Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 5, 1894.djvu/228

220 more famous wells and the special ritual practised at each of them. The best known well is that dedicated to St. Maughold, one of the earliest Manx saints, which is situate 723 yards N.N.W. of the extreme point of the headland of that name, and 430 yards N.E. of the parish church, also called after the same saint. It is about halfway down the steep grassy slope of the headland, being about 120 feet above mean sea level, and 180 feet distant from the sea. It consists of a small and probably artificial cistern of an irregular pentagonal shape (see sketch), measuring

24 inches from the base to the apex, 17 inches across, and about 5 inches deep. Into this cistern water slowly oozes from the natural cliff at (a), and overflows at (b). It is covered in on the north, south, and west, partly by slabs of slate stone, artificially erected, and partly by the natural rocks, which form a canopy about 3 feet high above the well and project some 2 feet to the north and south of it, but not beyond its eastern edge. Between this edge and the sea an artificial platform, about 3 feet square, has been made of slate slabs, which are now overgrown with grass. Without it, access to the well would be difficult, as, so steep is the slope, a false step would probably cause the person making it to roll into the sea. It was this slope between the sea and the well which,