The Luck of Edenhall

At Edenhall, Cumbria, England, the seat of the ancient family of Musgrave, for centuries the family has kept a drinking cup called the Luck of Edenhall. It is made of very thin glass, and the Musgraves depend on its not breaking.

The ancient legend has it that the family butler went one night to draw water at the well of St Cuthbert (whose feast day this is), a copious spring in the Edenhall garden. He surprised a group of fairies as they played by the spring, at the edge of which stood the glass. He seized hold of it, and in the ensuing struggle with the fairies, the little people ran away, exclaiming:

If this glass do break or fall,
Fairwell the luck of Edenhall!

The glass was once nearly dropped by the clumsy Duke of Wharton, but was caught in a napkin by the butler. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was inspired to write a poem, 'The Luck of Edenhall', to tell the tale ...

Categories: uk, folklore, saint, sacred-site, legend