



Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed
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                FOLKLORE OF SCOTTISH LOCHS AND SPRINGS.

                                   BY

                 JAMES M. MACKINLAY, M.A., F.S.A.Scot.

                      GLASGOW: WILLIAM HODGE & Co.
                                 1893.








PREFATORY NOTE.


No work giving a comprehensive account of Well-worship in Scotland
has yet appeared. Mr. R. C. Hope's recent volume, "Holy Wells: Their
Legends and Traditions," discusses the subject in its relation to
England. In the following pages an attempt has been made to illustrate
the more outstanding facts associated with the cult north of the
Tweed. Various holy wells are referred to by name; but the list makes
no claim to be exhaustive.


J. M. M.

4 Westbourne Gardens,
Glasgow, December, 1893.








CONTENTS.


     CHAP.                                        PAGE

        I. Worship of Water,                         1
       II. How Water became Holy,                   24
      III. Saints and Springs,                      39
       IV. More Saints and Springs,                 56
        V. Stone Blocks and Saints' Springs,        72
       VI. Healing and Holy Wells,                  86
      VII. Water-Cures,                            108
     VIII. Some Wonderful Wells,                   128
       IX. Witness of Water,                       140
        X. Water-Spirits,                          155
       XI. More Water-Spirits,                     171
      XII. Offerings at Lochs and Springs,         188
     XIII. Weather and Wells,                      213
      XIV. Trees and Springs,                      230
       XV. Charm-Stones in and out of Water,       241
      XVI. Pilgrimages to Wells,                   263
     XVII. Sun-Worship and Well-Worship,           280
    XVIII. Wishing-Wells,                          314
      XIX. Meaning of Marvels,                     324








Among the works consulted are the following, the titles being given
in alphabetical order:--


A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland. By John MacCulloch,
M.D. 1819.

A Description of the Western Islands. By M. Martin. Circa 1695.

A Handbook of Weather Folklore. By the Rev. C. Swainson, M.A.

A Historical Account of the belief in Witchcraft in Scotland. By
Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe.

A Journey through the Western Counties of Scotland. By Robert
Heron. 1799.

Ancient Legends: Mystic Charms and Superstitions of Ireland. By
Lady Wilde.

An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language. By John Jamieson,
D.D.

Annals of Dunfermline and Vicinity. By Ebenezer Henderson, LL.D.

Antiquities and Scenery of the North of Scotland. By Rev. Charles
Cordiner. 1780.

Archæological Sketches in Scotland: Districts of Kintyre and
Knapdale. By Captain T. P. White.

A Tour in Scotland and Voyage to the Hebrides, MDCCLXXII. By Thomas
Pennant.

A Tour in Scotland, MDCCLXIX. By Thomas Pennant.

Britannia; or, A Chorographical Description of the Flourishing Kingdoms
of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the Islands adjacent, from the
Earliest Antiquity. By William Camden. Translated from the edition
published by the Author in MDCVII. Enlarged by the latest discoveries
by Richard Gough. The second edition in four volumes. 1806.

Celtic Heathendom. By Professor John Rhys.

Celtic Scotland: A History of Ancient Alban. By William Forbes Skene.

Churchlore Gleanings. By T. F. Thiselton Dyer.

Daemonologie in Forme of a Dialogve. Written by the High and Mightie
Prince James, by the Grace of God King of England, Scotland, France,
and Ireland; Defender of the Faith. 1603.

Descriptive Notices of some of the Ancient Parochial and Collegiate
Churches of Scotland. By T. S. Muir.

Domestic Annals of Scotland from the Reformation to the Revolution. By
Robert Chambers, LL.D.

Ecclesiological Notes on some of the Islands of Scotland. By
T