relics of those who had benefited thereby. Nor was the advantage small
to the priest, the oblations of the chapel being valued in the king's books
at £6 13s. 4d.
--Ibid.
In Dr. Wilkes' MS. is a reference to this famous well. He tells us that a
holy well existed in that town, which was curiously dedicated to St.
Sunday, and that it was celebrated for the cure of several diseases. It
bore the following inscription: Fons occulis morbisque
cutaneis diu celebris. A.D. 1728.
Where this well was is now a matter
of impenetrable mystery, a fact which may be accounted for in the almost
complete covering of the original surface of the land by the refuse of the
mines.--Ibid.
A holy well formerly existed here, which it was the custom every year to adorn with garlands, to the accompaniment of music and dancing, in honour of its patron, St. Augustine, who
Adbaston Vicarage, August 19, 1890.
Black Mere
or Blake Mere
is a small pond of irregular shape,
lying in a little hollow on the summit of the high hill of Morridge, about
three and a half miles east-north-east from Leek. Great was the horror in
which Black Mere was held by our ancestors, and strange beliefs were
connected with it. Camden, (quoting Richman, says it is:
A lake that with prophetic noise doth roar;
Where beasts can ne'er be made to venture o'er--
By hounds, or men, or fleeter death pursued,
They'll not plunge in, but shun the hated flood.
Dr. Plott, however, in his History of Staffordshire, says:
The water of the Black Mere is not as bad as some have fancied, and I
take it to be nothing more than such as that in the peat-pits, though it is
confidently reported that no cattle will drink of it, no bird light on it
or fly over it; all of which are as false as that it is bottomless, it
being found upon measurement scarce 4 yards in the deepest place; my horse
also drinking when I was there as freely of it as ever I saw him in any
other place; and the fowls are so far from declining to fly over it, that I
spoke with several that had seen geese upon it; so that I take this to be
as good as the rest, notwithstanding the vulgar disrepute it lies
under.
"Amongst the unusual incidents that have attended the female sex in the course of their lives, I think I may also reckon the narrow escapes that have been made from death; whereof I met with one mentioned with admiration by everybody at Leek, that happened not far off at the Black Mere at Morridge, which, though famous for nothing for which it is commonly reputed, as that it is bottomless; no cattle will drink of it, or birds fly over or settle upon it (all of which I found to be false), yet it is so for the signal deliverance of a poor woman, enticed hither in a dismal stormy night by a bloody ruffian, who had first gotten her with child, and intended in this remote, inhospitable place to have despatched her by drowning.
"The same night (Providence so ordering it) there were several persons of inferior rank drinking in an alehouse, the 'Cock,' corner of the market-place and Stockwell Street at Leek, whereof one having been out and observing the darkness, and other ill circumstances of the weather, coming in again, said to the rest of his companions that he were a stout man indeed that would venture to goe to the Black Mere of Morridg in such a night as that; to which one of them replying that for a crown, or some such summe, he would undertake it; the rest joining their purses said he should have his demand. The bargain being struck, away he went on his journey with a stick in his hand, which he was to leave there as a testimony of his performance. At length coming near the Mere, he heard the lamentable cries of this distressed woman begging for mercy; which at first put him to a stand, but being a man of great resolution and some policy, he went boldly on, however, counterfeiting the presence of divers other persons, calling 'Jack, Dick, and Thom,' and crying, 'Here are the rogues we look'd for,' which being heard by the murderer, he left the woman and fled, whom the other man found by the Mere side, almost stript of her clothes, and brought her with him to Leek, as an ample testimony of his having been at the Mere, and of God's Providence too."
This mere is also termed the "Mermaid Love," from an old tradition that one of those fabulous creatures dwells in it; in fact, some of the peasants thereabouts are ready to swear that, when some years ago the "love" was partially "let off," one appeared predicting that if the water were allowed to escape "it would drown all Leek and Leekfrith." This vain idea has given origin to the sign of a neighbouring roadside inn, "The Mermaid," a place frequently visited by sportsmen when shooting in the vicinity. --Reliquary, O.S., iii. 182.
The mermaid herself appears at one particular spot on the approach of any great calamity. On one occasion, when long ago some dredging or "rundeling out" operations were going on in the mere, she put her head out of the water, and, mistaking the intention of the workmen, and warned no doubt by the destruction of her first home, she uttered the thoroughly Salopian prophesy:
"If this mere you do let dry,
Newport and Meretown I will destr'y."
Miss C. S. Burne, Shropsk ire Folk-lore, p. 640.