There is a St. Helen's well, near Sefton, in West Lancashire, into which pins were formerly thrown by the credulous, as at Brindle.
The superstitions connected with this "pin dropping" into certain wells are somewhat varied in character. They, however, seem to have generally some relation to divination or fortune-telling, and appear to have found their chief patrons in the fair sex. The well superstitions of this class are widely spread. Dudley Costello tells us that in many parts of Brittany they keep a very watchful eye over the morals of the young women. The fountain of Bobdilis, near Landividian, is famous as an ordeal to test propriety of conduct. The pin which fastens the habit shirt is dropped into the water, and if it touch the bottom with the point downwards the girl is freed from all suspicion; if, on the contrary, it turns the other way and sinks head foremost, her reputation is irretrievably damaged.
The author of "Wanderings in Brittany" informs us that there is a "magic well" of this class at or near Barenton, to which peasants yet bring their children when ill of fever, having faith in the healing powers of the water. He thus describes the manner in which the deity of the spring is invoked:—"You say 'Ris! Ris! Fontaine de Barenton,' dropping a pin the while into the spring, whereupon it breaks into ripples and bubbles; if it laughs you are to be fortunate; if it remains mute you will be unlucky. Tradition and poetry both say the water fizzes around a sword point, but we had nothing larger than pins to try it with, and to these it responded gaily." He adds that "when the country was in great want of rain, a procession was formed to the fountain, and the priest dipped the foot of the cross, out of the church, into the water, after which rain is sure to fall abundantly. This ceremony has been successful very lately." The same writer refers to another superstition, in connection with the "magic well," which plainly indicates its pagan origin. He says:—"The peasants believe the priests can punish them by sprinkling water from the spring on the large stone, the Perron of Merlin, above the well, which brings rain throughout the whole parish for many days."
"Seleucus," in "Notes and Queries," speaks of a well, with a superstition connected with it similar to the one at Brindle, in the Welsh peninsula of Gower. It is called the "Cefyn Bryn or the Holy Well." He says, "it is still supposed to be under the especial patronage of the Virgin Mary, and a crooked pin is the offering of every visitor to its sacred precincts. It is believed that if this pin be dropped in with fervent faith, all the many pins which have ever been thrown into it may be seen rising from the bottom to greet the new one. Argue the impossibility of the thing, and you are told, it is true it never happens now, such earnestness of faith being, 'alas!' extinct."
In the same work, vol. 6, p. 28, Robert Rawlinson speaks of a spring near Wooler, in Northumberland, locally known as "Pin Well." He says "the country maids, in passing this spring, drop a crooked pin into the water. In Westmorland there is also a pin well, into the water of which rich and poor drop a pin in passing. The superstition in both cases consists in the belief that the well is under the charge of a fairy, and that it is necessary to propitiate the little lady by a present of some sort: hence the pin, as most convenient. The crooked pin of Northumberland may be explained upon the received hypothesis in folk-lore, that crooked things are lucky things, as a 'crooked sixpence,' &c."
Mr. Hunt, in his chapter on the "Superstitions of the Wells," gives numerous examples of its prevalence in the remote West of England. The water in the well of St. Ludvan formerly miraculously enlarged the sense of sight, and loosened the tongue of the true believer; but a demon that the good saint, after a terrible struggle, exorcised from out the body of a child and laid in the Red Sea, in his rage, "by spitting in the water," destroyed its efficacy in these matters. But it is believed still that any child baptised in its waters is certain never to succumb to the genius of Calcraft, and his hempen instrument of death. "On a cord of silk," however, we are informed that "it is stated to have no power." Some years back, notwithstanding, a woman was actually hanged here for the murder of her husband, whom she had poisoned with arsenic in order to clear the way for a more favoured lover. As she was born near the magic well, and was supposed to have been baptised with its waters, the greatest consternation prevailed in the neighbourhood. The much prized fountain had lost its cherished virtue! What was to be done under such a lamentable state of things? The necks of the inhabitants would in future be in equal jeopardy with those of the rest of her Majesty's subjects! It was, however, by some indefatigable enquirer, at last discovered that a mistake had been made; the murderer had not been born in the parish, and consequently had not been baptised with the liquid which flowed from the well of St. Ludwin. Great was the joy of the inhabitants on the receipt of this welcome news. The spring not only recovered its ancient prestige, but became more famous than ever.
The Gulvell Well, in Fosses Moor, answered the demands of lone married women or love-sick spinsters respecting their absent husbands or sweethearts. Mr. Hunt relates how a mother, one Jane Thomas, with her babe in her arms, recently, after a severe mental struggle, obeyed the injunction of an old hag, a "sort of guardian of the well," and tested its efficacy. "She knelt on the mat of bright green grass which grew around, and leaning over the well so as to see her child's face in the water, she repeated after her instructor,
Water, water, tell me truly,
Is the man I love duly
On the earth or under sod.
Sick or well—in the name of God!
Some minutes passed in perfect silence, and anxiety was rapidly turning cheeks and lips pale, when the colour rapidly returned. There was a gush of clear water from below, bubble rapidly followed bubble, sparkling brightly in the morning sunshine. Full of joy the young mother rose from her knees and exclaimed, 'I am happy now.'" It appears that if the party inquired after should be sick, the water bubbles, but in a filthy, muddy, condition. If he should be dead, it remains perfectly quiescent, to the dismay of the person seeking information.
There is a singular superstition attached to the well of St. Keyne, "namely, that whichever of a newly-married couple should first drink thereof was to enjoy the sweetness of domestic sovereignty ever after." Referring to this superstition, Mr. Hunt says:—"Once, and once only, have I paid a visit to this sacred spot. Then and there I found a lady drinking of the waters from her thimble, and eagerly contending with her husband that the right to rule was hers. The man, however, mildly insisted upon it that he had the first drink, as he had rushed before his wife, and, dipping his fingers into the waters, had sucked them. This, the lady contended, was not drinking, and she, no doubt, through life had the best of the argument."