Through England on a side saddle in the time of William and MaryFiennes, Celia
History
Through England on a side saddle in the time of William and Mary
Fiennes, Celia
England -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800
Now the Spring is in use and a high wall round it, Y^e Well is about 4
or 5 Yards square and round the brimm is a walke of Broad stone round.
There are 4 or 5 Steps down to the bottom, it is no deeper at Some
places then a Little above y^e Waste, not up to y^e Shoulders of a
woman, and you may kneel on a flatt Stone and it Comes to y^r Chin—this
the papists made use of very much. At one Corner the Springs rise they
are very quick and there is a Sluce that it Continually runns off so as
to keep just at the same depth, and it runns off so fast and y^e Springs
supply so fast that it Clears the Well presently after any body has been
in. I allwayes Chose to be just where y^e springs rise that is much the
Coldest and it throws off anything in the Well to y^e Sluce. Setting
aside y^e papists ffancyes of it I cannot but think it is a very good
Spring being remarkably Cold and just at y^e head of y^e Spring, so its
ffresh w^{ch} must needs be very strengthning; it Shutts up the pores of
y^e body immeadiately, so fortifyes from Cold, you Cannot bear ye
Coldness of it above 2 or 3 minutes and then you Come out and walke
round y^e pavement and then in againe, and so 3 or 4 or 6 or 7 as many
tymes as you please. You go in and out in Linnen Garm^{ts}, some go in
fflannell; I used my bath Garm^{ts} and so pulled them off and put on
flannell when I Came out to go into the bed which is best; but some Came
at a distance—so did I and did not go into bed—but some will keep on
their wet Garments and let them drye to them and say its more
beneficial, but I did not venture it. I dipp’d my head quite over every
tyme I went in and found it Eased a Great pain I used to have in my
head, and I was not so apt to Catch Cold so much as before w^{ch} I
imputed to the Exceeding Coldness of y^e Spring that shutts up the pores
of the body. Its thought it runns off of some very Cold spring and from
Clay. Some of y^e papists I saw there had so much Zeale as to Continue a
quarter of an hour on their knees at their prayers in y^e Well, but none
else Could well endure it so long at a tyme, I went in 7 Severall
seasons and 7 tymes Every Season and would have gone in oftener Could we
have Staid longer. We went back to Harragat 6 mile and then we went to
Burrough Bridge 8 mile—a famous place for Salmon, but then we Could not
meete with any, but we had a very Large Codfish there above a yard long
and more than halfe a yard in Compass very fresh and good and Cost but 8
pence. I saw as big a one bought then for 6 pence and six Crabbs as big
as my two hands, the Least was bigger than one of my fists, all cost but
3 pence. Thence to Harragate 8 mile, then we went and Laid at
Knarsburoughe 2 mile, w^{ch} was nearer to S^t Mungers Well, for we went
it twice from Harragate and back w^{ch} was 12 mile more and found it
too farre to go in an afternoon—from Knarsburough it was but 4 mile; we
went it four tymes and back w^{ch} was 16 miles and we went afterwards
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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