![[Illustration: At. John's Well on Morwenstowe Glebe.]](graphics/morwenstowe.jpg)
THE following curious tradition has been preserved among some valuable MSS. belonging to the Coffins, of Porteldge. They were collected by an antiquary of that family above 250 years since. "Moorwinstow, its name, is from St. Moorin. The tradition is, that when the parishioners were about to build their church - this saint went down under the cliff and chose a stone for the font which she brought up upon her head. In her way, being weary, she lay down the stone and rested herself, out of which place sprang a well, from thence called St. Moorin's Well. Then she took up the stone and carried it to the place where now the church standeth. The parishioners had begun their church. in another place, and there did convey this stone, but what was built by day was pulled down by night, and the materials carried to this place; whereupon they forbare, and built it in the place they were directed to by a wonder."
The following is recorded in the endowment deed, dated 1296, regarding this well on the eastern boundary of Morwenstow Glebe. It is preserved in Bishop Brantingham's Register: "The church land is said to extend eastward ad quendunt fontem Johonnis. Water wherewithal to fill the font for baptism is always drawn from this well by the sacristan, in pitchers set apart for this purpose. It stands midway down the cliff on the present glebe; around it on either hand are rugged and sea-worn rocks, before it
the wide sea." This hallowed spot has been made by Mr. Hawker the subject of the following lines
Here dwelt in times long past, so legends tell,
Holy Morwenna, guardian of this well;
Here on the foreheads of our fathers pour'd
From this lone spring the laver of the Lord
If, traveller, thy happy spirit know
That awful font whence living waters flow,
Then hither come to draw--thy feet have found
Amid these rocks a place of holy ground !
Then sigh one blessing! breathe a voice of praise
O'er the fond labour of departed days !
Tell the glad waters of their former fame,
And teach the joyful winds Morwenna's name.
The source of the Plymouth leat is visited annually by the Mayor and Corporation, who there drink in water "to the pious memory of Sir Francis Drake," and then in wine, "May the descendants of him who brought us water never want wine." The legend runs that the inhabitants, or rather laundresses, being much inconvenienced from want of water, Sir Francis Drake called [63] for his horse, and riding into Dartmoor, searched about until he had found a very fine spring, when he bewitched it with magical words, and, starting away at a gallop, the stream followed his horse's heels into the town.
Cranmere Pool is believed to be a place of punishment for unhappy spirits, who are frequently to be heard wailing in the morasses which surround it.
John Fitz, of Fitzford, near Tavistock, who was one day riding with his wife, lost his way on the moor. After wandering in vain to find the right path, being thirsty and fatigued, he at last found a delicious spring of water, whose powers seemed to be miraculous, for no sooner had he partaken thereof than he was enabled to trace his steps correctly homewards. It is still believed to possess many healing virtues. In gratitude John Fitz erected the memorial stone marked I. F., 1568, which, with a few other slabs of granite, protects it, for the advantage of all pixy-led travellers. It is about 3 feet deep, and lies in a swamp near the remains of an ancient bridge, or clam, the bridge being partly swept away by a flood in 1873.
There is a pool here, usually dry in summer, but before the death of a royal personage, or any great accident, is said--even in the driest season--to become full of water, and so continue till the event thus foretold is fulfilled.
This pool is believed to be bottomless; it, however, really fills the shaft of an early mine.
At daybreak on Ascension morning (1882), two men, and a woman carrying a child, were seen hurrying towards the celebrated well at North Molton, each trying to outrun the others, so as to be the first to bathe, and to be cured of some ailment. Later in the day merry groups of children and picnic parties enlivened the glen in which the well is situated. An old chapel, with a cemetery attached, is said to have formerly occupied the ground surround[64]ing the far-famed spring. Every year pilgrims full of faith in the miraculous power of the water visit the spot for bathing, and jars of the water are carried by some of them to their homes; indeed, believers prize this water, which they carry back With them, as much as ever did any pilgrims of old value the leaden bottle of liquid obtained from Beckett's tomb at Canterbury.--Folk-lore Record, v., 160.
The North Devonshire Herald, May 25, 1884, records a pilgrimage having just been made to the well on the morning of Ascension Day.
In the parish of Dean Combe is a narrow wooded valley, watered by a streamlet, that in two or three places falls into cascades of considerable beauty. At the foot of one of these is a deep hollow called the Hound's Pool. Its story is as follows : There once lived in this hamlet a weaver of great fame and skill. After long prosperity he died, and was buried. But the next day he appeared sitting at the loom in his chamber, working diligently as when he was alive. His sons applied to the parson, who went accordingly to the foot of the stairs, and heard the noise of the weaver's shuttle above. "Knowles!" he said, "come down; this is no place for thee." I will," said the weaver, "as soon as I have worked out my quill" (the quill is the shuttle full of wool). "Nay," said the Vicar, "thou hast been long enough at thy work; come down at once!" So when the spirit came down, the Vicar took a handful of earth from the churchyard and threw it in his face. And in a moment it became a black hound. " Follow me," said the Vicar, and it followed him to the gate of the wood. And when they got there, it seemed as if all the trees in the wood were "coming together," so great was the wind. Then the Vicar took a nutshell with a hole in it, and led the hound to the pool below the waterfall. "Take this shell," he said, "and when thou shalt have dipped out the pool with it, thou mayest rest, not before." And at mid-day or at midnight the hound may still be: seen at its work.--Notes and Queries, I S., ii. 515.
St. Anne's Well was formerly known as Lion's Holt Well; it anciently supplied the city with water. Its history is of considerable antiquity.
On the spot where St. Sidwella is reputed to have been martyred is the well dedicated in her honour; it is situated on the left-hand of the Exeter side of the tunnel leaving the city, at a place called Lion's Holt.
St. Sidwella, virgin martyr 740, was, buried near St. Sidwell's Church, Exeter. William of Worcester speaks of her thus : "Sancta Satwola virgo canonizata ultra portam orientalem." She is commemorated on December 18.
A fine spring near the church supplied the ancient well bearing her name, by which, tradition has it, she lived the life of a recluse.
In the east window of Exeter Cathedral she is represented with a scythe in her hand, and a well behind her, probably but a rebus on her name Sithewella; she also figures on one of the columns in the cathedral, carrying her head in her hands (Cal. Ang. Ch., 287).
Bishop Grandison, in his Legenda Sanctorum, states that St. Sidwella was the eldest of four devout sisters, daughters of Benna, a noble Briton residing in Exeter. On his death, her cruel and covetous stepmother, envious of the fortune of St. Sidwelia, who inherited considerable property in the eastern suburbs of the city, engaged one of her servants, a reaper or mower, to become her assassin, which he did, whilst she was occupied in her devotions, near the well in Hedewell Mede, at a little distance from the parish church which still bears her name.
The locality of the spring agrees very well with this, as it is situated in what is now called Well Lane. Some time hence people may wonder why this street is so called, as the well is not now to be seen; it has been destroyed, and the site is occupied by a house which has been built over it. The well, however, is distinctly marked on Rogers' map of Exeter, dated 1744, as Sidwell's Well."--Trans. and Reports Dev. Ass., xii. 449.
One and a half miles north of Dartmoor Prison is the above well, protected by rude slabs of granite, bearing the initials l. F., and date 1568. It is said to possess many healing virtues, and to have been first brought into notice by John Fitz, of Fitzford, near Tavistock, who accidentally discovered it when, riding with his wife, he had lost his way on the moor. The legend runs that,
" After wandering in the vain effort to find the right path, they felt so fatigued and thirsty that it was with extreme delight they discovered a spring of water, whose powers seemed to be miraculous; for no sooner had they satisfied their thirst than they were enabled to find their way through the moor towards home without the least difficulty. In gratitude for this deliverance, and the benefit they had received from the water, John Fitz caused a stone memorial to be placed over the spring, for the advantage of all pixy-led travellers." It is about3 feet deep), and lies in a swamp at a short distance from the remains of an ancient bridge, or clam, on the Blackabrook. The bridge was swept away by a flood " (187-3)--Murray's Guide, 207.
In the parish is the barton of Bath, and famous for a pool which was usually dry in summer, but which " before the death of any great prince or other strange accident " would in the driest time become full of water, and so continue until the matter happened that it thus foretold : so says Westcote, writing about 1630-. The pool is on the left of the road from Bowr to Okehampton.--lbid., 217.
"I forbear," says Leland (Itin.), "to speak of St. Branock's cow, his staff, his oak, his well, and his servant Abel, all of which are lively represented in a glass window of that church."--Ibid., 256.
Derbyshire