St. Cuthbert's beads. Joints of the articulated stems of encrinites, used for rosaries. St. Cuthbert was a Scotch monk of the sixth century, and may be termed the St. Patrick of Great Britain. He is said to sit at night on a rock in Holy Island, and to use the opposite rock as his anvil while he forges the entrochites (entrokites). (See Bead.)
On a rock of Lindisfarn St. Cuthbert sits, and toils to frame The sea-born beads that bear his name.
St. Cuthbert's Stone. A granite rock in Cumberland. St. Cuthbert's Well. A spring of water close by St. Cuthbert's Stone.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894