Isis Parlis, or Giant’s Cave

It’s the 3rd Sunday in May so it’s the turn of Isis Parlis in the Penrith Shaking bottle ceremonies. The first Sunday I celebrated at Greystoke rather than Skirsgill https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/2703715369641578060 and the second would have been at Clifton https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/2147746654936105914

I reckoned there would never be a better time to approach from this side of the river with the levels being so low so I set off with my swimming shoes and a change of clothes (just in case) ... and, the essential bit of kit that all the best well hunters sport, a broom handle (no, not a fork handle). I did half wonder if I might meet a secret society of bottle shakers but I only saw a couple of dog walkers who gave me a wide berth, I’m not sure if that was because of covid or they realised I was walking with a broom handle.

I’ve had a look for the caves before but they are hard to see and the way in from, the other side of the river, the side the caves are on, is across private land. Yet again I’m baffled by it all. Anyway, I scouted along the bank and found a promising spot to cross and with my trusty pilgrim staff and some trepidation I set off. Once on the other side i realised the obvious, that I was going to have to pick my way through nettles and briars. I still wasn’t sure I was in the right area but as I scrambled up I suddenly stumbled in. Lots of graffiti (extra) ... I loved the one of the smoker and then I realised one was from during WW1 and the other WW2, others from mid to late 1800’s. I tried to find the other cave but it was a bit precipitous so I headed back down and sat watching the river for a while as I dried off and noticed an old shard of pottery at my feet. What a place this must have been. So many myths and legends and lives and eras blended in one long forgotten place. I re-emerged with no sense of time, I wasn’t sure how long I’d been there. I went in with a broom handle and came out proudly weilding my staff.

It doesn’t seem right adding it to the holy well collection because there’s no well but there are so many mysteries attached to holy wells anyway and there is a holy well nearby and it’s believed St.Ninian had a monastic site here, hence Ninekirks church you can see in the distance across the river (extra).
So many questions...why here? where did the fill their bottles for shaking? The river? The well nearby, St.Cuthbert’s? Why not use that for the ceremony? What became of the virgin of Maiden’s step? ...

Home again to more kitchen painting.