Isle of Man.
The first Sunday in August is called, by the Manks peasantry, yn chied doonaght a ouyr. On that day they crowd in great numbers to the tops of the highest hills, in the north to the summit of Snafeld, and in the south to the top of Barule. Others visit the sanative wells of the island, which are held in the highest estimation. The veneration with which the Pagan deities were regarded having been transferred along with their fanes and fountains to Christian saints, sanctified and sanative wells became the resort of the pious pilgrim, and by the credulous invalid libations and devotions were, according to ancient practice, performed at these holy springs, which were believed to be guarded by presiding powers to whom offerings were left by the visitants. Many a wonderful cure is said to have been effected by the waters of St. Catherine’s Well at Port Erin; by the Chibbyr Parick, or well of St. Patrick, on the west end of the hill of Lhargey-graue; by Lord Henry’s Well on the south beach of Laxey, and by the well at Peel, also dedicated to St. Patrick, which, says the tradition, just sprang forth where St. Patrick was prompted by Divine instinct to impress the sign of the cross on the ground. Many extraordinary properties were ascribed to the Nunnery Well, but the most celebrated in modern times for its medicinal virtues is the fine spring which issues from the rocks of the bold promontory called Maughold Head, and which is dedicated to the saint of the name, who, it appears, had blessed the well and endowed it with certain healing virtues. On this account it is yet resorted to, as was the pool of Siloam of old, by every invalid who believes in its efficacy.
On the first Sunday in August the natives, according to ancient custom, still make a pilgrimage to drink its waters; and it is held to be of the greatest importance to certain females to enjoy the beverage when seated in a place called the saint’s chair, which the saint, for the accommodation of succeeding generations, obligingly placed immediately contiguous.—Bennet, Sketches of the Isle of Man, 1829, p. 65; Waldron, Description of Isle of Man, p. 151; Train, History of the Isle of Man, 1845, vol. ii. p. 121.