In May townsfolk came out from Aberdeen to drink at Downy Well on the Bay of Nigg, then crossed a narrow neck called the Brigg of ae Hair to Downy Hill, a green islet where young people cut their sweethearts’ names in the turf. The minister of Nigg took it for the remains of a superstitious respect for the well and the retreat of a saint, turned into an innocent amusement. The bay itself had once been called St Fittick’s Bay.
Downy Well and Downy Hill in May
Printed under 1 May · Bay of Nigg, Nigg, Kincardineshire
No longer kept
In the month of May, many of the lower ranks from around the adjacent city, come to drink of a well in the Bay of Nigg, called Downy-well
From Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. 7, p. 213. Read the original
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