Saturday 30 September 2017

Fairs and Markets, Part Two

The last post about fairs and markets Fairs and Markets, Part One covered some information about the fairs in Dundee, Forfar, Glasterlaw, Glen Esk and some others.  This post looks in more detail about the famous Taranty Fair at Brechin, plus the markets of Arbroath – and other information. 

   One difficulty at looking at fairs and markets is that sites and dates inevitably changed over the course of time. At the end of this piece there is a snapshot of these events as they existed in 1846.



Taranty Fair, Brechin


   Taranty (Trinity) Fair was a very renowned fair and cattle market held on the common at Trinity near the burgh of Brechin. These days it still exists, but as a palimpsest of its previous existence, being held on the first Tuesday after the second Monday in June. It was different in the mid 19th century, as recalled in an article which included contributions by James Grant (whose father farmed at Clochtow, Forfar) in the Brechin Advertiser, 25th June 1929:

Then the Market ran for three days on Wednesday for sheep, Thursday for cattle, and Friday for horses. For a month prior to the market advance parties were in Brechin and district fixing up lodgings and getting accommodation for the large number of animals that were forward for the market, and after the fair was over it was some time before the town was cleared, for the attenders sometimes enjoyed themselves not wisely but too well… At the market the Town Council, being superiors of the fair, attended, and the constabulary, it appears, were then nominated by the trades or guilds of the city. From contemporary reports their services were not highly thought of, for a writer in the Brechin Advertiser in 1854 complains that instead of taking their proper positions throughout the market, they hung about Justice Hall… But on the whole the great fair seemed to pass off well, and if there were thimblers and pickpockets about the public were usually well warned… Compared with old days the market was now a shadow if what it used to be. The readier of access which people had to the towns, and development of transport had taken away the usefulness of those gatherings.
   But however much the market had dwindled since its Victorian heyday, it was still a red letter day for agricultural workers in Angus and beyond well into the 20th century as one contributor to Bothy Nichts and Days (p. 44) recalled:

Fowk biket fae a’ ower Angus and the Howe o’ the Mearns tae ging tae it.  Some hardy ploomen wid hae a goe at the boothboxers but it wisna offen they cud beat them, they a’ had nesty tricks, it wisna exactly Marquis o Queensberry rules.  The Toon Cooncil held coort in a hoose aside the muir and onybody gettin oot o hand wis fined on the spotor spend a nicht in the cells.  Ye wid get the eftirnuin aff for the local show, like the Fetterie show, aye held on a Wednesday.



  

   Despite the centuries long record of fairs and markets associated with Brechin, most recorded change occurred throughout the 19th century, partially to reflect changing patterns in local farming. (David Black, the historian of Brechin, documented these developments.) An act of the council, dated 25th March 1801, responded to local livestock dealers and farmers asking for a Trinity Muir spring market to be held on the third Wednesday of April, and this was first held on 15th April of that year. The council established a new market – or ‘Tryst’ – in 1819, and this new date was appointed to be held on the Tuesday preceding the last Wednesday of September every year. Again this was at the behest of the local farming community. By 1833 the August Lammas Muir had ‘dwindled to a petty fair’ and further changes were instituted.

   By the time David Black was writing the various fairs and markets of Brechin were still thriving, albeit those merchants who traded there were no longer the same.  Tuesday’s market was for grain, though there were cattle markets on that day in autumn and winter, with horse markets in February and March.  The great annual markets deserve to be described in detail as they capture a vanished mode of life:

The first Tuesday after Whitsunday, old style, is a great market day, chiefly for the hiring of country servants; and so is the first Tuesday after Martinmas, old style... Formerly these term markets were attended by chapmen, who formed a society amongst themselves, termed “The Chapmen of Angus”... These chapmen travelled in the country regularly, carrying their goods some in spring-carts, some on horseback... an inferior class, called packmen, travelled always on foot, and some of them carried immense packs on their backs... As the chapman waxed old and wealthy, he settled down as a merchant in some borough town.  The race is now all but wholly extinct. On a piece of ground of nearly 33 acres in extent...called Trinity, or more generally Tarnty Muir, a great fair is annually held for three days, commencing on the second Wednesday of June, to which cattle-dealers and horse-dealers resort from all parts of Scotland and some parts of England... There are other markets held on this ground in April, August, and September, but the June market is par excellence termed “the Trinity Fair”.  The April market, called the Spring Tryst, generally a large market, is held on the third Wednesday of that month...

   The size, dignity and importance of the markets on Trinity Muir was enforced zealously by the city’s officials and seems to have be a customary feature from early times, as again described by Black:

Every one who has witnessed the fairs... has noticed the array of halberds with which the council are guarded to the markets, and by means of which, when necessary, the decisions of the magistrates, given in the markets, are enforced.  The guard is furnished by the incorporations of the town, each sending two men at Trinity fair, and one man at Lammas fair.  The weapons with which the men are armed belong to the respective incorporations...

   Black then records an event in May 1683 when two of the guard staged a mutiny, one of whom was a noted troublemaker named David Duncanson who had come to the attention of the authorities several times before. 

   Records of Brechin’s markets stretch back to the reign of William the Lion (1165-1214) and beyond. A charter of William’s confirms a grant to the bishop and Culdees of the church of Brechin giving the right to hold a Sunday market. This confirmed a grant made by King David I and is repeated in later charters issued by Robert I and James II. The charter granted by David II in 1369 notes that the whole merchants inhabiting the City of Brechin had free ingress and egress to the waters of the South Esk and Tay for carrying their merchandise and prohibits the burgesses of Dundee and Montrose from interfering with these rights. The weekly market was moved from Sunday to Tuesday in the time of James III in the late 15th century. The Trinity Fair is first mentioned in records in the late 16th century.


St Thomas’ Fair in Arbroath and Auchmithie

      By way of contrast to Brechin’s high days, we can look at the festivities surrounding the fairs and markets on the coast at Arbroath, memorably described in J. S. Neish’s In the By-Ways of Life (p. 57).  One of the features of the celebration of St Thomas’s Day was an exodus of Arbroath folk along the coast to the village of Auchmithie.  Lucky Walkers was the name of a famed hostelry in the fishing village.  Neish describes the annual outing:

By an early hour the lads and lasses streamed out of town by the cliffs or Seaton Road...  At the foot of the brae [in Auchmithie] there stood a huge barn-like building, which was used as a fish-curing house.  On these festive occasions this shed... was extemporised into a ballroom... During the whole day the fishermen made short trips with their cobles round the small bay with freights of screeching half-frightened women, who eagerly invested their spare coppers in a sail.

   The author tells us that Lucky Walker herself and her staff were run off their feet all day, bringing fish and ale to the incomers.  But, like other honoured customs, progress put an end to the trade.  The coming of the railways meant that Arbroathians went further afield on their festive days and Lucky observed that ‘sin thae railways began her hoose was nae worth naething’. 

   By the late 19th century (according to the author of Arbroath, Past and Present), the market of St Thomas had practically ceased to exist. But in former times this ‘Auld Market’ was held on the 18th July, if a Saturday, or the first Saturday thereafter. Not just Auchmithie was a destination for holiday makers; locals also went to Lunan, East Haven, even Dundee.

   
   The history of the fairs and markets in Arbroath provide an exemplary guide to the changes which also occurred in other locations, for, although markets and fairs were a constant in communities for centuries, local needs frequently dictated changes. King William the Lion granted the right for Arbroath to hold a weekly market in the late 12th century, on Saturday. The burgesses in 1528 chose Tuesday as the new market day. By the time of the charter of James VI in 1599 the market was again being held on a Saturday and there were four annual markets: St Thomas’s Day, St Vigean’s Day, St John’s Day, and St Ninian’s Day. Two hundred years later the Old Statistical Account noted that there were three yearly fairs: 20th January (St Vigean’s), first Wednesday after Trinity Sunday (St Ninian’s), and 7th July (St Thomas a Beckett). The weekly market day was now Thursday (to which day it had been changed around 1742). By the time of the publication of the New Statistical Account in 1845 the fairs had shrunk to two in number and the weekly market day was once again Saturday. Late in the 19th century there were hiring markets held on the last Saturday of January, 26th May, 18th July, 22nd November (if these dates fell on Saturdays; if not, the Saturdays following).

Auchmithie, 1890.


Feeing Markets


   Feeing Markets for the hiring of farm labour at specific terms were, in a sense, the poor relations of fairs and markets held for the wider community. Despite this, and because of their necessity, many lingered well into the 20th century, although they were much diminished. Harry Brown recalled travelling with his father on the first Friday after 28th November 1934 to Kirriemuir to attend what he thought was be an agricultural feeing market, only to find that the square was nearly empty and the market a thing of the past in Kirrie. Other markets remained in Arbroath and Brechin, although agricultural workers from both these areas sometimes preferred to journey to the Forfar market in hope of work because they believed that it was a better place for wages (A Life on the Land, p. 9).  
According to the contributors who spoke to David Adams about the feeing process (Bothy Nichts and Days, pp. 46-47) the term times were Whitsunday (28th May) and Martinmas (28th November). Farm workers participating in this system were freed by current employers at lunchtime on the 28th and had three days to secure a job for the forthcoming term. Forfar, according to one source, was infamously name the Rogue’s Market, because it was the last recourse of farm workers who could not get a fee elsewhere: ‘onybody that cudna got a fee gaed there’. In latter years married farm workers feed once a year, at May term (an exception being at Dundee, where they feed at winter term). Single men feed every six months and were likely to move farms every few years if there was no promotion for them. The procedure for announcing your availability for service was sometimes quite specific. In Friock farm hands would line up in Gardyne Street ‘wi a strae in yere moo if ye hadna gotten a fee’. The fees given to feed farm workers now seem so miniscule as to suggest that they seem to below to an entirely different age rather than last century. A loun at a hiring market in 1921 would be likely to receive £20 for his first six month fee. A fifth horseman in the next decade could demand the princely sum of £38 for a sixmonth.






Selected Sources




Adams, David G., Bothy Nichts and Days, Farm Bothy Life in Angus and the Mearns (Edinburgh, 1992).


Black, David F., The History of Brechin to 1864 (2nd. edn., Edinburgh, 1887).


Brown, Harry, ed. Orr, David G., A Life on the Land, Farming in Angus 1934-1994 (Balgavies, 2003).

Coutts, Walter, Historical Guide, Brechin and Neighbourhood (Brechin, 1889).

McBain, J. M., Arbroath, Past and Present (Arbroath, 1887).

Marwick, Sir James David, List of Fairs and Markets Now and Formerly Held in Scotland (Glasgow, 1890).

Maxwell, Alexander, The History of Old Dundee, Narrated out of the Town Council Register (Edinburgh & Dundee, 1884).

Miller, David, Arbroath and its Abbey, or the Early History of the Town and Abbey of Aberbrothock (Edinburgh, 1860).

Neish, In The By-Ways of Life: A Series of Sketches of Forfarshire Characters (Dundee, 1881).

Perry, David, ‘A New Look at Old Arbroath,’ Tayside and Fife Archaeological Journal 4 (1998), 260-78.

Stirton, James, Thrums and its Glens, Historical Relics and Recollections (2nd. edn., Kirriemuir, 1896).

Forfar Croft Market.



Fairs and Markets in Angus and the Mearns in 1846













Friday 15 September 2017

Angus Wells Updated List


An Updated Hand-List of Angus Wells


 As previously, names in square brackets denote locations of wells, not their specific names.  Note that there may be duplications due to name distortion and confusion, some at least are place-names rather than existing water features, and also the fact that many of these wells may no longer exist.

   Identification is made difficult because of the nature of the sources, changing names and destruction of the sites in some instances.

I will update this list as and when new wells come to light.

This list supercedes all previously published lists of wells.





Aberneathan Well, two miles NW of Kirriemuir.  Possibly from the Pictish personal name     Nechtan, either St Nechtan or King Nechtan?

Agricola Well.  At Castleton, Eassie, a reputed Roman site; supposed to have been named by locals after the Roman general, but more probably given the name by a local antiquary.


  [Auchterhouse], healing well near the Kirkton of Auchterhouse.


  [Balmossie Den], near Broughty Ferry.


  [Balnaboth, Cortachy], near chapel ruins.


 Barrel Well, Brechin.


 Batties Well, Haughead, Arbirlot.


 Battle Well, Battle Drum, Montreathmont Moor, Brechin. See blog post 15 April 2016 (‘Wells Once More’).


  Beardie’s Well, Brechin. A well which was on the north side of the Nether Wynd in Brechin, supposedly the property of the Earls of Crawford.  This well was therefore supposed to be linked with Alexander, the 4th Earl of Crawford, one of whose nicknames was Beardie.


Bell’s Witter, Clach of Glentaire, Clova.


[Benvie]  Well haunted by the White Lady since plague times. The well, at one time, was called 'The Medicine Well', though this may not have been its 'official' name. See blog post 29 December 2014.


 Blackshank Well, near Aucharroch, Kingoldrum.  Marked as ‘chalybeate’ on maps.


Blind Well, Kingoldrum.  One of the earliest attested wells in the county.  This name appears in a document of 1458 from Arbroath Abbey and has the equivalent Gaelic name Tybyrnoquhyg.  Adam Watson thinks this refers to water ‘out of sight due to vegetation’.  The later form of the name was Tipperwhig, though the English and Gaelic names may not in face be equivalents, in which case there is a chance that Tybyrnoquhyg/Tipperwhig comes from Tobar na Cubhaig, well of the cuckoo.


Bradwell, Kettins.  Warden, Angus or Forfarshire, vol 4, points out that there is a charter dated 1292-3 in which a charter of about 1292-3, in which Hugh of Over, Lord of Ketenes, granted ‘his well in his lands and Abthenage of Ketenes, called Bradwell, with its aqueduct bounded, and servitude of watergage" to the Abbey of Cupar’. This was also called Bride’s Well, near the Stoneye Cottages to the east of the Dundee - Coupar Angus Road. The water travelled to the Abbey by an aqueduct and fed into ponds containing fish.


Bra Well, Stracathro.  According to Alexander Warden, Angus or Forfarshire, volume 5, this was also known as Braul’s Well and St Brude’s Well.  But it had been ‘drained long ago’.  It seems more likely the name is derived from St Bride or St Rule than Brude, though the latter presents more intriguing possibilities. Name mutated in later years to ‘braw’, as in ‘good’.

The Burnhead Well, Dundee.  (Corner of Calendar Close and Seagate, near present Commercial Street.)


Camperdown or Cammerdown Well, Dunnichen.  This was renamed after the late 18th century naval encounter won by Duncan of Lundie. It was originally St Causnan’s Well (there was a St Causnan’s Chapel nearby.)  Causnan again is a colloquial form of Constantine.  Local dignitary George Dempster took it upon himself to give the spring its new name following the battle.

Camp Well, near the site of supposed Roman site at Campmuir, Kettins.

Cardinal’s Well, south of Lownie Hill, near Dunnichen.  Local tradition says it was named after Cardinal Beaton, who favoured this spot.  The cardinal is also associated with many castles in Angus. It was said that the water from the well was conveyed for some special use at Arbroath Abbey, which makes no sense as there was an abundant source of water closer to the abbey.  However, it may reflect a lingering, if muddled, tradition of the special powers inherent in the water here. 


Carlin Well, Craigton of Airlie.  Now vanished and named after the Cailleach, the Old Hag of Scottish Folklore. Adjacent is Carlinwell Farm.


Cartyheugh Well, Kelly Den, St Vigeans.


Cattle Well, Lochmill, near Kirriemuir.


Cauld Water Well (also called the Cat Craig Well and The WishingWell), Monifieth.  See blog post 15 April 2016 (‘Wells Once More’).


Chapel Well, near Whitemire, Aberlemno.


College Well, St Michael’s Mount, Brechin.


Corryvannoch Well, on the slopes of Mount Blair.  The most famous healing well in Angus where pilgrimages would be made and sick children carried.


Cowgait Well, Dundee.  Situated at the corner of Murraygait and Cowgait.


Craig Well, Lundie.


Crew Well, near Auchtertyre, Newtyle. See blog post 15 April 2016 (‘Wells Once More’).


The Cross Well, Dundee.  See above.


Cuttle Well, the Den, Kirriemuir.  One of the more conspicuous and best loved wells in Angus, it has been damaged in recent times by land slips and is ripe for restoration.


Docken Well, Scad Cairns, Glen Quharity.  Also called Dockan Well, Docan Well, Docken Wall.  

There is a nearby East Docken Well (also on the slopes of Cat Law). Border of Lintrathen and Kingoldrum.

The Dog Well, Dundee.  (Murraygate, Dundee, but fed by the Lady Well to the north.)


Dripping Well, Arbroath. Adjacent to natural-arch called the Castle Gate, Arbroath cliffs.


Droustie’s Well, Lochlee, near the home of the Dark Age saint who lived in Glen Esk.  Also, more formally known as St Drostan’s Well.  It was located in a field named ‘Piper’s Shade’ and cured all sorts of diseases.  When some jealous healers poisoned the well some locals stones them to death and buried them in a circle around the spring.


Duckladge Well, Black Hill, Lintrathen.


Dundas Well, Boath Chapel, Pitlivie Moor, Arbirlot.


[Edzell Castle] Edzell.


Falcon Well, Glen Quharity.


[Finavon Hill], site of fort, Oathlaw.


[Fish Street] Dundee.  Opposite Shore Terrace. 


God’s Well, Swirlburn, Arbirlot.


Golan Well, Auchenchapel, Glen Isla. 


  Golly Well, Milton of Carmyllie.

[Hangie’s Well, Cargill.  This is a dubious example, cited by Andrew Jervise in Memorials of Angus and the Mearns, in that Cargill is in Perthshire and not Angus (so we won't count it), though Jervise states that it may have been in Angus once.  The well was on the property of a local hangman and, when it was excavated, a large number of human bones were found here.  So good a tale that we forgive the Perthshire-ness of the location.]

Groggy Well, Liff.  Place-name sometimes marked on older maps as Crookywell.  ‘The site of this old croft,’ says A. B. Dalgetty in The Church and Parish of Liff, ‘is still marked by two old ash trees about 400 yards of the Whitelawston cottages.  The fine well supplies water to these houses.’


Hassock Well, North Whitehills, Forfar.


Helly Well, near Shelterfield, Arbirlot.


Hays Well, Arbroath. 


Hen Well, east of Finavon Hill.  Note nearby place-name Henwellburn.


Hogg’s Well, Fairy Knowe, Dunnichen


Holy Well, Balnaboth, Cortachy.  Near ancient church ruins.


Holy Well, Broughty Ferry.


Hore Well, Lundie.


Horse Well, Smithton Hill, Lundie.


Iron Harrow Well, south of Hayston Hill, Tealing.


Jenkin’s Well, in Balrownie Wood, Menmuir.


Jenny’s Well, Arbroath.  Near the Montrose Road, at the north end of Fisher Acre.  Also a place-name.


King’s Well, east of Fallaws, Carmyllie.


King’s Well, Newtyle, north-west of Newbigging. No known legendary association with any kings, but there is a string of Macbeth associations through Strathmore. See blog post 15 April 2016 (‘Wells Once More’).


[Kirkden Well] renowned for reducing swelling in feet and legs. See blog post 15 April 2016 (‘Wells Once More’).


Knellock Well, Gallows Hill, Inverarity.


Lady Well, Auchterhouse.


Ladle Well, Arbroath.  Possibly once Lady Well?

Lady Well, near Rosehill, Lunan Den, Brechin.

Lady Well, Dundee.  See above.   

Lady Well, Farnell.

Lady Well, Glen Isla. Filled in during 19th century.  See blog post 15 April 2016 (‘Wells Once More’).


Lady Well, Chapelton, Menmuir.[Note also the place-name Ladlewell, east of Forfar:  possibly another corruption of Lady Well?]


Lammer Well, St Vigeans.(Same as Lanuner Well?)


[Logie-Pert] well in kirk-yard, used to treat sores.


Lunan Well, Lunanhead Forfar.


McComie’s Well, south of Creagan Caise, Glen Isla.


Madie's Well, on the banks of the Lunan, Kinnell.  Nearby was Madie's Heugh.  Possibly a corruption of parish patron St Maelrubha (or otherwise Magdalen?).


Maid’s Well, Rescobie.  Possibly connected with St Triduana who once reputedly lived here.


Martin’s Den, Logie-Pert.  Used to treat scurvy. See blog post 29 December 2014.


Marywell, Craig parish (anciently Inchbrayoch), close to the coastal village of Usan.


Mary Well, Kirriemuir.  Recalled in the local name Marywell  Brae.


Mary Well, Lintrathen, adjacent to The Mary Well Park, a field name.


Mary’s Well, near Meikle Tullc, Edzell.


Mary’s Well, St Vigeans.


Matty’s Well, Panbride.


May’s Well, Dunnichen.


Medicine Well, Idvies, also known as Medicie Well.


Medicine Well, Montrose.  This was, for a short spell in the 18th century, a fashionable spa.


Meg Blair’s Well, Lochlee.

Minrie Well, Glen Clova.  In the Ordnance Survey name book of the mid-19th century the Minrie Burn, north of Cairn of Bairns, is noted and a this well, ‘About mid-way and a little east of this Burn there is a very strong Chalybeate Well, celebrated in the locality...’


Monk Mudie’s Well, Carmyllie.  See blog post 15 April 2016 (‘Wells Once   More’).


Monk’s Pool, Kirkton, Lochlee.


Monk’s Well, Kelly Den, St Vigeans.


Monk’s Well, Glen Isla, Corryvannoch.


Mossy Well, Arbroath.


Murdiewell, Glamis, place-name.


Murleywell, Eassie, farm name.


Naughty Well, Kinnell.  Is this a delightful colloquial corruption of an older name (Nechtan)?   The well was close to the ancient chapel of Bolshan.


Neil's Well, near the kirk of Kingoldrum. Note nearby place-name Kennyneil.


The Nethergait Well, Dundee.


 Nettle Well (and Nettlewell Hillock), south of Cornescorn, near Edzell.


 Newton’s Well, Glen Isla.

 Nickie’s Well, Witchwood, St Vigeans.

 Nine Maidens’ Well, Bracken Bruach, Auchterhouse.

Ninewells, Dundee.  Close to the River Tay, on the west of the city.  Now commemorated as the name of the largest hospital in the region.

 Nine Wells, Finavon.  On the hill above the old kirk.  A burn trickles down from the spot.

 Nine Maiden’s Well, Forfar.  Located in the vicinity of Craig O’ Loch Road.


  Nine Maiden’s Well, Kirkton of Strathmartine.  Near the kirk, this is importantly in the vicinity of the folk-tale of Martin and the Nine Maidens.

  Nine Maiden's Well, Cortachy.  Near the church.

  Nine Wells, Glamis.  The supposed home of the Nine Maidens, in Glen Ogilvy, was located within Glamis parish.

  Nine Wells, close to Peallock Quarry, Lunan.

   Nine Wells, Oathlaw (latterly Finavon parish).

   Nolt Loan Well, Arbroath.

  Our Lady’s Well, Edzell. 

   Our Lady’s Well, Glenisla. (The church was dedicated to St Mary.)

  Our Lady’s Well, Milton of Carmyllie.

 Our Lady’s Well, Oathlaw (Finavon).

The Overgate Well, Dundee.  East of the corner of Tally Street; relocated in 1828 to the south-east corner of Mid Street. 

Pater Well, near Deerpark Cottage, Kinnaird.

  Paterlochwell, near Cottarward, Dunnichen.

Peatmire Well, Black Wood, Arbirlot.

 Peter’s Cauldron, Guildy Den, Panbride.

[Priest’s Stone well], Newbigging, Lethnot and Navar.

 Purdie’s Well, near Ochterlony, Rescobie.

  Queen’s Well, Glenmark, Lochlee.  Re-named in honour of Queen Victoria, but originally named Tobar na clachan gualaich, the well of the white Stone.

Raistane Well, Kingoldrum.  This well is also mentioned in a document of Arbroath Abbey, 1458.

  Reiden's Well, Red Den, Farnell.  (Andrew Jervise, Memorials of Angus and the Mearns, i, 85 states that this was the scene of the ballad 'Young Reiden'.)

 Rosamond’s Pond, near Kinnaird Castle.

Rude Well (or the 'Red Wallie').  This was on the site of later Lady Balmain Street in Montrose. Connected with local sites relating to the Holy Rood, such as the Rood Mill. The burgh fair was also named after the Holy Rood.

 St Aidan’s Well, Fern.

 St  Aidan’s Well, Kirkton of Menmuir.

 St  Andrew’s Well, East Hillhead, Monikie.

 St Andrew’s Well, south of Londrum Earn Scar, Lintrathen.

 St Anthony’s Well, Auchterhouse.  On Henderson Hill, marked as ‘disused’ on modern maps. See blog post 29 December 2014.

  St Bride’s Well, Kettins. (Kettins church also dedicated to St Bride.)

  St Bride’s Well, Templeton, Newtyle. See blog post 29 December 2014.

   St Clement’s Well (also called Bischop’s Well or Saint’s Well).  See above.

  St Columba’s Well, Shielhill, Kirriemuir. (In J. G. McPherson's book Strathmore Past and Present (1885), p. 226, this is mentioned as St Colm's Well.)

  St Fergus’ Well, Glamis.

St Francis’ Well, Dundee. Also known as Gray Friar’s Well.   See above and blog post 15 April 2016 (‘Wells Once More’).

 St German’s Well, Kinblethmont. See blog post 15 April 2016 (‘Wells Once More’).

 St Innen’s Well, Fern.  Located in a place named Wellford.

 St Iten’s Well, Menmuir.  The name is probably a corruption of Aidan, the patron of Memuir parish.  

 St John’s Well, east of the Temple, Roman Camp, Guynd.

 St Kane’s Well, Ardestie, Monifieth.

 St Laurence, Edzell.  (Edzell church dedicated to this saint.)

  St Madden’s Well, Airlie. Also called St Medan’s Well.

St Martin’s Well, Bridgend, Lethnot.

St Martin’s Well, St Martin’s Den, Logie.  Famous for curing scurvy.

  St Mary’s Well, Arbroath. 

 St Mary’s Well, Bridgend, Lethnot. Situated at the foot of the hill near the manse. Silver coins  and other unspecified 'votive offerings' were found in this well (in the 18th or 19th century?).


 St Mary’s Well, Oathlaw. Near the top of the Gallow Path, near Oathlaw.

St. Mary’s Well, Gallow Path, near site of chapel, Rescobie.

  St. Martin’s Well, St. Martin’s Den, Logie.


153)          St Mary’s Well, Rescobie.

 St Medan’s Well, Kingoldrum.  (The church was also dedicated to this saint.)

 St Medan’s Well, Glamis.

 St Medan’s Well, Oathlaw (latterly Finavon).

St Murdoch’s Well, West Drum, Brechin.

 St Ninian’s Well, site of chapel, Whiting Ness, Arbroath.

  St Ninian’s, Mains (formerly Strathdichty).

 St Ouret’s Well, Brechin, on the North Esk near the Stannochy Bridge.  This is a name without parallel.  Paul T Hornby notes similarites to a similar Basque surname and the Gaelic word Ã¹ruisg (https://megalithix.wordpress.com/2016/03/20/st-ourets-well/), but its uniqueness and lack of documentary parallels means this is very much a mystery.

St Peter's Well, Tealing.

 St Ringan’s Well (or St Ninian's Well), Arbirlot, on the south bank of the Rottenraw burn about a third of a mile downstream from the farm of Kellyfield. Later covered by a derelict wind pump.


St Sinavy’s Well, or Sunny Vie, near Mains Castle, Dundee.  See blog post 29 December 2014.

St Trodlin’s Well, Rescobie.  Named after Triduana.

St Vivian’s Well, near Vane Castle, Fern.

  Scots Well, near Stripe of Droustie, Lochee.

 Scotston Well, Little Scotston, Auchterhouse.

 Seggie Well, west of Guynd, Carmyllie.

   Silver Hill, St Vigeans. Note place-name Silverwells.

 Sinruie Well, Kirkden (formerly Idvies). Corrupted from St Maelrubha.  The well was also known as St Malrubh

 Smellie's Well, Dundee.  To the west of the burgh. (Smellie's Lane still exists.)

Sod’s Well, east of Grange of Conon, St Vigeans.

  Springwells, St Vigeans, place-name north of Silverwells.

 Starney Bucket Well, near Kinnaird.  Associated with the satantic earl of Southesk.

Tannie's Well, Kinnell.  Another well whose name may be a corruption of an older name.

 The Timber Clach, place-name in  Glen Isla.  May possibly derive from An Tiobair Chlaich, the well of stones, though there is not currently a well here. (Place-names in Much of North-east Scotland, Adam Watson, London, 2013.)

Tobar a Chinn, Glen Isla.  Well of the Head.

Todcairn Well, Glen Esk.

Tothel Well, West Mill, Dunnichen. 58. (Or Lothel Well?)

  The Tottler, Milton of Conon, Carmyllie.

Well of Bowhale, Glen Isla.   Gaelic buachaille, herdsman.

 Whey Wells, north of Leytack, east of Eastside wood, Pinderachy, Fern.

Whitewell, Arbroath.  Name of a farmhouse in the north of the parish, a short distance south of Tarrybank.

Witch’s Pool, Kirriemuir.

 Wormiehills Well.  Well and place-name near Arbroath.