The name Macklyn is interesting as it puts us straight into the Celtic World where water was holy and related to fairies.Â
Sacred waters of the Celts
Pool, water in all its forms was sacred to the Celts: rivers, lakes, springs, wells and pools were all venerated, each perceived as possessing its own divine spirit. Water was a life source, a cleanser, healer and destroyer. The calm surface of a pool or lake reflects not only light but also the image of those who look into it. All of these properties gave rise to water cults. It is difficult to distinguish between cults associated with springs, lakes, bogs and ponds. Springs may create pools; shallow ponds or pools occur in marshes; and a small lake may equally be classified as a large pool. None the less, certain ritual activity seems specifically to have been associated with pools, naturally formed or artificially created.Â
In Britain almost every place has an ancient well. The ponds were places where the sacrifice to propitiate gods/fairies were given, on some holy days these would be decorated with flower petals too. The healing powers of these ponds and wells is also well documented. They also appeared to have had some dream incubating aspects, there are accounts of people falling asleep or feeling drowsy (latest discoveries link this with some mild radioactive properties of these waters). Dreaming at sacred ponds and wells also echo the Celtic belief of foretelling the future, a remnant of those ancient times when the Celtic oracles would preside over these waters. Generally, these ponds and wells were seen as an intermediary between the Underworld and our world, and as a rule, the deeper the pond, the more sacred it was believed to be. Drinking the water in a chalice from these ponds and wells was seen as petitioning the wisdom and healing from the Otherworld. The water was traditionally guarded by female spirits, fairies and as such is associated with the feminine element. The male Druids preferred the rituals involving the sacred oak while the female Druids performed the rituals involving the water.Â
The reservoir of Sulis’ spring sanctuary at Bath was a focus of votive offerings: so was the pool at Coventina’s Well, Carrawburgh. Springs and associated pools formed the centre of Sequana’s cult at Fontes Sequanae. Lindow Man, the Iron Age bog body, was killed and thrust face-down into a small pool in the bog. A sacred pond or pool seems to have been associated with cult activity at the Harlow Celtic temple; and the religious site at Ivy Chimneys, Witham, also in Essex, had an artificial pond or pool as its focal point. Finally, we know of a Cumbrian divinity, Latis, `Goddess of the Pool’, who was worshipped at Birdoswald and Fallsteads.Â
So what has this got to do with Macklyn? It's a semantic one where Mac is the Gaelic word for son and Lyn(n) from the Welsh llyn - lake. Macklyn thus means "son of the lake". And even if Lynn is seen as a girl's name, it was more common among men before the 20th century.Â
