Baldred's Well, and a fissure in the cliff at Whitberry, not far
from the mouth of the Tyne, is known as St. Baldred's Bed or Cradle.
Marnan or Marnoch, besides giving name to the town of Kilmarnock, in
Ayrshire, and to the Island of Inchmarnoch, off Bute, is remembered in
the name of the Banffshire parish of Marnoch, where he laboured as a
missionary in the seventh century. His head was kept as a revered relic
in the church of Aberchirder, and solemn oaths were sworn by it. Use
was also made of it for therapeutic purposes. It was periodically
washed, and the water was given to the sick for the restoration of
their health. This was not an isolated case. Bede tells us, that after
Cuthbert's death, some of the water in which his body was washed,
was given to an epileptic boy along with some consecrated earth,
and brought about a cure. A stone, called St. Marnan's Chair, is,
or was till lately, to be seen at Aberchirder; and a spring, near
the parish manse, bears the saint's name. About a mile and a half
from the church of Aboyne, in Aberdeenshire, is St. Muchricha's Well,
and beside it is a stone marked with a cross. At one time, this stone
was removed. According to a local tradition, it was brought back by
Muchricha, the guardian of the well, who seemed unwilling to lose
sight of the lost property. In the parish of Kildonan, Sutherland, two
or three blocks of stone, placed in the form of a seat, went by the
name of Cathair Donan, i.e., Donan's Chair. In his cille or church,
Donan taught the truths of Christianity; and, seated in his cathair,
he administered justice to the people of the district. There is a
St. Donan's Well in Eigg, the island where the saint and his companion
clerics were murdered by the natives early in the seventh century.
Patrick, the well-known missionary of Ireland, was reverenced also in
Scotland. There is a well dedicated to him in the parish of Muthill,
Perthshire, and close to it once stood a chapel, believed to have borne
his name. From the article on Muthill parish, in the "New Statistical
Account of Scotland," we learn that in former times the inhabitants
of the district held the saint's memory "in such veneration that, on
his day, neither the clap of the mill was heard nor the plough seen
to move in the furrow." There is a well dedicated to him in Dalziel
parish, Lanarkshire. About sixty yards from St. Patrick's temple, in
the island of Tyree, is a rock, with a hollow on the top, two feet
across and four feet deep, known to the islanders as St. Patrick's
Vat. At any rate it was so named at the end of last century. In a
quarry at Portpatrick, Wigtownshire, used in connection with the
harbour works, once flowed a spring dedicated to the saint. On the
rock below were formerly to be seen certain marks, said, by tradition,
to be the impression made by his knees and left hand.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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