Free Folklore of Lincolnshire by Susanna O'Neill Page A

are hung out to dry on Holy Thursday, some member of the family concerned would die. They also state that whenever water is drawn from a well, a little should be thrown back into it. There are many instances throughout Lincolnshire of wells that have healing properties. In Lower Burnham, on the festival of the Ascension, the water in the well was supposed to cure all sorts of deformities and diseases, especially in children. A spring at Burnham was also thought to be able to cure sterility in married women. Another spring at Lincoln was said to cure bad legs and many physical ailments. There are numerous wells that are believed to have the beneficial properties of being able to heal the eyes. A well near Stamford apparently had powers to restore sight to the blind; one near Caistor was supposed to heal diseased eyes. Bathing in the waters of a now-vanished spring at Bottesford healed blindness and other physical complaints, and another at Barnetby-le-Wold healed the diseased eyes of children. My favourite belief is that drinking from the wells at Kirton had the quality of ‘… giving those who drink of it an irresistible desire to live in its neighbourhood.’ 20
    Fishermen might not agree – after inhaling lung fulls of the stuff out in stormy waters – but the drinking of seawater was once recommended for medicinal purposes. Dubbed ‘Neptune’s Ale’, it was first suggested in the 1600s and still considered beneficial during the late 1700s. Reverend John Wesley himself vowed it was invaluable to help cure swollen glands and recommended drinking seawater every day for a week to help treat shingles. I am not sure how many would want to try it now…
    It was not just the treacherous conditions of the storms and bad weather at sea that fishermen feared. People have been drowned in the mud banks and dangerously soft sand around Mablethorpe, and the stealthy speed of the incoming tide at the Wash has claimed its share of victims too.
    The Wash mud is clammy and cold
    Here King John lost his riches of old –
    This may happen again
    It’s increasingly plain,
    Only this time it’s your and my gold. 21
    The legend of King John losing his treasure in the sudden turn of the waters in the Wash is well known. He supposedly misjudged the time of the high tide and had to flee the clutches of the quicksand and treacherous undercurrents, abandoning his gold to the muddy depths. Charles Dickens refers to this unfortunate incident in his A Child’s History of England : ‘Looking back from the shore when he was safe, he saw the roaring water sweep down in a torrent, overturn the wagons, horses, and men, that carried his treasure, and engulf them in a raging whirlpool from which nothing could be delivered.’

    The Wash, where King John is said to have lost his treasure.
    However, beware when searching for the lost treasure, as there is also a story about a beast that dwelt in the deeps off the coast of Mablethorpe. Some kind of sea creature had been spotted off the Brigg at Filey and many thought it then made its way to the Lincolnshire coast. Its appearance has been reported on occasion for numerous years and its description is slightly akin to that of the Loch Ness Monster. Locals tell of a ‘thing’ with a humped back and swift movement through the water.
    Daniel Codd reports another monster that was seen in 1743 in the Fossdyke Wash. Some fishermen apparently caught it, stating that it was 8 feet long, with webbed feet. Ethel Rudkin apparently also mentioned the story of a beast spotted in 1936 in the River Trent. It had large eyes, long shaggy hair and walrus-like tusks!
    Like many other areas of the country, smuggling was, of course, rife for a time along the Lincolnshire coast, as was ship-wrecking. Polly Howat retells the story of the Mary Rose , which set sail from Scotland in 1629, bound for Plymouth. 22 When the ship was near the Lincolnshire coast the weather turned stormy. Poor visibility developed, coupled with fierce