diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/boot/model/internal/AnnotatedColumn.java b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/boot/model/internal/AnnotatedColumn.java
index 77c50fcf98..eb36e3da6a 100644
--- a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/boot/model/internal/AnnotatedColumn.java
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/boot/model/internal/AnnotatedColumn.java
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ package org.hibernate.boot.model.internal;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 import org.hibernate.AnnotationException;
-import org.hibernate.MappingException;
 import org.hibernate.annotations.Check;
 import org.hibernate.annotations.ColumnDefault;
 import org.hibernate.annotations.ColumnTransformer;
@@ -779,8 +778,9 @@ public class AnnotatedColumn {
 			final ColumnDefault columnDefault =
 					getOverridableAnnotation( property, ColumnDefault.class, getBuildingContext() );
 			if ( columnDefault != null ) {
-				if ( length!=1 ) {
-					throw new MappingException("@ColumnDefault may only be applied to single-column mappings");
+				if ( length != 1 ) {
+					throw new AnnotationException( "'@ColumnDefault' may only be applied to single-column mappings but '"
+							+ property.getName() + "' maps to " + length + " columns" );
 				}
 				setDefaultValue( columnDefault.value() );
 			}
@@ -797,7 +797,8 @@ public class AnnotatedColumn {
 					getOverridableAnnotation( property, GeneratedColumn.class, getBuildingContext() );
 			if ( generatedColumn != null ) {
 				if (length!=1) {
-					throw new MappingException("@GeneratedColumn may only be applied to single-column mappings");
+					throw new AnnotationException("'@GeneratedColumn' may only be applied to single-column mappings but '"
+							+ property.getName() + "' maps to " + length + " columns" );
 				}
 				setGeneratedAs( generatedColumn.value() );
 			}
@@ -812,8 +813,9 @@ public class AnnotatedColumn {
 		if ( property != null ) {
 			final Check check = getOverridableAnnotation( property, Check.class, getBuildingContext() );
 			if ( check != null ) {
-				if (length!=1) {
-					throw new MappingException("@Check may only be applied to single-column mappings (use a table-level @Check)");
+				if ( length != 1 ) {
+					throw new AnnotationException("'@Check' may only be applied to single-column mappings but '"
+							+ property.getName() + "' maps to " + length + " columns (use a table-level '@Check')" );
 				}
 				setCheckConstraint( check.constraints() );
 			}
diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/mapping/Formula.java b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/mapping/Formula.java
index 9533982fda..a80dcf54a1 100644
--- a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/mapping/Formula.java
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/mapping/Formula.java
@@ -13,10 +13,12 @@ import org.hibernate.dialect.Dialect;
 import org.hibernate.internal.util.StringHelper;
 import org.hibernate.loader.internal.AliasConstantsHelper;
 import org.hibernate.query.sqm.function.SqmFunctionRegistry;
-import org.hibernate.sql.Template;
 import org.hibernate.type.spi.TypeConfiguration;
 
+import static org.hibernate.internal.util.StringHelper.replace;
 import static org.hibernate.internal.util.StringHelper.safeInterning;
+import static org.hibernate.sql.Template.TEMPLATE;
+import static org.hibernate.sql.Template.renderWhereStringTemplate;
 
 /**
  * A mapping model object representing a SQL {@linkplain org.hibernate.annotations.Formula formula}
@@ -42,8 +44,8 @@ public class Formula implements Selectable, Serializable {
 
 	@Override
 	public String getTemplate(Dialect dialect, TypeConfiguration typeConfiguration, SqmFunctionRegistry registry) {
-		final String template = Template.renderWhereStringTemplate( formula, dialect, typeConfiguration, registry );
-		return safeInterning( StringHelper.replace( template, "{alias}", Template.TEMPLATE ) );
+		final String template = renderWhereStringTemplate( formula, dialect, typeConfiguration, registry );
+		return safeInterning( replace( template, "{alias}", TEMPLATE ) );
 	}
 
 	@Override
@@ -91,6 +93,6 @@ public class Formula implements Selectable, Serializable {
 
 	@Override
 	public String toString() {
-		return this.getClass().getSimpleName() + "( " + formula + " )";
+		return getClass().getSimpleName() + "( " + formula + " )";
 	}
 }
diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/sql/Template.java b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/sql/Template.java
index 7e7c93b783..5ed0b13f26 100644
--- a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/sql/Template.java
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/sql/Template.java
@@ -15,11 +15,12 @@ import java.util.StringTokenizer;
 
 import org.hibernate.HibernateException;
 import org.hibernate.dialect.Dialect;
-import org.hibernate.internal.util.StringHelper;
 import org.hibernate.query.sqm.function.SqmFunctionDescriptor;
 import org.hibernate.query.sqm.function.SqmFunctionRegistry;
 import org.hibernate.type.spi.TypeConfiguration;
 
+import static org.hibernate.internal.util.StringHelper.WHITESPACE;
+
 /**
  * Parses SQL fragments specified in mapping documents.
  *
@@ -100,7 +101,7 @@ public final class Template {
 			Dialect dialect,
 			TypeConfiguration typeConfiguration,
 			SqmFunctionRegistry functionRegistry) {
-		return renderWhereStringTemplate(sqlWhereString, TEMPLATE, dialect, typeConfiguration, functionRegistry);
+		return renderWhereStringTemplate( sqlWhereString, TEMPLATE, dialect, typeConfiguration, functionRegistry );
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -128,7 +129,7 @@ public final class Template {
 
 		String symbols = new StringBuilder()
 				.append( "=><!+-*/()',|&`" )
-				.append( StringHelper.WHITESPACE )
+				.append( WHITESPACE )
 				.append( dialect.openQuote() )
 				.append( dialect.closeQuote() )
 				.toString();