Christian antiquities -- England; Churches -- England
In the village of Tunstall, a few miles distant from Yarmouth, there is
a clump of alder trees, familiarly known as "Hell Carr." Not far from
these trees there is a pool of water having a boggy bottom, that goes by
the name of "Hell Hole." A succession of bubbles are frequently seen
floating on the surface of the water in summer time, a circumstance (as
Mr. Glyde, the Norfolk antiquarian author, truly states) that can be
accounted for very naturally; but the natives of the district maintain
that these bubbles are the result of supernatural action, the cause of
which is thus described. The tower of the church is in ruins. Tradition
says that it was destroyed by fire, but that the bells were not injured
by the calamity. The parson and the churchwarden each claimed the
bells. While they were quarrelling, his Satanic Majesty carried out the
disputed booty. The clergyman, however, not desiring to lose the booty,
pursued and overtook the devil, who, in order to evade his clerical
opponent, dived through the earth to his appointed dwelling-place,
taking the bells with him. Tradition points to "Hell Hole" as the spot
where this hurried departure took place. The villagers believe that the
bubbles on the surface of the pool are caused by the continuous descent
of the waters to the bottomless pit.
[Illustration: THE BELL OF ST. FILLAN.]
In 1778 there was a bell belonging to the chapel of S. Fillan, which was
in high reputation among the votaries of that saint in olden times. It
was of an oblong shape, about a foot high, and was usually laid on a
gravestone in the churchyard. Mad people were brought to it to effect a
cure. They were first dipped into the "Saint's Pool," where certain
ceremonies were performed, which partook of the character of Druidism
and Roman Catholicism. The bell was placed in the chapel, where it
remained, bound with ropes, all night. Next day it was placed upon the
heads of the lunatics with great solemnity, but with what results
"deponent sayeth not." It was the popular opinion that, if stolen, this
bell would extricate itself from the hands of the thief and return home
ringing all the way! The bell had ultimately to be kept under lock and
key to prevent its being used for superstitious purposes. This old time
relic is now in the National Museum, Edinburgh, of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland, and it is described as follows in the
catalogue: "The 'Bell of S. Fillan,' of cast bronze, square shaped, and
with double-headed, dragonesque handle. It lay on a gravestone in the
old churchyard at Strathfillan, Perthshire, where it was superstitiously
used for the cure of insanity and other diseases till 1798, when it was
removed by a traveller to England. It was returned to Scotland in 1869,
and deposited in the Museum by Lord Crawford and the Bishop of Brechin,
with the consent of the Heritors and Kirk-Session of S. Fillans." Near
Raleigh there is a valley which is said to have been caused by an
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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