Fairy Beliefs in Galloway. 235 



The tree to expect by the side of a sacred well is doubtless 

 some kind of thorn, says Sir John Rhys, and he adds that 

 in Ireland, where primitive pilgrimages took place, a haw- 

 thorn almost invariably stands by the brink of a typical Irish 

 " holy well " as a necessary companion of the well, as well- 

 offerings (rags) were hung on the branches. | 



In Wigtownshire, where for many years past I have 

 frequently stayed in various parts, and moved much about 

 among the country people, I have heard from their own lips 

 some very interesting superstitions relating to the blackthorn, 

 or " fairy-thorn," as they invariably call it; and perhaps it 

 will be best to write some of these stories down exactly as 

 they told them to me in their own words. The events men- 

 tioned all took place within twenty-five miles from Newton- 

 Stewart, and members of the families involved, in many cases, 

 still survive, though mostly of great age. 



The first story is of Handling's Thorn, and my informant 

 thus communicated the following statement last December : — 

 " The fairy-thorn tree, or Handling's Thorn, as it is now 

 commonly called, stands on the side of the public highway 

 road, half-way between Glenluce and Newton-Stewart, on the 

 Newton-Stewart side of the Ha^f-way House, opposite the 

 farm of Kildarroch, in the parish oi Kirkcowan. This Half- 

 way House used to be an inn in the coaching days, and they 

 changed the horses there, and, according to tradition, one 

 Douglas Handling or Hanlon, a roadmaker, had the contract 

 for making or widening this part of the public road, and this 

 thorn tree being in the way, he was ordered to cut it down 

 uy the powers that were in authority, but Hanlon being a 

 superstitious man, stubbornly refused in case some ill would 

 befall him. And this thorn still remains to this day, as far 

 as I know. It stands so far out on the road that the road 

 is metalled close up to the trunk, and there is a footpath on 

 the other side of it, between the thorn and the fence. Therj 

 used to be a footpath right round the trunk of this thorn on 

 the ground, and it was said that the pead or path was formed 

 by the fairies running round it at night when all was quiet. 



X Celfic Foll-lnrp, Rhys, p. 382. 



