You are hereWavertree's Demon Well

Wavertree's Demon Well


According to James Mackinley in ‘Folklore of Scottish Lochs and Springs’ (1893) ‘At Wavertree, in Lancashire, once stood a monastery and beside it was a well. When pilgrims arrived, the occupants of the monastery received their alms. If nothing was given, a demon, chained to the bottom of the well, was said to laugh. This notion was either originated or perpetuated by a fifteenth century Latin inscription to this effect, "Qui non dat quad habet. Daemon infra ridet."

I am unsure about a monastery being having been in Wavertree, however William Moss's ‘The Liverpool Guide’ (1796) referred to an old monastic looking house inhabited by some religious order, who might request alms towards their support.

The well with it’s inscription was mentioned in Baines's Lancashire Directory of 1825 and William Andrews 'The Church Treasury of History, Custom, Folk-lore, etc' dates the inscription over the well as 1414 and sataes all travellers were supposed to give alms on drinking.

The map does not show the actual location of the well, just a central location for Wavertree.


Javascript is required to view this map.



Share/Save

Navigation

Recent comments

Book Review

'The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession' by David Grann

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession

I'm a writer at The New Yorker magazine and I just finished a book called "The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession." The book, which is being published by Simon and Schuster in Great Britain on February 24th, is about the legendary British explorer Percy Harrison Fawcett, who disappeared in the Amazon in 1925 while looking for a lost city. Read More »

Featured Site