Nov. 18. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



397 



LONDON. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18. 1854. 



ST. nun's well, etc. : with a notice oip some 



REMAINS OF ANCIENT WELL WORSHIP. 



On the western side of the beautiful valley 

 through which flows the Trelawny river, and near 

 Hobb's Park, in the parish of Pelynt, Cornwall, 

 is St. Nun's or St. Ninnie's Well. Its position 

 was, until very lately, to be discovered by the oak 

 tree matted with ivy, and the thicket of willow 

 and bramble which grew upon its roof. The 

 front of the well is of a pointed form, and has a 

 rude entrance, about four feet high, and spanned 

 above by a single flat stone, which leads into a 

 grotto with an arched roof. The walls on the 

 interior are draped with the luxuriant fronts of 

 spleenwort, hart's-tongue, and a rich underco- 

 vering of liverwort. At the farther end of the 

 floor is a round granite basin with a deeply- 

 moulded brim, and ornamented on its circum- 

 ference with a series of rings, each inclosing a 

 cross or a ball. The water weeps into it from an 

 opening at the back, and escapes again by a hole 

 in the bottom. This interesting piece of antiquity 

 has been protected by a tradition which we could 

 almost wish to attach to some of our cromlechs and 

 circles in danger of spoliation. 



An old farmer (so runs the legend) once set his 

 eyes upon the granite basin and coveted it ; for it 

 was not wrong in his eyes to convert the holy font 

 to the base uses of the pig's sty ; and accordingly 

 he drove his oxen and wain to the gateway above, 

 for the purpose of removing it. Taking his beasts 

 to the entrance of the well, he essayed to drag the 

 trough from its ancient bed. For a long time 

 it resisted the efibrts of the oxen, but at length 

 they succeeded in starting it, and dragged it 

 slowly up the hill side to where the wain was 

 standing. Here, however, it burst away from the 

 chains which held it, and rolling back again to the 

 well, made a sharp turn and regained its old po- 

 sition, where it has remained ever since. Nor will 

 any one again attempt its removal, seeing that the 

 farmer, who was previously well to do in the 

 world, never prospered from that day forward. 

 Some people say, indeed, that retribution overtook 

 him on tlie spot, the oxen falling dead, and the 

 owner being struck lame and speechless. 



Though the superstitious hinds hi;d spared the 

 well, time and the storms of winter had been 

 slowly ruining it. The oak which grew upon its 

 roof had, by its roots, dislodged several stones of 

 the arch, and swaying about in the wind, had 

 shaken down a large mass of masonry in the in- 

 terior, and the greater part of the front. On its 

 ruinous condition being made known to the Tre- 

 lawny family (on whose property it is situated), 



they ordered its restoration, and the walls were 

 replaced after the original plan. 



This well, and a small chapel (the site of which 

 is no longer to be traced, though still pointed out 

 by the older tenantry) were dedicated, it is sup- 

 posed, to St. Nonnet or St. Nun, a female saint, 

 who, according to William of Worcester, was the 

 mother of St. David. In the list of parish 

 churches, &c., and the saints to whom they are 

 dedicated, given in Oliver's Monasticon, the name 

 is written " S. Nynnina;" in the Inquisitiones 

 Nonarum, a.d. 1342, it is " S. Neomena ;" whilst 

 in the rate of Pope Nicholas IV. it is mentioned 

 as " Capella See Niemyne." It is, however, hardly 

 worth your valuable space to trace our saint 

 through all these mazes of orthography. The 

 people of the neighbourhood know the well by the 

 names St. Ninnie's, St. Nun's, and Piskies' Well. 

 It is probable that the latter is, after all, the older 

 name, and that the guardianship of the spring was 

 usurped at a later period by the saint whose name 

 it occasionally bears. The water was doubtless 

 used for sacramental purposes ; yet its mystic 

 properties, if they were ever supposed to be dis- 

 pensed by the saint, have been again transferred, 

 in the popular belief, to the piskies. 



In the basin of the well may be found a great 

 number of pins, thrown in by those who have 

 visited it out of curiosity, or to avail themselves 

 of the virtues of its waters. I was anxious to 

 know what meaning the peasantry attach to this 

 strange custom, and on asking a man at work near 

 the spot, was told that it was done " to get the 

 good will of the piskies," who after the tribute of 

 a pin not only ceased to mislead them, but ren- 

 dered fortunate the operations of husbandry. 



At Madron Well, near Penzance, I observed 

 the custom of hanging rags on the thorns which 

 grew in the inclosure. Both customs obtain very 

 widely, their original intention being, no doubt, 

 to procure the favour of the tutelary spirit of the 

 fountain, or to testify gratitude for restored 

 health. 



In Ireland, where patterns and pilgrimages to 

 holy wells are still common, similar customs are 

 observed. The following extract may be allowed, 

 as it serves to show that the Irish peasantry en- 

 tertain nearly the same idea as our own respecting 

 the meaning of these observances. 



Dr. O'Connor, in the third of his Letters of Co- 

 lumbanus, addressing his brother, says : 



" I have often inquired of your tenants what they 

 themselves thought of their pilgrimages to the wells of 

 Kill-Archt, Tobbar-Brigiule, Tobbar-Muire, near Elphin, 

 and Moore, near Castlereagh, where multitudes assembled 

 annually to celebrate what they, in broken English, 

 termed ' Patterns ' (Patron's days) ; and when I pressed 

 a very old man, Owen Hester, to state what possible nd- 

 vantage he expected to derive from the singular custom 

 of frequenting, in particular, such old wells as were con- 

 tiguous to an old blasted oak, or an upright unhewn 



