Saints in Scottish Place-Names
Funded by a Leverhulme Trust Project Grant
St Patrick's Well, Strathblane
Grid reference
NS 560 764 (general (1km))
Six-figure easting & northing
256000 676400
Latitude
55.959038267517215
Longitude
-4.306900211399647
Altitude (metres)
110
County
Stirlingshire
Nearby places
St Mackessog's Well, Strathblane (0.36 miles)
Baldernock, settlement, Baldernock (1.32 miles)
Baldernock, parish (1.32 miles)
Baldernock, ~eccles., Baldernock (1.32 miles)
Strathblane, parish (1.81 miles)
Object Classification
Water
Is linear feature?
No
Notes
The well is close to the parish boundary of Kilpatrick, which may be significant given the dedication of the Well. Smith, Strathblane, p. 256 demonstrates his own prejudices in his discussion of this well, though is interesting in that he records devout activity here up to the beginning of the nineteenth century: 'This used to be a sacred well, and yearly, on the 1st May, up to the beginning of this century, many a pilgrim used to visit its healing waters; perhaps a cripple barely able to hobble to the spot, or a mother with an ailing child, or a cottar with a sick cow, all with melancholy superstition seeking to propitiate some great spirit - clearly not a Christian one - by depositing a small coin or stone in the well, or hanging on the branches of an old thorn tree which used to wave over it scraps of cloth or other trifling articles belonging to the patient brought to be cured.' See NMRS for description of recent loss of the well and the local memory of it.
Relationships with other parishes
Within Strathblane, parish
Names
1 head-name linked to this place ?St Patrick's Well
Head name
St Patrick's Well
Place
St Patrick's Well, Strathblane
Certainty that this name applies to this place
Certain
The status of this name is
Obsolete
Is this a current OS form? ?
No
Is this the original referent of the place?
Yes
Is the association of this name to this object hypothetical?
No
St Patrick's Well 1886, Smith, Strathblane
Historic formSt Patrick's Well Head nameSt Patrick's Well PlaceSt Patrick's Well, Strathblane Certainty that this name applies to this placeCertain SourceSmith, Strathblane, 256 Date of citation1886 x 1886 |
Source code
Smith, Strathblane
Author
John Guthrie Smith
Source title
The Parish of Strathblane
Year
1886
Saints in this place-name
Pátraic, Patrick (ns) (certain)
Pátraic m. Calprainn of Ireland (certain)