Sacred Wells and Wishing Trees

Trees and wells have been places of wonder, wishes, offerings, and miracles in Britain since time immemorial. In many cases we can only speculate how long folk customs have been occurring. Northern and Central Europeans did not leave written records, apart from pictograms, sparse runic inscriptions or ogham carvings.   Add to that, previous generations used materials that erode or decay. The point is that just because there is no record in no way implies something did not occur. But on the same token, it cannot very well be argued that it did occur unless there is hard evidence. This is the conundrum of the historian, but also of the folklorist who studies both lore and folk practices.

A well in Brockweir, in the Wye Valley, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England. Photo by Gillian Smith, used with permission.

In some cases we can date a folk practice to “at least as far back as” a certain date because it was mentioned in an historical document. One example of this was explored in my article for Celtic Guide’s December 2013 issue, The Hidden History of Christmas Carols. I explained that dating the origin of Christmas Carols is difficult. Many historians have claimed a 14th century origin because the oldest carols we know of date from this time. However, there are Church edicts denouncing caroling dating to the 7th century A. D.  So, although we do not have any examples of carols before the 14th century, we know that they were being sung due to the fact that they were banned by the Church. But, of course, this doesn’t give us a hint as to when they actually originated.

Ribbon tree at St. Nectan's Glen, near Tintagel, Cornwall. Photo by Shane Broderick, used with permission

The same is true with many folk customs in Europe. Sometimes an historian or folklorist may make conjectures about a custom due to its similarities to other customs with known dates. We also know that some customs held significance in the pagan era because the Church mimicked them during the conversion process. This was no coincidence, but a direct order coming straight from the top.  In the late 6th century A.D. Pope Gregory I wrote a letter to Abbot Mellitus stating the following:

Tell Augustine that he should be no means destroy the temples of the gods but rather the idols within those temples. Let him, after he has purified them with holy water, place altars and relics of the saints in them. For, if those temples are well built, they should be converted from the worship of demons to the service of the true God…

The healing well Ffynnon Sara, meaning Sara's Well, found in Denbighshire, north-east Wales. Photo by Gillian Smith, used with permission.

Because we know that places in nature were used as places of worship, healing, and divination in pre-Christian Europe, and we know that the Church made a concerted effort to transition pagan holy places into Christian ones, many scholars and folklorists took it as a natural assumption that holy wells were formerly pagan sacred sites. That assumption has been countered by some, however. It has been noted that water holds significant symbolic meaning within the Christian religion independently of any pagan influence.  Wells and springs were often places of baptism. And the Bible is full of references to water in both the Old and New Testiments as a symbol of purity and conduit of the Holy Spirit. Professor Ronald Hutton points out in his book Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles that the evidence for pre-Christian use of holy wells is scant. But, as we have already noted above, that does not disprove its occurrence. And, Dr. Hutton has often been criticized for being overly eager to dismiss evidence.

The walkway to St Kenelm's Well, near Winchcombe, Gloucestershire. Photo by Polly Jones, used with permission.

The aim of this column is not to dissect history, but rather to present slices of it. So with that somewhat lengthy introduction, for this edition of The Archivist’s Corner, I’d like to present holy wells and the folk practice of hanging bits of cloth on neighboring trees.  To explain this practice, I will share sections from old folklore journals around the turn of the 19th century. To illustrate, I have been given photos from friends who have visited holy wells around Britain. It is interesting to note that in some of these texts written over 100 years ago, the authors marveled that these age old practices were still occurring at the time of writing.  And, as we can see by the photos taken 100 years later, they still are! 

*note* Ellipses indicate that a portion has been skipped between quoted statements.

From “Pin-Wells and Rag-Bushes” by E. Sidney Hartland, published in Folklore, Dec. 1893:

The customs of throwing pins into sacred wells and of tying rags to bushes, especially to bushes growing about sacred wells, have exercised students of folk-lore ever since folk-lore came to be studied… During the last year or two it has been brought into prominence by the enquiries of Professor Dr. Rhys in Wales and the Isle of Man; and he has discussed it with the Folk-lore Society… I take them from Professor Rhys' paper, read before a joint meeting of the Cymmrodorion and Folk-lore Societies, on the 11th January 1893. He quotes a correspondent as saying of Ffynnon Cae Moch, about halfway between Coychurch and Bridgend in Glamorganshire: "People suffering from rheumatism go there. They bathe the part affected with water, and afterwards tie a piece of rag to the tree which overhangs the well. The rag is not put in the water at all, but is only put on the tree for luck. It is a stunted but very old tree, and is simply covered with rags."

In another case, that of Ffynnon Eilian (Elian's Well), near Abergele in Denbighshire, of which Professor Rhys was informed by Mrs. Evans, the late wife of Canon Silvan Evans, some bushes near the well had once been covered with bits of rag left by those who frequented it. The rags used to be tied to the bushes by means of wool-not woollen yarn, but wool in its natural state. Corks with pins stuck in them were floating in the well when Mrs. Evans visited it, though the rags had apparently disappeared from the bushes. The well in question, it is noted, had once been in great repute as "a well to which people resorted for the kindly purpose of bewitching those whom they hated".

Pin-wells and Rag-bushes are found all over the British Isles. The observances, however, are not confined to the exact form described by Professor Rhys and his correspondents. Sir Arthur Mitchell mentions a well renowned for the cure of insanity on the island of Maelrubha in Loch Maree. Near the well is an oak tree covered with nails, to each of which was formerly attached a portion of the clothing of an afflicted person who had been brought thither; and a few ribbons are said to be still flying from one or two of them. Two gilt buttons and two buckles are also nailed to the tree.

Rag tree next to St Kenelm's Well. Photo by Polly Jones, used with permission.

The well at Brockweir, photo by Gillian Smith, used by permission.

A tree with coins driven into the trunk beside the holy well at St. Nectan's Glen. Photo by Shane Broderick, used with permission.

From “Sacred Wells in Wales” by John Rhys and T. E. Morris, published in Folklore, March 1893:

When I suggested, some time ago, that I did not know that the habit of tying rags and bits of clothing to the branches of a tree growing near a holy well existed in Wales, I was, as I have discovered since, talking in an ignorance for which I can now find no adequate excuse. For I have since then obtained information to the contrary; the first item being a communication received last June from Mr. J. H. Davies of Lincoln College, Oxford, relating to a Glamorganshire holy well, situated near the pathway leading from Coychurch to Bridgend. It is the custom there, he states, for people suffering from any malady to dip a rag in the water, and to bathe the affected part of the body, the rag being then placed on a tree close to the well. When Mr. Davies passed that way, some three years previously, there were, he adds, hundreds of such shreds on the tree, some of which distinctly presented the appearance of having been placed there very recently… It is within twelve or fifteen yards of the high road, just where the pathway begins. People suffering from rheumatism go there. They bathe the part affected with water, and afterwards tie a piece of rag to the tree which overhangs the well. The rag is not put in the water at all, but is only put on the tree for luck. It is a stunted, but very old tree, and is simply covered with rags."

Close up of the coins driven into the tree at St Nectan's Well. Photo by Shane Broderick, used with permission.

From “Water and Well-Worship in Man” by A. W. Moore and John F. Terry, published in Folklore, Sept. 1894:

            I have entitled my paper "Water and Well-Worship", as I am persuaded that the superstitious use of wells in Man, which cannot be said to be quite extinct even now, had its origin in the worship of water generally, and I think that I can show that this has been the case from still existing superstitions. Water, like earth and fire, was doubtless once worshipped as an animate being having powers which it might exercise either beneficially or the reverse, and it was therefore considered desirable to propitiate it by adoration…

            Let us now inquire what were the objects for which the Manx visited these wells, by what ritual they sought to attain these objects, and what was the meaning of this ritual. The objects were mainly the cure of diseases, but also the acquiring of charms for protection against witches and fairies, and, generally, the securing good luck. The usual ritual was to walk round the wells one or more times sunways, to drink the water, to wet a fragment of their clothing with it, and to attach this fragment to any tree or bush that happened to be near the wells. Then to drop pins, pebbles, beads, or buttons into them, and to repeat a prayer in which they mentioned their ailments. Such was the ritual for the cure of diseases. 

When the wells were visited for the other purposes mentioned, the only difference in the ritual was that the rags were dispensed with. As regards its meaning, it may be considered certain that, though the rags were occasionally offerings, they were not so in all cases, but were "vehicles of the diseases which the patients communicate to them when they spit the well-water from their mouths". This view is strengthened by the fact that it was supposed that anyone who was rash enough to take away a rag thus deposited would be sure to catch the disease communicated to it by the person who left it. It was thought that when the rag had rotted away the disease would depart. In fact, the process of reasoning was the same as with regard to many charms… As regards the pins, coins, beads, and buttons, I believe that they also were formerly vehicles of disease, but they are now invariably considered to be offerings.

Berkswell in Warwickshire. Photo by Polly Jones, used with permission.

Another shot of the well at Berkswell, by Polly Jones, used with permission.

The well at Brockweir, by Gillian Smith, used with permission.

Another shot of Ffynnon Sara in Wales, by Gillian Smith, used with permission.

More ribbons in the trees at St Kenelm's Well. Photo by Polly Jones, used with permission.

“Sacred Wells,” a letter to the editor, published in Folklore, Dec. 1908

Nov. 9th, 1908.

SIR,-In Miss Eva Simpson's recently published book on Lowland folk-lore of Scotland there is a reference to the old practice of lovers going to a sacred well on the first of May and cutting their names or initials in the turf near the spring. The particular well quoted by Miss Simpson (from Dr. Gregor, I think) is that of St. Fittick, near the Bay of Nigg, just to the south of Aberdeen. It appears that the same custom was observed in this parish, when, on the first Sunday of May, large contingents of youths made their way up the hill of Craigour to Redbeard's Well, where they first drank of the waters, particularly "the cream of the well" (it is a chalybeate spring), and then cut their "letters" on the turf, at least one old lady of my acquaintance had her name so inscribed 70 years ago. She is now 86. I fail to find much reference to this peculiar observance in the copies of "Folk-lore" accessible here. Perhaps, however, you may have it fully treated of.

A. MACDONALD.

Crossroad School, Durris, by Aberdeen.

I hope you enjoyed these snippets from old folklorists’ observations.  What I found very interesting is that in the late 1800s and early 1900s these writers were amazed to see these folk practices still alive.  How surprised would they be if we could bring them to our own time and show them that many of these traditions are still alive and well over one hundred years later! With so much talk about the loss of tradition, it really does this folklore writer’s heart good to be able to tell you that some traditions die hard. One thing I especially love about Britain and Ireland is that they hold their folkways dear to their heart. And, that is one reason that their kin living abroad hold them so very dear to our own hearts.

Special thanks to Gillian Smith, Polly Jones, and Shane Broderick!

You can see more of their own work on Gillian's Archaeology Group's Facebook page, Polly's website and the Facebook page for her writing, and Shane's photography Facebook page :-)

My name is Carolyn Emerick, and I write on the history, myth, and folklore of Northwestern Europe. 

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