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The Luck of Eden Hall

© Virginia Marin

In the 10th-Century, an enamelled drinking-glass thought to have been blown in Venice came into the possession of a family named Musgrave who lived at Eden Hall, in Cumberland. Now this was no ordinary receptacle. It was supposedly endowed with properties which, like a genie in a lamp, would bring fortune to its owners. Or rather, was it a chalice equal to the Holy Grail? The tale is told that one night it was snatched from St. Cuthbert's Well in the garden where it was left by the fairies while they danced. The superstition is...

If that glass should break or fall,
Farewell the luck of Eden Hall.

Now one fair summer evening, after the hot sun had fallen below the distant horizon, a butler of the Musgrave family had reason to be enjoying the coolness of the vesper hour. His wanderings had taken him into close proximity of St. Cuthbert's Church, where he sat himself upon a stone wall to enjoy a brief respit. To his amazement, he heard melodic music. This he recognized, as he was of the fairy faith.

He crept softly over a green carpet at a 90 degree angle, which placed him directly parallel to the steps of an ancient well. This provided him with a great advantage to observe the little people. Suddenly, a glint to his left eye attracted his attention. He edged closer to the bright source, and for the first time in several hundred years, the enamelled challice was caressed by human hands. He fondled it lovingly, feeling the coolness of the glass and the richness of the enamel. The opaque substance was fused to the glass in a most pleasing and desirable fashion. He placed the glass in his coat pocket, and crept softly backward untill he felt certain that he would not be observed by the fairies.

The butler delayed not his exit from St. Cuthbert's churchyard and made a hasty retreat to Eden Hall, where he gave the long lost glass chalice back to his master. Had the fairies willingly allowed the man to confiscate their precious glass, with a trickster plan of returning prosperity again to the family, only to be followed by a ruinous folly, or were the fairies surprised by the theft?

But luck and fortune the Musgrave family did have. The factual history of The Luck of Eden Hall is long and prestigious in contrast to its legendary tales. The Musgrave family first came to the continent with William The Conqueror. The Conqueror bestowed the drinking-glass, or chalice, to King Henry III, who later bestowed it to Sir Thomas Musgrave, Knight and lord of the manor of Eden Hall. At some point the glass vanished, as had their wealth, until a resourceful butler returned it to the family. With the glass again in their possession, Eden Hall experienced a time of prosperity far superior to the wealth of their contemporaries. Everything the Musgraves touched virtually turned into gold. Their coffers increased one hundred fold. The land was fertile and supremely productive. The best wool on the continent came from the area of river Eden.