The Sacred Springs and Holy Wells of the St David’s Peninsula (part two) Source Issue 5 (Spring 1998) by Julie Trier

Continuing to update the Source New Series articles so finally a complete set is available digitally here is Julie Trier’s second piece on St David’s peninsula copied verbatim from the origin.

Tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord: who turned the hard rock into pools of water, and the flint-stone into a springing well. — Ps. 114: 7-8.

THE voice of Christianity was next heard in the land of Demetia (Dyfed), its advent spanning a band of time, possibly AD 400-600. The early presence of the new religion in Dyfed is evidenced by inscribed memorial stones (Thomas 1994, 101-2). Numbers of these can be seen near St Davids, at St Nicholas’ church, Tremarchog, ten miles to the north. One commemorates a lady with the British name Toncetaca, perhaps the wife of an Irish or Irish-named Christian (Thomas 1994, 92-3). Two other stones with single-name inscriptions, now also in the church but found at nearby Llandridian, are probably dedicated to sixth-century priests, Llandridian having possibly been an early Christian enclosure (llan) or churchyard (Thomas 1994, 106). It is interesting to note here that near Llandridian, at Ffynnondridian Farm, is “the consecrated well which characterizes and gives its name to the spot” (Fenton 1903, 15; Jones 1992, 5, 214; see also Part One of this article: Source 4, 18). Llandridian has also been linked with the “wife” (or perhaps more likely, a monastic companion) of St Illtud (Doble 1971, 131). A further inscribed stone, now in the Carmarthen Museum but found near Narberth (Arberth), the ancient royal seat of Dyfed, records an early Christian king, Voteporix (Guotepir). Despite the memorial acclaiming him “Protector” and according him the epitaph of a holy man, it was Guotepir, together with the other four rulers of contemporary Britain, who was angrily denounced by St Gildas, “spokesman for the ideals of the monastic movement”, in his Ruin of Britain (c. 540), for perpetuating “the evils of the age” (Thomas 1994, 82-3, 89; Thomas 1993, 26-30). However, Guotepir’s father Aircol was known as “the Generous” (Lawhir) because he granted estates to the Church. Aircol’s close friend Amon Ddu was the father of St Samson, at one time abbot of Caldey Island (Ynys Byr), where a small monastery had already been founded c. 500 (Thomas 1994, 89-90, 74). The main Christian impetus arrived from the east. Small communities, probably reflecting the first great monasteries of south-east Wales, were established in Dyfed. Royal or well-born children like Samson, David and the later “saints” were educated in such centres (Thomas 1994, 91, 102, 106). They would then set out as missionaries, initially seeking to influence the loc kings. “Adoption of the Faith in royal and noble circl is likely to have preceded any more general conversio of the people” (Thomas 1994, 101, 90). When Christianity had succeeded in percolatin down through society, “ordinary” people may hay found that the simple lifestyle of the “saints”, their clos affinity with the natural world, together with the incarnational message, offered a spirituality that the \ could readily assimilate; its symbolism echoed mu that was already familiar to the pagani, the “country dwelling” Celts. “The most important heritage which Celti Christianity received from the old religion was th profound sense of the immanence of God in the world” “Every well-spring, wood and stone took on a mystic significance” (O”Malley 1992, 8, 4). The Christian Celts in Wales continued to regar pure clear flowing water as a sacred source an symbol of life and wholeness, inG Tudur Aled’ words, coel iechyd and irder byd – an “omen o health” and “the sap of the world” (Thomas 1993 98). It is therefore likely that pre-Christian sacred spring were adapted for Christian rites in Wales befor ecclesiastical councils repeatedly and unsuccessfull proscribed “well-worship” (Jones 1992, 22-3). However, “in this western end of Dyfed conversion to Christianity [was] neither instantaneou nor automatic”; society seemed to be in a state o “spiritual flux” (Thomas 1994, 90). As I described Part One, the chieftain Boia (of the Irish Deisi tribe wh settled the area c. 400: Thomas 1994, chapters 5-7 challenged David when the saint claimed possession o Vallis Rosina, the marshy valley where the cathedr now stands. The importance of this site with its druidi religious focus of hazel grove and sacred stream (“the heart of the pagan camp”: Jones 1992, 25) may have attracted the missionaries. From other regions we hear of similar confrontations and contests of power staged to prove the strength of the Christian God. These often centred upon renowned springs whose healing properties would then be attributed to and the well called after the saint. Alternately, the origin of some springs was ascribed “to the miraculous intervention of a saint” (Bord 1985, 20, 22, 96-104; Wade-Evans 1923, 102). In St David’s case, both his birth and baptism were said to be heralded by the sudden springing of water.

 

The Celtic saints in Wales normally chose to establish their cells and churches near both a river and a spring. It seems certain that the Christian holy men and women who settled by these sacred springs…took water from them to baptise their first converts, symbolically Christianizing them in the process (Thomas 1993, 94). Very little is known about baptism in the early Celtic churches (only one Celtic baptismal rite – by sprinkling of water, rather than by immersion – has survived, in the c. 800 Irish Stowe Missal). However, it is not unlikely that water from the holy wells was used for baptism, as we find so many remains of chapels, baptisteries and indeed existing churches built close to or even over wells (Bord 1986, 94; Jones 1992, 23-8). Francis Jones states that “twelve chapels were erected” around the St Davids peninsula. Of those that can be identified or recalled through historical records or place-names, an estimated seven or eight have well-spring associations. The majority of the old well-chapels have disappeared. Some fell into decay and were abandoned and a large number were deliberately destroyed during the Reformation…It is possible that some of the structures we now recognise as well-chambers may have been in the first instance well-chapels (Jones 1992, 26, 27 n. 26). This may have been the case at St Non’s Well.

St Non’s Well (SM 751244) The story of St Non and St David as it is now known has come from translations and adaptations of the Vita Davidis, originally composed in Latin by Rhigyfarch c. 1081, some five hundred years after St David’s death. It is believed to be “not a simple historical account of the life of the Saint, but a document containing contemporary political-ecclesiatical propaganda attempting to uphold and further the interests of the old Celtic ‘Church’ against the ever-increasing power of Rome” The details contain many hagiological and miraculous incidents, following the set plan to which all the medieval saints’ Lives were written – indeed, it is considered a prototype of many of the later Lives (Bowen 1983, 16-17). “Non or Nonita was thought to be the daughter of a local chieftain, Cynir of Caer Gawch in Menevia” (Owen 1994, 288: Menevia is the Latin equivalent of Mynyw, the oldest Welsh name for the city of St Davids). It is told that whilst out walking, Non, a beautiful and modest virgin, was violated by Sanctus or Sant, king of Ceredigion (Cardiganshire), who happened to be passing through Dyfed. He was the great-grandson of Cunedda, a famous Celtic warrior. At the moment of David’s conception two large stones were said to have appeared at Non’s head and feet, as if to protect her and declare the significance of her offspring. During her pregnancy, whilst Non was praying in a church, the priest (St Gildas, according to the legend: Wade-Evans 1923, 4 – though Gildas and David were in reality exact contemporaries) was struck dumb, as a sign that her child would show great wisdom and eloquence. The story tells that the “magicians” or druids of a local tribal leader (possibly Non’s own father, or perhaps Triphun, a king linked to this region, once known as Pebidiog: Thomas 1994, 90) had foreseen the birth of a boy “whose power would extend over the whole country” (James 1967, 31; Rees 1992, 10). This tyrant was alarmed and plotted to kill Non and her unborn child. When the time came for her to give birth, she “went forth along the path where the place of child-bearing was” (Wade-Evans 1923, 6): could this indicate that she sought a midwife at the well, as I suggested in Part One? However, this line has also been translated as, “the mother sought the predicted place” (James 1967, 31-2). As if to protect her from danger, a ferocious thunderstorm then arose; but within it a serene light shone through the clouds enveloping St Non as she gave birth. Local lore attributes the appearance of the well at this place to the holy birth. During her labour the stone upon which Non supported herself was said to have received the imprints of her fingers. “On that spot a church has been built, in the foundations of which this stone ‘ lies concealed” (James 1967, 32). A ruined chapel now lies in the field adjoining the well enclosure. A large and apparently incomplete stone circle (dated to the Bronze Age) surrounds the chapel, possibly being drawn into the Christian context in the recurrence of the motif of “stones” in St Non’s story, where the circle seems to be represented by the two protective stones which appeared at the time of David’s conception. The foundations of the chapel are very early; the remains of the walls medieval.

The building was abandoned at the Reformation, and used as a dwelling, the surrounding land becoming a leek garden (Rees 1992, 14; Willis 1716, 52-3) – ironically appropriate that the national symbol of Wales should have come to be grown on the birthplace of her national saint! The chapel was demolished to its existing level in 1810, the stones being put to use in local walls (Jones 1992, 29). The upright stone that stands in the chapel’s south-west corner bears a simple incised ring-cross on a stem, similar to an Irish processional cross (Dark 1992, 19-20). In addition to the hagiological pattern, the motifs in the narrative of St David’s birth are part of a pre-Christian tradition in Wales and Ireland in which the birth of a great leader or hero is not only prophesied and threatens to usurp a presiding power, but is also recognised by signs from the natural world: in this instance the turbulence in the atmosphere (Rees & Rees 1961, 223). Equally, in the same tradition, interference with standing stones or anyone within their “sanctuary” is thought to “provoke elemental disturbance” (Rees 1992, 14). It could also be said that in the story of St Non, the well itself had a similarly protective role. This is somewhat reminiscent of the Mabinogion tale “The Lady of the Fountain”, in which a challenge to the well (by the spilling of water onto a sacred slab) produces a life-threatening storm which only those of heroic mettle could survive (Jones & Jones 1982, 143-5, 151-2). This has however been interpreted as a rain-making ritual; and indeed analogous rites were practiced until relatively recently in France (Jones 1992, 52, 117).

Legend speaks of St Non as a healer and peace-maker, as in the saying attributed to her by Rhys Goch: “There is no madness like contention” (O’Malley 1985, 22). There are churches and holy wells dedicated to her at both Altarnun in Cornwall and Dirinon in Brittany, indicating that she, like many of the early Celtic saints, travelled the western sea-ways to further her work of evangelisation. These well and church dedications in other Celtic lands are paralleled by dedications to her son. Indeed, Non and David together provide an example of the cult of two (or more) saints “constantly associated with each other and with chapels dedicated to them in close proximity” (Doble 1971, 145 n. 154). In Brittany, Non’s veneration was widespread. The medieval Breton Buhez Santez Non (Life of St Non), written in the form of a miracle play, tells that after David’s conception, Non left for Brittany to hide her shame. There her son was born and there she lived. Sh• died there on one 2 March, which is now her feastday. The sanctity of St Non’s healing well has alway drawn pilgrims aside on their journey to St Davids. Thy sick were conveyed there in a cart from Nine Wells (se Part One). There their cure was completed; and the were then carried the final three-quarters of a mile t the cathedral to be blessed by a priest (Jones 1992, 26 The water of the well was believed to be efficacious fo eye complaints and rheumatism. The Englis antiquarian Browne Willis reported: There is a fine Well…cover’d with a stone roo and inclos’d within a Wall, with Benches to si upon round the Well. Some old simple People g’ stil to visit this Saint at some particular Times especially upon St Nun’s Day – which they kee holy, and offer Pins, Pebbles etc. at this We (Willis 1716, 52-3). Another report expands upon the well’s properties: There was so much faith attached to this once celebrated well that it was said every wish mad there would be realised on making an offerin• and preserving silence. There is a tradition story of its virtues: it is said to have possessed the qualities of healing all complaints, but it wa added there must be great faith…A perso labouring under the heaviest affliction o lameness with difficulty attained the well upo his crutches; he immersed in this limpid strea and returned home with unspeakable joy, havin left his crutches behind him at the well (Manb 1891, 56-7). Richard Fenton, Pembrokeshire’s gentlema historian, born in St Davids in 1747, describes personal encounter with the well at an early age: The fame this consecrated spring has obtained incredible and still is resorted to for man’ complaints. In my infancy, as was the gener usage with respect to children at that time, I w. often dipped in it, and offerings, however triflin even of a farthing or a pin, were made after ea ablution, and the bottom of the well shone wi votive brass. The spring, like most others in th district, is of excellent quality, is reported to eb and flow, and to be of wondrous efficacy complaints of the eye (Fenton 1903, 63). The well-structure has been reduced in size sin Browne Willis’ day; the benches have disappeared a single stone ledge just below water-level is position like a seat on the back wall of the chamber. A referen• to the well made between 1739 and 1761 notes: “Here a celebrated spring over which is an arched roof, whi Mr Davies, late Chantor of St Davids, not long sin improved” (Jones 1992, 70). Yet curiously a Dr Geor Harries wrote that he “remembers that well without head or cover over it” in his school days during the 1770s, and he recalls: “The head was put on the well by Mr Williams of Trelethin who had a high idea of its waters as a medicine and used it frequently for that purpose” (Royal Commission 1925, 330). Around 1800 Fenton described the well as “arched over”; and its stone hood, which resembles numbers of other well structures in Pembrokeshire, was declared to be “barrel-vaulting of the normal type” by Jones and Freeman in 1856 (p. 233) – though their use of English poses something of a conundrum when they further state that “this covering has an odd effect from the top of the vault being seen outside without any sort of roof over it”! According to Fenton the well was cleaned out in 1810 when (not surprisingly) coins and silver pins were found. In 1951 it was cleared, restored and rededicated by its Roman Catholic owners, and a pilgrimage made to it (Jones 1992, 210). Today the water level stands on average at about two feet. The bed is always strewn with “votive brass” and silver coins, pebbles and shells, whilst flowers occasionally float on the surface. A small niche just above the water in the inner lime-washed wall, probably intended for offerings, currently contains a candle. The well is situated within a walled and paved enclosure through which a stream from a higher spring runs past a statue of Our Lady to join with the well’s overflow. This then passes through the wall, and flows through the chapel field to eventually cascade down the cliff into the sea below. Overgrown masonry close to the well but just inside the chapel field may be the “little house lately built” in the mid-eighteenth century (Jones 1992, 70). Perhaps Fenton refers to this when he states: At the upper end of the field leading to Nun’s chapel there appears to be the mined site of a house, probably inhabited by the person deputed to take care of the spring, most likely a lucrative employ in more superstitious times, when the spring was much frequented (Fenton 1903, 64). A path leading through the well-enclosure is regularly used by walkers making a short detour from the coastal path. Hydrangea and fuschia bushes line the way to St Non’s Retreat House, once a Passionist monastery, beside which stands the chapel of Our Lady and St Non. Built in 1934, its design is based upon the medieval “reception” chapels, many of which topped the cliffs at suitable landing places. Here the multitude of pilgrims, journeying at the mercy of winds and currents, would have been provided with a refuge in which to offer a prayer of thanks for a safe passage, or, on an outward journey, for protection on the waves. The holy wells adjoining several of these chapels would have been sources of refreshment and encouragement to the pilgrims as they f011owed the pathways that converged upon the city of Tyddewi and the hallowed shrine of Dewi Sant.

To be continued

References

Bord, Janet & Colin. 1985. Sacred Waters. Granada. Bowen, E.G. 1983. Dewi Sant, Saint David. University of Wales Press (Cardiff). Dark, K.R. 1992. The Inscribed Stones of Dyfed. Gomer (Llandysul). Doble, G.H. 1971. Lives of the Welsh Saints. University of Wales Press (Cardiff). Fenton, R. 1903. Historical Tour through Pembrokeshire. Davies & Co. James, J.W. 1981. Rhigyfarch’s Life of St David. University of Wales Press (Cardiff). Jones, Francis. 1992 (1954). The Holy Wells of Wales. University of Wales Press (Cardiff). Jones, Gwyn, & Jones, Thomas. 1982. The Mabinogion. Dragon’s Dream (Netherlands). Jones, W.B. & Freeman, E.A. 1856. The History and Antiquities of St Davids. Manby, G.W. 1801. History and Antiquities of the Parish of St Davids. O’Malley, Brian Brendan. 1985. A Pilgrim’s Manual. Paulinus Press. O’Malley, Brendan. 1989. A Welsh Pilgrim’s Manual. Gomer (Llandysul). O’Malley, Brendan. 1992. Celtic Spirituality – St Davids Papers. Church in Wales Publications (Penarth). Owen, George. 1994. The Description of Pembrokeshire. Gomer (Llandysul). Rees, Alwyn, & Rees, Brinley. 1961. Celtic Heritage. Thames & Hudson. Rees, Nona. 1992. St David of Dewisland. Gomer (Llandysul). Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire: Pembrokeshire. 1925. H.M.S.O. Thomas, Charles. 1994. And Shall These Mute Stones Speak? University of Wales Press (Cardiff). Thomas, Patrick..1993. Candle in the Darkness. Gomer (Llandysul). Wade-Evans, A.W. 1923. Life of St David. S.P.C.K. Willis, Browne. 1716. The Survey of the Cathedral Church of St Davids.

NOTE part three was never published Source New Series ended with this publication!

The mysterious cave and well of St Fillan, Pittenweem.

St Fillan’s Well is one of the most remarkable sites in Britain being situated in an atmospheric chapel set in a cave cell at the bottom of a cliff in the seaside town of Pittenweem.

Saint Fillan was a sixth-seventh-century monk who lived in Fife, working in Aberdour. He is remembered there and Forgan, in the parish church but also on the top of Dunfilian near Comrie, where a rocky seat exists where he is said to have blessed the county, and was later claimed to cure rheumatism. Relics of him, his bell and crozier are in Edinburgh’s Royal Museum of Scotland. Whatever happened to the saint’s physical remains is unclear, but they were probably lost in the Reformation. It is known that at the Battle of Bannockburn, the Abbot of Inchaffray carried the relics into battle and many Scots claimed it was because of this they won!, the most remarkable site associated with the saint is his cave.

A legend of the saint states that he wrote his sermons and read scripture in the cave. However, the cave was so dark he was unable to do so so when he asked God what to do about this problem, God gave St. Fillan a magical glowing left arm. So now Fillan could happily read and write with his right arm, while lighting the pages with his glowing left. Whether the cave was a hermit cell or not is unclear and it is more likely that the saint would use it as a temporary accommodation as he undertook evangelical work around Fife. Certainly, the importance of the cave predates the saint as the settlement itself Pittenweem derives from the Pictish for pit and weem for cave, thus meaning Place of the cave. The cave itself is a natural sea cave, hollowed out by wave action. Now it is a fair way from the sea due to the construction of the harbour. When the saint was alive, it would have been more remote being only reachable by a boat.

Despite the unlikeliness that St Fillan would have used the cave as hermitage, it does have features which would accommodate this. For example, there are flat rocks which could be used as a bed and of course the spring

The spring fills a small pool in the sandy bottom of the cave. I was told locally that it was used to cure eye problems but Ruth and Frank Morris’s 1981 Scottish Healing Wells fails to mention any associations. It is said that the cave was a stopping off point for pilgrims on their way to St Andrews Shrine, in St. Andrews or St Ethernan’s Shrine on the Isle of May. The importance of the site was recognised in 1100 by Edgar, King of Scotland gave it to the Culdees and David I gave it to the monks of the Priory of St Mary the Virgin on the aforementioned May and thus built a priory over the cave and a stairway was built by the monks which ended in a vaulted cellar in the priory. The staircase remains in the cave.

The cave over the ages

It is unclear whether the monks used the cave as simply a shrine, but they may have used its coolness and proximity to the sea to use as storage for food. It also  served as a prison during the witch hunts of the 17-18th centuries and was certainly used by smugglers in the 18^th century and was used as a rubbish dump. It was rediscovered when in 1900, a horse ploughing in the Priory garden fell down a rubbish filled hole. This was what it was when in 1935 the Rector Canon de Voil and his father dug out this rubbish and built the current shrine in the cave. The altar was consecrated by the Bishop of St Andrews.

The cave today

The cave is entered via an ornate iron gate and a path then goes up a steep slope to the inner part of the cave which is shaped like a Y. The left of this passage lead to the small springhead, whilst the right passage leads to area which has been altered to include an altar.

Since its restoration the cave has been owned by the Bishop Lowe Trust and is entrusted to St John’s Scottish Episcopal Church in Pittenweem who use it every Holy Saturday night hold an ecumenical Easter service due to the similarity between the cave and Christ’s rock-hewn sepulchre The cave is open to the public since 2000 and the key available locally.

Holy, healing and ritual waters of Catalonia: The Besalu Mikvah or Case de Banys – a remarkable survival

Besalú is a wonderful ancient medieval town, a jewel of Catalonia, but not as well known as other Spanish towns perhaps. One of its gems is the survival of El Micvé (mikvah) which is the last vestige of the Jewish community in Besalú  which is one of the only ten surviving in Europe.

What is a Mikvah?

Deriving from a Hebrew word meaning baths of purification. The function of the bath house was to purify the soul by completely immersing the body three times consecutively. There were differences in the ablutions according to gender: women were obliged to bath themselves after each menstruation, after having a child and before marrying, and men had to purify themselves every Friday before sunset, i.e. before the Sabbath day started.

Evidence of a Jewish settlement in Besalú is recorded in a 1229 document which Jaume I the Conqueror refers to them as moneylenders. By 1342 this community of a 200 individuals lived within the town’s Christian community and became independent of a larger one in Barcelona, became independent. By 1435 the community left Besalú for Granollers and Castelló d’Empúries and all evidence of this community disappeared until 1964 when the Mikvah was discovered. The site was revealed by an accident by the owner of land above it in the basement of  an old dye manufacture, who presumably utilised the spring that supplied it. In 1977 plans were made to develop the are and restore it and make it available to visitors.

A unique survival

The Mikveh is a Romanesque-style chamber made of carved stone with a window to the east of the barrel vault and the central pool. It is thought to be  thirteenth century in date and is the only Romanesque mikvah in Spain. Thirty-six steps lead down to a small rectangular room. In keeping with tradition, the bath has a fine vault overhead and is lit by a window in the eastern wall. The water used to fill it had to be totally free flowing, i.e. not stagnant, coming from a spring, a river, the sea or a lake. That is why the mikwa is found at this depth. On the third step of the stairway a hole can be seen that channelled the water.  This mikvah probably belonged to a synagogue that stood in the site of the garden on today’s Plaça dels Jueus (Jew’s Square). From here there is a fine view of the Fluvia River and its Roman bridge.

Thanks to recent archaeological work, the remains of the wall of an ancient synagogue from 1264 have been found. And the courtyard, which was used for weddings and festivities, and the prayer room.