Northern folk-lore on wells and water : with an account of some interesting wells in the neighbourhood of Inverness and the north / by Alex. Fraser.

Fraser, Alexander

Date:: 1878

Credit: Northern folk-lore on wells and water : with an account of some interesting wells in the neighbourhood of Inverness and the north / by Alex. Fraser. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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$naJiannet. Various modifications of the word are also to be met with throughout Scotland, in such terms as Nethy and Abernethy. She seems to liave been largely worshipped in the Western Isles where traces of her temples are yet discernible. This goddess could assume the form of a horse or bull, and may consequently bear a near relationship to the Ger- man Neck or ]^eckkar. Places of worship dedicated to her were situated at the junction of two streams, and the appropriate sacrifice was a horse. In the same parish we have also Tobar Ashig, or St Asaph's Well; Tobar Chliaman, or St Clement's well. KUmuir in Skye is not behind hand in the number and virtue of its sacred weUs and lochs, as has been pointed out by the Eev. Alexander Macgregor in his appendix to the Prophecies of the Brahan Seer. In the isle of Barra there is a spring on the top of a hUl which, strange to say, was believed to produce cockles in embryo, and then discharge them into the sea to grow big and fat. It is needless to observe that these were, as a matter of course, the best cockles that could be gathered. The distant St KUda also had its healing springs. Tobar-na-buadh, or the spring of virtues, was chiefly effective in. cases of deafness and nervous disorders; and Tobar-nan-Cleireach, or the Priests' WeU, reminds us of early practices abcady referred to. In the centre of Eilean Mourie, in Loch-Maree, in Eoss-shire, there was a well, now long since dried up, which was considered to possess great virtue in cases of insanity. It was at one time in great repute, and suf- ferers from all quarters in the district were carried hither to undergo the treatment necessary to effect a cure. The patient was first made to drink of the water of the fountain^ then to kneel at the foot of a huge oak partly covered Avith ivy, present an offering, and thereafter to bathe thrice in the loch. This ceremony had to be repeated untU a cure was effected. The patient, when refractory, was tied to the tail of a boat and towed round the island. It was considered a good omen if the well was full at the time of the experiment. It is reported that on one occasion, a mad dog was thrown into the weU; the animal of course recovered, but the healing virtues of the waters departed for ever, and in process of time, the well dried up. The tree of offering, the oak above referred to, is covered over with copper coins, pins, buttons, &c., inserted in the fissures in its sides. A gentleman has informed us that on one occasion he ob- served even some bottles ; but surely these were nol pious offerings. He$