Sacred well continues to attract "pilgrims"
Story dated: April 29, 2007

It would appear that the potency of one sacred well in Orkney has not been forgotten.

People are still flocking to St Magnus Well – or “Manswal” in Birsay to drink the water, which has long been believed to have healing powers.

Historically, it is said that water from the well — where local tradition has it that St Magnus’ bones were washed nearly 900 years ago — cured the blind, people with leprosy, crippling conditions and even insanity.

According to one Birsay man, people still arrive with drums to stock up on the spring water.

A pump stands close to the source but hasn’t worked for at least 100 years. The well was once the source of water to a number of farms in the area. The outflow of water was moved in the 1940s when a council road was built over the top of the spring.

After his death in Egilsay around 1117, Magnus’ body was denied a Christian burial by Earl Hakon, and was buried where he fell.

After a plea by Thora, the saint’s mother, Hakon relented and allowed the corpse to be retrieved. It was transferred to Birsay, where it was interred at Christchurch, the church Magnus’ grandfather, Thorfinn Sigurdsson, had built.

As legend has it, wherever Magnus was laid to rest, from the day of his burial, a bright, heavenly light was said to have been seen above his grave. The light was accompanied by a “heavenly fragrance”.

Before long, as the cult of Magnus grew, other stories began to spread, each detailing the miraculous happenings around the then Earl’s grave site.

The Orkneyinga Saga recounts in detail the numerous miraculous healings that resulted from visits to his resting places. The saga states that one of Magnus’ bones had turned to gold and took on the shape of a cross when it was heated in consecrated fire.

In 1135, Earl Magnus Erlendsson of Orkney was canonized and about this time his remains were taken from Birsay, where they had lain for 20 years, and were moved east to Kirkwall.

A few years later, the saint’s relics were moved again — this time into the massive sandstone St Magnus Cathedral that had been built in his honour.