The River Path

Customs and Stories

We throw coins into wells and make wishes, as our ancestors more seriously threw in offerings to appease the spirits and ensure continuance of the water. Swords found in the Thames and other rivers are thought to be votive offerings as are the golden Roman pins found in the pin or pen wells into which people now drop bent pins.

In the limestone area of Derbyshire well-dressing persists. This may be very old since in ancient Rome at Fontinalia flowers were scattered into the fountains. Tissington, it is said, was fortunate to have flowing water throughout the drought of 1615 and thereafter celebrated its wells on Ascension Day. Another story has it that its well dressings began in 1348/9 when the villagers escaped Black Death and credited their sweet water. In other villages the tradition of creating floral pictures around the wells may be a Victorian creation. Certainly the dressing of taps in Wirksworth and Youlgreave trace back to the first piped water supplies in the 1820s. In Eyam the custom was restored or created for the Festival of Britain in 1951. Variously on Easter Sunday (Tideswell, Bradwell) or Whit Monday (Chapel en le Frith) Bottle Day was celebrated, children concocting a liquorice and spring water mix and carrying it in a bottle around their neck.

Stories, legends, myths, still cling to different rivers, some are shared. Witches it seems cannot cross running water.

In 'English Folklore', Christina Hole tells of the spirit Peg o'Nell who took one life in seven in the Ribble, Peg Powler who claimed victims at Piercebridge on the Tees and Jenny Greenteeth who haunted rivers in Lancashire. The Dart in Devon was said to claim one life a year ­ Dart, Dart cruel Dart/ Every year thou claimst a heart - and the Trent three. The Tweed could be appeased by the casting of salt over water and nets. Passed on from generation to generation, these stories remind us of the way our ancestors warned each other about the treachery of the river.

Some wells and springs offer prophecy. Marvel-Sike spring at Brampton in Northamptonshire predicted trouble by running over. The Drumming Well at Oundle in Rutland is said to have foretold the death of Charles II.

These stories are likely to be very old, and well worth the retelling for that alone, but they also give us hints of who has settled here, what preoccupations and rebellious persistence the old gods still have.

Modern Pilgrimages

Seasonal sights or festivals have the power to draw participants and onlookers from far and near.

In February we seek out the snowdrops which clothe the banks of particular south Wiltshire river valleys, in March and April it may be daffodils along the Wear in Yorkshire, later we may travel to see the spectacular display of snakeshead fritillaries at Magdalen Meadows in the middle of Oxford, with luck a grass snake or early swallows may be part of the scene.

The Severn Bore and the Trent Ægir draw the crowds. The Environment Agency produces a leaflet detailing the best times to see them, which you can also see on their web-site.

The 'head of the river' races, swan-upping, regattas, canoe slalom, raft races, angling competitions, wild swimming and duck races all offer reinforcement to the identity of large and small places, and customs are being reinvented all the time.

Does your town hold a Water Market ... ?

Pictures :
Left: Well dressing at Eyam, Derbyshire.
Right: Stories by the river at Sturminster Newton, Dorset, with storyteller Michael Dacre.
Centre: The Stour Descent, an annual canoe race from Sturminster Newton to Blandford.

From Rivers Rhynes and Running Brooks -
Local Distinctiveness and the water in our lives
Common Ground, 2000.

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More about traditional River Customs