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l-l-l-M-i-l-i

U\\{

4^1Ii-Ion| '^o(\^%
FOR COLLECTING AND PEINTIXG

RELICS OF POPULAR ANTIQUITIES,

ESTABLISHED IN

THE YEAR MDCCCLXXVIIL

/.hi, etjdfm.

PUBLICATIONS
OP

THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY.

XXXV.
[1895.]

&c.

^ 4

^5

.35

The Folk-Lore

Society.

(1895.)

EDWAKI) CLODl).

THE HON. JOHN ABEKCKOMBY.

ANDKEW LANG,

M.A.

THE KIGHT HON.

JOHN LUBBOCK, BART.,

SIR

M.P., D.C.L.,

LL.U., F.R.S., F.S.A.

Lt.-Gen. PITT-RIVERS, D.C.L., F.R.S., F.S.A.
PROFESSOR J. RHYS, M.A., LL.D.
THE REV. PROFESSOR A. H. SAYCE, M.A.
B. TYLOR, LL.D., F.R.S.

EDWARD
MISS

C.

BURNE.

S.

LAURENCE GOMME,

G.

F.S.A.
CTounril.

Dr.

PROF. A.

BILLSON. M.A.

C. J.

KARL

W. BRABROOK, F.S.A.
MISS M. ROALFE COX.

LELAND L. DUNCAN, F.S.A.

J. P. EMS LIE.
ARTHUR J. EVANS, M.A.. F.S A

U.A., F.LS.
F.S.A.

F.L.S., F.E.S.

NAAKE.
ALFRED NUTT.
T. FAIRMAN ORDISH, F.S.A.
PROFESSOR F. YORK POWELL,

FRAZER, M.A.
DR. M. GASTER.
W. B. GERISH.
MISS G. M. GODDEN.
G.

M.A., F.S.A

HENRY
il)on.

W. BRABROOK,

KIRBY,

\V. F.
J. T.

THE REV.

E.

HADDON,

E.

E.

J.

C.

SIDNEY FIAKTLAND,
T. W. E. HIGGENS.
JOSEPH JACOBS, B.A.

BI.IND.

B.

WHEATLEY,

F.S.A.

Crrasuirr.

F.S.A., 178, Bedford Hill, Balham,

S.W

?^on. Butritors.

G. L.

APPERSON.

F. G,

GREEN.

F. A.*MVL'NE''M.^'.,'li'i bid 'Sciuare, Liatolii's -nu, London,

',

E. S.

HARTLAND

W.

F.

'

i^nbUrations Committre.

(ChiimwOr-G-

KIRBY;

W.C.

A. :fiUrT;

I^.

'^--OMME (Vice-Chairman); J.

JACOBS;

Mi S'S ROALFE COX.

13tt)liogvapI)2 orommittcf.

G. L.

GOMAHi

J. T.

(Chairmau)

NAAKE

A.

L. L.

DUNCAN

G. F.

JACOBS

W.

F.

KIRBY

NUTT.
fBuscum

A. C

J.

(ffommtttre.

ARTHUR J. EVANS J. P. EMSLIE PROFESSOR

HADDON: MISS M. C. FFENNELL MISS LUCY GARNETT

GOMME

G. L.

BLACK

A. R.

WRIGHT.

,ifinamc antJ (rnnal i3urposrs CTommittrr.

BRABROOK

E. Vr.
T.

H.

(Chairman);

HIGGENS:
RAYNBIRD W. H.
W.

E.

A.
D.

The President and Treasnrcr

G. L.

NUTT;
ROUSE
are

GOMME: REV.
T.

M.

r.r-djh'cii'

Y.
J.

ORDISH;

DR. GASTER;
G. GREP:N

F.

WALHOUSE.

niemhers of

nil

Committees.

THE DENHAM TRACTS,

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

A Collection

of Folklore by Michael Aislahie Denliam,

AND

REPRIXTED FROM THE ORIGINAL TRACTS AND PAMPHLETS

PRINTED BY MR. DENHAM BETWEEN

1846

AND

1859.

EDITED BY

Dr.

JAMES HARDY,

VOL.

II.

LONDON
PUBLISHED FOR THE FOLKLORE
BY DAVID NUTT,

270,

1895.

STKAND,

SO(^JETY

AV.C.

WESTMINSTER
AND SONS,
:

rm.Nl'EU BY NICHOLS
25,

dcTNAA-k .'^S^^^.

l-AULIAMENT STUEET.

'tJL.cr^

Cna-1

(0-^3-

PEEFACE.
^

The
of Dr.
it

up

issue of this

Hardy when

at this stage,

volume has been delayed owing

it

was only half through the

at

was anything more than a pastime

most an antiquarian pursuit with no

and only a probability of any

from

its

made

to

method of record was not

then

but

much
the

in

a hurry

student

poses

jn
'^,

'i

content year after year

is

now

to

seeks

badly

line

to use

Of course

was not even good

without

their

The

off".

between

collections

work

world

produce any more of

The dividing

who

perfect,

and

was a record,

it

antiquaries.

being derived

sympathy goes

record small things for the sake of recording.

modern student would be

for the curious, or

my

I confess

who were

before

definite object in view,

results of value

preservation and study.

out to these old antiquaries

their

I took

press.

and have thus completed the task of getting

together these collections of folk-lore which were

folk-lore

to the illness

the
for

this

too

is

class

collector
scientific

the

of

and
pur-

not always preserved, and in consequence works are

produced which cannot always be commended.

The functions

of these two classes of folk-lorists are quite distinct and should

be kept distinct.

plain unadulterated collection of material,

the result of personal testimony and research,

for.

-^

scientific

Bough

work which handles a

spirit,

or Mr.

collection

such, for instance,

Hartland's Perseus,

as
is

Mr.

is

a thing to pray

such as this in a
Frazer's

Golden

a thing to discuss and

J
^^

enjoy and improve upon as our knowledge increases.

But the

PREFACE.

VI! I

When

two cannot be welded.

beo-in

classification

to

Superstitions

and

modern

life

what

the substantive of

is

is

human

life

of

the facts

by

instead of being studied each item

truth

that

is

marriage, or death,

itself to see

and history with which

now

superstition

a
to

domestic

the

any other

side of

modern

cumstances which have

And

original form.

life^

attached

it

modern

birth,

to

modern

the

actions of

family, to the outdoor actions of the

to

qualify

to

agreement.

in true

The

attempted we get wrong

made

are

beliefs

is

it

and hence wrong conchisions.

with,

agriculturist, or

has become so attached by

cir-

observance, not

its

afi'octed

later

its

hence when persons unqualified by any

anthropological scholarship attempt to deal v/ith some of the

items of folk-lore for a literary purpose they

have caused enormous

^Ir.

Denham was

collection

not

haphazard

is

guilty

what he heard as he heard

This, to

my

folk-lore

mind,

it,

some fancied

anvthing

He

began

''

Mr. Denham's work

is

like
lore.

is,

there, perfect in perhaps

places,

burdened

general

it.

life

it

may

be

which from
a classifica-

witli

and generally

and

more or

ritual,

the

is

what

folk-lore

less extensive

and more

It is a reflex of

found

in patches here

and

no one place and not often identical in

existing

as

superstitious

people, practised as a custom or a child's

remembered

and

Aubrey's, and Aubrey's

the detritus of a once

or less systematized belief

different

down

miscellaneous " beliefs.

foundation of English folk

actually

His

this.

to classify

collections

later

which begins with the routine of modern

winds up with

like

simply jotted

to be collected,

literary necessity are

which

This book represents what

a distinct gain.

it first

into errors

of true research.

and he did not seek

compared with many

profitably

tion

is

was when

of

a degree.

to

fall

way

difficulties in the

game with

as a saying or a proverb with others.

law for the })reservation of

folk-lore

some

with

belief

others,

There
it

is

no

may have

PREFACE.

become attached

to

persons, a rule of

life,

attachment

this

ix

a place, an object, a

season,

but because every item of folk-lore

of

class

and have been preserved by means of

not

is

attached to the same agent, wherever that particular item has

been preserved,
association

it is

into

so

important not to stereotype an accidental

permanent one.

Denham's work should be known

important point.

even

if it

If

am

had been written

it

anxious that Mr,

best evidence

as the

assumed a

it is

much

not too

say that

to

different character to that in

To take an

instance,

which

would no doubt have

it

w^ould have

it

now

it

281) amongst superstitions relating

true determinant of this practice

'^

right

")

which

beliefs

which belongs
have

been

Romans

whereas the

to dress,

^'left"

divination

opposed

(as

to

an important class of ancient

by

discussed

authorities in their bearings

curious that the

to

the

is

appears

been deemed

necessary to have classified the 'Meft leg stocking "

the

this

had been edited under other auspices than that of the

Folk-lore Society,

(p.

on

the present day,

at

Grimm and

upon Indo-European

other

history.

believed in the luck of the

It is

left,

thus

standing in opposition to the more general belief in the luck of

the right, and the luck of the
district of

unluck of the

the

Roman

belongs to the

left

northern Britain, whereas the luck of the

left

is

found

further

south,

riofht

wall

and

and in the

distinctly Teutonic parts of Britain.

If,

this
it

til

en, I claim that the

book constitutes one of

is

want of order and

its

way

apparent that the only

treat

of each

there

will

be

recorded item

found

of spirits

(on

some investigation
although there

are

to

study

separately.

folk-lore

For

pp.

The names

77-78)

philologically

is

very

here

for the
full,

is

to

purpose

this

very interesting features

are not to be found elsewhere.

classes

classification in

chief elements of scientific value,

which

different

and

needs

and mythologically, because,

names derived from obvious

misconcep-

PREFACE.

of

tioiis

me

to

popular mind, there

tJie

important

contain

to

Ajjparitions,

ghosts,

and

are

which

others

make np

spirits

seem

God-names.

indications of early

a large element in

north English folk-lore, for which the geographical and climatic

The attachment

conditions are no doubt chiefly answerable.

of certain families to the district on the basis of ancient clan

customs leads

42)

(p.

to

of family traditions of great

to the preservation

and the descent of the Drummelzier from a river god

interest,
is

Family

noted from Sir Walter Scott.

a})paritions

seem

have been taken over by the Society for Psychical Research,

and the group found on pp. 183-188 may be referred to Avith

some interest. A\'ell-\vorship, river-worship, and fire-worship
are

missed
later

but in the

many

of the

features

distinctive

Britain,

recorded of northern

beliefs

Mr.

groups

of these

last

Denham

has

important details which have been recorded by

enquirers.

Stones and

stone circles have also an

im-

portant place in these collections, but animals are not so well

represented as might have been supposed.

to deficient record

or whether

northern belief might be

Mr.

Denham was

in

made

is

it

Whether

this

is

due

a characteristic feature of

a matter for enquiry.

no sense a

literary

man, and

his i)eculiar

practice of issuing these tracts sometimes without date or other

means of
whether
is

identification

all

makes

extremely

difficult to ascertain

he published on folk-lore has been recovered.

no com})lete collection,

London has

but the British

Museum

good

in another tract
])ublication.

many

a great

librar}- is

collection.

issued as a simple leaflet,

believe, extant.

Antiquaries of

too, has a

it

It

very

of the

deficient.

made

originals,

Dr. Hardy,

often happened that a tract Avas

and that

on this would be included

later

without any alteration ofor allusion

This has

There

The Society of

it difificult

to pick

to the original

out and arrange

the material,

and

in

261, 262-5J

the

same material has been unfortunately

two instances

(pp.

121-124, 132-135

258-

])rinted

PREFACE.
twice.

I did not discover

pnges, and no doubt

if

Dr.

tliis

until

XI

it

was

Hardy had been

whole volume through the press

this

too late to cancel the

well

enough

to see the

inadvertence would not

have happened.
This volume does not contain a reprint of the Proverbs and

Popular Sayings published by the Percy Society, but with

exception
lore are

it

believed that

is

all

comprised in the two

this

the scattered tracts on folk-

volumes now issued by the

Society.

The Society
he has done.

added from

is

He
his

greatly indebted to Dr.

for the

work

prepared the whole volume for the press, and

own

store

of

Denham

Society had not been able to obtain.

last

Hardy

winter stopped

all his

work^ and

Tracts

some

that the

But

the trying weather of

left

him unable

to

pursue

what has been the pleasure and delight of a long and busy
lifetime.

G. Laurence Gomme.
2^, Dorset Square ^ N.

May, 195.

W.

THE DENHAM TRACTS

VIII.

AND CUSTOMS, OF THE

NOETH OF ENGLAND.

rOLKLOriE/ OK MANNERS

For

tlie

want of

and interesting

a recording pen, innumerable are the ancient

local

rhymes, cnstoms, legends, and valuable

of history Avhicli

portions

gathered up by time into his

have been irremediably

lost

and

\yallet^ as offerings to oblivion.

Midsummer Cushions.
This was a custom, used some seventy years ago at
places in the

Xorth of England

but

it,

like almost

mnny

every other

of the innocent and pleasing customs and amusements of our

fore-elders, is fast vanishing
so.

away,

if it

has not altogether done

The youno' lads and lasses of the town or

procured a cushion
icIiisJiion,

attractive

or, in

and covered
colour,

it

villao;e havino;

accordance with local phraseology, a

with

calico,

proceeded to bedeck

or silk
it

of showy

and

with every variety

of flower which they could procure out of their parents' and

more wealthy neighbours' gardens, displaying them

manner

so as to give

it

a most beautiful appearance.

done, they placed themselves, with

tlieir

in such a

All this

cushion of Flora's

choicest gems, in the most public i)lace they conveniently couJd,

VOL.

II.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

every pa?ser-by a trifling present of pence, which,

soliciting of

was

numerous

set

form of words was made use of (in rhyme,

cases,

liberally

Day, which

have never

Midsummer Day

to

Magdalene

Day, or Harvest

]\Iell

In the counties of

Durham and York,

with each individual farmer,

known throughout

this

rou rJs oP a

An

fiddle.

merriest

tunes

shearers, binders,

When

dance.

is

and

is

expected to

all

haste to

some of

i)lay

at

and lucky

his

the

inter\'als,

their kind-hearted master, join in social

the last handful

and the sheaves are

last

sent for to proceed with

sounds of which,

the

to

the melodious

with

hour or two before the

where he

field,

This

others.

all

as they are popularly called),

entertained

are

cut the village musician

the harvest

the last day of rca])ing

by the appellation of " Mell

the north

day,

auspicious

IIg^ie.

honoured above

is

The reapers (or shearers

Dav."
on

" Maudlin Day."

has long been corrupted to

latter

The

is

when

to obtain.

This custom prevailed from

day

I believe)

which

soliciting those gifts, the precise version of

been able

and cheerfully bestowed.

in

all

bound up

is

in the golden sheaf,

placed upright in lots of ten or twelve

each, locally called stooks, the farmer's head

man, or some

other elderly male person employed during harvest, proceeds

with most stentorian voice to

celebrated in the following

Shout the Mell," which

'*

rhymes

is

Blest be the day that Christ was born,

We've getten

Weel

boiuid,

't

mell of Mr.

Hip

The labourers on

this

"s

corn

and bett3r shorn.

!

Hip

day arc

Hip

Huzza

Huzza

plentifully regaled with as

good

ale or strong beer as can be procured in the neighbourhood; to

which

is

often

added, by

way

of stimulus^

pretty liberal

FOLKLORE OF THE KORTH OF ENGLAND.

addition from the

rum

some of the

maids_, as

fair

village, chirping

This seldom

bottle.

years ago the masters used to

treat the reapers with a supper, called the Mell

this

send home

fails to

well as the ancient dames of the

Some

merry.

custom, with very few exceptions,

is

now

Supper

totally laid aside^

and in consideration of this deviation from ancient custom,

employers give them a shilling each in addition

wages of that day.

When

This shilling

parties used to be attended

women

is

after the

by Mummers

that

disguised in each other's apparel, &c. &c.

dialect of the district

their

to the regular

called the Mell

dancing had become general

but

Shilling.

supper, these
is,

men and

This

is

in the

termed Guising^ and the individuals them-

In the years 1825 and 1826 I saw the reapers

selves Cruisers.

come home from the Mell Field

in the evening, dressed in high

crowned muslin caps, profusely ornamented with ribbons of

various colours^ and preceded by music.

Feasts of Dedication.

" Wakes, church

ales,

summerings,

tides,

revels; gants^"^ hcppings, fairs, vigils, ale feasts, or

are anniversary

the counties of
tive glory

rush-bearings,

Whitsun

great numbers of which are

feasts_,

Durham and Northumberland

and rude yet hearty

hospitality, in

in all their primi-

commemoration of

the dedication of the parish church or parochial cha}>el to

patron
'

hoppan

Hopping

saint.
'

to

dance or

is

leap.

derived

Dances

from

ales,

kept in

still

the

some

Anglo-Saxon

in the country villages

of the north of England are termed hops at the present period

of time.

By an

Henry YIIL,
held on the
'"

[Gant,

first

act of Convocation passed

the Feast of the Dedication

in the

reign

was ordered

to

of

be

Sundeiy in October, and the celebration of the

village

fair

or

wake.

Brocket t.]

B 2

East

(Halli\Yell).

Xot

in

THE DENIIAM TRACTS.

Saint's day to be laid aside.

termed phiys.

In Somersetshire these sports are

In the west of England

rails

and rowls.

In the conntv of Durliam a series of local

Sunday

last

order

in July,

and proceed,

feasts beojin the

I think, in the following

Xeasham, Ilurworth, Aldbrough, Stapleton, Blackwell,

Cockerton, Haughton-le-Skerne,

Harrowgate,

berge,

Coatham,

racing,

drinking, banqueting, and

Braff'erton,

and

Duck-hunting,

Aycliffe.

of secular sports

sorts

all

Burden, Sad-

are the order of the day on the Sabbath, and a day or two
afterwards.

LongstafFe's Hist. Darlbujton.

p.

242.

Riding the Staxg.

Once upon a time there resided

in

in the village of G[ainfor]d,

com. Dunelm (the place of the writer's nativity), a

and

his wife of the

his life (and they

name

of

Lamb.

Now,

had been married some dozen years or more),

the old gentleman had been guilty of

which

man

for the first time in

some venial delinquency,

his o-ood wife considered of so flatrrant a nature that her

passion could not exhaust itself simply

good setting down "

[i.e.

by giving him a

good scolding), but

^^reet

to v/ork the old

lady set herself and gave him a most severe beating, or, as

Northerners term

it,

a threshing,

neighbours chancing to pass during the

whole scrimmage

between the old

we
Some

the bargain.

into

hubbub heard the

man and

his

better half.

Then Fame, with her thousand tongues, bruited the tale abroad,
and not without adding that much which made the little into

A consultation

a mickle.

was unanimously agreed,

Lamb.
with

'^

AYell, the

was held

at the smith's shop,

that the stang be ridden

it

appointed night arrived, when, in accordance

aunciente custome," a person, as

delinquent,

and

for Mrs.

mounted the stang

proxy for the real

(a ladder, by-the-bye, for the

comfort and convenience of the rider)

and

called aloud the

FOLKLORE OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.

following dogoTell rhymes at the

whole

leiio'th

With

And

extent of his voice, the

full

villao-e

a ran, tan, tan, on an old tin can,

a hey tinkle, liow tinkle, hey tinkle tang;

It isn't for

But

and breadth of the

it is

your sake, nor

my

sake, that I ride

't

stang,

awdo Yowe * that threshest poor Lamb.

Hip Hip Huzza
Huzza

for the

She bang'd him, she bang'd him, she bang'd him, indeed

She bang'd him

reet weel afore he stood

She nowther tuke

stick, staan, staff,

But she up with her

need

nor stower,

and she knock'd him ower^ and ower,

neif

and ower, and ower.

Hip

Hip

Huzza

Huzza

She next tuke up an awde three-footed stule,

she called him a bizon, and an awde drunken

And
And

fule

then hit him sae hard, and cut him sae deep,

That the blude ran down his legs and into his shoes,
Like the blude of a new stuck sheep.

Hip

Now

if

Or that
Then

And
With

And

ivver I hears
lie

tell,

Hip

come

we'll ride't

Huzza

Huzza

't

stang.

again.

stang again.

a ran tan, ran tan, tang,

a hey tinkle,

how
Hip

tinkle,
!

Hip

hey

tinkle, tang.

Huzza

Huzza

Huzza

[Li the pit villages near Gateshead Fell there

* Observe the pun upon the

name

a female sheep which has had young.

the saying, " Aye, the old
is

that sJw again rebels,

complains of us ridin

we'll all

now more than

fifty

Yowe

years ago,

is

of

Lamb,

From

to wit, "

serves by the ancients of the village.

another

Yowe,"

i.e.

the above incident arose

the better Tupe "

it is still

is

repeated

and, though

when

it

the occasion

THE DENIIAM TKACTS.

of " Kidin' the

variety

disgrace, as

mark

he

is

many

in

it is

of honour."'

mounted upon

^'

Stang," not
others

meant

as

on the contrary,

pit's

is

rather

The morning after a young man is married,

" board or pole, and carried to the public

house upon the shoulders of two men, where he

give the

mark of

a
it

crew a

'

blaw

The

out.'

is

expected

to

man

is

married

last

always chosen mayor, and undergoes the same operation.

these events produce

\gaudy

days.'

Both

"

They myed me ride the stang as snin

As aw show'd fyace at wark agyen.
The npsliot was a gaudy-day,

grand blaw-oiit

Avi'

Grundy's

yell.'

Wilson's Titmairs Pay,

[Gaudy Day
''

J. II.]

Cuckoo Morxix' &c.

In the pit villages near Gateshead Fell, there are certain

when

times of the year

and

p. 51.

insist

on a

the

young men and

gaudy day

lads refuse to work,

for instance,

;'

the first

morning

they hear the cuckoo, aud when the turnips and peas are at
maturity.

They

call

these

periods,

tormit [turnip] mornin',' and

'

cuckoo mornin','

a pea mornin'.'

'

At such times

they frequently adjourn to a neighbouring publichouse, where

they enjoy themselves during a great part of the day.
Charles

Lamb,

adYcrtiug to the

in his IlecoUeciion>< of Christ's Hospital^

festiYities

of Christmas, says

would then club our stock

to

Pitman's Pay, pp. 46, 47, note.

'

have a gaudy day.' "

J.

when

the richest of us

Wilson's

H.]

Bariuxg Out.
This was a ])ractice once very

common

in schools of a superior

class throughout the whole of England, but most general in the

north.

It

was generally practised about the period of

St.

FOLKLORE OF THE XORTH OF ENGLAND.

Day

Nicholas's

December),

(Gtli

may bo proper to
On this day was
Roman Catholic farce of

wlio^

it

remark, was the chosen patron of schoolboys.

formerly celebrated the semi-impious
the

Boy

Bishop, one of

whom,

near Newcastle on-Tyne

I.,

at the

Chapel of Heton,

and the king was

was permitted

in the year 1229,

King Edward

to say vespers before

much

so

pleased

with his youthful chaplain and choral followers that he made

them a considerable

The Eton Mnntem

present.

substitution for the (ir)religious

Some

military character.

is

evidently a

ceremony of one partaking of a

seventy or eighty years ago, vestiges

of these medieval, at least, if not primeval, customs were retained

in several of the

Dean and

in the

that

gramm.ar schools of the whole of the north of

Brand says

England.

that he heard the custom

was retained

Chapter's schools, in the city of

Durham, and

same practice prevailed

the

the

in

Kepier School, of

Houghton-le-Spring, in the county of Durham.

practised at the

York

and

at

Cumberland

grammar

those of Scotby,

was

also

Wetheral, and Warwick, in

and Kirkby Stephen,

Magazine

in the Gentleman'' s

It

schools of Bowes, in the county of

in

Westmoreland.

A writer

for 1791, vol. Ixi., p. IITO,

men-

tioning some local customs of Westmoreland and Cumberland,

says
^'

:
In September or October, the master

school

by the

scholars,

who, previously

is

locked out of the

to his admittance, give

an account of the different holidays for the ensuing year, which

he promises to observe, and signs his name
they are
signed

called,

orders

with two

is

the

immediately opened
board, and the day

is

bondsmen.

signal
beef,

of

beer,

to the orders, as

The return of these

capitulation

the doors are

and wine, deck the

festive

spent in mirth."

In the statutes of Witton School, near Xorthwich, in Cheshire,

founded A.u.
scholars

is

I008, the observance of this

specially directed.

See

practice

by the

Carlide, " Description of

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

Endowed Grammar

Sclicols," vol.

at llotlibury in Nortliumberlaiid,

son,

ill

ih'id.

of Cumberland,

his Hlstorji

vol.

ii.

vol.

ii.

custom was used by the scholars of the

field

or

p.
p.

259.

Hutcliin-

322, says

free school

of

tlii-s

Brom-

about the beginning

county,

IJrumfield, in that

It prevailed also

p. 133.

i.

of

Lent, or in the more expressive phraseology of the county, at

Fasten's Even.

An

ancient schoolmaster repeated to the writer the follow-

Bhyme, used

ing stanza of a Barring-out

Ebor nearly

at a school in

com.

sixty years ago.

''

Orders

Master

Onlers

Orders we do crave

And

if

yon wont grant ns orders,

Orders we will have.

Altliough

We

we

are both

And

if

are but
stiff

little

boys,

and stout

von won't grant us orders,

We'll keep you longer

out.''

Although the above may form only one half or may be but
one-third or fourth of the grand total of the poetical address
issued on these

privileged days

for

have cause

to believe

that the whole of the holidays claimed for the ensuing twelve

months were strung np together

1

have thought

still

that either

be able to

it

worth

''

uncouth verses

Chronicling in a Boke," hoping

myself, or some kind

add the remanet

in equally

and charitable reader, may

at a later period of time.

The Wassail or Loving Cup.

A
still

relic of this

primitive and good old Christmas custom

retained to a

awnre

of, in

and here,

much

greater extent than

the counties of

too, the ecpially

is

hitherto I was
Cumberland and Westmoreland

good old-fashioned practice of

little

FOLKLORE OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.

family parties at
\Yassail

or

period of the year

Loving Cup,

the

separate,

tin's

quantum of good

old

is

The

also continued.

is

introduced long ere the visitors

of which ore

contents

composed of

liberal

Jamaica rum, hot water, sugar, and lemon

prepared in a large china basin, or small punch bowl.

is first

This

partaken of by the master and dame, drinking to the

health of each individual

handed round

assembled party

of the

each, who, also,

to

taking

it

bowl

the

then

is

in both

hands, drinks to the health and happiness of the whole assembly.

By

hands of

the

time the

cup has passed through the

loving

present, the mirth-inspiring beverage has roused

all

the spirits of one and

all

to trip

Fig-Sue,

in the

it

The customary dish of Fig Sue

is

still

ale,

figs,

bread,

families through-

The dish

sugar,

who

mess, but those

never tasted the

most

white

prepared, and alone

many

out the whole of the North of England.

of

dance.

Good Friday.

partaken of for dinner on this day, hj

position

mazy

have,

is

com-

and nutmeg.
tell

me

that

it

is

excellent.

Fairings.

The children

in

many

districts in the

address any male person,

or market

whom

Xorth of England thus

they see returning from

fair

''

Cowper,

CoT^-per, a

nag

or a knowt.

If yoii please will ye give

me

a fairing

"
?

Charm for the Toothache.

The following

really curious traditional

from the narration of a gentleman

same

to be

given in

tlie

Literary

still

rhyme

living,

Gazette^

I took

down

and caused the

and Mr. Halliwell's

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

10
really valuable

and interesting

London, 1849.

Nursery Tales of England.

Peter ^Yas sitting on

And

marMe

Jesus passed by

Peter said,

How my

''

book, Popular FJif/mes and

little

My

Lord

My

tooth doth ache

(xod
"
!

keeps these words for

Shall never have the toothaciie

Mr.

records

Halliwcll

Jesns said, " Peter art wholo,

And whoever

stone,

in

"
!

my

sake,

Amen.

book the following various

his

version of the above rhymes, as used in one of the Yorkshire

dales

and

he has

in conclusion, says that

^'

been informed on

credible authority, that the trade of selling efficacies of this kind

is

from obsolete

far

"As

in the

Sant Petter

sat at the

Lord and Sevour Jesus

thee hee sead

Mee and
fiat

charm

fi^t

Lord

My

Teeth

thy

X-"
is

sead,

Eake Eney

>^ever

is

What

Eleth

More,

fiat

the sufferer in a similar

in the Physicians of

Myddvai,

given in Aubrey's Miscellanies,

p.

p.

453.]

141.

Saturday's Moon.

Eorster,

nivver a good

mnne

Bruges,

well

of

in nea man's time.

declares that by the journal kept

self,

by and

SatnrJay's change, and a Sunday's prime,

Was
Dr.

Teeth Ecketli he sead arise and folow

shall

districts "

Geats of Jerusalem our Blessed

Crist pased

[The Virgin Mary

for toothache

Another charm

remote rural

known
by

as

meteorologist,

his grandfather, father,

ever since 17G7, to the present time, whenever the

new

on a Saturday, the following twenty days

liave

moon has

fallen

been wet and windy,

in

nineteen cases out of tw^enty.

FOLKLORE OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.

11

Charm Prayers.
The following cliarm prayer
land and

is

children, and

is

used

day

at this

in

Westmore-

taught by mothers as well as nurses to younois

repeated by them on retiring to rest

Matthew, Mark, Lnke and John,

God
If

bless this

bed that 1

lie

on

anything appear to me.

Sweet Christ

arise and comfort me.

Four corners to this bed,
Four angels round my head,*
One to pray, one to wake,

Two to guard me till day-break.

And blessed guardian-angels keep
Me safe from dangers while T sleep.
I lay me down upon my side.
I pray the Lord to be my guide
And if I die before 1 wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.
Amen.
;

The following prayer

^^rfolk

is,

understand, used in the county of

I lay

me down to rest me,

God to bless me

I pray to

And

if

I sleep

I pray the

and never wake,

Lord

my

soul to take,

This night for evermore.

Two
in

the

articles

Amen.

on ancient Paternosters have already appeared

Folh-Lore Record,

vols,

and

ii,

the

first

Thoms, Esq., the second by Miss Evelyn Carrington

Varia.

Six angels round me spread,

Two to sing, and two
And two to carry my

to pray,

soul away.

by W.
;

J.

of these

12

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

Mr. Denham's examples present other

World

Satan's Invisible

In Sinclair's

varieties.

iJiscovered, ed. 1815, tli3re arc

ont-of-the-way Scotch specimens, which

may

some

be placed along-

side of these last,

in the time of

^gnes Simpson, condemned for witchcraft

James Yl. of Scotland, was a sort of white witch.

She taught ignorant

White Pater Noster

and evening, and

two prayers, ''The Black and

peoj^le,

in Metre, in set forms, to be used

at other times

when

morning

occasion ofFereth."

White Pater Noster.

''

God was my foster,

fostered me

He

Under the book

of

Saint Michael was

palm

my

tree

dame.

He was born at Bethlehem,

He was made of flesh and blood.
God send me my right food
;

My

right food, and dyne too,

That I may to yon kirk go,

To read upon yon sweet book.
Which the mighty God of heaven
Open, open, heaven's yaits

shook.

Steik, steik, hell's yaits.

All saints be the better,

That hear the AVhite Prayer, Pater Xoster

The Black Pater Foster runs thus

"

" Four nenks in this honse for haly

angels,
post in the midst, that's Christ
Jesus,'
Lucas, Marcus, Matthew, Joannes,

God

be into this house, and

* pp. 19. 20.

all

that bclano- ns."

FOLKLORE

"At

niVlit, in the

OB^

THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.

time of Popery,

when

folks

went

13
to

bed they

believed the repetition of the followino- ])myei' was effeetnal to

preserve them from danpjer, and the house too.

"

Who

sains the house the night

They that

sains

ilka night.

it

Saint Bryde and her brat,

Saint Colme and Lis hat,
Saint Michael and his spear,

Keep

this

house from the

From running

And
And

burning thief

from

^Yeir

a' ill

Hea,

That be the gate can gae

And

from an

ill

wight,

That be the gate can

light.

Nine reeds about the house

Keep

What
So

it all

is

the night.

that

v>liat I see,

red, so bright,

'lis he

thief;

beyond the sea

was pierced through the hands,

Through the feet, through the throat,

Through the tongue
Through the liver, through the lung.
Well is them that well may
;

Fast on Good-Friday."*

"A country man in East Lothian used this grace

and

after meat.

Lord be blessed

for all his gifts,

Defy the deyil and

all his shifts

God send me mair

siller.

* p. 148.

Amen."

t P- l-l^-

always before

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

14

Rhymes on Mountains

1.

in

the North of England which indicate

THE Weather.

When Eosebeny

Topping wears a

Let Cleaveland then beware

2.

When

Roseberrye Toppingc wears a cappe,

Let Clevehmd then beware

3.

When Eston-Knab
And
Then

4.

When

Camden.

puts on a cloake,

the folks on Cleaveland's clay,

there will be a clappe.

Eoseberry Topping wears a hat,

Morden Carrs

Rosebeny Topping
in the

a chippe.

Roseberr3-e a cappe,

all

Ken

cap,

of a rap.

is

will suffer for that.

name

the

of a lofty conical- shaped

Xorth Riding of the connty of York.

alluded to in the rhymes

Camden

observes, that

is,

in plain language, a thunder storm.

when

the top of this

Morden Carrs

the

in

is

''

hill

darkened with clouds, rain generally follows

ancient distich.

hill

The rap and clappe

begins to be

^'
;

hence the

county of Durham,

near Sedgfield.
It

Be

Riving-pike do wear a hood.

sure that day will ne'er be good.

When

Gelt puts on his night-cap

When

Skid daw hath a cap,

Lancashire.

'tis

sure to rain.

Cinubcrland.
Scruff ell wots full well of that.

Cumberland, and Annandale

When

Hood-hill has on his cap,

Hamilton's sure to come down with

When

in Scotland.

a clap.

Yorkshire.

Knipe-scar gets a hood,

Sackworth may expect a

flood.

Westmoi eland.

FOLKLORE OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.

Guy Fawkes

cloggrel

or,

15

Fifth of November Rhymes.

hominy roared

(not sung) at the full extent of the

Kirkby Stephen

voices of two or three dozen lads at

in

West-

moreland, on the eve of the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot,

when making progresses in order to

gunpowder and tar-barrels.

collect

I took

chase of

oral recitation of a lad

who

many

had, on

money for the purit down from the

occasions, acted his

part therein, like a true stentor

Hollo boys, hollo bojs,

Let the

bells ring

Holla boys, hollo boys,

God

save the

King

Pray to remember

The fifth of Xovcmber,

Gunpowder, treason, and plot,
AVlien the King and his train.

Had

nearly been slain.

Therefore

it

shall not be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,

And

his companions,

all England up
But God's mercy did prevent,

Strove to blow

And

saved our King r.nd his

Happy was the man,
And happy was the day.
That God caught Guy,

Going

With

And

to his play,

a dark lanthorn,
a brimstone match,

Ready

for the

prime to touch.

parliament,

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

16

As

I ^Yas going- tliiongli llic dark entry,

I spied, the devil,

Stand back

Stand back

Queen Mary's daugliter,

Put your hand in your pocket,
And give us some money
To kindle our bon-fiie
Huzza
Huzza
Huzza
!

I can give no explanation of

be intended as a compliment
^'

Queen Mary's daughter "

put the cjuestion as

mitted

it

"Aw

further than that I take

cannot

tell

what

to the reciter

it

means

when

but he could throw no light on

larnt

it

sae,

it

to

mistress of the mansion

to the

meaning

to its

to paper,

answer was,

tliis,

com-

it.

His

and aw knaw na mair."

Singular Will.

The following singular

of our Lord 1771

will

was proved

This

is

my

I insist on

last will,
it still,

So sneer on and welcome,

And
I,

e'en

laugh your

fill

William Hickingtcn,

Poet

of Pocklington,

Do

give and bequeath,

As

free as I breathe,

To thee, Mary Jareni;

The cjueen of my harem,

My

my

cash and

With

To have and

Come

cattle,

every chattel,
to hold,

heat or

come

Sans hindrance or
Tho' thou'rt not

cold,

strife,

my

wife.

at

York

in tlie

year

FOLKLORE OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND

As

my

witness

Just

liere as

17

liand

I stand,

This twelfth day of July,

In the year seventy.

William Hickixgtox.

Schoolboy Riiyjies.

rhyme

Sunday

for the twenty-fiftli

after Trinity

lip, we beseech thee,

The puddings in the pot
And when we get home,
We'll eat them all hot.

Stir

The following,

as also the

still

eye and Betty Martin," had

its

more popular saying

'"All

origin during the period in

downward progress "

which the Church of

Rome was

the British Isles.

formed one of the many Protestant

at Popery,

It,

too,

members of

the

among

like

the

many

Betty Martin,

Mary

Popudariy,

Egg

shells,

is

a parody on wdiat the

sacr(}d

fall of grace,

curtail face

goose

quills,
bills.

ShROVE-TiDE PiHYME.
Shrore Sunday,
Collop Monday, Pancake Tuesday,

Ash Wednesday, Bloody Thursday,

Friday's lang, but will be dune.

Then hey

flings

dignified, "was perhaps not

Knobsticks, sparrow

VOL. n.

in

instruments of the Reforma-

Romish Church held

Hail

''

in its

and though not the most

the least effectual

tion.

It

my

for Setterday efternune.


THE DENHAM

18

TRxiCTS.

Good Friday Rhyme.

Org
One

penny buns, two a penny bnns,

a penny, two a penny, liot

bnns,

Butter them and sugar tliem, and put tlicm in your muns.

ON BaTHIXO.

PiIIY3IES

He who

bathes in May,

Will soon be laid in clay

lie

who bathes

Will

sing- a

He who

Juno,

in

merry tunc

bathes in July,

Will dance like

a fly.

Book Rhymes.
Ill

the library of the

Dean

and.

Durham

Chapter of

is

an

ancient Mlssale Romanorinn^ once the property of the church of

Hntton Piudby, Yorkshire,

as

we

learn

from the following

quaint rhymes contained in the bo^vke itself

Whoso owne me dothe loke,

am ye Chourche of Ptudby's bowke
Whoso dothe save ye contrary,
I reporte me to awll ye parysshyngby.

This book was given by Samuel Davidson, Esq., to the Rev.

George Davenport, Rector of Houghton-le-Spring, and was by

him, in I6G2, given to the

by Bishop Cosin

to

the

This truly wonderful revolving stone, though ny-the-by

it is

clergy of the Diocese of

library^ left

Durham.

Hhy.me ox BuLMER Stoxe, Darlixgtox.

In Darnton towne ther

And most

strange

is

is

a stane.

yt to

tell.

That yt turnes nine times round aboute

When

yt hears ye clock strike twell.


FOLKLORE OF THE XORTPI OF ENGLAND.

19

not singular in this property, stands in the front of some low

cottages constituting Northgate House, in the street bearing the

same name (See LongstafFe's

Hist. Darlington, p. 164).

It is a

water-worn boulder-stone of Shap (AVestmorland) granite.

Shrove Tuesday Rhymes.

'\^"hen the

pancake

bell begins to knell,

The frying-pan begins

to smell.

Pancakes were anciently an universal dish on

I

myself have often partaken of them.

North of England
of fritters

is

Thursday.

is

this

festival

Shrove Tuesday in the

generally called Pancake Tuesday.

dish

usual in France on this day and the following

See Hone's

Year Book, 146,

shire hot ]:)ancakes are to this

In Lanca-

7, 8, 9.

day introduced

at the tea table

on

Shrove Tuesday.
^'Fit as a pancake for Shrove Tuesday,"

is

a very old popular

saying.

The CALGAnxH Skull.

There

is

an extraordinary skull preserved with great care

at

Calgarth Park, near Applethwaite in Westmoreland, of which

tradition says, that if

found in

its

night

to poAvder at

it

is

regularly

perfect state placed on the hall table next morning.

I understand there
this skull,

brayed

which

is

a very curious legend in connection with

have in vain endeavoured

to obtain.

Magpie Pihymes.
According

to the

number of magpies you

same time when going on

your good or

ill

a journey, kc. &c.

luck, as follows

One
Two

for sorrow,

fur luck {varia mirth)

c 2

see at one

you may

and the

calculate

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

20

Three

Four

wedding,

for a

for deatli (varia a birtli)

Five for

silver {varia ricli)

Six for gold (yaria poor)

Seven

Not

for a secret

to be told

Eight for heaven,

Nine for h

And
Sir

Humphrey Davv

Devil's bird

a haggister

tionary gives

pyanot, and

''

maggy

Lancashire, a pyanot

I liave somewdiere seen

good

the sight of one magpie, the

i\\y tail

have been credibly

ground

ill

called

in his Dicit

is

called

At
AVestmoreland make

omen

fall

me.

making

told that the act of

for this
is

flee.

and good lack

is

it

spelt maggot-pie.

folks in

Magpie, magpie, chatter and

of the cross on the

names

Kent

in

Cotgrave

it

use of the following charm to avert the

But

In Northumberland

magatapie.*'

Turn np

sell

are a few^ of the local

nanpie, ehatter-pie,
in

awn

>se
Salmonida has a note on thos

in his

The following

verses.

ten for the deevil's

much more

eflectual

the sign

charm

North Countrie Farmer's Soliloquy on the Prospects of

HIS

Hay Harvest.

Wilt thou be hay

Nay

Wilt thou be fother (fodder)

I'll

be nowther

Wilt thou be muck?

That's

my

luck

Animal Sacrifice at Christian Burials

In the

month of August, 1849,

in

(?).

excavating the earth within

"

FOLKLOEE OF THE NORTH OF EXGLAXD.

21

Staindrop Collegiate Church in order to build the flues

warming

exhumed, which was generally supposed

Xevilles of

Rabj

Castle in the

be one of the Lordly

to

Bishopi-ic, at

whose

feet

found the bones of a dog of the greyhound breed.

It

worth the trouble of inquiry could we ascertain the

fact

this primitive

would be
whether

owner was occasionally retained

its

Church down

to

the period

fourteenth centuries. ^Ye read of one of

whose war-horse, armed

its

were

custom of slaying and interring a favourite animal

with the body of

Christian

for

human body was

the sacred edifice, the skeleton of a

''

master at his interment in

Durham

was not

its

in

The Xoble

Weather

or

Nevilles,

Priory Church.

slain,

The

but given to the said

owner's mortuary pavment.

Journal of Archceolorjical Institute

the

thirteenth

preceded the body of

battle array,

in

horse, however, in this case

church as a portion of

of the

vol. vi. p.

See

436.

Proverbs.

Easterly winds and rain,

Bring cockles here from Spain.

As

the season in which cockles are in the greatest supply

is

generally the most stormy in the year, the sailors' wives at the
seaport towns in

Durham and Northumberland consider the cry

the cockle-man as the harbinger of bad weather

The following
" Folklore

or

pages

Manners,

Charms, Juvenile
England."

(21-80)

are

Customs,

Rhymes,

Ballads,

and the

of

sailor,

from another tract entitled

Weather
&c.

&c.

Proverbs,
in

the

Popular
north

of


THE DENHAM TRACTS.

22
-when

lie

hears the cry of

'^

night, concludes that a storm

backwards

at hand,

is

for the soul of bad- weather

[Chatto's

Border,

cockles alive " on a dark, wintry

and breathes a prayer

Geordy

Rambles in Nortlmmherland and on

the Scottish

p. 207.]

Rain Ehymes.
There are several infantile rliymes used as charms for or
against rain, viz.
1.

Eain, rain, go away,

Come
2.

Rain, rain, gang to Spain,

And
3.

again another day.

never come here again.

Rain, rain, pour down.

And come
4.

mair to our towne.

Rain, rain, gang away.

And come
5.

na'

again on

Midsummer

Rain, rain, go away,

Come again to-morrow day

When
I'll

G.

day.

brew and when I bake,

give you a

little

cake.

Rain, rain, go to Spain,

Fair weather come again,

7.

Rain, rain, go away.

And oome
8.

again on Saturday.

Rain, rain, faster,

EulVs

in

the pastnre.

Cow's in the

meadow

Sheep's in the corn.

(varia clover).

FOLKLORE OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.

Rhymes

When

't

the Wixds, &c.

o?^

wind's in

't

east,

Caulcl and snaw comes

When

wind's in

't

It suits

When

't

't

W^e ha'

When
It's

't

farmer best

wind's in

't

neist

't

west,
;

north,

to sup liet scalding broLh

't

wind's in

muck up

23

"

to

't

't

south,

mouth,

dry August and warm

Doth the harvest no harm
But a rainy August,

Malvcs a hard-bread crust.

At

St.

Barthol'mew,

Then comes

cohl dew.

August.)

(2-4

Vulgar Errors.
1.

It is

an

articde in tlie

vulgar creed that

if a

female appears

abroad, and receives either insults or blows from any of her

neighbours^ previous to the ceremony of churching, after giving

remedy

birth to a child, she has no

mother enter the house of either

till

she has been churched.

at law\

Neither must a

friend, relative, or neio-hbour,

If she

is

uncanny,

so

it

betokens

ill

kick to the parties so visited.

The popular

no more growing grass

murder has been committed is Aerv
common, and singularly suj^ported by the Field of the Forty
Footsteps, near London, where tw^o brothers fcniodit a duel, and
2.

belief of the earth

wdiere a foul and bloody

took each other's

Common

life,

about a love

Place Booh, second series,

p.

affair,

21

kSco

Southey's

Miss Porter's novel,

24

THE DENIIAM TRACTS.

Fortij Footsteps.

name.

this

1800.

There

is

also a

dramatic piece

bears

wliicli

This spot of ground -was built upon about the year

Tlie exact spot

whereon tradition says " poor old Willy

Robinson " was murdered on Holwiek Fell, in Teesdale, 171)4,

is

positively asserted

by

a living eye witness to have remained a

barren waste ever since.

3.
its

If the finger or toe nails of an infant are cut previous to

attaining the age of twelve months,

mature age.

it

Mothers and nurses beware

prove a thief in

will

and mind you con-

tinue the 20od old fashioned custom of " nibblino\"

4.

moon
o.

saw an aged matron turn her apron

I once

to the

new

to ensure o-ood luck for the ensuino^ month.

There

is

a tradition that

hair and a red beard

proverb,

''

He

Judas Iscariot had

this belief

may

head of black

have given

rise to

the

by nature that hath a black head and a

is false

red beard."
6.

New

Xevcr allow any one

Day

Year's

tion of the year

your house on

to take a light out of

a death in the household before the expira-

sure to occur if

is

it

Never throw

be allowed.

any ashes, dirty water, or anything, however worthless, out of

your house on

may

allow,

your

this

bring in as

day

and a blessing

first visitant,

morning of

New

much

to

do so betokens

luck

ill

but you

honestly gotten goods as your

will attend their spending.

and be permitted
Year's Day,

it

to enter

means

If a female

is

your liouse on the

portendeth

ill

luck for the

whole year.
7.

The forefinger of the right hand

common

applying an3^thing to a
8.

If a child tooths

ominous of
9.

is

considered by the

people as venomous, and consequently

its

dying

wound
first

is

never used in

or sore.
in

its

u|)per

jaw

it

is

considered

in its infancy.

Good Friday and Easter Sunday

are both considered as

lucky da}s on which to cast the caps of young children.

FOLKLORE OF THE KORTIl OF ENGLAND.

25

Puddening Infants.
offering of an eo-g^ a handful of salt, and a bnneli

The ancient

of matches, to a

neighbour

England

joung

is still

child on

its first visit

very prevalent in

ceremony
" puddened."

called ^'puddening,"

is

There

is

parts of the Nortli of

In the neighbourhood of Leeds

at the present period.

the

many

the house of a

to

and the child

is

said to be

no doubt but that these three

ofi'er-

ings are typical of the resurrection of the dead, the inniior-

of the soul, and

tality

lake

Glossary of Nortli Country

Brockett^s
''

of the

burneth,

that

ITort/.^, vol.

i.

c^c See
p. 90, art.

Child's First Visit."

Christmas Observances.

To send

'^

Vessle-cup Singer" away from your doors anre-

quited (at least the

of

all

first

that comes)

afford

it

at least

them before

table, these

and grocers

good luck

that can possibly

considered ^ery unlucky to cut

it is

that festival of all festivals,

candle, called a Yule candle,

upon the

to forfeit \\\q

have a Yule cheese and Yule cake provided

against Christmas eve, and

either of

is

Every family

the approaching year.

is

A tall

lighted in the evening

mould

and

to their customers.

The Yule Log

is

either

bought

of the carpenter's apprentice or found in some neighbour's

It

would be unlucky

period

so also

it

is

set

candles are presented by the chandlers

to light either the log or

considered unlucky to

candle
stir

till

field.

the proper

the fire or

move

the candlestick during the supper, neither must the candle be

snuffed, nor

any one

these suppers

it is

stir

from the

table

till

supper

is

ended.

Li

considered unlucky to have an odd number

at table, especially so if thirteen.

This latter piece of supersti-

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

26

tion is evidently taken

from the

Jast

supper partaken of by our

blessed Saviour and his twelve apostles.

is

fragment of the log

occasionally saved and put under a bed to remain

Christmas,

thrown

it

secures the house from

fire,

till

into a fire (occurring at the house of a nciglibour)

quell the raging element.

to ensure

good

luck.

go out of doors

till

No

A piece

next

and a small piece of

it

will

of the candle should be kept

person, except boys, must presume to

the threshold has been consecrated

by the

The entrance of a woman on the morning

footsteps of a male.

of this day, as well as on that of the

the height of ill-luck.

St.

Xew

Year,

is

considered as

Stephen's day in the north

pretty generally to hunting and shooting, the

is

devoted

game laws being

considered as not in force on that dav-

All

few

thrifty, elderly

Souls' Day.

housewives

of keeping a soul mass-cake

still

practice the old custom

(2nd November)

for

good luck.

The Kev. George Young, in his History ofWhithy (Yorkshire),

says: ^' A lady in Whitby has a soul mass-loaf nearly a hundred years old."

i\l0XTrERRAXD, XEAR BeVERLEY.

Tlie fairest lady in this land,

Was

drown'd at

Mont

This dark saying of antiquity

members of

the

Archasological

holden at York, in July, 1846.

Ferrand.

was quoted by one of the

Institute,

are the foundations of an ancient castle.

rhyme

Of

am totally ignorant mayhap some "

;

at

At Montferant,

their

meetino-

or Montferand,

the orio-In of the

honest Yorkshire "

FOLKLORE OF THE KORTH OF ENGLAND.

fellow traveller in the

some

light

upon

same mazy paths of antiquity can throw

it.

A
The following

down from

NuESERY Song.

beautiful

song, which I took

nursery

little

the recitation of a female relative^

gem

unquestionably the
cated by

me

27

to J.

of baby literature.

now no more,
It

is

was communi-

0. Halliwell, Esq., F.R.S.^ and by him given

Rhymes of

in the fourth edition of the Nurserij

Enc/Imid, and

again in his Popular Rliymes and JS^ursery Tales, 1849,

in both cases without

acknowledgment

The Babes

My

Wood.

ix the

dear do yon know,

How

a long time ago,

Two poor little children

Whose names I don't know,
Were stolen away,

On a fine snmmer's day,

And left in a wood.
As I've heard people say.

And when

it

So sad was

The sun

And
And
And

the

it

moon gave no

light

they bitterly cried

They

laid

And when

little

down and

died.!

they were dead,

robin so red

over them spread

leaves,
;

sigli'd,

things,

Brought strawberry

And

went down,

they sobbed and they

And, poor

The

was night,

their plight

p.

163,

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

28

And all the day long

He sans: them this song;
Poor babes

in the \yooLl,

Poor babes

in the

And

The babes

The

is

in

Robin performs the

the dead

bodies

human

of the

of The

Soldier's Repentance^

of

office

species with leaves,

noticed by Shakespeare, Drayton,

the ballad

by

superstitious belief that the

eovei'incr

(tc,

wood
remember
the wood ?

don't you

and Webster.

the robin

is

In

invoked

bury him when dead. Again, in the

West Countrii Damosel's Complaint^ ^'mourning birds with
the dying soldier to

leafv boughs

*'

are said to have given

and her

a burial to her

youthful lover.

Certaixe Dyshes for certatne Tymes.

turkey and mince-pie

Day
James's Day
Easter

a goose

at

Christmas

gammon

on Michaelmas Day

of bacon on

ovsters

on

St.

Day a fat hen at

Shrovetide
ham or bacon collops on Shrove Monday pancakes
on Shrove Tuesday a male ])ullet and bacon on Fasteii's Dav
:

a roast pig on St. Bartlemy's

hot-cross

buns on

Good Friday;

pullets are in season during the

proverb

bull

beef

at

Candlemas;

whole of January, hence the

If yon but

To

knew how

eat a pullet in Janivere,

If you

had but twenty

You'd leave but one

Eggs on
All Souls'

to

in

your

salmon and

all

flock,

go with the cock.

the Saturday before Shrove

Day

were

,o-ood it

Sunday

kinds of

fi^h in

a soul

Lent,

cake on

ikc. 6:c.

FOLKLOKE OF THE XORTII OF ENGLAND.

29

The Giant Cor.

museum

In the

Keswick

at

bone, said to be a rib of

of Giant Wade's co^Y

A bone

or was,

shown

MulgTave

at

Castle,

[The brother giants Cor, Ben, and Con are celebrated

Yorks.
in

is,

preserved an immensely large

is

IS'orthumbrian giant Cor.

tlie

Dr. John

Book,

Le.o^.

cj-c,

Ode

Carr'.s

Div.

p.

i.,

Eichardson's Table

the Dericent.

to

They resided

285.

Corbridge

at

and Conset and Benfieldside in Durham.]

in Northumberland,

Markets.

Brough

in T\"estmorland,

and Pieeth

Xorth Riding of

in the

Yorkshire are two instances of towns enjoying the privilege of

a market, but not having a church therein.

Wales,

is

St.

David's, in

a city without a market.

Vulgar Errors.

A long

1.

into a

black hair from the

mane

or

tail

of a horse thrown

running stream instantly becomes a living

When

eel.

school boy I perfectly recollect trying this experiment in the

river Greata.

If a fruit tree

2.

is

tojiped with

saw

it

will die,

and not

spring afresh as intended.

It

3.

was quite common when

ago, to hear one''s

wind,

''

There's been somebody at

and he's raised

t'

was a

lad,

some forty years

neighbour observe during a hurricane of

't

wise

wind," and the saying

man
is,

this

even

morning,

still,

occa-

sionally heard.
4.

also

recollect,

on occasion of the death of a certain

very wicked female neio^hbour of mine, now

one

truly

lightning,

dreadful

night

of

wind and

manv

rain,

years

ao-o,

thunder

and

hearing that this avrful tempest was caused by a

visit of the devil to

bear

awav

the soul of

to the infernal

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

30

And

regions.

tliis

portion of the popular creed

diffused tlirougliout the

England.

iS'^umerous are the chronicled instances

be quoted in
saying,

^^

very widely

is

length and breadth of the north of

which might

The

support of this ancient national dogma.

As busy

as the devil in a gale of

wind"

is still

used

in the North.

The common people, universally almost, connect subter-

5.

raneous passages with buildings of antiquity, especially

Communications of

are in a ruinous state.

if

they

this sort are said to

between the highly interesting but desecrated chapel of

exist

Old Richmond (on the Yorkshire banks, opposite Gainford),

and

Cliffe Hall,

from

some three miles further down the Tees

Nicholas's to

St.

Richmond

so likewise

Easby Abbey, both

in

also

the vicinage of

between Penrith Castle and Dockwray

Hall, a distance of 307 yards

also

from Guisborough Priory

a parcel of land called the Tocketts.

secret passage

was

to

also

connected with Anderson Place, Xewcastle-on-Tyne.

In con-

nection with Guisborough passage a curious

is

Many
6.

legend

told.

other places might also be enumerated.

The not yet exploded

belief in Fairies connects itself with

Fairy Slippers, Fairy Stones, Fairy Butter, Fairy Pipes (on

Avhich, by-the-bye, a curious article

might be written), Fairy

Cups, Fairy Cauldrons, Fairy Wells, Fairy Hills, Fairy Rings,

Fairy Money, Elf Locks, Elf Shots, Fairy Cakes, Fairy Javelins,

Fairy Kettles, Fairy Loaves, Fairy Mushrooms, Elf Arrows,

Puck

Fists,

Fairy Flax, Fairy Bells

{i.e.

the Hower of the Fox-

glove), Fairy Fingers, Fairy or Colpixy Heads, Elf Fire, Elf

Knots, Fairy Saddles,

7.

etc., etc.

[See pp. 110-111.]

bunch of ash keys carried

bearer from witchcraft

in the

hand preserves the

as also does the twig of the

rowan or

roan-tree.
8.

It

girl at

is

commonly

believed that

if

a female has a

one birth she will never become pregnant again.

boy and

FOLKLORE OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.

31

Pax CAKES.

At

Sheffield,

pancakes are said

sort of

more

minor All Fools' Day

for

foolish adults are guilty of

be tliro\yn from the leads

to

of the churches on Shrove Tuesday

and

many

it

there held as a

is

are the children

whom

sending on the bootless errand

of catching them in their descent, the

moment

the church clock

strikes twelve.

In some farm houses

is

it

still

customary for the servants,

male as well as female, according to seniority,

their pancakes

but

if

they did not get

it

to fry,

and

toss

ate before the next

one was enougli, thej were dragged out of the house, put into
a wheelbarrow and

whemmcled over upon

muck-midden.

the

LiFTIXG.

The

ancient, but not \erj becoming, custom of lifting or

stanging as

many

it

is

Westmoreland,

called in

of the towns and villages on

day the men

lift

Xew

women upon

the

preserved in

ladder or

occasionally in a chair or swill, carried

is still

On

Year's Day.

pole,

is

left

in pledge

ale, at

to

the expense of

If this payment, or promise thereof,

not complied with, one of the lady's feet

which

away

where they are required, by the law

of prescriptive right, to call for a quart of

the female equestrian.

and

by two or more men,

followed by a few dozens of youngsters, and hoist tiiem

the nearest public-house

this

is

with the ale-wife.

denudedt of
It is,

as

its

is

shoe,

may

be

supposed, always redeemed.

Goodman.
*'

The goodman of the house."

the household^ or chief of the clan.

use.

This term signifies head of

The word

is still

in popular

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

32

Caxdle-Bark.

now

This domestic utensil,

met with

nearly out of use, yet

in the possession of old housekeepers,

is

still

to

be

a cylindrical

box, formed originally of the bark of a certain tree, though

now

but more generally of

of wood,

wherein candles were wont

to

be kept

It

tin.

wanted

till

was the case

for use.

Herb-puddixg.
In the north

is

it

customary in some

still

herb -pudding on
in Passion

day

Week]

[a

in the composition of

districts to

pudding of

have a

bitter herbs eaten

which the Passion or

Patience Dock, otherwise Eastern Giants^ and young nettles,

hold the chief place.

The Quern Mill.

Of the
those

household

primitive

thousands, are

still

who ken nothing

and many

either of their

Johnson notices them as

the period of his

many hundreds

mills;

in existence,

bein<x

still

not

if

in the keeping of

history or use.

Dr.

used in the Hio-lilands at

visit.

Ball Playixg.
This

game commences on Pancake Tuesday, and

without intermission

[*

Eumex

Patientia

cultivation in 1573.

Dock

is

a native of Italy, introduced into English

Alton's

Hortiit,

also given in Glossaries as a

the North.]

continues

Easter.

till

Kewensis,

name

of

ii.,

p.

318.

Patience

Polygonum Bistorta

in


FOLKLORE OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.

33

Oi-D Shoe.

When
going

him

to

young person

be married,

for luck.

is

leaving his family and friends or

it is still

usual to throw an old shoe after

Many

try to hit the party on the back.

Virgin Garlands.
This truly elegant custom has^ I

May

desuetude.

I,

however,

live

much

fear, fallen into entire

One

to see its restoration.

of these votive garlands was solemnly boriio before the coffin

by two

girls,

who

placed

on the

it

coffin in the

the reading of the church service for

Thence

it

was conveyed

in the

tlie

burial of the dead.

same manner

after the interment of the corpse

church during

to the grave^

was again taken

to the

and

church

and carefully deposited on the skreen dividing the quire from

the nave of the church, as an

emblem of

the frailty and uncertainty of

human

life.

In Corydon's Doleful Knell, we read

"

A garland
Bj

art

virgin purity, and of

framed

shall be

and nature's

Of simdiy coloured

skill,

flowers,

In token of good will.*

New

Year's Gifts.

At Kirkby Stephen, Westmoreland,

it

is

the custom for

* Mr. Denliam in his correspondence mentions having recently

(22nd February, 1857) received a reduced facsimile of the

''
It is really beautiful.
funeral garland, from Westmoreland.
also

an elegant specimen

county.
tal parts

of

coloured silks

other articles in beauty."

VOL.

IT.

I have

a rush-bearer's garland from the

Also a curiously formed palm

are in various

virgin's

cross, in
;

but

same

which the ornamen-

it falls

far short of the

THE DEXIIAM TRACTS.

34
cliiklren to

Query.

he^

Is

tlieir

New

Year's Gifts on the eve of

peculiar to

tliis

tlie

above county

day.

tliis

Holy Wells.
At Bowes, North Riding

of Yorkshire,

is

one of those ancient

springs or fountains which our ancestors looked upon as sacred.

spring of beautiful water

This

Who

Farmin's Well.

this

would be

settled at

in

Kirkby Stephen
the Eden,

in

Languedoc, and

Norman

spring was dedicated by the

Conquest,

the

is

known

Saint

as

Saint Farmin was I wot not, but there

was Firmin, a bishop of Usez

doubt

popularly

is

Bowes

him no

to

clergy,

honour of

known by

semi-sacrilegious act

name

the

of Ladywell, which has within

to convert

slightest opposition
fully

improving

This

was committed by Francis Birkbeck of

Kirkby Stephen, who diverted the current of

brewery

At

countryman.

saintly

their

a wonderfully copious spring, on the brink of

these few late years been appropriated to private uses.

his

who

as chaplains at the castle, shortly after

into

ale,

and

that,

its

waters

too,

down

to

without the

on the part of the inhabitants of that wonder-

little

country town.

looked upon as public property.

The well

Jias

ever been

Let justice be done.

WooDEx Trenchers.
These primeval utensils were universally used in
hall at

till

a very recent period

and

tlic

servants'
fact

were

the usual platter for the tenants at the rent-day dinners,

about the year 1830, or

numerous

the

fictile

the

more independent and

plate

previous years.
pcrliaps

till

after

later.

contrariwise)

ol^jections

had been raised by

higlier class of tenantry during

Fruit puddings

till

They were not superseded by

and roast beef (or

sweetened rum

sauce,

many
ratlicr

and beef and

FOLKLORE OF THE NORTH OP ENGLAND.

mutton

graA'ies,

were

all

35

eaten off the same trenclier.

They now

(1851) eat off pottery, and have their plates changed like other
Christian folks.

unknown.

Salt

and mustard spoons

are,

however,

still

Note, in 1512, pewter plates and dishes were con-

sidered a luxury only to be indulged in by the higher order of

Of pewter

nobles.

1am

dishes a noble specimen

still

Castle, sufficiently large to contain the

In

sheep.

fact, it

was used

exists at Streat-

whole carcase of a

for that purpose

on the occasion

'of

the late Earl of Strathmore attaining his majority, and, as I

haye been

told^

has never been used since.

Table of the Divisioxs of Laxd axd Qcalificatioxs

OF XOIULITY.

Ten

families

make

a tything,

Fourteen carucates were one tything,

Ten tythings make a hundred or wapentake,

Ten plongh lands make a fee,
A twenty pound land makes a knight's fee,
Twenty acres make an ox-gang,
Thirty acres make one yard of land,
One hundred acres make one hide of land,
Five hides

make one

knight's fee.

Forty hides make a barony,

&c., &c.

Dviviiis.

The

objects or use of these

works

is

unknown.

In Berwick-

shire there was said to have been a rampart and trench called
Herrit^'s

Dyke, running from

fragment.

To descend,

to

east to west,

modern days^

now reduced

to a

the entrenchment which

formerly surroimded the town of Xewcastle-on-Tyne was called

the King's Dyke.

d2

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

36

Game, Nursery,

Draw buckets

1.

For

My

mj

etc., Eiiymes.

of water,

lady's daughter

father's a king.

And my mother's a queen,

And IVe got a little sister
All dressed in green

One by bush.

Two by
Pray

My
My

2.

bush.

little sister, creej^

If

my

cheek,

left

cheek burns

be

it

my

if it

my

bush.

right cheek \^rar{a -ear].

left

eneuiy,

Turn cheek turn

But

under

be

my

true love,

Burn cheek burn.

TSToTE.

burns
Avith

it,

Always begin
if it

i.e.j

the

rhyme

^vith the ear, or

check that

be the right cheek or ear, begin the rhyme

or vice versa.

3.

Round

My

about, round about, ai^plety pie.

daddy loves

ale, and so do I.
Up, mammy, up, and bring us a cup.
And daddy and I will sup it all up.

4.

now she's dead.

make cocklety-bread
She up with her heels and down with her head,
And this is the way to make cocklety bread.

had

And

a grandmother, but

me

she learnt

5.

My
And
And

to

grandy's seeke
like to dee,
I'll

Some

away make her

cocklety-bread,

Cocklety-bread

And
Some

ril

away make her

cocklety-bread.

!! !

FOLKLORE OF THE NORTH OF EXGLAXD.

6.

A man may care, and

And be always bare

man may

If his wife be

Bnt

And

man may

spare,

nought

man may

spend, and a

37

lend,

always hare a friend,

If his wife

be ono'ht.

Four Alls.
1.

Soldiier

fight for all

Parson

pray for

3.

Countryman

work

4.

Farmer

pay

all

for all

for all

Christ3ias Rhyme.

At Woodhouse, near

Sheffield,

when they go

the children

about amongst their neighbours to beg their Christmas box,

make

use of the following

I

pocket

And

happy new year,

full of money

a barrel full of beer,

horse and a gig

And

a good fat pig

To' serve you

If

wish you a merry Christmas

And

rhyming invocation

you please,

will

all

the year.

you give mo a Christmas box

Beaxs at Funerals.
It

was a custom with the heathens

funeral dole,

Church.

and hence

The

generation was

its

adoj^tion

practice if not follow^ed

till

to distribute

beans as a

by the Roman Catholic

by some of the present

a comparatively recent period, and remains

chronicled in the following rhyme, Avliich

God

save your saul,

Beans and

all.

is still

common


38

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

North Side of Churches.
and

Still-born

unbaptised children,

persons

accordance with the law, felo-de-se, and in fact

laid violent

all

executed

in

persons ^Yho

hands on their own persons and brought themselves

to an unnatural death, persons

siastical or

excommunicated either by

eccle-

law, and a variety of other offences deprived

civil

those so transgressing of the benefit of Christian interment

that

is,

was neither

there

also buried

'^

service nor tolling of bell.

They were

within the night on the backside of the church."

This antipathy to interment on the north also in a minor degree

extended

itself to

the west end of the church.

end of the cemetery-garth

where

till

at

High

Witness the west

near Darlington,

Coniscliffe,

almost within the period of living

memory no

inter-

ments had taken place, the south and east portions alone being
used.

Such

also,

strange to

yard attached

was the case

sa}',

to All Saints in

and probably may even

in the

be the case.

still

crowded grave-

Newcastle, up to the year 1826,

This circumstance I

gather from a mass of curious and valuable notes on a speech of

John Fenwick, Esq., of Newcastle, touching the propriety of

obtaining

" a new place

(2nd

1826, p. 22.

ed.),

of

Nciccastle on-Tijne

sepulture.''

Th? custom

also prevails in Scotland.

PoruLAR Names for certain Playixg Cards.

Ace
Nine

of

diamonds

of

Six of hearts

Knave

Queen of clubs
Four of spades

Knave

The same card

Four

diamonds

of clubs
is

of hearts

The Earl of Cork.

The curse of Scotland.
The grace card.
Bosworth man.
Queen Bess.

.A

called in
.

Ned

Stokes.

Sunderland

AYestmoreland
.

^'

fitter.

Curwen's

Hob CoUingwood.

card.^'

FOLKLOEE OF THE XOETH OF ENGLAND.

39

Sevexth So>

On

seventh son,

the birth of a

must

still

observed that he

believed to be able to cure the king's evil, as

v^'ell

as the

The seventh son of a seventh son was

themselves.

Avas

In the olden time a seventh son

doctor.

1)0

is

it

with divine attributes of a

still

kings
blessed

more unlimited power.

HOXOURIXG THE DeAD.

The custom

extent, of a person halting, although riding, for

when

in the act of passing a funeral procession,

admire

his hat.

tliis

moment,

and taking

ancient usage, and would that

by

universally practised

customary

limited

remains, thouodi only to a very

still

professing

all

Christians.

it

ofi'

were

[This

is

in the south of Scotland.]

Arvel Dinners.
Anciently

was only customary

it

have an arvel dinner

to

funeral feast) on the decease of persons

{i.e.,

of valuable effects,

when

the friends

who were

possessed

and neighbours of the

family of the deceased were invited to dine on the day of

The custom

interment.

solemn

this

are

still

so exposed in

bable that

is

At

no doubt of great antiquity.

was publicly exposed. The dead

many eastern nations, and 'tis very pro-

festival the corpse

we

derive the custom from our

dinner of this class

is

Roman

conquerors.

expressly ordered under the will of

Will'me Aslackbye, of Richmonde, gentlema',

ord

March^

1573.
Others,
Phil.

again, in their wills order to the contrary, as did

Hagthorpe, of Xcttle worth, in

this county, in his will,

1640, charging his son as he will answer him before

it,

esteeming

it

^'

a grete vanity to

God

for

bestow a grete dinner and

40

THE DENHAM TEACTS.

Other charges vainly on

ii.

On

204.

30

to

''iVt

men when they

are gone/'

He

be expended on his funeral.

died 1651.

Bowes, Yorks., where ye Arvel Dinner

still

the chief and chosen dish at the well spread board

and

pie, well stored with currants

The funeral

pie

was

being made of
set forth

'

women went

ate at

raisins,

is

and of sweet

an early period, and

is

These dinners

shrid meates.'

prevails,

a rich veal
spices.

described as

were

whiles

middest of the chancell of the church after

the

in

the interment." *

women,

Surtees^

the contrary Jolni Lively (vicar) of Kelloe, orders

In some

districts of

England formerly no

men's funerals, nor men

to

to

the funerals

of

f
'

In northern customs duty was exprest

To

friends departed by their funeral feast.

"J

The Cradle.
In
it is

all sales,

either

under distraint for renu or common debt,

an ancient and invariable custom

and the original owner

is

to lea^e the cradle unsold,

at liberty to repossess

it.

Leaping the Well.

The singular and

Mark's Day,

and

it is

at

filthy

Alnwick,

custom of leaping the well on

fell

almost more than probable that the year 1852 will see

the usage entirely abandoned.

Ax

St.

into almost total disuse this year,

friend

castle -upon-Tyne,

Mr. Thomas

name

is

still

Hedley, of

preserved by

Xew

my

Eoad, New-

son of Mr. Thomas Hedley, of AVoolaw, in

"

Sliarpe'&

Misson's Travels in England,

\ King's

to its ashes

Irish Stone.

stone bearing the above

respected

Peace

Surven of London, bk.

Art of Cookery,

p. 65.

i.

p.

p. 91.

259.


FOLKLORE OF THE NOETH OF ENGLAND.

dales of Northumberland,
frogs, toads,

common

These stones were at one time

Redesdale.

and were used

the d\YellIng-liouse of their

to deter

size the

stone

three-and-a-quarter inches in diameter, of a cake form,

brown or dark drab

a pale

it

is

the thickest.

and therefore of a genus quite

Holj Stones^ which are

still

so

is

is

of

and about three-quarters of

colour,

an inch thick in the middle where

un})erforated,

the

in

from entering

tribe

In

possessor.

charm

as a

and the whole of the serpent

41

common,

distinct

It

is

from the

in the north especially.^

God speed them weel.

John Bowser, a quondam parish
the

publication of a

first

pretty

little

couple,

balks

who

benlson of "
the

moment

clerk of Coniscliffe, used on

Banns of marriage

God

to

speed them weel

pronounce the
" on the happy

before were " thrown over the church

" which use, in conjunction with his broad local

dialect,

invariably caused a smile and a blush, not only on the glowing

visage of the clerk himself, but also that of the whole adult
portion of his hearers.

Bowing towards the East.

Many

straggling instances remain, not only of ancient people,

but also their offspring, bending the body towards the east in
adoration, ere they enter their
v^ery

many

instances without

pew

or

stall

knowing

and no doubt in

either the

meaning or

origin of the custom.

* Recently this stone was sent to

me

to

examine.

It

is

flattisli,

smooth, lioney-colonred quartzose sub-circular stone, apparently from

river gravel.

It

presented to the

had been

Museum

oiled to keep

it

shining.

It

has now been

of the Society of Antiquaries, Xewcastle-

upon-Tyne. Mr. Thomas Hedley, the original holder, was usually

known as " The Little King of Aroolaw." Reminiscences of Samuel
Donlin, pp. 13, 78-0. J. H.


THE DEXHAM

42

TIIACTS.

River-Gods.

The
is still

belief of oar credulous ancestry in a female river

early implanted in the

the Tees.

many

Peo;^Powlcr

are the tales

orders and threats of

dreadfully

the evil o-oddess of the Tees

parents, on

tlieir

the writer

still

its

banks

especially on

perfectly recollects being

alarmed in the days of his childhood

particularly

and

dragging

deep waters when playing, despite the

its

And

demon

of childhood on the banks of

told at Piersebridge, of her

still

naughty children into

the Sabbath-day.

is

mind

when he chanced

to

lest,

more

be alone on the margin of

those waters, she should issue from the stream and snatch

him

watery chambers.

into her

story of the spirit of the

Lay of tlie Last Minstrel, relates a

Tweed compelling the lady of the

Baron of Drummelzier

submit

Sir

Walter Scott

in the

to

to his

the return of her lawful lord from the

so that

on
his

lady nursing a healthy boy, whose age did not correspond

fair

to

embraces

Holy Land he found

the

period

believed,

of

and the

his

departure.

child,

whom

to

The
the

lady,

name

however,

was

of Tweedie

was

given, afterwards became Baron of Drummelzier and the chief

of a powerful clan."^

The foam or froth which

river in large masses

and

less

is

is

called

sponge- like froth

is

occasionally seen floating on this

Peg Fowler's Suds, and

known by that of Peg

the finer
Povvder's

Cream.

* " According to a favourite mythic storj, the first of the Tweedies

was the child of a species of water-spirit or genius of the Tweed, and
hence the name.

Records show that the earlier members

were designated from their lands on the Tweed

'John of Tuedie.'"
422, note. J. H.

as,

of the family

for example,

History of Peehlesshire^h^ William Chambers, p.

FOLKLORE OF THE KORTII OF EKGLAKD.

Mr. Keiglitlej

43

high authority on these matters), says that

(a

the Thames, Avon, and a few other English rivers which he does

not name, seem never to have been the abode of a neck or kelpy.

"Weddixg Custo3i.

The cnstom of giving a ribbon

practised

at

weddings

to be

run

for

extensively

is still

the rural districts

in

of the southern

portion of the Bishopric.

Christenixg Custom.

few families

still

adopt the practice of taking a

when

Christening cake along with them,

of the

slice

taking the child to be

received and engrafted into the congregation and body of Christ's

Church, and making an offering of

meet.

Should

this

be a

man

village will be a male, if a

stones,

also

and by the

hag,

called

Scots

it

They are
or huse

that

will be a female

(?

witch), adder

fairy-cups, are

also placed over the

efficacious

to

difficulty of breathing.

X'OTE.

These

naturally.
its

seen

the

malady

called hoose

These stones may be

;

first,

because they

and secondly, because

all

like holy-

sorts,

kinds

evil spirits at a safe distance.

stones to be at

One hung over

sweating in the

snake-

occasionally

water, they are equally beneficial in keeping

and descriptions of

or

prevent the nightmare.

considered holy or sacred in a twofold sense

have a hole through them

backs of cows or other beasts as

remedy and preventive of

is,

person they

Sto::es.

suspended to the tester of a bedhead

an

to the first

they say the next child born in the

woman,

Holy or Lucky
These stones,

it

stable.

all

efficacious

must be holed

the head of a horse wdll prevent

(See the

ocum angidnum of

the

44

THE DEXIIAM TEACTS.

Gauls described by Pliny, Xat. Hist.

is

also applied to

'^

celts

^^

The name

xxix._, clii.)

1.

stone -weapons).

(i.e.y

Tansy Pudding.
This piece of olden cookery
in

is

yet to be occasionally met with

Northumberland and the County Palatine.

The

late

Mi\

Churclij the house surgeon of Newcastle Infirmary, was particularly fond of tansy puddings,

an excellent hand

at

and

cook was^ I understand,

his

preparing them.

Old Rotiibury.

we meet with

In the four northern counties

names and

places to

which the word old

is

the following

attached.

In Nor-

thumberland we have Old Town, Old Hepple, Old Learmouth,

Old Bewick, Okl Ycavering, Old Middleton, Okl Heaton, Old

Lyham, Old

Felton,

Old Helsey, Old Ridley, Old Rothbury.

In Cumberland, Old Malbray, Old Scales, Old

Park, Old Town, Old Wall, Old Penrith.

Old Hutton, Old Town, Old Appleby.

Hall, Old Park, Old Acres,

Carlisle,

Old

In Westmoreland,

In Durhamshire, Old

Old Durham.

Fish and Ring.

The town of Pickering

is

said to

have been

built

by King Peri-

durus, about 270 years before the birth of Christ, and to have
its name from the circumstance of that prince losing a
when washing himself in ye River Costa, which ring was
Hence Pike -ring,
afterwards found in the belly of a pike.

derived
ring

now

Pickering.
fish

and ring story

is

also

attached to the ancient and

knightly funnily of Anderson, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which

said to have lia})pcncd about the year loo 9.
is still

preserved by the family.

shire legend of this

class, in

There

is

is

This ring, I believe,

also a singular

York-

which a knight of the name of

FOLKLORE OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.

Tempest

acts his part

most

45

This latter story has not

cruelly.

only given origin to a penny Chap Book,

highly popular,

still

but also to a very excellent ballad, entitled, " The Yorkshire

Garland,

or the Cruel

Daughter.

Knight and

In three Parts, &o.

verses, a printed

copy of which

is

Fortunate Farmer^s

tlie

&c."

containing

Spp-,

60

in the writer's possession.

Thunder Stone.
The quartz pebble, which
and
''

also in

is

tillage fields, is

common in the beds of rivers

popularly known by the name of
so

thunder,^^ or rather " thunner staane,"

and

is

believed to have

dropped from the clouds during a thunder storm.

Crossing the Witches Out.
This useful and necessary ceremony

is

performed by

all

good

moment they lay the leaven-trough, containbatch of dough, down upon the hearthstone to rise
to baking.
The process is simple, and is performed by

housekeepers the
ing the
previous

making

the sign of the cross thereon with the forefinger of the

right hand;

and

this

sticking to the pasteboard, but also from falling, as

both before and after putting into the oven.

witches

exercising

therewith.

My

dough from

act not only prevents the

any of

their

devilish

housekeeper performs

this

arts

it is

It also

in

termed,
prevents

connection

duty as regularly as

the baking -day comes.

Bachelors and Old Maids.

man may

not legally be termed an old bachelor until he

hath attained the age of

days

an old maid

it is

undecided,

Youth of heart may

more.

fifty

years, three months,

and three

but as regards the precise period at which a lady becomes

exist

both by ancients and moderns.

for

hundred years, and even

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

46

Jonx AVycliffe.

At Lutterworth,

Leicestershire, they

since the bones of Wycliffe

Swift,

tlie

have a tradition

were burnt, and thrown

river has never overflowed

Button Rhyme.

its

tliat

into the

banks.

^yESTMo^ELA^:D.

A tinkler, a tailor,
A soldier, or a sailor,
A rich man, a poor man,
A priest, or a parson,
A ploughman, or a thief.
Bows AXD xVrrows.
Li a survey of Carlisle Castle, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, there

was found

and seventy of elm,

their not being

in

all

much

one of the rooms twelve bows of yew,

Pretty strong proof of

unfit for service.

needed.

The customary number

of arrows

contained in a quiver to the battlefield was twenty- four, " trussed

in a

thrumme."

The

best arrows

oak, and birch were also used.

were made of asp

The arrow

for

bat ash,

warfare was

thirty-two inches in length, with a sharp unbarbcd iron head of

four inches or thereabouts.

bow was

The

border

lenfrth of the Eno-lish

generally five feet eight inches, with a bend of about

The bowstring was of plaited or twisted silk or

hemp, but where the notches for the arrow were })laced, thoy

nine inches.

were made round.

ash, but

yew was

the fiivourite wood.

ground appropriated
of

its

Bows were made

of elm, witch hazel or

The

2:)lanting

to interments, doubtless arose

nature being so prejudicial and poisonous

to

of

yew

from the
horned

in

fact

cattle.

Li the reign of Edward IIL, bows of laburnum * were in use.

* Also called

awhnrno and awhurne saugh.

FOLKLORE OF THE XOETH OF E^'GLAXD.

47

These, liowever, were probably imported, as I don't find

was then introduced

tree

Scots hath a proverb that

his

into

^'

En^^hmd.

Ascham

Every English archer

tliat

the

saith

carried under

twenty- four Scots/' which evidently alludes to the

belt

above number of unerriug

from three

The range of

shafts.

to four hundi'ed yards, and, at a

an arrow would pass through an inch board.

good bow was

moderate distance
Six

a^ro';^5

might

be shot in the time required for the loading of a musket.

About the year 1417, the king, Henry IV.. ordered

''

sherives

wing

''

of

many

Hall and

feathers for the purpose of improving arrows.

Lloyd's Ciiclopctdia, " Archery."'

Those of a bird of three years

may

old were to be preferred, and that the feathers

themselves

was grey

when

ripe.

his

coimties to pluck from every goose six

One

drop

off

of the three feathers in each arrow

to regulate the placing.

To EAIX SWOEDS A^D

The above, and

also to rain sticks

PiSTOLS.

and

and

stones, dogs

cats,

awd wives and pipe stoppers, grey meears and fiddlers,*itc .^.^c,
are common similes when speaking of an extremely heavy fall
of rain in the north of England.

have somewhere an account

of a shower of flesh and blood, but cannot at this

my

hands on

During

it.

heavy rain in India the natives say

down monkeys with

It rains

dogs and

their

cats,

moment

"'

It

lay

pours

mouths open."

and

little

pitchforks.

It rains helter skelter.

It rains

dogs and awde wives by dozens.

It rains

dogs and

cats,

and

aw"ll lap niysell int' skins.

Westmojeland.

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

48

A^ULGAE Errors.

There

a superstition in the north of

is

or petticoats formed of a material

very apt to

have

lice,*

and bj

my

England, that blankets

made from

fallen wool, arc

fay I do think there

truth in the observation, especially if

worn by

may

be

dirty folks, and

seldom or never washed.

generally diffused article of belief that the dust

It is a pretty

of a fuzzy ball cast in the eyes will cause blindness (hence in

Scotland called " blind man's bellowses.")

Soon teeth soon

This means that

toes.

if

begin to sprout early, you will soon have

your baby's teeth

toes,

i.e.,

another

baby.
4.

The ceasing

known by

the

to flow of the celebrated

name

length of time,

Yorkshire springs,

of the Nipseys or Gipseys, for an unusual

said to foretell dearth of corn,

is

and scarcity of

provisions.
5.
it

The egg given on

a child's first visit should be preserved

6:

Hed

garters are considered

charm against the

i.e.,

7.

'^

But

ladies an effectual

I believe to act properly,

effectually, they should be stolen.

Fill

the cavities of extracted teeth with

Fire,

fire,

salt,

and burn

burn baan,

God send me my
8.

by certain

rheumatiz."

in the fire saying the while

is

betokeneth good fortune to the future man.

tutlie

agaan.

child should not be suffered to look in a glass before

it

twelve months old.

* [''A

lupis

occisarnm

ovinm pelles pediculos procreunt."

Thaumatographia Naturalis, p. 319,

Aristotle, cited in JoJi. Johnstoni

Amsterdam, 1G61

Pliny, Hist. Xat.,

Ixi. c.

S3. J.

H.]

49

FOLKLOEE OF THE NOr.TH OF ENGLAND.

9.

To rock an empty

cracUc

considered ominous of

is

comino' occupant.

Many

10.

look u])on

it

as a

wicked piece of presumption on

the part of parents to endeavour to

perpetuate

fLivouritc

away its first bearer,

the name survive (and

baptismal name, wlien death has snatched

and should the second,

it

is

common

'^

sure to prove a

third, or fourth of

observation that such

who

far distant relative

is

been many, yet being " a

would

He

try.

rarely the case) he

is still

bit of a

living,

is

uamo

the third representative of his

whose opportunities of doing

parent's family

in his

is

Apropos^ I have a not

graceless prodigal."

Avell

have

graceless" the fellow never

and a truthful monument of the

impropriety, folly, and impiety of his parent's wickedness in

thus tempting God!

[Himself?].

11. If the first person a funeral procession

corpse to the church for interment

be the next
it

who

is

meets on taking a

a male, a female

dies in the village or district

if

is

sure to

a female, then

will be a male.
12.

The vulgar

superstition

which

is

common

to all the people

of a Germanic origin, of the corpse of a murdered person bleeding

on being touched by the murderer

and

If the flesh

13.

pliability,

it

is still

maintained.

joints of a corpse retain their softness

portends,

it

is

said,

another death,

if

and

not in the

household at least in the same family, in quick time.

Brimstoxe Pax,
In the days of

flint, steel,

and brimstone matches,

it

was the

invariable custom, and no doubt an ancient one, to enfold the

bowl portion of the brimstone pan

hang

it

usage

VOL.

away

11.

till

next wanted.

after using in paper,

Whence

and

so

the origin of this

THE DENTIAM TRACTS.

50

Charm for Foul

Horned

remedy

the popular

to wit, notice

around which

and

which

tie

a piece of cord and suspend

away by

the animal's foot will recoyer from

Many

still

a sort of charm,

is

up with a spade or large

it

the said turf wastes

as

for

upon what portion of turf the beast treads with

diseased foot, and scoop

its

the Foot.

are subject to a filthy disease in their feet,

cattle

called tbul

ix

it

in the

knife,

open

air

ex[)osure to the weather,

the

of the foul.

effects

use no other remedy, looking upon

it

as

an

infallible

cure.

Church Use.

The

old though

Church, Yorks,

Thanks be

to

now, 1856, superannuated clerk of Manfield

at the conclusion of the

God

for His

Holy Word.

Need
The

Gospel used to respond.

father of the writer,

Fire.

who

died 1843, in his 79th year,

had a perfect remembrance of a great number of persons, belonging to the upper and middle classes of his natiye parish of

Bowes, assemblino; on the banks of the river Greta

need

fire.

among

disease

cattle,

to

work

for

called the murrain, then

prevailed to a yery great extent through that district of Yorkshire.

by

The

certain,

This

cattle

were made

miraculous

this

and
fire

fire,

to neglect

to pass

doing so was looked upon as wicked.

was produced by the

of two dry pieces of

through the smoke raised

and their cure was looked upon as

wood

yiolent

and continued

until such time as

it

friction

was thereby

obtained.

" To work as though one was working for need fire"

connnon proyerb

in the

North of England,

is

FOLKLORE OF THE XORTH OF ENGLAND.

51

RiYER OUSE.
It

is

said that the River Oiise has on

and opened a dry passage of three miles

two occasions divided

in

extent,

first

in the

year 1399, before the Civil Wars, and again in the year 1G48,
before the reign of

King

Charles.

Wedding Omex.
It is

looked upon as decidedly unlncky for a bridal party to

be makino^ their vows before the altar of Hvnien dnring the

striking of the chnrch clock.

It

portends the death of the bride

or bridegroom before the expiration of the year.

Taylors.

The primitive nse of employing

ladies*

wearing apparel has only

within the

making

taylors in the

fallen

into

last sixty years.

Nobody Coming to Marry

]\[e.

(Printed

Set.)

Last night the dogs did bark,

I

went

When

to the gate to see,

ev'ry lassie

had her spark,

But nobody comes to me.

And it's oh, dear what ^vill become
Oh, dear what shall I do ?
Nobody coming to marry me.
Nobody coming to woo.
!

me

of

My father's a hedger and ditcher,

My mother does nothing but spin,
And

I a pretty yonng girl.

But the money comes slowly

And

e2

it's oil,

in.

dear

of

entire desnetndc

cvc.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

They sny I am beauteous and fair.

They sny I am scornful and proud
Alas I must now despair,
For ah I am grown very old.

And

And now

Oh, dear

And

all

my

must
!

oh, dear

it's

Scq.

an old maid,

die

how shocking the thought

beauty must fade,

But I'm sure

it's

not

my

And

fault.

oh, dear

it's

&c.

Anon.

From

LAMIl^"TAr;LE Dittie

What
licard

it

Edinburgh, about 1825.

TJic L^jre, publislicd at

Juvenile Fu^'ekal IIvmx,

or.,

saj you to the following

sung

(3rcl

more than half

Lament

a dozen bairns

and was

the beauty of the composition that I

on the

tablet of

in a book.

for tlie

Dead

my memory

must premise

much

so

was induced

taken

who

I found time to write

till

that the children

witli

to implant
it

little

could not be more than eight years of age, gave

in right clerk-like style, time

by time,

it

down

were plajnng the

ceremonies attendant on a funeral, and the eldest of the

group,

Aug., 1849) in not very doleful measure by

as follows

it

Poor Jchnny's deed that nice young man,

That nice young man,

That nice young man,

We'se nivver

He

see

him more

used to wear a fustian coat,

A fustian coat,
A fustian coat.
That buttoned up
It is

Isefore

scarcely necessary to give the

name

of the tune, as the

FOLKLORE OF THE NORTH OF EXGLAXD.

rlivmes of

somewhat curious

tin's

own

selves to their

tlireiudic, intuithx'Iy set

my

Lrenky

1.

My

Riiyjies.

nutty-cock,"

him away

Breiik

nutty-cock's nivver

Been brenkVl to-day

\s'V

and spinning on V

crirding

wlieel,

We've nivver had time to brenk nutty-cock

But let to-morrow come ivvcr so sunc,

My

nutty-crjck

it sail

Bonny

lass,

canny

avccI

to J. 0. Halliwell,

be mine

lass, will ta

And

sail sit

thou

sail cat strawberries,

Black and white

And

sngar, and cream.

is

my

to J. 0. Halliwell, Esq.

delight,

green and yellow's bonny,

I Avoud'nt part with mi' swe>}theart,

For

4.

on a cushion, and sew up a seam,

Com.

3.

Esq.

Thou'se neither wash dishes, nor sarra the swine

Thou

be brenk'd by nnne.

Com.

2.

them-

right proper tune.

Nursery

What

53

ail

my

I'll

father's

money.

away yhame.

And

tell

That

my dyame,
my geese,

all

Are ghane, but yhan

And its a steg.

And its lost a leg.
And it'll be ghane,
By
* Xuttv-cock

is

I get

yhame.

an olden term of end carmen

i:.

THE denha:.! tracts.

64
5.

Rosemary

and liivender blue,

gvecii

Tliyme and sweet marjoram, liyssop and rue

G.

If!

If!

If!

gold in gonpins,

If I liad

If I had
If I

My
He

money

Lad gold

in store/

in goupins,

laddie sLonld ^vork no more.

should have a maid to wait upon him.

Another

to curl his hair

He should have a man to buckle his shoe.

And then he should work na mair.

7.

Ox Royal Oak Day.

The twenty-ninth

May

you winnot give us

If

We'll

of

Oak Day

Is Royal

rather superior

a holida_v,

run away.

all

rhyme

of the school-boy class.

BuRYixG Cakes, AVestmoeelaxd.

'1

he primeval custom of presenting each

relati\'e

and friend of

the deceased ^vlien they attend the corpse-house on the day of

interment with an arvel cake,

prevails in

many

everything but universally,

still,

towns and villages in Westmoreland.

Kirkby^ Stephen these offerings are of no trifling

individual funeral,

nor yet of

trifling

be received figuratively

tied

up

in the pocket

are, I can

the fact

either sex,

is

its

one

[this

word must

they are too large for the

and the cake has

napkin of

at

individual dimensions.

These cakes, which should always be pocketed

modern pocket of

number

At

possessor]

in general to be

and taken home,

assure your readers, of that magnitude that one of

FOLKLORE OF THE KORTH OF ENGLAND.

them would be considered
^^majdeuly laydies "

quite enougli to serve three or four

at a tea-drinkiug.

have on various

occasions seen these cakes but never tasted them

have inform

me

is

spice

which

is

owing

for that;

commixt with the

but those

name

that the popuhir colloquial

a very correct one;

cake

00

to

who

of burying

some peculiar

&c., they always,

flour, fruity

both in smell and taste, remind them of a clay-cold corpse and

an oaken
funeralj

and the

many

Occasionally as

coffin.

cost varies

from 3d.

May
" Never keep a

Kittens born in

May

May

"

are even

to

breath of very young infants

Death Omex.

The

each cake.

still

proverbially spoken of and

I only within the present year

'"'she

[They are unlucky

at a

Old saying.

kitten."

wad nivver mair keep

kitten as lan^r as she lived, for thev

all

to 4d.

100 are given

Kittexs.

looked upon as bad rnousers.

heard a female say that

as

were

keep

and

From Long
Howlixg
by

howlinor of doirs, eithei'

^^'<\y

just oroodfor nauo-jit at

besides, they suck the

Benton, Newcastle

of Dogs.

nio;lit

or dav,

is

siill

con-

sidered to portend death, either in the house nearest to which

they howl, or to some of their kith or kindred.

Max
Our

IX

THE Moox.

ancestors believed that this imaginary personage

a veritable

man, of

flesh,

who, by way of example

taken up

into the air

his fork of tree,

sticks (thorns),

and bones, such

blood,
to all

donned in

as

we

was
are,

succeeding generations, was

his

working

clothes, along

with

on the prongs of which he carried a bundle of

which he had

stolen, across his right shoulder,

THE Dj^yilAM

56

a liorn lantliorii in his left Imiid,

name

and

I forget),

of the moon, and

the
'^

Tr.ACTS.

and

(the

fiice

command

for transgressing the fourth

all

The following stanza

Decalogue.

dog (whose

also his little

whole of them stuck against the

tlie

third)

in

of an old

three man's song,'^ adds a valuable item to the traditions in

connection with this relic of olden mythology.

the song

is

" Martin said to his

man

1 see a

Fie

"

in tlie mooiie,

Who's the Foole now

man

I see a

Clonting of

Thou

liast

The name of

the moono,

mail, Fie

man

I see a

in

Man

moone,

in the

St. Peter's sliooiie

w?ll drunken

man

Who's the Foole now

Deuferomelia, or the second part of

MuskVs
^^

As

forme of those

for the

they represent a man,

Endymion, whose company

him with

man

as

rather that

and

his

Hist.

it

head

Kat.,

like a fox,

moone

is

viii.

and certainly

New

'tis

but Albertas thinkcs

is

have thought

it

as

much

is

like a beare."

World, 3rd

edit.

like a

to be

All that

my weak

moon amounts

to

much

Bishop Wilkin's

Lond. 1640,

Many, very many, there

moon but, truth to

see all these figures in the

very

lyon as that in the

p. 100.

thought to be the most ancient of

popular superstitions.

the

and some others (Eusebius Nieremb.

cxv.)

Zodiacke, or as Ursa Major

could.

boy

onely to be the face of a

usually pictured

to the west,
lib.

myth

tliinke

the

so well that she carries

slice loves
it

'tis

represents a lyon, with his taile towards the east

Discovery of a
This

guesse

poets

the

Others will have

her.

the

some of the vulgar

spots,

and

Jlelodies, 4to, 1G09.

all

are
tell,

our

still

who can
I never

vision has been able to discover in

no more than two eyes, a nose^ and a

FOLKLORE OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.

moutli, just

we

as

see

''

ye ould lajdie "

57
in the

depictured

almanacks of Francis MoorC; pliysiclan, astrologer, and

master.

Others

who

scliool-

upon both

are totally lacking of faith look

may, we have, how-

matters as mere moonshine.

Be

ever, an old, very old, proverb,

which holds out timely warning

to the present
lest the

churl

as

it

generation of unbelievers, to wit

fall

out

Tlic origin of this

et seq.

it

the

o'

myth

will bo

found in Numbers

Alexander Xecham, a writer of

xv., 32,

c.

twelfth century,

tlie

See Halliwell's Popular

Tales, p. 229.

Palm

Crosses,

These beautiful and interesting

forgotten ceremonies are

children in

Ha\'e a care

moon."

notices the popular belief in this fable.

Rhjmes and Nursery

''
:

the North

still

relics

of ancient days and

hands of

often to be seen in the

of England

on Palm Sunday.

The

remaining portion of the year they hang npon a nail against

the whitewashed wall of

mayhap

and being formed of gay colours

the poor man's only

artistically

two, and occasionally three crosses, are no

room

arranged in one,

mean

or despicable

were

In the triumphant days of popery they

appendage.

considered indispensable In the hands of old and young, rich

and poor.
his

Hence

the proverb,

'^

He

that hath not

hands on Palm Sunday must have

his

hand cut

palm in

off."

Urchixs, varia Hedgehogs.

Another

relic of the old

hedgehogs or

them

ui'chins, as

world times in the Bishopric

we

call

them, have

still

is

that

im]:)uted to

the offence of sucking the milk of cows as they sleep.

have endeavoursd
of the unlearned,

to dislodge the fable

btit

my

increase their olden faith.

endeavour

from the minds of several

to

do so only tended to

THE DENIIAM TKACTS.

58

Crqssixg out the Rainbow.

When

schoolboy

I recollect that

wc were wont, on

the

appearance of a rainbow^, to place a couple of straws or twigs

on the ground in the form of a

in the heavens, or, as

we termed

in order to dispel the sign

it,

to

" cross out the rainbow."

Lucky Bone.
This relic of another olden superstition

and

still

more seldom used,

is

now seldom

at least in the North.

seen,

This bone,

an amulet round the neck to ensure good

luck, and protect the wearer from fairies, witches, " and all

which was worn

sike like
Its

as

uncanny

folk,"

was taken from the head of a sheep.

form was that of T [Tau or cross], a sacred symbol not only

in Christian, but also in Druidical

monuments, and ancient and

modern heraldry.

Lyke Wake.
The custom of waking
but the use

is

now

far

the corpse

still existti

connection therewith has vanished in

I

am

in a

few families,

Every ancient usage

from general.

my

in

resident locality; and

glad to observe that I have never heard of a single instance

of intoxication where practised.

Excessive Grief for the Dead.

An

old

woman

still

living

mourned with inordinate grief

(1854)

in

Pierscbridgc.

who

for a length of time the loss of

a fiivourlte daughter^ asserts that she w\as visited by the spirit

of her departed child, and cai'nestly exhorted not to disturb

her peaceful repose by unnecessary lamentations and repinings

at the will of

God

and from that time she never o-ricvcd more.

FOLKLORE OF THE KORTH OF ENGLAND.

Events of

this

kind were

common

So

a century ago.

59
tlie

''Wife

of Usher's Well."

[This popuhir belief receives an ilkistration from Proiidlock's

poems

(a local

writer,

who

died in early

life,

in

In a tragic poem, entitled " Leah's Daughter," Dinah

1826).
so

Northumbrian

grieves for the loss of Shechem, that his ghost appears to

warn her

him

that her lamentations disturbed

" Ghost.

Dinah

am

For the

in the grave.

I thus rewartlGcl

love unfeigned I bore

Is thy lover's shade regarded

Dinah, then, lament no more

With thy oft-repeated woes

Thou hast broken my repose.

'

'

Dry thy tears then cease thy waihng

Wofnl wander not from home,
;

Seeing

all

are unavailing

They have brouglit me from the tomb

But 'tis to bid thee cease
Be at peace and I'm at peace."" p. 11^.]
;

''

dying person

sense of

Leetexing afore Death."

occasionally not only be restored to

will

memory and

speech,

show gieat vig)ar and

but will also arise from his bed a

family as

if in perfect

health.

:d l.o'd

Ihis

is

all

alacrity,

CDnversidion with his

tera.ed

'

a lightening

before death."
"

How
Have

oft

when men

are at the poiht of death,

they been merry

A lightning

whi.-h their keepers call

before death.''

Bom2o and

Juliet, act v., sc, 3.

Touching the Dead.

Doubtless this custom

is

of corresponding quality with one

THE DENHAjI TKACTS.

60

previously noted on toucliing

and

is

tliat

YOU are

body of a murdered person,

tiie

equally to prove (thougli without

resting suspicion)

entirelv o-uiltless of the death of the deceased, not

This public exposure of the

in act alone, but also in prayer.

corpse was

tlic

also to exculpate the heir

possessions of the deceased from fines

the manor, and from

all

and those

entitled to the

and mulcts

to the lord of

accusations of violence

so that the

whole company might avouch that the person died

without suffering any personal injury.

done
night

to

Formerly,

fairly
too^

and

was

it

prevent the unhouseled spirit troubling you either by

or

But we moderns, having,

day.

renounced our belief in ghosts^ say that

it

part

in

to

is

least,

at

prevent our

dreaming of seeing the dead body.

Bloody Stoxes.

Of

these

stained

stones tradition

tales

traveller,

or neiiihbour

still

points out several with blood-

and murder of benighted

of robbery

These stones are believed

Kortli of England.

to

have absorbed

a portion of the blood of the murdered one, and

nothing can possibly remove

ghost of the departed

upon them,

to

is

it

In

hence.

said to keep

it

said that

many

cases the

mournful watch by night

the great annoyance of the innocent

disposed portion

of

the folks living

always considered a very bad

English hobgoblins.

pe;llar;

connected with them throuo-hout the

trait

near

Tliis

it.

and best
I

have

indeed in the character of

marks
more natural way, by asserting that

Geologists, however, account for the

in stones of this class in a

they are natural ones, and in good sooth I give not only
credit to the assertion, but

beg leave

to

confirm

full

it.

Subterranean Passages.
Traditionary passages, of which so

many legendary

stories are

FOLKLORE OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.

told, are

Gl

obviously nothing more than the extensive sewers or

vennels extending from the kitchens of the castle, mansions, and

rehVious houses of olden time.

The swineherd of Will. Peverell, an English baron, having

brood-sow, descended through a deep abjss in the middle of

lost a

an ancient and ruinous

castle, situated

Bech, in search of

Though

from

he found

this pit,

he arrived

it.

at a

on the top of a

it

subterranean region, pleasant and cultivated, with

reapers cutting doAvn the corn, though the

and was permitted

which she had farrowed.

By

to

snow remained on

Among the

the surface of the ground above.

his sow,

hill called

wind commonly issued

calm within, and pursued his way till
a violent

corn he discovered

ascend with her and the pigs

Gervase of Tilhimj^

p.

975.

one of these passages the English repossessed themselves

of the castle of

Wark

after the surprise

and butchery of

its

garrison by Will. Halliburton of Fast Castle, 1319, when, in

return for the death of Robert Ogle* and his troops, the English

butchered the whole of the Scots.

passage of this sort formerly extended from Anderson

Place, Xewcastle^ in the direction of the

Edward

were found

III.

munication King Charles

An

instance

is

which emptied

With courtesy

Manors

this

common

sewer, beneath Sir Godfrey's

itself directly into his

the knight assured

man, many years

scaffold

when

and coins of

said to have attempted to escape.

after,

the executioner

Ogle was Dot

chamber of

him of the speedy

of the drain, which was done accordingly.

old

underground com-

Godfrey MacCulloch, a Gallovidian knight,

of a certain drain or
castle,

By

it.

on record of an ancient fairvman makino-

also

his complaint to Sir

is

in

For

dais.

alteration
act,

the

preserved

Sir Godfrey from

the

was ready

to strike the fatal blow.

killed at

all,

see Fordim.

this

THE DEXIIAM TRACTS.

62

Tradition and real fact place this event in the year 1697.
Brockett's Gloss, vol.

The

Henry

of an underground drain in

or military buildings occurs in the reign

civil

III., 1216.

See

166, 3rd ed.

we have

earliest instance

connection with
of

p.

ii.

Turner's

Domestic Architecture.

There are old wives' tales of subterranean passages wdiich

connect the totally de:^troyed village of old Eichmond, not only

with Cradock Hall, at Gainford, on the opposite bank of the

but also with Cliffe Hall,

Tecs,

three miles doAvn the

fully

river.

Money
King John was

Dic4Gixg.

impressed with the idea that Corbridge

so

had been a large and populous city destro^'ed by an earthquake

or

some sudden and

to

remove

make

diligent

to

officers

when

invasion,

terrible

would be unable

search

for

treasures

was pulled down

satisfy

to

people had for searching, like

at Carthage, for

th\n those

he

Castle

a violent curiosity the country

King John

at Corbridge,

and Nero

hidden treasure, where they succeeded no better

two royal mone^^

rubbish for their pains."

tower, in

Avhich

Simonburn

supposed were buried beneath the ruins.

'^

inhabitants

the

their wealth, that he ordered his

Richmond

who

huntei's,

Wallis,

ii.,

Castle, Yorks,

15.

got nothing but

dungeon

singular

was cleaned out

to a verj^

great depth only a few years ago, with the same object in view

and the same success.

Old Horse Shoes.

See Lit.

To

Gciz.,

Dec, 1851.

find a horse -shoe

is

Brockett's

^''optJi.

considered lucky.

Worcb,

And the

ii.,

60.

said horse-

shoe nailed heel upwards upon the door or threshhold of the byre,
stable,

or dwelling-house of the finder, hinders the

witches.

In daleish

seen so attached.

districts

great numbers

are

power of

still

to

bo

FOLKLORE OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.

63

Burial at Cross-Koads.

John and Lancelot YounghusbancI committed

"They"

Xovember, 1818.

and wealthy farmers just adjoining

respectable

little

town of Alnwick, when

liad

committed suicide

in

insanity.

it.

same time

was from home

usual

the

at the time

and

my

wardens and the constables of the parish,

the public highway.

as a public footpath led

we thought
ground

w^e fulfilled the

which

remained had not the

it,

if

Sir

late

return I found the

my

However much

this

and

was

cidled,

brother church-

to inter the bodies in

to

spare the feelings of

requirements of the law by

so as not to interfere with con-

in a

There they would have

David

W. Smith

sent for the

them with a prosecution

It

was not

till

at the

the evening that the

parish officers resolved to disinter and re-bury

of every relative

the bodies were not interred according to

law in a public road.^

"

heard of

was done by making the graves

parish officers, and threatened

Crown,

temporary

through Alnwick church-

direction opposite to the usual method.

suit of the

not

did not require the burial to

law^

As we wished

interring the bodies along

secrated

if

distinctly recollect that the coroner,

Mr, T. A. Eussell, told us the

cross-roads.

of

in fact I

and that

cle se^

npon the Coroner's warrant, along with

yard,

consequently must

verdict

the dreadful event at Iiothbury, and on

and

This was the great difficulty with the jury, or

jury had returned a verdict o? felo

friends,

town of

each other's self murder,

to

they would have returned

at

tlie

w^as discovered that the brothers

it

at the

have consulted and agreed

be

lOtli

The sensation must be imagined that pervaded the

Alnwick.

assisted

snicide

Younghusbands) "were two

(the

command and

friend,

still,

bodies of the

threat mio-ht
luirt the feelinrrs
o
o

as the

interested and riglit-minded person

tlie

must

law then stood, every

justify Sir

other magistrates in the part they acted in the matter.

David and

distlie

64

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

unfortunate men, and this was carried out, thougli not exactly
at midniglit,

nor were the graves made at cross-roads.

wish was

have

Duke

to

tlie

The

graves dug at the Marcli between the

of Xortluuuberland and Mr. Hcwitson's estate at Heckley

Hindly

in a lane, called

lane, leading

from Heckley

to

Eglingham,

where the Younghusbands farmed, and perhaps within a quarter

of a mile froin where the double suicidal act was committed, but

was

the m'ound

so full of rocks, the p-ravedio^ixers not beino; able

speedily to accomplish their work, so that

them

for

to

come

down

further

we gave

directions

the lane, which might be four

or five hundred yards from the ]\Iarch, but not at a crossing

there the graves were

and horses

carts

when we

dug

travelled.

returned

from

at the side of the road^ not

do not think

I
tlie

minds and harassed

distressed

melancholy

where

was ten o'clock

it

duty with most

As

feelino-s.*

the

law was

shortly afterwards altered so as to allow the bodies of suicides to

be interred, in churchyards without ceremony, I really think

that

Alnwick,

able

foreman of the jury, and

Avas

local events,

to

which I

some influence

Mr. William Davidson, chemist and

interest in

be

circumstance had

painful

this

leo-islators.

supply

he takes

information

upon

Private

our

this

of

much

and the history of the place, he

further

incompetent to do."

feel

as

on

druo;D'ist,

will

enquiry,

Correspondence^

1850.
It is

however

said that the bodies did not rest long at the

wayside, being removed under the cloud of night, and that they

found a third

final

resting place in the graveyard of

Alnwick

Church.
Anciently a stake was driA'en through the body of a suicide,
but in the above instance this act was dispensed with.

The

burial

Almvick and the

was witnessed by a vast concourse

siirronndino- neio-Lboiirliood.

of people froi

FOLKLORE OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.

Go

["

to

may

Hecklej Fence "

65

have originated from the

circumstances above related,]

The Romans most generally interred north and south, and

Numerous double and

occasionally with the head to the south.

occasionally treble interments are

singular to say, are reversed

met withj

vulgo,

'^

in

which the bodies,

heads and heels."

instances of double interments have been

met with

Many

at Pierse-

b ridge.

Sundry jSTortherx Proverbs.

Willy Pigg's dick

1.

He's a ganger,

2.

3.

It's a

4.

Rather better than common,

like

bumble kite a spider

iii't

hobbly road, as the

ass.

a bad bargain.

man

when he fell over a cow.

Nanny Helmsey's pie,

said

like

5.

Changeable weather, qnoth Molly Hogg, rain every day.

6.

As

7.

I said nought and I said nought, and

great a thief as Billy

P r, who stole the bolt off his own door.

still they took hold of my

words,
8.

pepper your rams.

I'll

The old yow's the better tape.

10. High-days and holidays and baan-fire

9.

11.

He

up

sticks

his

riggin

(i.e.,

neets,

the backbone), like a puzzon'd

rattan.

12.
13.
14.

To catch Peggy Wiggan.

To use some of Michael Pickering's blacking,
As throng as Throp's wife, when she hanged

i.e.,

none at

all.

herself with the

dishclout.

15.

May Jemmy Johnson

squeeze me.

IG. It's sure and sartain, as said

17.

Jonathan Martin.

She's ready donn'd, like Willy Ho's (Hall's) dog.

18. Like Isaac

19. "

little

Ebd ale's

stockings, they're no

Harry Hodgson
David Pearse's gin,

of both," as

20. It's January, like

genuine, but not being, as

it

ir,

David should have said

would seem, a learned man, he

error.

VOL.

fit.

said.

fell

into

THE DE^'HAM TRACTS.

GQ

Wor.^r IX THE Tail.

This

horned
tail is

a sort of imaoinaiy disease wonderfully

is

cattle, to

make

make

it

bleed

is

and

rub therein a composition of

and

in

i^arlick, tightlv

it

but the more general

a perpendicular incision near to the

fashion

to

in

cure which a portion of the end of the animal's

cut off in order to

to

common

enveloping

all

end

tar, turpentine,

salt, soot,

with a rag and cord.

Butchers as Jcrymex.

The common vulgar error of excluding

especially in cases of blood, although

exploded,
classes,

is still

may

from juries,

be said to be

strongly impressed upon the minds of the lower

at least so far as propriety goes.

ancient law,

bade

a butcher

it

still

I believe that an

standing on the statute book, actually for-

it.

Maydex Assize
was formerly the custom

It

"White Gloves.

to present the

judge with a pair

when no criminals were condemned

of white

ofloves

hano-ed.

The use now

no prisoners

for trial.

make

the offerincr

when

is

to

pair of gloves also, not

to

be

there are

many

years

ago, was the customary offering by a person claiming a reversal

of outlawry.
i.e

Amongst swordsmen,

a glove of mail,

to

send or cast the gauntlet,

was esteemed a challenge of

defiance.

To Bite the Glove or Xails.

To

bite the o-love or fino-er nails in conversation,

friend,

is still

Walter Scott has a note thereon.

cant, vi.,

contempt.

even with a

looked upon as ominous of passion or hatred.

st. 7.

See

Lay of

Shakespeare also remarks

it

the

Sir

Last Minstrel^

as a gesture

of


FOLKLORE OF THE NORTH OF FXGLAXD.
The

Kissixr^ Bush.

At York and Xewcastle-on-Tyne

mirthful and I liope innocent

The bush

Christmas.

is

May

bons, and oranges.

67

this

custom

is

ancient token

of a

be seen

to

still

formed of mistletoe, evergreens,

its

at

rib-

presence continue to be witnessed,

not only in the kitchens but also in the entrance hall for centuries untold.

The Petting Stone.

Marriages celebrated

at the

Church of Lindisfarne,

in

Holy

Island, are said to be unfortunate if the bride, on makin^r the

essay, cannot step the length of

it.

This stone

is

supposed to be

the pedestal of St. Cuthbert's Cross, anciently held in super-

[In some places the bride, after coming out

stitious yeneration.

of the church, was lifted oyer a stone,

stone," that she

may

called

petting

^^the

never take the pet.]

The Mosstrooper's Grave.

^'

From

the

burn

issues

when

it is

Lake of Grindon,

suddenly

the neighbourhood,
to the lonely

ber

it

lost in a

known

young mosstrooper,

tion a ballad
as

occupant."

Northumberland, a small

and flows about two miles in a westerly course,

limestone, popularly
that a

in

hssure of

its

rocky passage

as a Swallow-hole.

in the

Tradition states

in attempting to rob a

farmyard in

was shot by one of the servants and brought

Swallow-hole and there buried.

was founded, which

very pretty.

The grave

is

Upon

now

this tradi-

remem-

^^^orthy of its

lawless

I fear is

lost.

Private Correspondence^ 1849.

Selling oneself to the Devil.

^'

The idea of men and women thus disposing of themselves


THE DENHAM TEACTS.

G8
for wealth

and power,

term of years,

for a certain

At

exploded in Weardale.

is

not yet

the expiration of the period Satan

appears in person, and not only claims the sonl, but carries off
tlie

body

It is

also.

supposed the victim can be saved by giving

the fiend anything black

when he
So that

hen, black cat, dog, &c.

majesty

is

either

easih^

aj^pears to him, as a black

would seem

it

or

satisfied

easily

his infernal

gulled."

Frivate

Correspondence.

Charm for Bewitched Cattle.

An

acquaintance of mine, in County AYestmeria, had such a

singular succession of

ill

bours, as well as himself,

luck

among

came

to the conclusion that they

who

bewitched by awde Sally Mackick,

tance from the firmstcad.
matters^

recommended

the

An

it

it full

cow

of pins, and after-

made up for the purpose

made ready, the heart was

All

dropt into the middle of a huge roaring

and covered up, when

fire in

an awful silence

(niirah'de dictu) instantly the

knock came upon the window,

^\

hei'e the

most awful

work was going

ward, that the good folks ever heard in their

may

heart of a

into the midst of a fire

dead hour of midnight.

at the

versed in these

to take the

stick

were

lived at no great dis-

eldern, well

owner

which had died that morning and

wards plunge

his cattle that his neigh-

lives,

and

it

for-

was

be supposed, to bid them hasten to their beds.

In

the morning not a relic of either heart or pins was to be

met

not, as

with

From

well,

My

story,

this, to
liiair,

that period their cattle got almost instantaneously

and they

lost

no more

for

many

however, ends not here.

make use

of the language of

long years.

The supposed

my

witch, after

narrator, " dowed na

she dwined away, and did na mair good (evil

uobbut lived
pleases,"

?),

and

few weeks, and she's now wdiere the Lord

FOLKLORE OF TUE XOKTH OF ENGLAND.

GD

Battling Stones.
These now unused

former period are

relics of a

still

numerous

throughout the length and breadth of the land, and must remain
so, unless

thej have the ill-luck to meet the fate of the noble

Piersebridge specimen, Avhicli was blown to fragments by means

They were

of gunpowder, by a fellow in the place, A.D. 1826.

generally found on the margin of a stream, with the upper sur-

These stones were used by

face inclining towards the water.

thrifty

housewives some thirty years ago, Avhereupon

battle, or beetle their

home-made

to beat,

linens or huckabacks, which

The

even then pretty generally prevailed for domestic wear.

linen

was thrown

upon the

stone,

into the

running stream and gradually drawn

and there beat with a

The Piersebrido'e stone lav on the north

beetle or battling staff.

side of

a yard or two below the present footbridge.

side of the Tees, with one

Another stone of
still

CNists

on the

side in the river.

It is

on the

this class, but greatly deficient in

Clifife

Carleburv beck,

magnitude,

premises of the George and Dragon Inn, not far from the bridge.
I have

many

times seen

it

used.

It is a granite boulder, as

was

the other.

Nursery Ehymes.

A
As

Supposition.

I suppose, raid as I suppose,

The barber shaved the Quaker,

And as
And

I suppose, he cat oFf his nose.

lap't it

up

in a paper.

Running or Leaping Rhymes.

Bellasay. Bellasay, wliat time

One

o'clock,

Varia in second

line,

o'

day.

two o'clock, three and away.

''

time to away."

Bellasay

is

evidently

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

70
;i

''

coach-horses

'^

is

instead of "Bellasav"

At Wooler,

corruption of bell-liorses.
used.

Ax AULD Wife's End.

Did ye

An

ivver see an auld

Did ye ivver

Hung

see

And

she began to fry

Hung

ower the dyke

fat,

the auld wife.

to dry

Mother's sayixg.

My

son

But

ray daughter's

son

o'

was

het, the wife

So there was an end

my

an auld wife

ower a dyke to dry

The day was

is

^\'lle,

auld, auld, auld, wife

till

he gets a wife,

my

daughter

the diiys of her

all

Southernwood Pihvmes.
1.

Lads' loTe, lasses' delight.

If

t'

The
2.

Lads' love

And

come

lads doesn't
lasses

if

'11

flite.

is lasses'

delight,

the lads don't love

Lasses will

flite \_2.e.

scold.]

Charms.
Ash-Leaf Charms.

The even
The

2.

iirst

ash-leaf in

man

meet

my

hand,

left

shall be

The even ash-leaf in my

The first I meet shall be

my

husband.

glove,

my

true love.

life.

FOLKLORE OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.

3.

Tlie even asli-leaf in

man

Tlie first
4.

5.

my

meet

71

breast,

who

is

I love best.

The even ash-leaf in my hand,

The first I meet shall be my man.

Even ash

Even ash

This night

my

I pluck thee,

true love for to see

Xeitlier in his rick, nor in his rear,

Bnt
6.

An

in the clothes

he does every day wear.

even ash, or fom-leaved clover,

You'll see your true love before the day's over.

7.

8.

The even ash-leaf in my bosom,

The first T meet shall be my husband.

Find odd-leaved

And
9.

ash,

and even-leafed

clover,

you'll see your true love afore the day's over.

Even ash, I do thes pluck,

Hoping for to have good luck
But if no good luck I get from

thee,

I wish IVl left thee on the tree.

DocKEN OR Nettle Rhymes.

1.

Docken

in

and nettle out

Like an awde
2.

Out

wife's dishclout.

nettle, in dock.

Dock shall have a new smock;"

But nettle shan't ha' nothin'.
3.

In dock, out nettle

stino-

Nettle sting'd me.

If thou doesn't cure
I'll kill

thee

me

[The rhymes under these two headings have been derived

from several sources.]


THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

72

Folks never catch cold at Cpiurch,

lliis

and

a saying very

is

common

in tlie

no doubt often an inducement

is

comfortable homes

on a

to

mouths of old people,

many

to leave their

own

(splishj-splashy) *

cold, comfortless,

Sabbath morning, and travel a couple of miles or more

to attend

divine service in one of our doubly-damp country churches,

which has turned green

antiquity, but

more

still

from the

internally, not alone

so

from the exclusion of a

tion of air, from the afternoon of the previous

it

too

is

numbers have cauoht

certain

have hurried them prematurely

or

damp than

to a

Sabbath

where

which ere Ion a

colds,

much more

grave not

cold

the church.

Bowed or Crooked

is

effects of

free circula-

Sixpence.

crooked sixpence worn continuously in the

left side

pocket

looked upon as indicative of good luck to the wearer.

know

a lady

whom

have seen turn not

less

than half a dozen

out of her purse at one time.

'^

Bowed money

appears anciently to have been sent as a

token of love and affection

from one relation

to

another/^

Brand.
Gun-firing tSuPERSTiTiox.

In the

That

if

creed the

sailors'

gun

is

fired over a

following

occurs, viz.:

article

dead body, lying

at the

bottom of

the sea, the concussion will burst the gall bladder, and,
like, it will

The

mermaid

ascend to the surface head foremost.

belief that

creature, be

of the water,

it fish,

is

on the burstino^ of the

o-all

bladder a dead

animal, or human, will rise to

not peculiar to civilized

life

by the Indians of America.

* So pronounced in the north.

it

is

the surface
also asserted

FOLKLORE OF THE KOIITH OF ENGLAND.

73

Black Cats and Lovers.

In a Louse ^vhere a black cat

kept

is

tlie

spinster portion of

population will never lack plenty of sweethearts.

its

N.B.

Tins piece of folk-lore

gleaned from a young lady,

Avho spoke, as she herself told me, not from hearsay information^

but practical experience.

Ehymes.
1.

2.

Whenever
The lasses

the cat of the house

Kiss the black

[It

ought

is

lore

implying

to

be said that this

constantly inquiring
belief.

black,

make ye fat
make ye

cat, an' that'll

Kiss ye the white one and

who

is

of lovers will have uo lack.

''

lean.

a childish off-take of one

is

What?

that'll

" and not a piece of folk-

H.]

J.

Corpse Usages.

The

old

cloth in the

use of coverino; lookimr-oiasses with a white linen

room wherein

I have thought that this

a corpse lies

custom was

still

generally prevails.

to prevent the

image of

the dead being reflected in the glass.

pewter plate and a handful of

of the corpse
(turf)

the

is

now

occasionally,

salt.

The

upon the body

About Bowes a sod

however, assumes the duty and place of

folks say

gases of the body.

])]aced

salt

but rarely seen.

is

it

A bowl

done

to

of water

prevent the formation of

is

usually placed beneath

the bed.
I myself have seen a " stranger in blood " lean over a cor])se

just previous to removal,

Of

and

the nature of the prayer I

in silence repeat a short prayer.

am

ignorant.

74

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

Sleek on Calexderixg Stones.

These domestic utensils of olden time are now wholly out of
Their form has been aptly described as that of a large

use.

mushroom
7)16,

formed of common green or

is

One

reversed, the stalk formincr the handle.

44 inchesj and in height

They

inches.

6|-

j^enes

bottle glass, in diameter

are

now Aery

rare.

Cats and Corpses.

It is a
w^ith

common remark

an unburied corpse.

saw may extend

that a cat will not settle in a house

I

know

the writer's maternal parent,

and took

made

to

in her form,

and extended herself

therein, like

with her nose partially covered with loose

many

This I noticed on

soil.

the house cat left the dwelling

the garden, where, by scratching the earth, she

herself a kind of lair

a hare

not how^ far the truth of this

but this I do know, that on the decease of

occasions during the period the

body was uninterred.

Bell-Horses.

The

last set

of bell-horses either seen or heard in the Xortli

of England were kept by the late Charles Michell, Esq.,

eccentric

memory),

of

Forest

Hall,

Richmond.

must now be more than 40 years since I

in their

my

Although

ears.

These

still

bells

it

saw those horses,

handsome trappings, pass through Piersebridge,

nevertheless fancy I
in

last

(of

can

hear the music of their bells tingling

were suspended on a wooden frame

work, which frame was covered with a parti-coloured worsted

fringe.

The Eev.

l\Ir.

Darnell, rector of Stanhope, has in his pos-

session a bell of this sort,

which

is

considered a great curiosity.

FOLKLORE OF THE KORTH OF ENGLAND.

used formerly to be suspended at

It

(proverbially

liorse

which the

known

salters of oklen

the moors of that district.

tlie

neck of

as the bell-liorse)

tD

tlic

leading

of the trains by

time conveyed their merchandise over

It

is

very massive, and has a

fine

harmonious tone.
Goats.
It

is

still

a generally received

opinion, that one of these

animals kept about an inn or farmstead

to the

is

not only conducive

health of the other domestic animals, but also brings

good luck

to the

owner.

Ox Children.
It

is

believed that a child in

its first

month has

or foresight of everything that has to befall

much given
per contra.
has

its first

to crying, its future life will

Also that
teeth in

if

tlie

it

a presentiment

through

life.

a child's " tooths downi-bank "

upper jaw),

it

If

be one of sorrow, and

won't

{i.e.,

live long.

XoETHERN Proverbs,
1.

There's great (v. rare, brave) doings in the North

steek (bar) their doors

2.

^vi'

when they

tayleurs.

There's great stirring in the Xorth

when

old wives (? witches)

ride scout.
3.

Three great

evils

come out

of the

North a

cold ^Yind, a cunnino-

knave, and shrinking cloth.

Cope,

a'

cope, a bargain,

Never cope again

Two

And

-.

cross sticks
a

broken bane (bone).

The above rhymes (wdiich are headed Legal Oral Contract)

are chanted by two children with the little fingers of their right
right hands hooked together.

The use

prevails at Scarborough,

THE DENHAM TRACTS,

76

and

is

evidently a juvenile contract between the parties, that

the coping (exchange) of properties which has just taken place

shall

never be broken by either of them in

is clearly,

future time.

all

It

I think, of high antiquity.

[Piin- tang the Bottle Bell, A'

[Bargain beVl

ye be deed,

till

tlie leers

liunder'

gangs

pound

if

Hell]

to

ye rue again.]
Ber. vars.

Roundhead Rhyme.

Up with the rump,

And down with the stump,
And away w^itli the Presbyterecrs.
This

triplet is

sung or said

Yorkshire, on the 29tli of

May

Charles

and

Oliver Cromwell

first

Parliament

Roundheads and Cavaliers

the

back

refers us

lia])py era of the

;

East Riding of

at Driffield in the

to the

the

un-

Eump

and the Inde-

pendents and Presbyterians.

These rhymes I find were used as a

health "

by certain Jacobites.

Ray's Ilistoru of

They

are noticed in

the Eehellioii o/'45-G.

"

Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes

Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird

And

of

The nights

No

dawning singeth

all

night long

then they say no spirit dares

are

fairy takes,

wholesome

stir

abroad

then no planet strikes,

nor witch hath power to charm,

So hallowed and so gracious

is

the time."
^[arcellus.

"

So have I heard and do

in part believe

toasting

Mr. James

York, 1749.

Ghosts never appear on Christmas Eve

*

'^

political

it.''

Horatio.

FOLKLOEE OF THE KORTH OF ENGLAND.

So says the immortal Shakespeare
few now-a-days,

and the truth thereof

I hope, will call in question.

Grose observes^

born on Christmas Day cannot see

too, that those

is

another incontrovertible

fact.

What

77

spirits

which

must

a happiness this

have been seventy or eighty years ago and upwards,

to those

chosen few who had the good luck to be born on the eve of this
festival of all festivals

with ghosts, boggles

fatui,

when

the whole earth

(1), bloody=bones,

overrun

so

demons, ignis

brownies (2), bugbears, black dogs, spectres, shellycoats,

scarecrows, witches, wizards, barguests

hags

(4),

was

spirits,

(5),

night-bats,

(3),

llobin-Goodfellows

scrags, breaknecks, fantasms, hob-

goblins, hobhoulards, boggy-boes, dobbies (6), hob-thrusts (7),

fetches (8), kelpies, warlocks,

Jemmy-burties, urchins,

mock-beggars

satyrs,

pans,

(9),

fiiuns,

mum-pokers,

sirens,

tritons,

centaurs, calcars, nymphs, imps, incubusses^ spoorns, men-inthe-oak, hell-wains, fire-drakes, kit-a-can-sticks, Tom-tumblers,

melch-dicks,

1.

larrs^

kitty-witches,

hobby-lanthorns,

Dick-a-

Bellingham Boggle-Hole,
[Boglehonses in Lowick Forest, l^orthumberlaiKl.]
There is also a river of this name in the Bishopric of Durham.
Boggle-hoiise, parish of Sedgofield.

Northd.
2.

Also
3.

York is Browney Dike, a portion of the Foss.

The York Bargnest. See Memoirs of 7?. Surtees, Esq.

at

ed., p.

4.

new

80, 1852.

This merry fay acted the part of fool or jester, at the court of

Oberon, the fairy monarch.

G.

Hag-House. A farmstead near Brancepeth.

The Mortham Dobby. A Teesdale goblin.

7.

Hob-o-t'-Hnrsts,

5.

i. e.

spirits

of the woods.

Hobtln-nsli

I\ook,

Farndale, Yorkshire.
8.

The

9.

Mock-beggar Hall.

spirit or

we meet with many

double of a dying person.

Of houses,

instances.

rocks, etc., bearing this

name

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

78
Tuesdays,

Elf-fircs, Gjl-burnt-tails,

knockers, elves (10), raw-

heads, Meg-wltli-the-wads, okl-sliocks, ouplis, pad-fooits, pixies,

pictrces

(H),

Tom-pokers,

giants, dwafs,

tutgots, snapdragons,

sprets, spunks, conjurers, tkurses, spurns, tantarrabobs, swaitlies,

(12), tints, tod-lowries, Jack-in-tlie-Wads,

yeth-honnds,

redcaps,

boggarts, scar-bugs, shag- foals,

bugs,

bygorns,

bull-beggars,

wraithes

waflfs

(13),

mormos, changelings,

Tom-thumbs,

colt-pixies,

caddies,

bolls,

flay-boggarts,

(14),

black-bugs,

hodge-pochers, hob-thrushes,

bomen, brags,

fiends,

gallytrots,

imps, gytrashes, patches, hob-and-lanthorns, gringes, boguests,

bonelesses, Peg-po^Yle^s (15), pucks, fays,

hudskins,

beggars,

lanthorns, silkies

nacks,

kidnappers, gallyrobinets,

trolls,

friars'

(16), cauld-lads (17), death-hearses, goblins

(18), hob-headlesses
nickies,

madcaps,

nickers,

buggaboes, kows (20), or cowes,

(19),

waiths

[necksj

(21), miffies, buckles, gholes,

sylphs, guests, swarths, freiths, freits, gy-carlins [Gyre-carling]

10. Elf-Hills, parish of Hutton-in-the-rorest,

How, parish
11.

of Kendal.

There

is

Elf-Hills, near

name near

a village of this

enough a ghost

singular

story,

Cumberland.

Elf-

Cambo.
Chester-le-Street

called the " Picktree

and

Bragg,"

is

See Keightley's Fairij Mijthology^ Bohn's ed. p. 310.

12. 13, 14, 21, 23, 27. The same ^Yith note 8.

attached to

it.

15. This oulde !adye

with a

Nanny

sirnames,

is,

is

the evil goddess of the Tees.

Powler, at Darlington,
I judge, a sister, or it

Nanny Powler, aforesaid, haunts

16. The Hoddon Silky, and

who from

may

17.

Occasionally,
is

daughter of Peg's.

Brig, near lleddon.

Silky's

ii.,

p.

See

181-

we may hear Cowed, or rather Cowd Lad. The

the same
Cowd being a variation of the more
;

refined word, cold.

18. Goblin Field, near Mold, Flintshire.
19. Hob-Cross-Hill.

20. "

meet

the Skerne, a tributary of the Tees.

Piichardson's Table Book, Leg. Div., vol.

meaning, however,

be a

I also

the identity of their

A place

near Doncaster.

The Hedley Kow," a Northumberland ghost

story.

FOLKLORE OF THE KORTH OF ENGLAND.

pigmies,

nixies

cliittifaces,

79

dudmen,

Jinny-biirnt-tails,

(22),

hell-hounds, dopple-gangers (23), boggleboes, bogies, redmen,

portunes, grants, hobbits, hobgoblins,

dunnies

wirrikoAvs

(25),

lubberkins,

korreds,

brown-men

eluricanns,

(24), cowies,

mannikins,

alholdes,

(26),

kobolds,

follets,

leprechauns,

kors,

mares, korreds, puckles, korigans, sylvans, saccnbuses, black-

men, shadows, banshees, lian-hanshees, clabbernappers, Gabrielhounds, maAvkins, doubles (27), corpse lights or candles, scrats,

mahounds, trows, gnomes,

sprites,

fates,

fiends,

white women,

fairies

(29),

thrummy-caps

nevins

(28),

22. "

Know

you fhe

nixies,

gay and

fair

sybils, nick(30),

Their eyes are black, and green their hair,

They lurk

in sedgy waters."
Keirjlitley.

24. See ghost story of the

'

Brown

INfan of the

Moor."

Eichard-

son's Table Booh.

25.

The Hazelrigg Dunny.

An

excellent

Northumberland ghost

story.
'^

26.

The works

Frae gudame's mouth auld warld tale they hear,

0' warlocks louping round the wirriknow."

of

Eobt. Fergusson, ed. by A. B. Grossart, Edin., 1851,

p. Gl.

Mr. Maxvrell uses worrikow as the name of a ghost in his Border

From

Sketches.

the honour paid

to him,

according

to the

above

couplet, he appears to have been a sort of master hobgoblin.

28.

Mother witches.

29. Fairy

Dean, two miles above Melrose.

Fairy Stone,

Fourstones, in the parish of Warden, Northumberland.

in which

is

a secret cavity, has attained a celebrity in history owino-

to the letters being placed therein, to

of

Derwentwater, during the

30.

Thrummy

met with

near

This stone.

in the

and from the unfortunate Earl

'15.

Hills, near Catterick.

Fairy

tales of

The name

Northumberland.

of this sprite

is

THE DENHAM TEACTS.

80
cutties

and

(31),

iiisses,

and apparitions of every shape, make,

form, fashion, kind and description, that there was not a village
in

Enodand

that

had not

its

own

peculiar ghost.

Nay, every

lone tenement, castle, or mansion-house, which could boast of

any antiquity had

churches,

bogle,

its

Every green

lane had

its

with

it.

who had

And

spectre, or its knocker.

were

cross-roads,

all

The

haunted.

boulder-stone on which an apparition

Every common had

kept watch at night.

belonging to

its

and

churchyards,

its

circle of fairies

there was scarcely a shepherd to be

not seen a spirit

met

[See Lit. Gaz. for December,

1848, p. 849.]

31.

These are a certain

peculiar to Scotland,

Tliev are

who

class of female Boggles,

not altogether

^yo^e their lower robes, at least, a-la-hloomer.

named by Burns,

in his inimitable

Mr. Halliwell gives the word

poem Tam-o'-Shanter.

as localized in Somersetshire.

IX.
A

FEW POPULAR RHYMES, PROVERBS, AXD SAYINGS

KELATIXG TO FAIRIES, WITCHES, AND GIPSIES.
" Fairies, black, groy, green

iiucl

white."

Shakespeare.

Where

the scythe cuts and the sock rives,

No more

fairies

Vervain and

and bee-bikes.

dill,

Hinder [s] witches from their wilL

Auhrei/'s 2IisceUames, p. 117.

If

your \Yhip5ticks made of rowan,

You may

Much

ride your

thro'

ony town.

about a pitch,

Quoth the

Much

nag

ilevil to

the witch.

about much, as the deil said to

tlio

version.

hairy man's a geary man

a hairy wife's a witch.

But

Woe

to the lad,

WTthout a rowan

Some

readinors crive

witcli-wife

"

tree gad.

W^itli a," etc.

and an

evil,

Is three lialfpence worse than the deovil,

VOL.

II.

witcli.

Scots

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

82

Hey -how

When

for Hallow-e'en,

all

the Avitches are to be seen,

Some in black and some in

Hey -how for Hallow e'en.
Thout

tout

a tout tout

green,

Throughout and about.

The cry of the Somersetshire witches,

travels b}^ night."^

Cummer goe

ye before,

cummer goe

Gif ye will not goe before, cummer

The above verses are

snng

at

on their aerial

Avlien

"

ye,

let

said to have been the

North Berwick,

in Lothian,

me.f

words of a song

accompanied by the music

of a Jew's harp or trump, which was played by Geilles Duncan,

who

a servant-girl, before two hundred witches,

in a short

daunce or

reel,

singing these lines

all

joined hands

the while with

one voice.
Witchy, witchy,

Four

defy thee

fingers round

Let me go quietly by thee

The anti-witch rhyme used

my thumb,

in Teesdale

some

sixty or seventy

years ago.

Black-luggie, lammer-bead,

Rowan

tree,

and reed thread,

Put the witches

The meaning of black-luggie,

vessel

made

of staves,

* This
t

is

to their speed.

know

[A

not.

one of which projects

a sort of freebooting cry.

Cummer.

gossip, a

young

girl.

small

as

wooden
handle.]

POPULAR PvHYMES,
Lainmcr-bead
still

worn by

83

RELATING TO FAIRIES.

ETC.,

coruption of amber-bead.

Sucli

beads are

a few old people in Scotland, as a preservation

against a variety of diseases, especially asthma, dropsy, and

Tliey also preserve the wearer from the effects of

tooth-aclie.

I have seen a twig of

witchcraft, as stated in the text.

tree,

witchwood, qnickbane

rowan-

quickbeam from cwic,

\_i.e.

alive

and beam a tree], wild-ash, witchbane, royne-tree, mountain

ash, wicken-tree, wicky,

wiggy, witchen, whitty, royan, roun

or ran-tree

wiggan, witty, wiggin, witch-hazel,

also called

roden, quicken, or roan-tree, * which had been gathered on the

2nd of May [observe

yards of reed threed,

window,

to act as a

from the house.

So

also

Keep
brade

o' \Yitches,

Fair they come,

fair

red threed,

i.e.,

charm

Rowan

Ye

wound round with some dozens

this],

placed visibly in

in keeping witches

we have

of
the

and boggleboes

ash and reed threed

the devils

fra' their

speed.

ye can do no good to yourself.

they go, and always their heels behind them.

Neither so sinful as to sink, nor so godly as to s\Yim.

Waghorn

Falser than

than the

(^Yagner), and he was nineteen times falser

devil.

Ins'ratitude
o

is

worse than witchcraft.

Ye're as mitch as half a witch.

To milk

the tether

To carry
tether.

off the

{i.e..

the cow-tie).

milk from any one's cow, by milking a hair-

piece of superstition once

prevalent in Scotland

(equally well known in the Xorth of England).

Go

in

Eynt

God's name, so you ride no witches.

(arroint) you, witch, quoth Bess Lockit to her motLer.

* To this

list

may

be added Hicken.

g2


84

THE
They that burn von
Xever

DE>s'IIA3I

TRACTS.

fur a uiteli lose all tlieir coals.

talk of witches on a Friday.

Ye're ower aude fFarrand to be fraid

o' Avitches.

"Witches are most apt to confess on a Friday.

Friday

is

the witches' Sabbath.

To hug

one, as the devil hugs a witch.

Laughs

like a pixy

Langliing
184G,

As
As
As
As

p.

{i.e. fairy).

like

pixies.

Devonshire

ju'overb,

Aihenauj/ij

1092.

black

as

(*;

cross as

sinful as

Four

fingers

and a thumb, witch,

Waters locked

^^^^^
wi
a
'^

^>

ugly as

Waters locked

I defy thee

favourite cry of fairies.

Borram

The cry

Borram!!
of the

Borrani'.I!

after

Irish fairies,

momitino' their steeds,

parallel with the Scottish cry,

Horse! Horse!! and Hattock

!!!

Ye're like a witch, }e say your prayers backward.

So many gipsies

The
To

so

many

smiths.

gipsies are all akin.

live in the

land of the Fair family.

A Welsh fairy

saying.

Witches were of two kinds, black and white.

looked upon as the most dangerous and devilish.
*

j-

The former were

This cry and the one immediately preceding are

reiving- or frebooting class.

also

of

the

So

God grant

that the sweet* fairies

may put money

in your shoes

and

sweep your house clean.

One of the oo-ood wishes of the olden time.

He who finds a piece of money will always find
long as he keeps

place, as

Fairies
Its

comb

going on

A pixy

it

goats' beards every Friday.

like Stokepitch's can.

pitch or Sukespicj resided near

had

for

beintr exhausted.

many
It

bung

Topsham

it

ale in

maid servant took out

until a curious

On

to ascertain the cause of this extraordinary power.

looking into the cask she found

Pixies,

and a barrel of

years continued to run freely without

was considered a valuable heirloom, and

was valued accordingly,

the

The family of Stokes

saying, used in Devonshire.

their cellar

another in the same

a secret.

would

aj^pear,

as usual, the ale

had ceased

The common reply

went on was,

'^

Its

at

it

full

were offended,
to flow"

Topsham

going on," &c.,

of cobwebs

for

but the

on turning the cock,

to the inquiry
i.e., it

how any

affair

was proceeding pros-

perously.

You're half a witch,

To laugh

like

Buzz! Buzz

i.e..,

very cunning.

Robin Goodfellow. t
!!

Buzz!!!

In the middle of the sixteenth century

hat or bonnet in the air and cried Buzz
belief that by^ this act

if

a person

waved

his

three times, under the

he would take away the

life

of another,

* Sweet, qy. swairt, dark, tawiiy, swarthy.

t This merry fay r.cted the part of fool or jester in the court of

Oberon, the Fairy King.

And

if

we may

believe Gervase of Tilbury,

Robin was the offspring of a proper young wench by a

king or something of that kind amon.o' them.

hee-fayrie, a


86

THE DENIIAM TRACTS.

the old laAY and lawmakers considered the person so saying and

acting to be worthy of death, he being a murderer in intent and

having dealings with witches.

1 wish T

was

a far

from God as

my

nails are

from

dirt.

witches prayer whilst she was in the act of cleaning her

nails.

my

All

losses

Wednesday

is

and crosses go alongst

tlie

door.

the fairies' sabbath or holiday.

She's like a witch, scratch

till

the blood como, and she cannot hurt

yon.

A witch afraid of her

A Pendle Forest witch.
A Lancashire witch.
A witch cannot greet,
is

own

i.e.,

One

of the

Faw

"Worse than the

blood.

weep.

gang.

Faw

The Faws are a

gang.

species of gipsies.

It is

supposed that they

acquired this appellation from Johnnie Faw, Lord and Earl of

Egypt, with

Little

whom James

lY. and Queen

Mary saw

not

only the propriety, but also necessity, of entering into special

treaty.

Francis Heron, King of the Faws, bur. [Jarrow] 13 January

1756.

-Sharp's

To laugh

He

Chron. Mir.

like old Bogie.

caps Bogie.

Amplified to

He

caps Bogie, bogie capt Ptedcap, and Redcap capt Old Nick.

To be hag

[or witch] ridden.

See Telfer's

Tales and Ballads.

'*

Witches of Birtley


87

POPTLAPi RHYMES, ETC., RELATING TO FAIRIES.

Xortlmmberlancl Tradition." London. 1852. Keiglitley's Fairn

Mytliologij, p. 332.

Xiglitmare.

London.

spirit or

hag

1850.
of the night.

To play the Puck.

An

sayino;

Irish

deuce or

devil.

parallel

Has got

into Lob's

That

into the fairy pInfolJ.

is

Pinch
'

To

with the English.

Keightley's Fcdvy
pounl [or p

})lay

the

Mijtltolofnj.

vn-l].

Ibid.

like a fairy.

Pinch them, arm?,

backs, shonhlers, sides, and shins."

legs,

Merry Wives of Wnulsor,

He's got Piggwiggan, vnlgo Peggy AYiggan.

A
The

severe

or somerset

fall

Pigwiggan

fairy

is

is

so

termed in the Bishopric.

celebrated

by Drayton

his

in

JSymj? India.

To be

The

fairy struck.

paralysis

is,

or rather perhaps was, so

c^Wed. Fairy

Mythology.
There never has been

merry world shice the Phynodderee

lost his

ground.

Manx

fairy saying.

Popular Rhymes
To be pixey
'^

When

misses his
tells

etc.,

See Train's Isle of

of the Isle of

Man,

Man

ii.

p.

148

pp. 16-17.

led.

man

has got a wee drap ower muckle whusky,

way home, and

gets miles out of his direct cwurse,

lie

a tale of excuse, and whiles lays the blame on the innocent

pixies."

See

Fairy Mytholofjy,

p.

300.


THE DEXHA3:

88

The

Tit ACTS.

fairies lanthoni.

That

the

is

God speed

When

glowworm.

you, gentlemen.

an Irish peasant sees a cloud of dust sweeping along

the road, he raises his hat and breathes forth the above blessing
in

behoof of the company of invisible

to

have caused

ao-e at

Said

dirtied the blackberries.

when

the fruit of the bramble

set his foot

Fairy, fairy, bake

And

me

through

on the bumblekites.
a

bannock and roast me

give ye a spurtle afF

I'll

S]3oilt

is

In the Xortli of Enoland we sav,

the end of the season.

The Devil has

he believes

Ihid.^ pp. 363-4.

it.

The Phooka have

Hid.

whom

fairies

my gad

a collop.

end.

Spoken three times by the Clydesdale peasant when ploughing,

under the impression that on

his getting to the

end of the

fourth furrow those good things will be spread forth on the

grass.

Chambers' Popular Rhymes

Turn your clokes

For fairy folkes
Are
[

Xow

We

Scotland^ 3rd cd., p. 106.

(coats)

in old okes.

the pixeys

"STork is

done,

take our clothes and off we run."

Devonshire, Atheiucum, 1846,

I well

remember

schoolboy, I have

passing through a
'* Nutting Days "
boy^s calendar

that on

1092.]

more occasions than one, when a

turned and worn

wood

p.

my

coat inside

in order to avoid the

out

good people.

those glorious red-letter days

in

On

in the school-

the use pretiy generally prevailed. The rhymes

English formula. See Ktigldley,
291-300.

in the toxt are the

p.

POPULAR RHYMES,
[Children
call witches,

when played

in

Scotland

ETC.,

RELATING TO FAIRIES.

blacken

marbles, which they

imagining that these are

at.

They

fellow aims his marble,

also

by

not so

then

readily Struck

invoke the witch when their play-

spitting

between him and the mark

saying,
''

89

Black witch before your nose,

Paddy (Paddock)

pit

ye oot."]

X.

PEOVEEBIAL EHYMES AND SAYINGS FOR

CHRISTMAS AND THE NEW YEAR.
Christmas,

"

merry Christmas, a happy

New

Yeai-,

and a jovial Handsel

]\Ionday."

bhack Christmas makes a fat churchyard.

If the ice will bear a

goose before Christmas,

it \Yill

not bear a duck

afterwards.

The twelve days

As dark

as a

of Christmas.

Yule midnight.

Every day's no Yule day

That

''

as

means mncli the

Spare no expense, bring anotlier bottle of small

''

Yule

Yule

a pack of

new cards and

Some readings give

Aubrey says it was sung
the Yule

I02:

A green

Yule makes

good

to cry

Yule

Christmas

i.e.

in the

West Riding

stool,

in.

a fat kirk-yard.
!

at another man's cost.

fule.

in place

stide,

was brouodit

Big as a Christmas pig

It's

cast the cat a castock.

a cabbage stalk, and the proverb

is

same thing
beer

of

"fnlc."

of Y^orkshlre

when


PROVERBIAL RHYMES AND SAYINGS FOR CHRISTMAS.

As many mince
months yon

A trite

^vill

pies

as

von taste

at

Cliristmas, so man}^ liappy

liare.

observation, general through the ^vhole of AVestmore-

and Cumberland, counties celebrated

land

hospitality.

There

is

extreme

for their

an ancient custom at Piddle-Hinton, Dor-

for the rector to

setshire,

91

give

away on old Christmas dav,

annually, a pound of bread, a pint of ale, and a mince pie^ to

every poor person in the parish.

made by
Cliavitij

the rector to

Commissioners' Report vol. xxix.

^

vindy Christmas

As
In

This distribution

is

is

regularly

upwards of three hundred persons.

a sign of a

p.

108.

good year.

bare as a bircli at Yule even.

allusion

to the

extreme poverty.

Christmas log.

It is

spoken of one in

[This does not concern the Christmas

loo\

Birches are denuded of their foliage long before Christmas,

hence Laidlaw^s
" 'Twas

fine lines

when

the \Yan leaf frae the birk tree was

And Martinmas

fa'in,

dowie had wound up the year."

birch-wood in winter,

witli its multiplicity

of dark twigs,

is

extremely bare.]

A
i.e. J

Yule

feast

may

be quit at Pasche,

a Christmas feast

may

be paid again at Easter,

or,

good turn deserves another."

Christmas comes but once a year.

Ghosts never appear on Christmas

Shakespeare

Busy

eve.

attests to the truthfulness of this old saw.

as an English oven at Christmas.

Cold as Christmas.

" one

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

92

and an egg

kiss at Christmas

They talk
Yule

of

at Easter.

Christmas so long that

it

comes.

good on Yule even.

is

After a Christmas comes a Lent.

In other words, " After a feast comes a famine."

A jolly wassail bowl.

A winter council, a careful

Christmas, and a bloody Lent.

Nixon's Cheshire Proph.

I'll

bring your Yule belt to the Beltane bore.

Scots.

A light

Christmas, a heavy sheaf.

She simpers

One

like a

frummetty kettle

at Christmas.

of the dark days before Christmas.

now, but Yule's in winter.

!N'ow's

The year

lasts longer

The day
Is

good

of St.

than Yule.

Thomas, the blessed

for brewing, baking,

The 21st December.

commencement

This too

fat swine.

the shortest day, and the

is

of the winter quarter.

dciy of the festival of all festivals

divine,

and killing

It

is

likewise

Christmas which

first

tlie

anciently

continued without intermission from this day to the second of

February, the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin

Mary

but Christmas day and the twelve days succeeding were

considered the most sacred to mirth and hospitality

proverbial phrase,
I believe,

still

''

exists

merry peal upon the

is

called

rino-ino-

practice

'

at

The twelve days of Christmas."

in

liinging in Christmas."
this

festival,

hence

tlie

A custom,

some parts of England of ringing a

bells of the parish steeple

of considerable

may

on

this day.

While speaking of

as

well

here observe

antiquity

still

exists

at

It

bell-

that

Dewsbury,


PEOVERBIAL RHYMES AND SAYINGS FOR CHRISTMAS.
ringing the great

Yorkshire, which

consists in

church

on Christmas eve.

at midnio-ht

The bell is
The moral

Devil's Passinfr Bell.

funeral or passing bell.

when

Christ

This knell

of

deed

i.

p.

in

shillings

the

called the

manner of

many

Collect. Topograph.^

Queen Elizabeth

fortieth of

that the devil died

it is

Sterry, vicar of Lidney, gave

The Rev. Ant.

167.

the

of the

bell
is

This nse was discontinued for

was born.

years, but w^as revived by the vicar in 1828.

vol.

in

tolled

93

the

sum

of

by

five

per annum, payable out of an estate called the Clasp

in this parish (Ruardean, Gloucestershire), for ringing a peal on

Christmas eve, about midnight, for two hours, in commemora-

The money

tion of the Nativity.

as directed.

is

still

received and applied

-Char. Com. Rep.^ vol. xix. p. 105.

Thomas's day

St.

x\nd Christmas

Maidens

And

An

is

past and gone,

is

most acome.

arise,

bake yom' pies.

Bobby some.

save poor tailor

Halliwell's JS'urseri/ Blnjmes, 4th ed., p. 220.

Bonncer, Buckler, velvet's dear,

And

Christmas comes but once

Though when

it

comes

it

So farewell Christmas once

Varia

a year,

brings go jJ

clicer,

a year.

Bounce, Buckram, velvet's dear,

Christmas comes but once a year,

And when

it

But when

it's

comes
gone

it

brings good cheer,

never

it's

tlie

near.

See note on these rhymes, Halliwell's Eh>j]ncsj 4th

He's a

i'ule

that marries at Yule,

For when the bairn's

The corn's to shear.

to

bear

ed., p. 44.


THE DENHAM TRACT?.

94

meet companion

He

wlio

for the follo^yiDg

marries between

tlie

syckle and

scythe,

tlje

will

never

thrive.

Perhaps the

Latter

proverb was more

forefothers devoted a whole

month

in

strictly true Avhen

which

celebrate their

to

nuptials, to the entire neglect of all other matters.

still

holds

good with agricultural labourers

our

at

The former
present

the

moment.

Make we mirth for Christ's birth,

And sing we Yiilc till Candlemas.
It's

good crying Yule

On

another man's stool.

day on a ]\[onday

If Christmas

fall,

troublous winter we shall have

Yule

Yule

Y^de

Yule

all.

Tliree puddings in a pule (pool),

Crack nuts and

This was, some

of Y'ork and

crj

Yule

years ago, a

fifty

Durham, on

common

cry in the counties

the night of Christmas day

the three puddings in a pule are intended to

never been able to discover, unless

on a ponderous pe^vter
sw^eetened

rum

sauce

it

but wdiat

be three plum puddings

dish, floating, as
!

typify I have

The command

were, in a pule of

it

ci'ack nuts

to

may

inferred from the following extract from a Christmas

''
a'iven at the end of old Georo-e AVithers' " Juvenilia

be

carol,

Hark how the wagges abrode doe

Each other foorth to rambling

call

Anon, yon'l

see

them

in the hall,

For nuts and apples scambling.

The cry of "

Y'ule, Y^ule, Y\ile

" used anciently to be

made

PROVERBIAL RHYMES AKD SAYIXGS FOR CHRISTMAS.

in

our northern

after service

cliurclies

on Christmas day, the

people at the same tim.e dancing to the words.

graphia, ed. 1681,

See

Glosso-

692.

p.

Hogmanay,
Give

95

trollolaj;

some

lis

of

your white bread,

But none of your grey.

Hagmena, Hagmena
Gi^'e us bread

And

and cheese,

us away.

let

This and the preceding partake more of the quality of cries

or

chansons than

proverbs.

They Avere sung or said by

when collecting their farls,

children on the last day of the year,

as they

named

Marjazine^ vol.

of oaten cake and cheese.

it,

Ix. p.

See

Gentleman's

499.

Blessed be St. Steven,

There's no fasting on his even.

The eve of

this

day

Christmas day, and the rhymes are

is

happily expressive of the good eating and great doings at this

festive season.

Oh dirty December:
But Christmas remember
I

young on Yule even,

Yule

is

And

old on St. Steven.

When

Yule comes, dule comes,

Could

When

feet

and legs

Pasche comes, grace comes,

Butter, milk, and eggs.

Chambers's Popular Rhymes, Scotland.

At Christmas

play, and make good cheer,

For Christmas comes but once a year.

THE DEKHAM TRACTS.

UC)

Martinmas

is

past and gone,

Christmas in drawing near,

There's no a piece mutton in a' the house

To

serve out for Christmas cheer.

Wooler, Northumberland.

Between Martinmas and Yule,

Water's worth wine in any pule.

Yule

come, and Yule

is

And we

So Jack must

And Jenny
The following
of the
of

Hichmondj

in

To-night

as

to his flail again,

it is

the

New

Year's eve, to-morrow

and

for our right,

in

now remaining fragments

sung by the pinder of the borough

com. Ebor

And we are come

As we used to do

to her wheal.

stanzas are the only

Hagmena Song,

is gojae,

liave feasted weel

for

is

the day.

our ray,

Old King Henry's day.

Sing, fellows, sing

Hagman

If you go to the bacon-flick, cut

me

good

Cut, cut, and high, beware of your brte

Cut, cut, and low, beware of your

heigh

bit

maw

Cut, cut, and round, beware of your thoom,

That me and

my

merry men may (have some).*

Sing, fellows, sing

If

That me and

my

heigh

down upon the ground.

it

merry men

Sing, fellows, sing

may (have some)

Hagman heigh
!

These two words are omitted in the copy taken down from

recitation of old

Hagman

you go to the black-ark,f bring me out x mark.

Ten mark, x pound, throw

master Craves,

The black ark was

ih.Q

tl

pinder of the borough.

a ponderous piece of

oaken furniture about

si

PROYEEBIAL RHYMES AND SAYINGS FOR CHRISTMAS.

The

hangs upon a

dish- clout

Rise maids and

Be she maid

let

or be she nane,

Sing, fellows, sing

*^* Permit

me

to

song

would chime

at the

Hagnian heigh

to

Richmond, should he be spared

commencement

in tolerably after Yerse

Then gang

And

suggest the following additional stanza to the

notice of the jolly old Pinder of

it

pin,

us in

comes she must be ta'en.*

If she

to sing this

97

your aumbrie

fetch us here

if

of another year.

two

I fancy

you please,

some bread and cheese;

Next bring us out an old whetstane,

And

we'll

sharpen our whittles every ane,

That me and

my merry men may have some.

Hagman heigh

Sing, fellows, sing

and three in depth

feet in length

the inside was usually divided into

Occasionally they had false bottoms.

two parts.

met with

often to be

fully carved,

These kists are

in the dwellings of ancient housekeepers beauti-

bearing the initials of the

the construction.

first

owner and the date of

Their original use was that of holding linen, clothes,

and various other items of still higher value, as implied in the text.
They are now generally devoted to the purpose of holding flour and
bread meaL

In Westmoreland they are often used as repositories

for

haver cakes.

an old proverb which says, " The muck-midden is the

mother of the meal-ark " and it is one, too, which altereth not with
There

is

time.

In the
" poore of
in the hall

will of

Bernard Gilpin, 1582, the testator leaves to the

Houghton p'ishe, the greater new ark

to p'vide them grotes in winter."

for corne, standin

* Evidently a spurious verse, and belonging to another song, or

rather erased.

VOL.

II.

See

my

reply to Steddy, letter

first,

pp. 1,2.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

98

" Merry men/^ anciently written

frequent occurrence in

meaning

its

tlie

'^

merrie men/'

early songs

ray," used in the

first

alludes to a sort of cloth

The ^Yord

On

them

x\.nd everycli of

scarlet

it

is

word

evidently

The

silver.

a good mantell

and of raye.

See an ancient specimen of the

Songs and Carols of

observe that

the

in party-coloured stripes.

had streaks of gold and

richer clothes of this kind

Of

may

verse, I

woven

a term of

and ballads of the North

as here used is true, faithful, &c.

applied characteristically to Wakefield and Carlisle.

'^

is

Robin Hood.

Hagmena Song

in

Mr. Wright's

Printed for the Percy

the Fifteenth Century.

Society, Oct. 1847, p. 63.

Yf Christmas day on

the Saterday

That winter ys to be dredden

Hyt

alle

falle,

shalbe so full of grete tempeste,

That hyt

shall sle botlie

man and

beste

Frute and come shall fayle grete won,

And

olden folkes dyen

Whate woman

They shalbe borne

And

many

on.

that day of chylde travayle,

in grete perelle

chyldren that be born that day,

Within halfe a yere they shall dye, par fay.

The somer than shall wete ryglite yllc,
Yf thou awghte stele, hyt shal the spylle;

Tho dyest

yf sekenes take the.

The seventh and

fifteenth
fol.

154

last

stanza of a Christmas

[Excerpit

century.

Harl.^

song of the
No.

2252,

r.]

New

MS.

from

happy

New

i^eav

Handsel Monday
Praise

And

Year's Tide.

and a merry

(or jovial)

Handsel Monday.

in tlie

New

we the Lord that hath no

peer,

is

the

first

Monday

thank we him for this

New

Year.

Year.

PEOYERBIAL RHYMES AXD SAYIXGS FOR CHRISTMAS.

If

New

99

Year's eve niglit wind blow south,

If betokenetli

warmth and growth

much milk and fish in the sea;

much cold and storms there will
east, the trees will bear much fruit;
nortli-east, flee it man and brute.

If west,

If north,
If
If

be

In Sir John Sinclair's Stat. Acct. of Scotland, Edin., 1794,

8vo.

Yol.

xii. p.

458, the minister of Kirkmiehael, in connty

Banff, under the head of

On

the

^'

Superstitions,"

night in January

first

they

etc.,

obserYe

is

The
The
The
The

couched in Ycrses which

wind

of the

may

with

be thus translated

south will be productive of heat and

wind of the west of milk and

anxious

Their faith in these

attention the disposition of the atmosphere.

signs

communicates:

fertility.

fish.

wind of the north of cold and storm.

wind from the

east of fruit on the trees.

The Highlanders on Xew^ Year's day burn juniper before

their cattle.

At New

Year's tide.

The days lengthen

This saying

is

a cock's stride.

intended to express the lengthening of the

days in a small but perceptible degree.

knows the

truth of wdiat he

shadow of .the upper

lintel

The countryman well

says from observing where the

of the door

falls

at tw^elve o'clock,

and there making a mark.

At Ncy^

meridian beincr hio^her,

shadow^ comes nearer the door bY

its

l^ear's day, the

four or five inches, Ydiich, for rhyme's sake,

stride,"

and

so

is

called

sun at the

'^

a cock's

expresses the sensible increase of the day.

Gent, Mag., 1759.

IT

XI.

A FEW EHYMES IX COXXECTIOX WITH THE MOXTHS

OF THE YEAR AXD DAYS OF THE WEEK.
IMemorial
1.

Thirty

cIp.ys

April, June,

Lines on the Months.

hath September,

and Xovember,

Februaiy hath twenty-eight alone,

And

all

the rest have thirty- and-one,

Unless that leap year doth combine,

And

give to February twenty-nine.

Young Plan's Companion, 1703

2.

Thirty days hath fruit-bearing September,

Moist April, hot June, and cold Xovember,

Short February twenty-eight alone

The other months have either thirty-one

February, when the fourth year's run.
Does gain a day from the swift-moving sun.
;

And

ShephercVs Kalendar; or Countryman''

Daily Companion.

3.

Thirtie days hath September,

April, June, and

The

rest

Xovember

have thiitie-and-one,

Save February alone,

Which monthe hath but elght-and-twenty meere

Save when

it is

bissextile, or leap yeare.

Concordancy of Yeares, A. Hopton, 1615,

p. GO.


RHYMES IN CONXECTION WITH THE
4.

3I0^'THS

OF THE YEAR.

Thirty dayes hath Xovember,

AiDril,

June, and September

February hath xxviii alone,

And

al]

the rest have xxxi.

Grafton's Chronicle^ 1570, 8vo.

5.

Thirty dayes hath November,

April, June, and September,

Twenty-and-eight hath February alone,

And
But

all

the rest thirty-and-one,

in the leape

you must add one.

Harrison's Dis. Brit., p. 119.

Memorial Lines used by the Society of Friends.

6

Days twenty-eight

in second

And

is

one day more

month

appear,

added each leap year:

The fourth, eleventh, ninth, and sixth months run

To thirty days, the rest to thirty-one.

Partial Variations.
7.

Except

in leap year, at

which time,

February's days are twenty-nine.

8.

But leap year cometh once

And
9.

in four,

gives to February one day more.

Except

in

February alone.

In which do twenty-eight appear,

And
To

twenty-nine in each leap year.

find leap year

Divide by

you

iv,

For leap year

liaYe this rule

what's
0, for

left shall be,

past

i,

ii,

and

iii,

Harris.

101

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

102

Rhyme whereby

to remember ox

what Day of the Week

EACH MOXTH FALLETH.

April lovetli to link with July,

And

the merry

New Year

Sunday.

Monday.
Tuesday and Wednesday.

with October comes by,

August for Wednesday, Tuesday for May,

March and Novcmbor and Valentine's Day

Thursday.

June day, and last we seek,

September and Christmas to finish the week.
Friday

Friday.

is

Saturday.

Ehymes on THE Days of Birth.

Born on a Monday,

Born on

Born
Born
Born
Born
Born

And

fair of face

a Tuesday, full of grace

on a Wednesday, merry and glad

on a Thursday, sour and sad:

on a Friday, godly given

on a Saturday, work for your living:

on a Sunday, never shall want,

here ends the week, and there's an end on't.

Rhymes on Wedding Days.

Monday

for wealth,

Tuesday

for health,

Wednesday

the best day of

Thursday

Friday for

And

all

for crosses,
losses,

Saturday no luck at

all.

Rhymes on the Days op the Week.

Saturday
IMonday

Tuesday

Sunday's brother,

is

is
is

no other

Wednesday

carries the

Thursday I won't

And

the market day,

on Friday

week away

spin,

I'll

never begin.

XII.

CHARMS.

Reyelatiox, or Charact.

In the Athenian Oracle a charm

words or

letters,

''

ii.

defined to be " a form of

repeated or written, whereby strange things

are pretended to be done^

Vol.

is

beyond the ordinary power of

nature."'

p. 424.

If there be any good or use unto the health in spels, they

have that prerogative by accident, and by the power and vertue

of fancie.

If flmcie then be the foundation

whereupon buildeth

the good of spels, spels must needs be as fancies are, uncertaine

and vaine
and no

so

must

lesse all

also,

by consequent, be

their use,

they that trust unto them."

coverie of the Unobserved

Dangers of sever all

Unconsiderate Practisers of Fhjsiclie in

and helpe,

Cotta, Short Dis-

sorts

of Ignorant and

KngUmd.

London,

4to.

1612, p. 50.

The

sale of

common

charms was, a centurv or two

thing in England;

fallen into desuetude,

our brethren from the

it

ao^o,

a not un-

has now, happily, however, wholly

with the exception of the lower classes of

sister isle.

The wholesale

usao;e

prevalent through the states of his Holiness the Pope

Spain, in Portugal, and in Ireland
it

observed, the religion of the

most debased and intolerant forms.

^

in all

is

still

also in

which countries, be

Romish Church

exists in its

In the city of Leon (Spain)

Sprinted charms and incantations against Satan and his host, and

against every kind of misfortune, are publicly sold in the shops

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

104

and are

in great

Borrow's Bihle

demand.

in

Spain.

Sucli are the results of popery."

The same author sajs

that he

met

with charms of this cLass not only on the persons of the lower
chisses,

but he gives a transhition of one which he borrowed

from one of the upper grades, who boasted that in

tained every hope of earthly safety.

it

were con-

Bible in Spain, cap.

iii.

The following Anglo-Irish specimen of one of these religious

manu

tracts in

scripta

is

copied verb,

et

lit.

for the edification of

the curious in charms, incantations^ revelations, spells, and such

like items of the

vulvar creed.

A
^^

"

Charm.

For ye Blessing of Godd and His Son Jhesu

true

was found

coppy of
in

y^ Leter ^vriten

a valey

Christ.

by God own hand and

named Macconaby near

it

ye town of

to

Jesnndry in ye valey named Macconaby in ye year of our Lord

MDCLXix.

this

was and not

named

far

command of Jesus
Red Stone Large it

Letter was written by the

was found under

CriSt which

a great

from y^ afors'd Town of Jesnndry in ye valey

morning

and

Engraven [with] theas words following Blessed are thay

that

Turneth

IMacconaby

me

over y^

which
people

was
that

EnP-raven did endevour to torn

It

found

Saw

in

y*^

Stone

writen

and

over but thear Labour was in

Vain, so that thay could Not by any Means move

it

thay could not prevaill thay prayed Ernestly de Siring

and when

God That

thay might and of that Same writing and thear came a Litle
Child betw^ixt S'x and Seven years of age which ye
it

Same Stone

turned over and without any world by [qy. worldly] help to

y^ Great admaration of ye Beholders the Stone be [qy. being]

turned over ther was found a Leter writen whith Golden Leters

hand of JeSus ChriSt which

by

the very

to

Jesundry

to

be red in the

Town

this

Leter was carried

be longing to y^ Lady

CHARMS.
Pencelbeo in

MDCIII. which

An

commandment was

Day

Command

holy

Shall

and

faithfully believe that

go

shall

it

zealously

Endevour and

and

your Sins

my commandments
fifthly

you Shall

my own

hands you

keep

was writin with

is

Church and keep

to

Labour

to forgive all

fliithfully

you go

that

with

fourthly

me

Earnestly desire

you

you Shall

firSt

Secondly thay that Workct home [on] ye

partially defaced]

that

foloweth

as

be excommunicate [in the original this Avord

shall

of

Sent by an angell in ye year of Our Lord

Love one another

Sobboth

command

written by je

dicleriell (sic) itt wiis

JeSus ChriStt

105

Church and your Children and your Servants

to the

with you thear and ob Serve

my

words you Shall Chasten and

my command-

correck your Children tach [teach] them to keepe

ments you Shal Live with brotherlye Love you Shal Leave

work one [on] Setterday at

ye Erening and So continu
you

Shall

brance]

fast

of the

five
five

my

wounds

in

at

y^

o'clock

five

munday

at

ememrance

Received

Li

morning

[remem-

you you Shalle

for

Gold nor Silver wrongfully nether sorning

not tack Nether

[scorning]

days

nighte
untell

words

nor

my

doings

and

will

give

mannyfold blesings and Long Life unto your Cattle and your

Land
and

be repleniched with fruitfully To bring forth abun-

shall

danse of

Sorts of fruite and Blessings Shall

all

I will comfort

you but thay

come upon you

that do contrary Shall

Cursed

be and not blesed and thear Cattell Shall be cursed and unfruite-

upon yow Lightenings and Thunderboults and

want of Good Things I will send upon you that be witneSs

full

I will send

againSt this

with uiy

my

own

writing and beliveing that

liand

Spoken with

my mouth

it

was not writen

and they whear

with given to the poor and will not Shall be cursed and not
blessed of

me

in ye Conclution of theas

Remember That you

keep holy ye Sabboth day without any Provaning of ye Same

knoweth

have given you Sex days

to

Labour one [on] ye

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

106

Seventh

keep

it

my Self ReSted

if

any write a coppy of

and who Soever writ a coppy of

[and] Causeth
of

me and

in ye

tliis

Letter and

without teaching of others shall he Cursed and not blesed

Sky

to

it

this Letter

he Sinned of then

if

[qy. often]

own hand

but go

again

as thare

him again

his Sins shall be forgiven

believe theas

with his

be red and Publiched he Shall [be] Blesed

If

my Commandments

is

Stars

you do not

I send unto

him wormes which will d'Sstroy you and your children and 3'our
Goods or what So ever you hath more over if any writ a copy
of this Leter and keep
hantt him

coppy of

If

it

hous no Evil Spiret

Avithin his

any woman be big

Avith child if

Shea Shall be delevered of

Leter abought [her]

this

her burthen you Shall hear no more of

Judgement

all

of this Letter

shall

She hath a

me

untell

ye day of

good nes and gladneS Shall come whear a coppy

is

kept.

" Laus Deo

^'

In nomina patris et

filius et spirit as

sanctas.

" Amen/^

Waldron

in

his

description

of the

Isle of

Man names

Charact or Cliarect of very similar talismanic properties

oriirinal of

which

Manxmen

assert to

the

have been found under a

Cross in the Island which he had frequently seen.

XIII.

RHYMES

All are not

''

PROVERBS RELATING TO HAWKING

AND THE CHASE.

AN])

liiinters

that blow the horn.

It is not the yalue of the fox, but the pleasure of the chase that

makes men foxhunters."

" Better to hunt the fields for health unbono-ht,

Than

fee the doctor for a nauseous draught."

Dnjden.

Chapter
Foxes never

He who

than when they are cursed.

fare better

Foxes dig not

their

own

holes.

would have a hare

As cunning

I.

for breakfast

must hunt overnight.

as a klyket (fox).

Foxes prey furthest from their earths.

Does not know a fox from a fern bush.
[It's either the

The fox the

He

tod or the fern-buss.

Ber.]

finder.

that will

catch J

the fox must arise betimes.

The fox knows much, but more he that catches him.

Every fox must pay his own skin to the flayer.
As long runs the fox as his feet.
The fox will not leave a lamb to dine on a carrion-crow.
Does not know a hawk from a heronsew.

Hawks
The

don't

s'entle

--j

Xyaria, pikej

hawk mans

out hawk's e'en.

herself.

THE DEXHAM TEACTS.

108

To fly at all gam?.

Hold fast is the first point

Empty hands
High

flying

in

hawking.

lure no hawks.

hawks

are

good

Between hawk and buzzard.

for princes.

Baj.

He's a hawk of the right nest.

goss-hawk strikes not

at a hunting.

He's a good dog can catch

You

all.

can haye nothing of the cat but her skin.*

The hare starts when least expected.

The foremost (varia, hindmost) dog catches the
The more you hunt, the more hares you haye.']'
Dogs that put up many hares kill none.
If you run two hares

He

you

hare.

will catch neither.

runs with the hounds and holds with the hare.

Little dogs start the hare but great ones catch

To

fright the hare

Where we

We

is

it (i.e.

eat it).

not the way to catch her.

least think th'ere goeth the hare away.

dogs worried the hare.

Find a hare without a meuse (a hiding place).

boundless man comes to the best hunting.

Many hounds may

We

cripple

Varia

1.

2.

calf's

Dog
If

quoth the Messett.

may catch a hare.

cripple may catch a hare.
cow may catch a hare.

on a cow

A
A

Perseverance

soon worry one hare.

hounds slew the hare

kills the

head

game.

will feed a

huntsman and

his hounds.

won't eat dog.

you had not aimed at the partridge you had not missed the

snijie.

* There

is

tradition in

Wales that there was once a people

inhabiting Britain who, destitute of dogs, trained fuxes and wild cats
for the chase.

J.

H.

f Explained by when one

lair.

is

killed another

comes and takes her

EHYMES,
War,

ETC.,

hnntliig,

bnek of the

RELATING TO HAWKIKG AKD THE CHASE.

and law, are as

first

full

100

of troubles as pleasures.

Lead.

To take heart of grace (? hart of grease).

The stag when near sj^ent always returns home.
Those who hunt are above the necessity of labour.
To hunt a hare with an

ox.

Plutarch.

CHArTER
If

you be hurt with hart

But

barber's

hand

will

it

IT.

brings thee to thy bier,

boar hurt heal, therefore you need not

fear.

Dog-draw, stable-stand,
Back-bear, bloody-hand.

The above rhymes imply

arrest a

man whom

that the king's forester

had power

of the royal forests under any of the above circumstances.

He

that will the chase find,

Let him

to

he suspected of having been hunting in any

tiy^

up the water and down the wind.

Hunting, hawking, and paramours.

For one joy a hundred displeasures.

XIV.

A FEW FRAGMENTS OF FAIRY FOLKLORE.

"The
our

naturalists of the dark ages o\yed

fairies,

account

for,

for

many

they easily got rid of by charging

account." Brand's Pop. Ant, (Charles Knight

p.

obligations to

whatever they found wonderful and could not

&

it

to

their

Co.), vol. 2,

285, note 15.

''

My

grandmother has often

our green, and that they were

Round about our Coal Fire,

" But

me

told
little

of fairies dancing upon

creatures clothed in green."

p. 42.

now can no man

see

non

elves

mo."
Chaucer.

The not yet wholly exploded

still

closely connects itself with

belief In fairies, fays^

and

1.

Fairy Shppers.

12.

Elf Shots.

2.

Fairy Stones.

13.

Fairy Cakes.

3.

Fairy Butter.

14.

Fairy Javelins.

4.

Fairy Pipes.

15.

Fairy Ketlles.

5.

Fairy Cups.

16.

Fairy Loaves.

6.

Fairy Caldrons.

17.

Fairy ^Mushrooms.

7.

Fairy Wells.

18. Elf

8.

Fairy

19.

9.

Fairy Rings.

20. Fairy Flax.

10.

Fairy Money.

21. Fairy Bells.

11.

Elf Locks.

22.

Hills.

Arrows.

Puck

Fists.

Fairy Fingers.

elves,

A FEW FRAGBIENTS OF FAIRY FOLKLORE.

23.

Ill

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

112
They
and

are also

met with

Dane
The Lnck

Eden Hall

of

Danish

forts,

pipe;:;,

where thej

is

This name

a cup of this genus.

is

perforated by friction, and believed to be

also given to small stones

the

localities of

pipes.

are called
5.

where they are called Pech

in Scotland,

immediate

in Ireland, in the

workmanship of Elves.
See an account of a

6.

Ant. of the

Surrey,

co.

and hammered out of

The

7.

well near

iii.

This vessel

Eden

Durham, that the singular

hood

is

of this class of s^^rings.

by an old

hill

native

of

Bishopton,

co.

existing there was in his days of child-

called the Fairy Hill.

These rings are

9.

of extraordinary size,

Hal], Cumberland, from the brink of which

have been informed

is

a single piece of copper.

the cup was snatched by the butler,

8.

Aubrey's Nat. Hist, and

fairy's caldron in

306.

in accordance with j^opular local

caused during the festive meetings of the Merrie Fayes

mythology,

when daunc-

ing by monelight, to ye musique of " Robin Goodfellowe's pipes."

"You demi-puppets, that

By moonshine do

the green sour ringlets make,

Whereof the ewe not

Is to

bites;

and you whose pastime

make mid-night mushrooms.

Prospero, The Tempest.

Found

10.

" This

and

is

treasure.

Shakespeare notices this olden superstition.

fairy-gold, boy,

to be so still requires

"His

11.

of

Age.

haires are curl'd

kembing."

Wifs

By Thomas Lodge.

author describes

'twill

it

prove

so.

nothing but secrecy."

Fatal DoR-ry, act

also Massinger's

want

and

iv. sc.

and

Winter's Tale.

See

1.

full of

Elves-locks, and nitty for

The Divels Incarnat of this

Lond., 1596, p. 62.
Another old

Miserie,
4to.

TVe are lucky, boy,

or,

as " a hard matted or clatted lock of hair in the

nsck."
12.

The heads

of ancient arrows or spears.

ance in some parts of Scotland.

inch long and half an inch broad.

Ireland

wear

them about

against being elf-shot.

They occur

Th(^y are formed of

flint,

in

abund-

about an

Vallency says the peasants in

their necks

set

in silver,

as

an amulet

A FEW FRAGMENTS OF FAIHY FOLKLOIIE.

There

is

consists in

also a disease in

horned

name, which

this

stomach from the swelling

first

of clover and grass wlien eaten with the

complaint

known by

cattle

an over-distension of the

113

morning dew u])on

The

it.

popularly believed to be produced by the stroke of an

is

elf-shot or arrow.

A disease

13.

was so

stition

14. Local

consisting of a hardness of the side in ages of super-

called.

mythology says that a

preserved at Midridge Hall, in

15.

The same

number

as

18.

The same

19.

20.

The purging

number

was

in the old times

Durham.

6.

fairy-faces.
fairy-stools.

12.

kind of fungus, vulgo a fuz-ball.

flax,

of

The same with

species of agaric.
as

fairy javelin

county

Also known as

16. Fossil echini.

17.

tlie

Linum

The same with pixy-puffs.

The same with fairy-

catJiarficum.

lint,

21.

The

word

is

name is said to come from

Mr. Hardy, of Penmanshiel, says " the

flower of the fox-glove, which

fairy-folks-glove.

My

from the A.S.

has no reference to

friend,

foxesclife, foxeclofe, foxesglofa,

foxesglofe,

and

fairies."

22. Perhaps fox-glove bells.

23. Fossil sea-urchins.
24.

bears
4to.

25.
26.

The

ignis fatuus

was anciently

called elf-fire.

the title " Ignis Fatuus, or the Elf-fire

An

old tract

of Purgatorie," etc.

London, 1625.

The same as note eleven.

Waldron tells us of a Fairy Saddle

in the

Isle of

the natives believed to be in requisition every night.

It

Man

wliich

was a stone

WorLs, fol., p. 176.

Luminous appearances oft seen on clothes by night
See Ray's E. and S. Country Words.
shell-fire.

in the likeness of a saddle

27.
called

28.

Mushrooms.

29.

The domestic hand-mills

of the

also

Romans.

Also the sound made by the wood-worm viewed by the vulgar as

[" The wood-worm
preter-natural.
Anohium domesticumyJ. H.]
30. Kidney beans.

VOL.

II.

is

the

small brown

beetle.

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

114

Scenes bearing one or other of these names are by no

31, 32.

means

rare either in the north or south of

33.

Engh^nd.

Fairykirk occurs in the parish of Caldbeck, Cumbcrkind.

34. Mythical horns occur in several fairy tales.

The same as note 9.

The same as note 20.
Found treasure. See note 10.
The same '\Tith numbers 12 and

35.
36.
37.

38.

p.

39.

See note 16.

40.

A local

name

There

18, I believe.

curious superstitious account of one in 3IS. 4811,

f.

is

23.

See Harrison's Hist. Eng.,

for certain old coins.

218.

41.

kind of fungus.

42. Xatural knots in the

manes

of horses.

43. Toadstools.
44. Certain

13.

marks on women

-with child, or

women

that do give

For a curious account thereof see Ady's Candle

suck.

Dark,

in the

Shakespeare uses the expression elvish marked.

129.

45. Natural caves.

Occasionally rocks, somewhat isolated, assum-

ing that form.

46. Xatural caves in the earth.
47. Stone beads.
48.
''

common

Puck-needle

corn weed

" is the

[In Hampshire,

so-called in Sussex.

is

name given

to

Scandix Pecten- Veneris.

See

"Wright's Provincial Dictionary.']

49.

The wood-louse.

' Checselyff-worme, otherwyse called

Godfelowe his louse, tylus."

wood-louse

is

Iluolef,

1552,

part

p.

i.

6.

Pobvn
[This

a species of Oniscus.]

50.

The same,

51.

See Hone's Tear Bool-,

52.

The glow-worm.

I believe, with note 21.

col.

1533-4.

[Lampyris noctiluca.]

53. In the shady stillness of a

summer's eve

fairies

took delight in

bathing and sporting amongst the waters of a lonely pool or sedgy

bend

of

some rippling brook.

In

some parts of the county of

Northamptonshire there are ponds which from

receive the
54.

name

this

circumstance

of faiiT-pools.

hole in a piece of wood, out of which a knot has droi^ped,

A FEW FRAG3IEXTS OF FAIEY FOLKLORE.

Il5

or been driven, by the superstitious viewed as the operation cf the

fairies.

55.

species of stone-hatchet.

56. This

grand annual

festival occurred

57.

See Waldron's Isle of Man, p. 72.

58.

The

59.

Wednesday

60.

paralysis

is,

is

changeling.

on the

first

day

of

May,

or rather perhaps Avas, so called.

the

fairies'

Sabbatli or holiday.

These children were

tongue, and seemingly idiots.

little,

backward of their

XV.
NORTH OF ENGLAND FOLKLORE.

ILLUSlTvATIOXS OF

Michael Scott.

Long

before Sir AYalter Scott had given increased celebrity to

the wizard feats of his clansman, Michael Scott, his fame

penetrated to the remotest villages of Northumberland.

anecdotes, but

somewhat varied

him

mitted of

there, as well as in the hamlets

The versions with which

side of the Borders.

The following

Minstrel.

are

what

on the northern

Walter Scott

Sir

Lay

of the Last

from Michael

I once obtained

M., wdio had heard them, when living as a young

Hexham

Mitchell Scott, and

address

my

call

man

in the

magician

the

informant's master used jocularly to

as " Mitchell Scott, the devil's piper."

him

]\Iitchell

North ambrians

The

district.

Similar

have been trans-

in the telling,

w^as acquainted are related in the notes to the

had

Scott

devil's back,

was on one occasion crossing the sea on the

and when they

w^ere half

way

over the devil cun-

ningly asked him what the good wives in Scotland said in the

morning when they

devil,

and

flee

"

IMitchell wrothfully shouted

rose.

If he

had

replied,

" God

bless

" Mount,

us

a'

this

2;reat in that district for havino;

beat

mornino:," he would have been drowned.

The fame of Mitchell

the

devil

and

employing them

well-known device of

to spin ropes of sand,

denying them even the

aid of chaif to supply

material.

is

myrmidons by

the

his

some degree of tenacity

to the incohesivc

JLLUSTEATIONS OF NORTH OF ENGLAND FOLKLORE.

117

In modern times ho might have adapted their motive power

to

some serviceable purposes, but

it is

in those

dark

acres

some

utilitarian ideas for

preservation had crossed his

in erecting the

Roman

plished in one night

"

A\^atling

firmly believed that even

mind

human

for did he not

AVall, the Avhole of

which they accom-

Street

in

many

places

Mitchell Scott's Causeway^ and

it

is

England

of

night.'^ *

other

called

is

believed by the credulous

vulgar there that the devil and his friend Mitchell

one

comfort or

occupy them

made

it

in

In Stirlingshire also the military causew^ay and

Roman works

are sometimes ascribed to Michael Scott, f

In Fifeshire Michael's emissaries cut a roadway through a hill4

Michael Scott w^as desirous

piece of country called

to

have a road through a marshy

Cunninghamhead,

ordered the devil to execute this task.

are to be seen to this day.
that Michael Scott

may

in

Ayrshire.

Mr. Longstaffe thinks

be commemorated in

'^

it

"the

wrote

devil

me

that he

had seen somewhere

and Mitchell Scott

built the

and that they completed the work

He was

also consulted as

possible

Scot's Corner,

near Catterick, and Scot's Dike in Northumberland."

Denham

He

Yesticres of that road

Mr.

||

in print that

Roman Wall jointly,

in a fortnight."

an engineer

to

render shallow^ rivers

capable of floating ships of burden up to quiet inland towns,

wdiose inhabitants envied the seaports, the flow" of traffic ceaselessly

pouring through their crow^ded

streets,

to the

enrichment, as they thought^ of the entire community.

general

Of

this

^ Ure's Hist, of Rutherglen, p. 133.

f

Nimmo's

\ Blair's

Hist, of Stirling shiae, p. 82.

Ramhling

llecollections, p. 118.

Mitchell and Dickie's Philosophy of Witchcraft, p. 200.

" Durham before
the Conquest," in Memoirs of Archccolog.
Instit. Xorthd., i. p. 58.
II

THE DENTITAM TRACTS.

118

we have an
Rambles

in

instance in that well-written

book, Chatto's

little

Northumlerland (pp. 47 and 48), which has been

drawn upon by subseqncnt writers on Northumbrian

The River Wansbeck '' discharges itself into the sea
Folklore.

laro;ely

at a place called

Gambols, about nine miles

whose fame

that Michael Scott,

as a wizard

Scotland, would have brought the tide to

whom

courage of the person failed upon

project depended.

and

to the eastward,

the tide flows to within five miles of Morpeth.

Tradition reports
not confined to

is

the town had not

the

the execution of this

This agent of Michael, after his principal

had performed certain

spells,

was

to

run from the neighbourhood

of Cambois to Morpeth without looking behind, and the tide

would follow him.

After having advanced a certain distance he

became alarmed by the roaring of the waters behind him, and,

forgetting the injunction, gave a glance over his shoulder to see

danger was imminent, when the advancing

if the

tide

diately stopped, and the burgesses of Morpeth thus

chance of

and the

liavino^ the

sea.

"Wansbeck navio-able between

It is also said that

Michael intended

similar favour on the inhabitants of

Wear
were

navigable to their city

to

be can-ied into

immethe

lost

their

town

to confer a

Durham by making

the

but his good intentions, which

effect in

the

same manner,

Avere also

frustrated through the cowardice of the person who had

'

guide the

"

tide.'

i\Iichael

Scott,"

decessor Merlin,

to

"

says

fell at last

Sir

AV alter

Scott,

"like his

a victim to female art.

pre-

His wife, or

concubine, elicited from him the secret that his art could ward
off

any danger except the poisonous

the flesh of a

breme sow.

tered to the wizard,

qualities of broth

made

of

Such a mess she accordingly adminis-

who

died

in

consequence of eating

it,

surviving, however, long enough to put to death his treacherous

confidant."

(Note 2

umbrian statement

is

to

La

>j

of Last Minstrel.)

more circumstantial, and

The North-

o-ives a

reverse

ILLUSTRATIONS OF XOKTH OF FXGLAXD FOLKLORE.

turn to the event.

was more

Mitcliell Iiaving told his wife that

poirjonous than

tlie

119

nothing

boiled flesh of a breeming sow,

she faithlessly took ad^'antage of the confidence reposed in her

by preparing

him

for

of the

dish

deleterious

article,

of

Growing deadly sick, he suspected her infidelity, and ascertaining what she had done, he
made inquiry of what had become of the " broo," or water in
which it w^as cooked, for this was the only remedy to counteract
the poison.
The wife had thrown it out, but being shown the
which

place

he

heartily partook.

where

made by

this

had been done, he drank out of the hollow

a cow's foot sufficient to allay the baneful effects.

He

punished his wicked spouse by causing two eggs to be roasted

and put

fire-hot

below her arm-pits, her arms being tied down.

She was thus, in a most cruel manner,

''

burnt to death, the

heat reaching to her heart."

Thomas the Rhymer.

Thomas Rhymer's name

umberland

with

that

of

equally well

is
liis

known

wonder-working

in North-

countryman

Michael Scott, but I could not recover any more of his savings than a

rhymed

couplet of

some popular version of

his

prophetic utterances
"
/

AVhen Low Sundaj falls on May Day,

Thomas the Ehjmer has nae mair to say."

The author of

dim form of the

Cheviot, a

seer

Fragment, by R. W.,

often mist-shrouded w^indings of Dunsdale,

one of

which includes

forks Bizzle or Baizle, the highest

its

Then came

the

to

Which never

as

and most pictur-

esque range of rocks on the great Cheviot.

''

seats

upon a grey crag among the gloomy and

Dunsdale on the momitain's

side,

yet the sun's bright eye espy'd,

THE DENHAM TEACTS.

120

dismal den, black as the month of

Here once, they

hell.

say, did frightful spirits dwell

I\ow dead or bonnd, or snnk ninch deeper down,

Or domineer where Jesns

Damp
Stay

is

not known.

streams, gross darkness, and a tronhled

air,

yet

Whilst we look on we are with horror

seiz'd,

Yet seem with the delusion to be pleas'd.

Here about Lermot sat, who cou'd not climb.
And was contented with mysterious rhyme
^TSTe'er was nor ever will be understood,
;

Anel therefore by the most accounted good." *

Thomas

Priiiglc, the poet, seats not

" mountain

spirit/'

''

True Thomas," but the

upon the Hanging Stone.

This rock

on the Cheviots, but further round on the north

towards Scotland.

acquired this name,

It

it is

side,

said,

is

looking

from the

cumstance that a packman was once resting upon

it,

also

cir-

with his

burden of cloth too near the edge, when the pack slipped over,

and

its

belt tightening

same thing happened

sheep, both

man and

round

his

to a robber

neck, strangled him,

who was carrying

sheep being hanged.

adapted for the seat of an unearthly being

"

The

off a stolen

It is thus peculiarly
:

For there the mountain spirit still

Lingers around the lonely hill,

To guard

his

wizard grottoes hoar

Where Cimbrian

sages dwelt of yore

Or, shrouded in his robes of mist,

x\scends the mountain's shaggy breast,

To seize his fearful seat upon

The elf-enchanted Hanging Stone."

* Cheviot, by R.

W.,

Poetical
f Pringle's

edited by

Works,

p.

John Adamson, 1817,

119, London, 1839.

pp. 40, 41.

XVI.

BOEDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLOEE.

The Hunter and

Under

his

a grassy s^Yell,

Houxds
which

Legend of Beinkburx.

may know by

a stranger

being snrronnded with a wooden railing, on

Priory, tradition afhrms there

Brinkbrtrn

is

the

its

outside of

a subterraneous

passage, of which the entrance remains as yet a secret, leading

to

an apartment to which access

manner denied

in like

is

and as these visionary dwelKngs are invariably provided with

occupants,

it

is

asserted that a hunter

who had

in

some way

offended one of the priors was along with his hounds, by the
aid of enchantment,

condemned

mysterious

Only once was an unenthralled mortal

abode.

to perpetual

slumber in that

favoured with a sight of the place and of those

entombed
one day
felt

alive.

listlessly

who

sauntering on this

the ground stirring beneath him, and springing

discovered a

by man

flat

are there

dog attending him, was

verdant mound, when he

shepherd_, with his

aside he

door, where door had never before been seen

yea, that door opening upwards

of

the very spot where he had been standing.

osity he descended a

its

own accord on

Actuated by curi-

number of

steps which appeared beneath

him, and on reaching the bottom found himself in a gloomy
passage of great extent.
Groping along this warily, he at last
encountered a door, which opening readily, he aloncr with the

dog was suddenly admitted into an apartment illumined so

hght of day seemed to shine there. This

brilliantly that the full

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

122

from darkness

transition

abrujDt

him of

deprived

gradually recovering he

beheld

some minutes

light for

to

power of observing

the

enough

objects correctly, but

him with

strike

to

astonishment, for on one side at a table, with his head resting

on

hand, slept one in the garb of a hunter, wdiiie at some

his

distance another figure reclined on the floor with his head lying

back, and around

them

him

lay

many

appearance to rene^^ that

to all

to

all

the

to his

chase which consigned

lij)s

to

sound

it

was

all

examine, and

stepped forward to
it

fatal

chamber of enchantment.

horn and a sword, Avhich, seeing

applied

a noble hound., ready as ever

On

the table lay a

but the

shepherd

-quiet, the

taking up

horn

the

kept a watch, showed symptoms of aw^aking whenever he

the attempt, wdiich alarming
started

no longer.

him he replaced

Reassured, he

and now both men became

own

doo', as if ao-itated

the

door.

noise behind

he

made

and the figure

the sword, half draws

lifts

it,

and made some angry

restless

movements, and the hounds began

it^

first

whom

hunter^ on

to hustle about, wdiile his

bv the same uneasiness, slunk towards

Alive to the increased commotion and hearing a

him very

like the

creaking of hinges, he suddenly

turned round and found to his dismay that the door was moving
to.

Without waiting a moment he rushed through the

closed entrance follow^ed

by

his dog.

He had

half-

not fled ten paces

when, shaking the vault with the crash, the door shut behind
him, and a terrible voice assailed his ears pouring maledictions

on him for his temerity.

at full

The fugitives traversed the passage

speed, and ghidly hailed the

aperture above.

light streaming in at the

The shepherd quickly ascended the

He

before he got out the cover had nearly closed.

steps,

but

succeeded^

and that was all, in escaping perhaps a worse fate than those
but his
victims of monkish thraldom which he had just left
;

poor dog wa^ not so fortunate, for

parts

had just raised

come up when th? door fastened on

to

through

it

it

its

fore-

and nipped

it

123

BOEDEE SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

This story, being a fiimily inheritance of the European race of

many

people, has obtained a wide circulation, and there are

modes of
which

telling

We

has been adapted.

it

localities to

answerable to the far separated

it,

recognise

in the banished

it

Saturn reposing in a cave on a remote desolate coast (1)

the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus

Eoman

brethren, in

(2)

habits, lying

in

foreign

seven

the

in

profound slumber in

in a

cave on the shores of the ocean in the extreme northern confines

Germany

of

(3)

whom herdsmen

federacy,

their antique garb

(5)

Bero^

in

Thurino^ia,

in

Untersberg,

place

the

tradition

tales of

the Castle of Cronen-

of

accordino-

or,

Salsburg

but

(6),

and

(7)

as

told
to

another

to

Britain,

Kino; Arthur and Sewinorshields."

(1) Plutarch.

alihiis;

great

the

the

of

number
peopled

of
the

In the subsequent notice will be found the parallel

was charmed

lib.

has

it

in

latter

enchanted warriors and

Cave"

The correct legend about Dunstanborough

hardiun,

and

379th

the

in

the

legend

the

in

leo^end,

in

him

betwixt

vacillates

out in the tale of the ^'Wizard's

chieftain

in the Kylfhauser

Western Empires

and sea-side caves with

huntsmen.
^'

Ogier the Dane, or Holger

in

vaults

Transferred

Spectator.

mountain

the

near

Emperor Charles Y.
tomb of Bosencreutz,
the

sleep in

in Frederick Barbarossa, miraculously preserved to

unite the Eastern and

the

who

Switzerland's hour of need^ in a cavern

till

Danske, enchanted

the Three Tells,

call

near the lake of Lucerne (4)

burgh

Con-

the three founders of the Helvetic

in

i.

c.

(2) Gihl)on.
4

Bomce^ 1555,

his

vrith

The storv cro])S

Tynemouth (8).

Castle, tells that its

hounds, his sword, and bugle-

(3j Paulus DiacGiius de Gestis Longo-

Olaus Magnus Historia de Gentihns Septentrionlib.

i.

c. 3.

Quarterly Peview, March, 1820.

ivay^ Sicedeu,

at

and Denmark,

(4) Mrs.

Hemans' Worhs^

ii.

p.

(5) Inglis's Journey through

G5

Nor-

pp. 290, 291; Quarterly Iterieiv, uhi sup.

(6) Menzel's History of Germany, i. p. 487

(7) Keigiitle;y's Fairy Mythology, p. 234.

Quarterly Peview, 1820.

(8) Hone's

Table Booh,

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

124

horn, and enclosed in one of the vaults of that ancient for-

adjuncts

the

tress (9),

of

Monk

Lewis, Service, and others

At Fastcastle the adventurer comes out a

hoary-headed man, minus his coat tails. In the Cheviots the
cave contains " tlu'ee men in armour,'^ surrounded with their

being imaginary.

"hounds, hawks, and horses "(10).

Sir Walter Scott in an

poem makes them an army assembled

early

by the

spells of Sir

entranced within the chambers of the Eildon

vault at Roslin holds alive a warrior

every seven years, and the

elsewdiere,

Thomas

Halbert Kerr,

to aid

Sometimes they are

to

Thomas of Ercildoune, and meanwhile remain

with

return

Michael Scott (II).

who

difficulty to free

hills (12).

him

The

be approached

rna}^

here, as well as

depends on the choice of the horn or the sword.

the

Rhymer, with a mighty

host,

asleep under

lies

Tom-na-hurich, a mountain near Inverness.

" Beside each coal-black courser

A raven plume waves

o'er

.sleeps a

each helmed

knight,
crest,

And

black the mail which binds each manly breast;

Girt

^vitli

broad faulchion, and with bugle green,

Say,

who

is

he, ^Yith

summons strong and

high,

That bids the charmed sleep of ages fly,

AVhile each dark warrior rouses at the blast,
His horn, his faulchion grasps with mighty hand,

And

ii.

pp.

peals proud Arthnr's

747-750.

James Hall,

p.

(9)

84

march from Fairy-land

Widdrinrjton,

Alnwick, 1827.

Tale

(3 0)

"
!

of Hedgley Moor, by

Poems hy Robert David-

son of Morebattle, p. 172.

(11) Lockhart's IJfe of Sir Walter
Scott, i. p. 310, &c.
(12) Scott's Demonologij, p. 133, where a
similar story is cited from Reginald Scott's Discovery of Witchcraft

Leyden's Poetical Remains,

*

For more on

and

Foil-lore, pp.

written in
lands,

18G4

iv. p.

85.

p.

357.

this subject see Kelly's Indo-Eiiroiiean Tradition

284-289, and not consulted when the above was

also Campbell's

Popular Tales of

the

West High-

BOEDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

Legends of King AiixnuR axd of

On

Sewixg.-iiield?.

subject I have already written In the Local Historian''

tliis

Table Bool', Leg. Div.,

to

125

be sufficient, but

without the

complete

pp. 37-46,

ii.

and

corresponding native

legend being placed in juxtaposition with

Sewingshields

lies

this

might be tliought

preceding ilhistration ^YOuld not be

tlie

between the

the

of

versions

it.

Koman Wall and

the military

road, near the twenty- eighth mile stone from Newcastle, and at
the western extremity of AVarden
Castle,

low,

"

lumpy mass of
by

^A^all

was

It." *

seven

his time a square,

ruins^ overgrowji with nettles,

the basaltic

still

remained.

This

cliffs,

along the brow of which the

Roman

There are also some traces of trenches near

built.

castle referred to

Is tlie

Harold

canto of

sixth

in

on the end of a dry ridge and overlooked from the

Its site is

south

Of Sewingshields

Parish.

Mr. Hodgson informs us that

the

In reference to

shields."

Bruce remarks, |

^'

by

Sir

Walter Scoit

in the

Dauntless as the " castle of the

its

Dr.

condition

present

Too truly he says:

No towers are seen

On the wild heath, but those that Fancy builds.
And save a fosse that tracks the moor with green,
Is nought remains to tell of what may thei'e have been.'
'

"

It stood in the centre

moss,^ which

is

now

of the only patch of ground in

subjected to the plough.

been uprooted and the vaults

tradition relating to

it

"

'

the

The walls have

removed, but

the

following

will not readily perish." %

" Immemorial tradition has asserted that King Arthur, his

* Hodgson's Hlstorij of XortJiumhcrland part

,

t Wallet-Booh of
% Ibid.

the

Boman

Wall,

p. 100.

ii.

vol. Hi.

126

THE DENIIAM TRACTS.

queen Guenever,

were enclianted

his court of lords

and

some cave of the

in

and

ladles,

hounds,

liis

below

crao-s, or in a hall

the Castle of Sewingshields, and would continue entranced there

some one should

till

first

near the entrance of the

stone

'

blow a bugle-horn that lay on a table

and then with

hall,

the SAvord of the

'

cut a garter also placed there beside

But none had

it.

ever heard where the entrance to this enchanted hall was

the farmer at Sewingshields, about fifty years since,

knitting on the ruins of the castle and his clew

downwards through

and

a rush of briars

into a deep subterranean passage.

entrance into

fell

till

sitting

and ran

he supposed,

Fuil in the faith that the

King Arthur's hall was

the briarv portal of

nettles, as

was

noAv discovered, he cleared

weeds and rubbish, and entering a vaulted

its

passage followed, in his darkling way, the thread of his clew.

The

floor

was infested with toads and

wings of

bats,

fcarfidly

around him.

strengthened

lizards

and the dark

disturbed by his unhallowed intrusion,

l)y

grew gradually

At length

flitted

sinking

courage was

a dim, distant light, which as

he advanced

brighter,

at

till

his

once he entered a vast and

vaulted hall, in the centre of which a

fire

without

fuel,

from

a broad crevice in the floor, blazed with a high and lambent

flame that showed

monarch and

all

the carved walls

and

fretted roof,

and

tlie

queen and court reposing around in a theatre

his

On

of thrones and costly couches.

the floor,

beyond

the fire,

lay the faithful and deep-toned pack of thirty couple of hounds

and on a
garter.

and
the

table before

it

The shepherd reverently but firmly grasped the sword,

as he

drew

it

monarch and

leisurely

He

ctit

being slowly sheathed the

they

all

up

from

his courtiers

they sat upright.

lifted

the spell-dispelling horn, sword, and

rusty scabbard the eyes of

to open,

and they rose

till

the garter; and as the sword was

spell

gradually sank to rest

his eyes

its

began

asstimed

its

ancient power, and

but not before the monarch had

and hands and exclaimed:

BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

woe betide that

'

On

wliich

tliis

evil

witless

127

day

wight was bora,

Who drew the sword the garter

But never blew the bngle-horn

cut,

'

" Of

this favourite tradition the

respectino' the place

most remarkable variation

Some

where the farmer descended.

is

say

that after the kincr's denunciation terror brouo-lit on a loss of

memory, and he was unable

to give

adventure or the place where

any correct account of

occurred.

it

But

his

agree that

all

Mrs, Spearman, the wife of another and more recent occupier

of the estate, had a dream, in which she saw a rich hoard of
treasure

among

many

the ruins of the castle, and that for

together she stood over

workmen employed

days

in searching for

it,

but without success." *

Mr. Errington, a recent tenant, has removed the vaults

making any

altogether, without

The version of

this

South Northumberland

discoveries of

moment.

story that I obtained from a native of

is

circumstantial, but

less

its

verity

is

not the less to be depended on.

shepherd one day, in quest of a strayed sheep, on the

crags near Sewingshields, had his steps arrested

thread.

This he laid hold

pointed out, found

it

he

felt

that

it

and

|)ursuiiig the

by

a ball of

which

patli

it

led into a cavern, in the recesses of which,

as the guiding line used

devious passages,

of,

by miners

appeared

in their

perforce constrained to

had so marvellously come

explorations of

As he approached

to lose itself.

strange

follow the

into his hands.

conductor

After passing

through a long and dreary vestibule he was ushered into an

apartment in the
hearth, and cast

interior.

its

An

broad flashes

immense
to the

fire

on the

blazed

remotest corner of the

Hodgson's History of Korthumherland, part

ii.

vol.

iii.

p.

287

THE DENHAM TEACTS.

128

Over

chamber.

was placed

it

made

parations were being

Two hounds

as

if

on an extensive

pre-

scale.

lay on either side of the fireplace, in the stillness

The only remarkable piece of furniture

of unbroken slumber.

apartment was a

in the

huge cauldron,

for a feast

table,

covered wath green

cloth.

At

the head of the table, a being considerably advanced in years,

and clad in the habiliments of war,

of a

dignified mien,

as

were, fast asleep in an arm-chair.

it

the table lay a horn

of

life,

and a sword.

At

sat,

the other end of

Notwithstanding these signs

throughout the chamber there prevailed a dead silence,

the very feeling of

which made the shepherd

reflect that

he had

advanced beyond the limits of human experience, and that he

Avas

now

in the presence of objects that belonged

than

to life

ever,

had

horn.
*'

The very idea made

tlie

fortitude left to advance to the table

The hounds pricked up

started

told the

more

up on

his elbow,"

stao^orered

their ears,

and raising

hind that

if

to death

He, how-

his flesh creep.

and

lift

the

and the grisly veteran

his half unwilling eyes,

he would blow the horn and

draw the sword he would confer upon him the honours of

But such unheard-of

knio'hthood, to last throuo;h time.

nities

from

dio^-

met with no appreciation

a source so ghastly either

from the awe-stricken swain, or the terror of finding himself

alone in

tlio

company,

it

might

be,

of maliguant phantoms,

wdio were only tempting him to his ruin, became too urgent
to be resisted,

and therefore proposing

to

divide the peril with

a comrade, he groped his darkling way, as best his quaking limbs

could sup])ort him, back to the blessed daylight.

On

his return

with a reinforcement of strength and courage every vestige

of the opening of a cavern was obliterated.

Thus

failed another

of the repeated opportunities for releasing the spell -bound

of Britain

from the

rocky chamber he
appointed hour.

^'

still

charmed

sleep of ages."

sleeps on,

as

tradition

King

Within
tells, till

his

the


BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

Of
sings

the

'^

Castle of the

129

Seven Shields," thus Sir Walter Scott

fSeven moiiarclis' wealth in that castle lie stow'd,

The

foul fiends brood o'er

Whoever

From

curfew

till

toad,

Avithin,

of heart

waxes old

faint as the world

lives not in Britain a

So dauntless

As

chambers

matins that treasure shall win.

But manhood grows

There

them hke raven and

shall question these

champion

so bold,

and so prudent of brain,

to dare the adventure that treasure to gain.

The waste ridge of Cheviot

shall

wave with the

Before the rude Scots shall Northumberland

And

the

flint cliffs

rye.

fly,

of Bambro' shall melt in the sun,

Before that adventure be peril'd and won."

'"'

local tradition of King Arthur is told by Dr.

"
Bruce:
To the north of Sewingshields, two strata of sandstone

One more

crop out to the day

the

the highest points of each ledge are called

King and Queen's Crag, from

who, meanwdiile, was eno-aoed in

Some

w^itli

arrano-ino; her

'

his queen,

back

hair.'

expression of the queen's having oiFended his majesty, he

seized a rock

which lay near

liim,

and with an exertion of

strength for which the Picts were proverbial, threw

a distance of about a quarter of a mile
it

blow

fell

the stone

Harold

It

comb upon

it,

it

Shields" has been

JDaunfless,

made

canto

iv.

the subject of a

lies

off the

to this

very

to attest the truth of

probably weighs about twenty

the

at her,

The queen with great

between them, where

day, wdth the marks of the

the story.

it

upon her comb, and thus warded

dexterity caught

King

the following legend.

Artlmr, seated on the furthest rock, Avas talking

tons.' " f

"

The Legend of Shewin

poem by James Service. lie

makes the hero of the adventure a sort of Rip van AVinkle. Metrical
Legends of Northumberland Alnwick, 1834, 8vo., pp. 124, 130.
,

Wallet-Booh of

VOL.

II.

the

Roman Wall,

pp. llo, 111.

THE DEXIIAM

liiO

Xr.ACTS.

" Near the fiirmliouse of Sewiiigsliiels," says Mr. Hodgson,

^'

several basaltic columns rose very proudly and remarkably in

the

front

high and rugged

of the

King Arthur, and by

single,

seat

many-sided

on

King

others

shaft,

that

cliflp

traversed, an.d one of these in particular

was

Ethel's

'

chair.

It

of other curule seats of ancient monarchs existed

various ])arts of the country.

at

was a

was most wantonly

overturned a few years since by a mischievous lad."

Maiden Well

by some

about ten feet high, and had a natural

top, like a chair with a back, but

its

'

had

wall

the
called

On

till

variety

recently in

a rock which overhung the

Wooler, and on the precipitous margin of the

a natural chair called the " King's Seat,"

Maiden Cam}), was

whereon a

kin/r

and viewed

sat

cramped-up hollow beneath

custom

for,

his

armv

fio^htino;

adds the legend,

for kings in those days to sit."

unfortunately been quarried away.

it

iu

This rocky throne has

similar chair exists on

Twinlaw, one of the Lammermoor range, in Berwickshire

hill

the

" was the

celebrated in the traditionary annals of fraternal discord.*

The unfortunate James IV. of Scotland

occupied a kindred

position during a part of the fatal

day of Flodden Field, and

posterity, with true attachment to a

theme

recently

Chair.

offered
''

uniherland,

Flodden

the

to

passing

so melancholy,

stranger's

gaze the

It is," or rather

was, says Wallis [Ilistoru of Xorth-

"a

natural rock, on the highest part of

ii.

Hill,

p.

471),

from which he had a good view of

his

of the English army, and of the country around him."

also

now

till

King's

quarried away.

also its tradition

of this

own and
This

is

Arthur's seat, near Edinburgh, has

class.

There

is

a hill called Kincr's

Seat about the head of Breamish, between the Hancrino; Stone

and Russell's Cairn

and a King's Seat

also in the

Lammer-

* Xeiv Statistical Account of Scotland, Benciclshire, p. Oo.

information about the chair

is

from oral testimony.

The


BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.
moors

But on

East Lothian.

of

prosaic to insist.

''

It lias

king- sate

Which

been

'*

subject

this

married

131

to

would be

it

immortal verse":

on the rocky brow

looks o'er sea-born Sahunis

And ships, by thousands, lay below,

And men in nations all w^ere his
He counted them at break of day
And when the sun set where were they
!

"
?

Biirun.

In South Africa

it is

a chieftain's ambition that he should be

seated aloft on a crag.

^Moshesh leading the Basutos to take

vengeance on the Mantaetis, a neighbouring tribe, addresses

them " To-morrow, brothers, you will have reconquered for
:

me

yonder high rock, wdiereon the Mantaeti

will

offer

a})plause,

me

it

my

for

crying, " Thou

shall

sit,

sits at

ease

you

The army hissed

mine."

seat,

thou

slialt

sit

its

on the rock,

OKing."*
may

In some instances these eminences

On K}le

seats of ancient courts.

Hill, in tlie parish of Clonfert

Mulloe, in Queen's County, Leinster, "

Brehon of the Fitzpatricks."

on

called

farm

hills.

The

hill

Suid Chattan, or
of

South

Suidh Bldain, or
Britannia^

is

an ancient judgment-

Brehons, formed in the solid rock, called by the

seat of the

peasantry here the " Fairy-chair."

seats

have been judgment-

it

on the south side of Kilcattan Bay

St.

Garrachtle

Cattan's Seat, and the

(both

Blane"s Seat.J

St.

will be

This was the tribunal of the

Saints also had their memorial

being in
If

we

is

hill

on tho

is

called

Bute)

consult

Camden's

found that these mountain seats are quite

numerous.
* Good Words, 1862,

p.

2S4.

j Gorton's Topograpldccd Dictionary of Great Britain

i.

p.

and Ireland,

4G8.

X Wilson's Guide

to

Botliesau, p. 133.

k2

Eothesay, 1848.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

132

The Bells of Brixkbuhx,

Centuries ago one of the priors of Brinkburn presented the
bells of that building to the priory of

the pride of the

Durham.

They hud been

secluded sanctuary on the Coquet, for their

tones were possessed of great power combined with sweetness,

and many tempting

had Durham made

offers

But she prevailed

but hitlierto to no purpose.

the bells so coveted were

Durham under

to

They journeyed

they reached the River Font,

till

However, they prepared

ford

to

follen,
it

was much

but when the

horses readied the middle of the stream the bells by some

or,

fell,

and

some

the care of

which, owing to a quantity of rain having

swelled.

at length,

removed from the tower and dispatched

on horseback on their way

monks.

them,

to secure

according to the popular

belief,

means

were removed from the

backs of the horses by miraculous interposition, and sank to the

bottom.

from the
the
to

Owino; either to the dancrerous state of the stream or

bells

monks

being unwilling to be removed, the exertions of

to recover

them proved unavailing

Brinkburn and reported the

determined not

Durham

to be

to request the

disaster.

the imprisoned bells

But the Brinkburn

presence of his brother prior, and both

and

lo

full

attendance to liberate

the superior

one

for they

were

in

his

the bells of

with ease; and, being conveyed to Durham,

Ilisiorij

Still

at

a saying in

Durham
assures

to the cathedral

there are doubters.

" the deep pool where the

is

it

cf Xortlaajiherland,

Brinkburn were removed

banks of the AVear.

in 1859, says

to every-

had no sooner ridden into the stream than the

lifted

were lodged there in safety. To this day

Coquetdale that " Brinkburn bells are heard
AVallis,

of high

abilities

church functionaries over humble monks was manifest

bells

prior,

sent forthwith a messenger to

baffled,

then proceeded with a

ecclesiastics

so they returned

bells

;"

us

on

and
that
tiie

Walter White,

were

lost is still to

BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

be

seen

[Coquet] (13);

the river"

in

positive that

some years ago

''

133

and Mr. AVilson

a fragment of the bell

buried at the root of a tree on the

is

was found

on the opposite side of

hill

the river " (14).

Of

behs, William

the

Places,

p.

;g.,

Howitt, in his

52G, note, says

" The

Visit

bell

to

ReinarhaUe

tower looks down

uj)on the Bell Pool, a very deep part of the Coquet, lying con-

cealed beneath the thick foliage of the native trees that jut out

from the interstices of the

over either side.

were thrown

craggy heights, impendinc--

lofty,

Tradition says that into this pool the bells

in a time of

danger in order

to place

them beyond

the reach of the invading Scots.

It is still a fayourite

amuse-

ment among

of the

neighbourhood

to dive

Brinkburn, and then

for the bells of

when

young swimmers

the

it is

generally believed that

the bells are found other treasures will be recovered w^ith

them."

of"

I fear that several of the tales

myths.

Thus

flitted'^ bells are

tradition says that the bell of

Lincoln, and

w^as transported to

is

there (15).

still

popular

Coldingham Abbey
It

was a

Abbey were lost in

an attempt made to ferrv them

popular opinion that the bells of Jedburgh

the

Tweed

to

opposite Kelso, in

Another

"

across.

Hexham, and

tradition

fitted

up

is

to

that

were

they

carried

off

adorn the yenerable cathedral

there " (16).

Of the
shire,

bells of the

it is

abbey of Cambuskenneth, in Clackmannan-

reported that one was for some time in the town of

Stirling, but that the finest

River Forth (17).

The

was

Bell

lost in its

of

passage across the

Morven Church had been

(13) Northumberland and the Border, p. 107. (14) Berwicljshire Xat.

Club's Froc, iv.

p. 140.

Hunter's

p.

290.

to

Jedburgh,

p. 15.

(1.5)

Coldingham

Fiillarton's

Gazetteer of Scotland,

Priorij, p. 75.

(17) FuUarton's Gazetteer,

i.

(IG) Hilson's Guide

i.

p. 233.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

134

transfeiTod from lona (18).

used

preach

to

There

It

centuries'.

hung a

was dumb

on Sunday morning, when

it

It was

to the old

subsequentlyremoved

to another saint,

the tree on

which

where
it

it

had

a tradition

rang of

Many

to

be

all

till

original

and favourite

hung

in the

The

sunset.

after withered

their

away

new

''(19).

positions.

have retained great

to

which they belonged and where

When
situation,

its

till

they were reconciled to the change.

affection for the churches to

take a nightly trip to

accord

church of Strath, dedicated

of them, says Brand, " are said

they were consecrated.

week

the

own

its

it

sunrise

till

ever afterwards remained dumb, and

so long

tied

where

bell in a tree,

Bells were sometimes not satisfied with

They required

Murce

that St.

called Ashig, on the north-east coast

at a place

of the Isle of Skye, " and that he

remained for

is

removed from

a bell Avas
it

its

was sometimes supposed

to

old place of residence, unless exercised

evening and secured with a chain or rope " (20).

tolling of the bell of

Brinkburn Priory was once the

occasion of the burning of the pile by a party of marauding

Scots,

stood

who would
embosomed

not have discovered

in

woods, except for

Mr. AVilson says the

its

situation, so densely

this

imprudence

fairies lie buried at

(21).

Brinkburn.

This

mortality, unheard of elsewhere, must have been attributable

the potency of the bells.

parish kirk of

Hounam,

Half a century ago the

in Roxburghshire, fell

in

it

to

bell of the

consequence

of which the banished fairies reassembled from the ends of the

earth to resume their revelry on the green banks of the Kale.

But the mischief

a

remedy

that they perpetrated

the bell was reinstated,

was

when

insufferable,

and

as

matters were restored

N. M/Loo(l, in Good Word.^, 1SG8, p. 837. (10) Dr.

Reeves on " Moelrubha," in Proceed, of Society of Antiquaries
(20) Brand's Pop. Antiq., ii. 13G.
of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 291.
Div., i. p. 228.
Leg.
Table-Book,
Richardson's
(21)
(18) Dr.

W.

BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

quo ante (22).

in statu

This

" There

these beings.

is

is

troll,

AVhcn they got up

in

'

Ploasant

Were

it

bells

sort

of Scandinavian fairv.

Botna Church, and he heard the

related to have said:

is
it

general belief about

tlie

near Botna, in Sweden, in

hill

which formerly dwelt a

ringing of them, he

true to

135

were in Botnahill to dwell,

not for the sound of that plaguey

It is said that a fjirmer havino^

f)und a

bell.'

very dis-

troll sittino;

consolaie on a stone near Tiis lake, in the island of Zealand,

and taking him

with,
in a

Well

'

man, accosted him

at first for a decent Christian

where are you going, friend

melancholy tone,

'

am

going

oft'

'

'

Ah

'

said he,

out the country.

cannot \i\q here any longer, they keep such eternal ringing and

dinging! '"(23).

Hid Treasure.
In the South of Scotland

'^

is

it

believed that there

is

con-

cealed at Tamleuchar Cross, in Selkirkshire, a valuable treasure,

of which the situation

rhyme

is

thus vaguely described in a popular

'

Atween the wat grund and the dry.

The gowd o' Tamleuchar doth lie "
'

correspouvlent thus writes

(I think

^'
:

more than twenty years

Before the old kirk of Hutton

since)

from about Newcastle, who professed

came down

to

(2-4).

was taken down, a man

to

be a money-finder,

Hutton and gave out that there was a large sum

money concealed under a stone a few yards from the church.

He actually commenced operations in quest of it, but soon
decamped and was no more heard of. This is the only instance,
of

and a very recent one, that

can remember of a

money

search

in Berwickshire."

(22) Davidson's Pocm.^, pp. 100, &c., 222, 223.

Fair// JItjthoIogi/, p. 112.

(23) Keightley's

(24) Chambers's Fojj. lihymes,

p. 2-40.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

136

The following

example of the

Irish formula furnishes another

singularly systematic consistency in the observances prescribed

for such adventures

cabin

in the

"

You know

the rock beside your mother^s

end of that rock there

east

is

a loose stone,

covered over with grey moss, just two feet below the
of which the hanging rowan tree grows

you

will find

more gold than would make

speak to any person, nor

you come back " (25).

a duke.

and

Xeither

any living thing touch your

let

out

cleft

pull that stone out

lips

till

It is to

be hoped that there are

stories otherwise than as

But

not, like the

own

Arab

for being

lost

under an infatuation

sheik, be convinced, even

labour to

they would

by the oath of their

" Osman," said he^ " I would not believe

brother.

that brother

them

would be

it

had sworn

AVady Moussa

know

it.

have dug

for

it,

there

and

these

days gone by.

fictions of the

them there are any,

if believers in

expostulate with

exploded

now few who regard

is

it

if

treasure in the

mean

to

dig for

it

again (26).

Fairies.

The

Re^'.

John Horsley

JVortJiumherland,
late

to

gathered

in his Materials for the Historij of

in

1729-30,

Mr. Hodgson Hinde, says, ^'The

be

much worn

and printed by the

stories of fairies

both out of date and out of credit."

seem now
This

is^

however, incorrect, so far as regards country people, long after

Horsley's time.

An

old

man

once said

to

me

that in the part

of Northumberland where he dwelt there was a time

was not

a solitary

standing amid

its

hawthorn

tree

circuit of fine

(25) Carleton's Three Tasks, &c.,

in Egypt, &c., chap. 22.

away out on

when

there

the green

hills,

cropped grass, that was not

p. 90.

(26) Stephens' Trarels

BOIIDEH SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

137

witness to the fairy revel and dance held beneath

encirclino-

its

The

branches in the twilight or by the pale light of the moon.

Northumbrian

numerous

fairies,

shy people^ and

now can be gathered

little

had been once a

as they were^

about their ongoings,

which, however, have the same peculiarities as have been told

of them in other favourite haunts.
stories that I

have heard as they Avere told

woman had

few simple

I shall give the

me.

to

a child that was remarkably puny.

voracious enough,

''

but put

meat

the

all

It

was

got within an

it

ill

skin,"

and never grew any, and there were shrewd suspicions

that

was

it

a changeling.

One day

her house, and shouted out,

into
siglit

come
and

Tender's the Fairy Hill

my

o^

wife and bairns

made

sti'aightw^ay

its

exit

a neighbour

Come

''

field at

Humshaugh, near

be haunted by the

fairies.

ye'll see a

Waes me

what'U

up the chimney.

Avith a

the

"

" screamed out the elf in the bed,

ploughman was once engaged with

two oxen and two horses,

and

here,

alowe."

a'

came running

boy

his team^ consisting of

to o^uide

them, in

tillino;

North Tyne, wdiich was reputed

While

one of the

at

'^

land ends"

He

he hears a great kirnin' going on, somewhere near him.

made another

circuit,

and

listening,

was aware of

lamenting: " Alack- a-day I've broken

I

do?"

''

Give

it

to

me, and

I'll

my

mend

a doleful voice

kirn-staflP,
it,'*

a
to

what

cries the

will

good-

natured ploughman; and on his return from the next '^bout,"

he found the kirn-staff laid out for him, along with a

and

nails.

He

another turn
liberal

carefully repaired

he came back

to

and

left it,

the spot

it

supply of bread and butter Avas set

He and

the boy partook of the repast, and

when

hammer

after makino-

was gone, and

down
all

in its place.

the cattle had a

share, except one ox, wdiieli resisted every effort to force the

food upon

it.

brute dropped
the

Before he got to the next land's end the stubborn

down

same manner

dead.

have heard the story told in almost

in Berwickshire.

Parallel instances of fairies

THE DE^'HAM TRACTS.

138
requiring

Jabez

human aid to mend their utensils may be found in

^"
On the Ignis Fatuus, or Will-o'-the-Wisp and

Allies,

the Fairies/^ extracted in Athenremn, 1846, p. 955

also

c.

1.

1085.

p.

Mothers sometimes brought the cradle

harvest time and

would be

left it at

liable to

to the field

when

the ridge end,

the

little

in

the

inmate

be exchanged for one of fairy breed.

To

deter children who gleaned behind the reapers from interfering

with the
''

sto(d\S,

fairv butter

were tempted

storv

"

Of

them.
is

it

was customary

touch and

to

ftiiry

that baits of

the fairies

it

fifty or sixty

they

if

would kidnap

Denham in a letter relates '^ A

Bridge) how that, some women going

work rather

into the field to

eat

butter," Mr.

told here (Pierse

now some

them

to tell

were placed among the sheaves, and

''

earlier one

morning than

years ago, found as

much

usual,

as nearly a

pound upon the top of a gate post, how they carefully gathered
It into a basin, and how they each and all partook, and found
it

to

be the

fairy

one of
alono'

nicest butther that

ony

o^

them had

iver taasted.'

''

man and woman once entrusted the up-bringing of

He received
their offspring to a man in Netherwitton.

with

re2;ularlv to

his

'

it

a box of ointment, with

rub

own with

its

it,

eyes, but he

was

which he was enjoined

to be careful not to

touch

otherwise he would incur a heavy penalty.

Curiosity overcame his scruples, and he anointed one of his eyes

with the ointment without experiencing

Havino- crone to

woman moving
could bo nc

any inconvenience.

Long Horsley fair, he saw both the man and

among the fair people, and thinking there

about

harm

in

it

he accosted them.

Surprised to be thus

recognised, they inquired with what eye he saw them, and ho

them, whereupon they blew into his eye and it became

The child was removed before his return home.
blinded.

told

A
man

midwife in Northumberland was one night summoned by a

to <^o out

and perform her

office

to a

sufferer

^'

in

the

BOEDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLOEE.

straw," to whicli she consented.

139

^Mounted on liorsel3ack behind

him, she was carried with incredible rapidity over an immense

space to a cottage, where the

An

a healthy child.
in a box,

woman was

with which she was

she was to beware of putting

to anoint tlic child all over^

any of

it

but

on her own eyes.

voluntarily, while executing her task, she

fino;ers across

soon after delivered of

attendant bronght to the midwife ointment

happened

draw her

to

her eves to remove some obstruction of

In-

sio-ht,

and

innnediately her eyes were opened and she saw that she was not
in a cottage at

all,

the fairy population

but in the midst of a wild waste, where

wns assembled round

her.

all

She had the

presence of mind not to betray any alarm, and having done

was required, she was conveyed back

that

the

to

same dispatch with which she had been taken from

among

sequently, being at a market, she observed

the

man and woman

with

whom

all

her dwelling with

Sub-

it.

crowd

the

she had formed this sincrular

acquaintance, as well as other agents invisible to man, passing

from

stall to stall

and purloining

bits of butter

and other

edibles.

She addressed them and asked them their reasons for these pro" Which eye do you see us with ? '' asked they.
ceedings.
'^

^Yith both," said she

Of

were blinded.

this

and they blew into them and both

and the previous story there are many

variations.

At
ring,

Chathill farm, north of Alnwick, there

dance any times

scribed

the
'^

was a famous

fairy

round which the children of the place could venture

number

less

was customary there

for

the

away by

fairies

to

goodies " and presents of food for cleanly children, but

the parents

to

If they had exceeded the pre-

of rounds they would have been taken

It

fairies.

than nine.

lay

when

became aware of it the practice was discontinued.

These three

last

incidents

were

Richardson, formerly of Newcastle,

told

who

me by Mr.

Gr.

afterwards gave

B.
a

somewhat embellished version in the Table Book, published by

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

140
]iis

fatlier, vol.

iii.

45, &c. (Legendary Division), along with

p.

other exam])les which he has not quite carcfLillj referred to their

Having misprinted

])roper authorities.

" faries," he induced Keightley,

takingh'

suppose

to

pronounced

''

that

in

the

Northumberland

{Fairy Mytliologij^

farry."

word

^'ftiiries"

as

quotes the stories, mis-

avIio

p.

'^

was

fairy "

310, note.)

In a Book of Depositions and other Ecclesiastical Proceedings

Durham from 1565

in the Courts of

was recognised

farye "

as

to

''

the

for

its

1573, \vc find that

which required

disease

Robert Duncan, of Walsend, near

Newcastle, f^irmer, aged 7 2 years, depones: " He haithe hard

treatment magical agency.

saye that Jennet Pereson uses wytchecraft in measuringe of

belts to

Catherine Fenwick,

preserve folks from the farye."

daughter of Constance Fenwick, gentlewoman, aged about 20

years,

saith

That about 2 yeres ago his cosyn Edward

''

Wyddrington had a

childe seke,

and Jenkyn Pereson ['s] wyfe

axed of Thomas Blackberd, then

vannte,

said Blackberd

byd the

And upon

hir.

childe's

same

the

de])onente mother ser-

this

how Byngemen (Benjamin)

the child did, and bad the

mother comme and speke with

deponent went unto

this

liir,

and

the said Pereson wyfe said that the child was taken wnth the

and bad

farye,

hir

sent 2 for southrowninge (south-running)

water, and theis 2 shull not speke by the waye, and that the
child shuld be

washed

water, and so hang

the

morowe

health

it

in

that water

upon a hedge

and dib the

shirt in the

that night,

and that on

all

the shirt shuhl be gone, and the child shuld recover

but the shirt was not gone, as she

deponent paid
she knoweth

to

said.

And

this

Pereson wife 3d. for hir paynes, otherwais

not whether she

is

Robert
" Dicit that he herd

a w^ytche or not."

Thompson, vicar of Benton, aged 52 years

one wedo Archer doughter, called Elisabethe Gibson, saye that

Jenkyn Pereson wyfe

the farye,

lieled hir

and gave hir

mother,

who was taken

6d. for hir paynes,

with

and that the said

BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

Jenkjn Pereson wjfe toke

3d. of

Edmond Thompson

Elsewhere " the Fayrie "

matter.'* *

141
for a like

accounted a peculiar

is

probably from its name ascribed to fairy influence.

" For one that is stricken with the Fayrie, spread oyle de Bay

disease,

on a linnen cloth, and lay

it

heart, apply

body

but

beneath the sore, and

it

Again we are

the sore be above the

if

to the

nape of the necke."

both instances no doubt translated from

told,

"The

older works,

above the sore, for that will drive

it

into every part of the

roote and seedes (of Peony),

the necke of children,

is

good against the

hanged about
and

falling sicknesse,

the haunting of the fairies and goblins." J

* Depositions and other Ecclesiastical Proceedings from the Courts

of

Durham, from 1311

Reign

to the

(Surtees Society,

of Elizabeth.

pp. 99, 100.)

i.

Langham's Garden of Health,

lb.,

483.

p.

and

to

aid dentition

Pliny says of Peony

book XXV. chap. 10

lib. vi.).

being

" This

Simpl. Medic,

and

that

belief

tie

prevent convul-

to

Mr. Henderson's Folh-Lore,

plant

is

the

neck

as

''

a preservative
i.e.

p. 21.

against the

the niglitmare {Nat,

v. p.

v'^9

cure

Galen,

for

epilepsy

amulet

and

supplies us wiih the

There are not wanting," says he,

tlie

seeds of the pa?ony, string

them round the necks

this

MatthioU Commentarii

'

them

old
like

of their children, being in

keep

off the epdepsy."

P. A.
P. Dioscorides, &c., pp. 594, 595.
Culpepper's English Physician, whence the

will

in Libros

See also

Yenetiis, 1570.

vogue

Commentary on Dioscorides

wives who, boring holes in

coral beads

in

the author of the prescription of the roots

is

figment about the seeds.

the

still

Bohn's English edition,

round

suspended

]\latthiolus in his

Folklore Record,

Folkfore, in

by the Fauni in sleep,"

illusions practised

Hist.,

also

London, 1574.

p. 47.

Sussex

also

use of the plant being

p. 44, tliis

sions

See

probably derived. For the connection between the

pa?ony and the " Herculean disease,'' epilepsy to wit, see Coicley on

popular belief

Plants, book

is

iii.

Lovell

(Herball, p. 334)

says

of pa^ony, " It

heals such as are thought to be bewitcht, allaid with rue, fennel, and
dill-waters."

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

142

South Xortliumberland a great deterrent as well as re-

Ill

vealer of the fairies, and a preventative of their influence,

" four-neuked clover^'

neuked " specimen

(a cinquefoil)

is

reckoned equally

This I learned from the people.

"

instance.
Avitton,

who

many

gamboling in the

On

fairies

home and

telling

was
five-

efficacious.

a pail

fields,

her companions, though pointed

reaching

"

an

lived near Xether-

home from milking with

head, saw

Chatto furnishes

]\Ir.

years ago, a girl

returning

invisible to

her.

Many

although

(a quadrifoil),

upon her

but which were

out to them by

what she had seen, the

circumstance of her power of vision being greater than that of

her companions was canvassed in the family, and the cause at

length discoA'ered in her weise,* which was found to be of fourleaved clover

persons

having about them a bunch, or even a

single blade, of four-leaved clover being

supposed

to

possess

the power of seeing fairies, even though the elves should wish
to be invisible
spirits

of perceiving in their proper

character evil

which assumed the form of men, and of detecting the

magic, necromancy, or witchcraft."

arts of those Avho practised

Taylor, the water-poet, banters such pretenders as could cure

diseases

by charms.

Among

" Witli two words and

He makes
'^

tlu'ec leaves of

the tootli-ache

i.

sta}^,

p. 438, ''the fairies

fonr-leavM grass,

repass, or pass."

from Vittry's Cross

folk trooped out

The weise

is

of

dell,

but

to

have

local

on moonlight nights these tiny

and cavern,

a circular pad,

and mine, and from

commonly made

but sometimes merely a wreath of straw or

from the pressure

Tate, in his Histonj

were supposed

There was a Fairies' Green not

habitations in our district.

Haifa century ago," savs Mr. George

of Alnwick^

far

others

of an old stocking,

gi'ass, to

save the head

of the pail.

see also Napier's jPo/I'-Zore

I Bamhles in Xortliumberland, p. lOG
West of Scotland, pp, 130, 132, 133.
;

in the

143

BORDEll SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

bracken, and from nncler green kno^Yes, and cut

heiieatli tlio

of other lonely places, to hold their revels with music and dance

of Clavport Bank.

the Fairies' Hollow at the top

in

was the Hurle Stane,

favourite haunt

Xew Town,

near

around which thev danced

'

Wind about and turn again,

And thrice around the Hnvle
Round about and

And

thrice

to

Their

Chillingham

sound of

to the

Stane

^vind again,

around the Hurle Stane.'

Brinkburn and Harehope Hill too thev frequented.

''

elfin

Xannie Alnwick, the v/idow of the

last

Old

of the ancient race of

Aln\Yick, the tanners, had faith in the good folk, and set aside
for

them

'

a loake of meal and a pat of butter,' receiving, as

she said, a double return from them

them enter

away

into

as the

On

Harehope

green

hill

Hill,

and heard

me

soil,

The

name

of the

''

which had

Fairy Steps."

last of the fairy race are said to

burn under a green mound.

be interred in Brink-

{Table Book, Leg. Div,,

F. R. Wilson, Ber. Kat. Club Froc,

iv.

p.

145.)

iii.

p.

48

On Fawdon

one of a series of low round-topped grassy eminences, was

held the fairy court

the Elf Hills are

Cambo, and the Dancing Green

at

"Dancing Green Knowe," among

Cockenheugh range,
the bleak
tlieir

caused bv subsidences of

rising in a gentle gradient to Swansfield Gate,

obtained the

the

music die

the Fairies' Hollow at the head of Clayport, and a

series of steps, or rather little benches,

Hill,

their pipe

closed over them."

one occasion, while visiting Alnwick, Mr. Tate pointed

out to

the

and often had she seen

as well as the

moors behind Beanley,

being resorts of the

diversion.

" Even

in

our

still

pointed out near

Debdon, near Ilothbury

the

Dancing Hall, where

still

brown heathy-backed

testify

by

their

stretch

names

to

"good people" for their favourite

own day," says Mr. Robert W^hite

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

144

{Tahle Book, Leg. Div.,ii. pp. 131-2) "

many

places are pointed

out as having formerly been the chief resorts of the elfin people.

small stream called the Ehvin, or Allan, which

Tweed from

north, a

the

little

into the

falls

above Melrose, was a noted

was Beaumont Water, on the north of Cheviot

locality, so also

and the gravelly beds of both are remarkable for a kind of small
stones of a rounded or spiral form, as if produced from the action
of a lathe, called

Fairy cups

'

cretions seofregated

from

'

and

fine clay.

'

[These are con-

dishes.'

I have a good series from

Nameless dean, on the Alwen or Ehvand, but the

the

locality

now covered up. I have also picked

up similar fairy stones, known as such to the country people, in
South Middleton dean among the Cheviots, and they occur in

where they were obtained

is

The

some of the banks on the lower course of the Tweed.]

chief haunt in Liddesdale was a stream which empties
into the Liddell

itself

On

from the south, called Harden Burn.

north side of the village of Gunnerton, in Northumberland,

small burn, in the rocky channel of which are

by

called

perforations,

country

likewise

are

indentations

Similar

the

people

many

curious

fairy

kerns.'

'

'

train

'

was accus-

dance at the Howestane-moutli, near Rochester, and

tomed

to

at the

Dowcrai.il Top,

At

Otterburne."

meadow once
Borcovicus,

solitary spot about

Housesteads,

the fairies

a mile

north of

by the Roman Wall, on a

by a suburb of the military

station of

come from an adjacent cave

for their

occu])ied

To

moonlight dances."^

the west of the station of Yindolana,

or Chesterholm, are the ruins of an extensive building

has been furnished with hypocausts.

the

marks of

fire

and

soot,

that a colony of fairies

W.

observed in the course of

In Redesdale also the

Hart, near Rothley.

the
is

S. Gibson's

''

which gave

The

pillars

rise to the

which

long retained
popular belief

had here established themselves^ and

Memoir on Northumberland,

1st edit., p. 34.

BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

was

that this

stone " and a

their kitchen."
'^

There were

on the borders

'"In the rebellion of 1715,

recess with a cover in the fairy stone

."square

to receive the

rescue the letters

left in it for

which were

by the agents of

A number

was employed

correspondence of the rebel chiefs, and a

bov clad in o-reen came in the

his answers,

" fairy

once a

fairy trough," near Fourstanes,

of CumberLand and Northumberland.

a

145

'

Lord Derwentwater and deposit

spirited

away

'

in the

same manner

his friends." f

them dwelt apart

of

in the remotest glen of

scar the sides of the Cheviot Hills, where,

among

that

all

most desolate

scene of peat hags, plashy bogs, and dashing waterfalls, up

among

and slopes of treacherous and slippery

grey craggy

declivities,

boulders,

the obscure opening of a cavern called

is

little

of everv evenino- to

twilio-ht

''

Eelin's

Hole," whose final termination no one has ever been able to

reach.

Into this gloomy receptacle they are said to have once

lured a party of hunters

were never able

who were in pursuit

way out. J

of a roe, and

who

to find their

The Rev. John Hodgson,

in his Historij of Northumberland,

has told the story of the fairies of Eothley Mill, in the parish of

Hartburn, Northumberland (part

his incidents

Leg. Div.,

vol.

p.

i.

acknowledgment

325, vol.

and from

iii.

this

vol.

ii.

have been transferred

to

p.

i.

p. 48, the

latter

secondary source

Keightloy's Fairy Mijtliology^ p. 313, under the

There are some original

traits of the

Mr. Robert White's introduction

ballad

by James Telfer,"

in the

* Dr. Bnice's ]VaUet-Book of the

t

to

title

it

appears in

of " Ainsel."
f:\iries

Tahle Book^ Leg. Div.,

Soman Wall,

Chatto's Rambles in Xorthumlerland, p. 232.

II.

of

without any

Northumbrian

412.
\

both

in

" The Gloamyne Buchte, a

Hodgson's History of Northumherland, part

VOL.

305)

Richardson's Tahle Book,

ii.

pp.

p. 145.
ii.

vol.

iii.

pp. 411-

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

146
130-138.

Telfers ballad, a fairy lay,

is

after the

manner

of

the "Ettrick Sliepherd," written in that absnrd orthography

which Hogg imagined

language,

of the

tion

to be old Scottish, which, to the

found a crowd of

unfortunately

has

degrada-

imitators.

Fairy Treasures at Bambouough.

There

stands only revealed

to

having been placed there

in their

bounty

may

unless a silver coin

away, as

money

Bamborough Castle
the lucky, where money is found,
Those who participate
by the fairies.

a part of the rock on Avhich

is

if it

is

have

it

placed

every time they

among

had never been.

there, but he

had always

British coin, " to keep

it

it

visit

to secure

the spot, but

it, it

would

slip

certain lad got ever so mucli

to

add

to

it

a piece of

genuine

whole," as the phrase went.

An

old

upwards of seventy told me, and he had had the account

man

from his grandmother.

On Tweedside (North Durham),

there

in

some old pasture

remain the twisted ridges, like ever so

still

tions of the letter S, cast

the draught.

The

flexure

many

fields,

repeti-

up by the plough, when oxen formed

to enable the oxen to wind out

was

the furrows at the land's end without trampling on them

the story

is

the fairies,

that

who

it

]nit

was a precaution against the malevolence of

took a malicious pleasure in shooting their fatal

bolts at the patient beasts of

hillocks

burden who tore up their grassy

and recreation grounds, and that they aimed

their

arrows along the furrows, imagining them to be straight, but

they were baffled by their being drawn crooked, and thereby
fell

wide of the mark.

They were

therefore called elf-furrows.

Tweed, near Kelso, ther^ are some dangerous weills,

or whirlpools, of which the more noted are the Maxwheill, the
Big and Little Coble Holes. An old man, it must be upwards
In the

BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

147

of scventj years since, said he never went up the Chalkheugh,

a high terrace overlooking

'^

Tweed's

deep,"
after dark," without seeing the
the weils in the Coble Holes." *
''

An

adventure with the

dancing round

''

fiiiries

near Yetholm, wdiich unfor-

fairies

tunately breaks off abruptly,

broad and

river,

fair

MS.

I find in the

of William

Jackson, a native of Wooler, supplementary to his brother

James Jackson's enumeration of

when he was

young man.

the inhabitants of that place

It

was written

James Jackson was then seventy-four years

1837, and

in

and had been

old,

absent fifty-five or fifty-six years from Wooler, which affords

"

the date of 1782.

Turnbull,

who

My

old schoolmistress, Stilty

lived with her sister Isabel),

He

name was Thomas.

Mary (Mary

had a brother whose

came from Yetholm and

occasionally

resided with his sisters for a fortnight or three weeks.

Thomas was
'

at

Wooler the boys

Peace be here

till

Thomas Turnbull,

When

used to shout,

passing

in

the king's toller, pass

This was very annoying to the brother and sisters

bye.'

Thomas used sometimes

to

and

stand behind the door, with the

sneck in his hand, and bolt out upon them, and

if

he caught

hold of any of them the punishment was not so imaginary as

The origin of the reproach was

the oftence.

was the

collector of tolls at

Yetholm.

this.

He had

Their father

occasion to visit

Edinburgh, and in coming home, a few miles before he reached

the town, he

came upon

in green jackets

sunny brae

to the

ments and drums.

stood

right

* "

sore

Yet

a large assemblage of fairies, dressed

and other splendid equij^ments, dancing upon

sound of a great variety of musical instru-

At

this sio-ht

astonished,'

and sound old Thomas's horse

and

startled

and curvetted in

I have seen thee by the darkling stream,

Among

the foam-bells deftly dancing.''

J.

L 2

Telver. 2o a

Fairij.

THE DEXHAM

148
sucli a

manner

as to

endanger

rider.

its

authority, so he shouted out with

Thomas Turnbull,

were

observed him before

obeying

it,

emergency

tins

all

his might,

lie

Peace be here

'

The

the king's toller, pass bye.'

much engaged with

so

In

the king's name might possess some

bethought himself that

till

Til ACTS.

their

sport

that

fiiiries

they had not

but on hearing the order, instead of

"

they came running in great

The remainder cannot be recovered, but

{Ccetera desunt.)
Thomas probably won the race that would ensue.
The Berwickshire

fairies

were either a quiet

lot or

they lived

a too matter-of-fact population, for their memorial has

among

almost vanished.

The banks

of Fosterland Burn, a contribu-

a morass called Billy Mire in the Merse, ''were." says

tor}" to

the late Mr.

in

fairies

George Henderson, " a favourite haunt of the

bygone days, and we once knew an old thresher

or barnsman, David Donaldson by name, who, although he

never saw any of those aerial beings^ constantly maintained

that

he

of the

Ale

of

In the

frequently

heard their sweet music in

the

summer midnight by Fosterland Burn, by

Water,

last resort

and

on

the

Pyper Knowes."

broom-clad

another authority asserts that

come out from an opening in the

fully clad in green,

side of the

and a piper playing

silence

the banks

^'

they used to

knowe,

to

them

all

beauti-

in the

most

They once attempted, but failed, to

wife of little Billy when in childbed
shepherd's
abstract the
and they were detected loosening Langton House from its
enchanting

strains."

foundations in order to set

it

down

in an extensive

morass called

Doo-den Moss, in the parish of Greenlaw, but were scared by

the utterance of the holy name.*

MSS.
''

G8.

I also find that

Ileiitlersoii's

In one of

Mr

Henderson's

some curiously formed cmircnces on the

Popular

PJiijmes

of Bcrwick^ldre^ pp.

3, 70, ^^^ 67,


BORDER SKETCHES OF FCLKLORE.

149

banks of the Wliitadder, near Hutton Mill, called the Cradle

Knowes, were

old times a scene of revelry for the light-

in

footed fairies.

The

of Greenlaw-dean used to hold a harmless mid-

fairies

night convention at the outlets of two drains called the Double

Conduits, where there was a constant supply of pure fresh water
to cool tlieir thirst, after their mirthful exertions in footino^ it

on the

unbroken sward that there clothes the banks of the

fine

Blackadder.

resembling a road,

steep track,

but apparently only a

fracture in the strata, up a steep rock-face near Oldcambus, near

Cockburnspath,

is

still

was wont
and

to drive in

six."

this,

from

visible to mortals,

still

state at evenino;'s close,

was the natural approach

It

Up

Road.

called the Fairies'

the glen beneath, the queen of faery, while

" in her coach

British camp,

to a

situated on a platform above.

A retired

overgrown

hollow,

summer with

in

the head of Billsdean Burn, East Lothian,

as

ferns,

near

known

the Fairies' O'on, or Oven, but has no legend attached to

The

white-flowered

which grows

women

first

to

" Fairy

cathartieum,

Lint."

called

is

It

this

name

The foxglove

its

purging

by the shepherds in
[As

distaffs.

was the

made

to

explain that

{Digitalis purpurea)

foxesclife,

the glove of the fox.

advanced

in

it

great delicacy."]

has in

its

name no

con-

nection with the fairy folks, but as I have noted elsewhere

from the A.S.

it.

flax,

in Johnston's Nat. His. East.

I protest against attempts

so-called " from

or

supposed to furnish the

is

with materials for their

make known

Bor., p. 15.

Limim

in natural pastures,

Berwickshire
fairy

is

tall

popularly

is

The

foxesclofe, foxesglofe,
false

etymology was, I

Landsborough's Arran,

p.

144-

is

foxesglove
believe, first

accepted by Dr.

Johnston, A^ai. Hist. East. BorcLy-p. 157; and eagerly seized on

since

by popular

writers.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

150

When

I ^yas a

boy the large

flat

stone on which the mistresses

of households knocked their linen webs ^Yhen bleaching, which

lay beside the well at a farm-place in Berwickshire, had on

upper surface an excavation resembling a small female

which was reckoned

to

its

foot,

have been impressed by a fairy footstep.

Another stone with a corresponding impression by which people

crossed a miry part of a road leading to St. Helen's Church,

Oldcambus, was regarded

ha\'ing stepped on
fishy tail)

it

" Mermaid's Stone

as

she

mermaid with

(not being a conventional

when escaping from her mortal

"
;

captor,

whoever he

These were natural concavities, the rock being of too

was.

indurated a character,

Silurian of the closest texture, to

viz.

admit of being worked by

Footmarks cut

the chisel.

in the Celtic districts of Scotland

in rocks,

and in Ireland, are indicative of

the spot on which a chieftain or king was inaugurated by placing

See a paper by Captain Thomas^

his foot in the depression.

"

R.N.,

On Dunadd,

Argyleshire

place

of

Inauguration of the Dalriadic Kings,'' in The Proceed uir/s of

the

Glassary,

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland^

instances cited

it is

1878-9, pp.

connected with the

mountain stream of the Turret

in

human

foot,

of small size,

deeply scooped out.

This

is

called

''About 1831, wdien the

(p. 39).

is

'

"

lies

by

upon

In two

]\Ir.

Glenesk,

Dalhousie's shooting-lodge of Millden, and

of a

281-7.

fairies.

notes that a small undressed block of granite

the

the

Jervise

the side of

Lord

near
it

the figure

very correctly and pretty

the

'

fairy's

footmark

'

"

Fairy Knowe,' in the parish

of Carmyllie, Forfarshire, was being reduced, or removed in

the

course

of

agricultural

improvement, there was

found,

besides stone cists and a bronze ring, a rude boulder of about

two

tons'

weight on the under side of which was scooped the

representation of a
chieftain
self,

human

foot.

Probably some distinguished

had erected the tumulus, not only

as a

tomb

for

him-

but also as a place of inauguration whereon the engraved

"

BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

stone,
(p.
p.

by

Avliicli

38, on the

451

vol v

authority of Kilkenny, Arch. Jour.,

Of an example of

''Fairy

"

was conveyed, was placed

the right to rule

and Jervise's Epitaplis,

151

p. 249).

Knowe," popularly

so called, at

Stenton, near Dunbar, East Lothian, having likewise proved

on being opened

a tumulus,

be

to

obtained

notice,

in

February, 1878, and also procured the whole of the articles

discovered in the interior for examination.

appeared

to

was found

of earth being stripped

off

stones and boulders.

contained a stone

mented with

human

the

clay slate

removed

to consist
cist

it

lattice

mostly of

formed of sand-

urn.

rudely orna-

work and with upright and horizontal

mouth undermost, covering a

few

Along with the urn, a very

bones.

flint knife,

It

it

enclosing a large baked clay

stone slabs,

lines,

Till

be a smooth grassy mound, but on the surface layer

fragments

artistically

of

chipped

and a diminutive oblong sharpening stone of primitive

both

fairy coys

appeared.

All these articles belong

to the Neolithic period.

It is true here, as all

"

Where

over the country

the scythe cuts and the sock rives,

Hao done

wi' fairies

and bee-bykes

Fairy and Wishing and Healing Wells.

Resort to the Fairy Well

is still

day times with young people

at

a favourite pastime in holi-

Wooler.

Hence

wish and drop in a crooked pin.

Pin and W^ishing Well. The well

amono; the lower Cheviots which

is

They express a
it

is

situated in a

rise

secret

also called the

narrow hollow

above the town, and

is

formed out of a natural spring of pure and very cool water

originating

among

rocks at the base of a high platform, which

has been occupied in the olden time by a British camp^

now

known as the Maiden Camp (the Maiden Castle of Wallis).

From its connection with the camp, or in cojnpliment to the


152

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

spirit

of the spring,

to be the

and

but

Xor do

it.

old

tlie

tion

genuine name

its

Maiden Well."

It is

at present too shallow to

is

into

''

said

is

admit of children being dipped

know that this has ever been practised here,

inhabitant who communicated some of this informa-

was femiliar with the formula incidental

Hey, how " dipped

''

in

departure

Walter

old people

tlie

for healing purposes at sacred springs.

cried

by

drained into an open ditch,

left

the

weakly

and cheese

a piece of bread

to

such applications

The applicant having

Scott, in his introduction to the

as

child,

and before

an offering.

TaleofTamlane,

Sir
refers

upon the top of Minchmuir, a mountain in Peeblescalled the Cheese Well, " because, anciently, those who

to a spring
shire,

passed that

way were wont

an offering
fairies

themselves

tells

such

it

it

a piece of cheese as

was consecrated."

ablutions.

The

Fletcher, in his

us of

A virtuous well,

about whose flowery banks

The nimble-footed

By

whom

practised

Faithful Shepherdess
"

throw into

to

to the fiiiries to

fairies

dance their rounds

the full moonshine, dipping oftentimes

Their stolen children, so to

From

make them

free

dying flesh and dull mortality."

Mr. George Tate, in a notice of the Wooler Pin Well, menhaving heard that a procession was formed to visit the

tions

well on the

morning of Ma^'day.

This

may have been

so,

but

* ^Maiden, however, is a term apjn-opriate to British or even Pioman

camps and ways. A terrace now in the centre of Wooler Avas formerly called the Maiden Knowe, and may liave been once fortified.

There

is

the Maiden Castle on

old earthern fortress, near

the

Welsh Caer vonvyn,

Edinburgh

is

Stancmoor

Durham

vol.

the

Maiden

Castle, an

the Maiden Castle near the Maiden-way;

the Castra Puellarum.

of Koriltumherland,

the station of Caer-vorran, from

iii.

p.

136.

See note in Hodgson's History

BORDEE SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

153

on inqnirj I could not find any tradition of such a circumstance.

was natural

It

that those

who went

May-dew should
Madron

to gather

proceed to the well, being on the nearest open common.

AVell, in Cornwall,

youug
"

on a

girls desirous of

Two pieces

May morning

by groups of

visited

is

knowing when they were

be married.

to

of straw about an inch long were crossed and the pin

run through them.

The cross was then dropped

into the water

and the rising bubbles carefully counted, as they marked the

number of years
day.*'

wliich

The practice

would pass ere the

arrival of the

" On approaching the well each

a crooked pin, and,

if

expected to throw in

visitor is

you are lucky, you may possibly

the other pins rising from the bottom to meet the

*
offering."

The

^^

Worm

happy

also prevailed at a well near St. Austell.

"Well" at Lambton^

a cover and an iron ladle.

^'

co.

see

more recent

Durham, had formerly

Half a century ago

it

was

in

repute as a wishing well, and was one of the scenes dedicated

and superstitions

to the usual festivities

crooked pin (the usual tribute of the

be

still

'

Midsummer Eve.

of

wishers

may sometimes

')

discovered, sparkling amongst the clear gravel of the

bottom of

its

basin." t

well of directly the opposite character,

Ffynnon Elian, the Cursing Well,

is

referred to in Mr. Halli-

well's Excursions in North Wales^ pp. 63-65.

monies are gone through on the occasion

" Various cere-

amongst

others, the

name of the devoted is registered in a book a pin in his

name and a pebble with his initials inscribed thereon are thrown
into the well.

When

the curse

is to

be removed the ceremonies

are to a certain extent reversed, such as erasing the

name from

the book, taking up the pebble, with several other practices of a

superstitious character."

* Hunt's Popular Romances of the West of England,

t

Sir C. Sharp's Bishoprick Garland, p. 23.

p.

295.

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

154

had written thus

Mr.
^'

Thomas

wishing well "

at

when

miicli

HIghlaws,

Arkle,

my

received from

Morpeth,

an

friend

account of

Keyheugli, in the parish of Elsdon, North-

umberland, Avhich has remained

'

hitlierto unnoticed.

In

tlic

parish of Elsdon," writes Mr. Arkle, ''about a mile south

Midgey Ha', on

a steep

which

Elsdon and Rothbury road,

Graslees Mill.

Darden,

called

liill

precipice of freestone rock,

is

side the

at a point a little to the east of

The rocky face extends

ground

below a large area

of

to a considerable length,

On

the southern or

level with the top of the cHff, whilst

covered with detached fragments of

is

sizes, scattered

all

is

a perpendicular

a striking object from tho

the greatest height being about sixty feet.

hicrher

is

o;'

rociv

about in the wildest confusion, the whole

place presenting clear indications of the tremendous

power of

clacial action.
''

Such

is

the wild and romantic place called

though now lonely and deserted, was

attractive

Sunday

neio-hbourhood.

resort of the

At

little

in

Keyheugh, which,
olden

young people

distance from the

times

the

resident in the

main

precipice

is

a well, on the bottom of which, centuries ago, might alvrays

have been observed a number of pins

or, as

my

informant,

wdio had visited the place in his youthfid days, expressed himself,

the

'

a heap of pins,^ each visitor dropping in one to further

fulfilment

of wishes

silently

breathed

over

the

magic

fountain."

The Rev. G. Rome Hall, in a very interesting account of

''Modern Survivals of Ancient Well AYorship in North Tynedale," in the Arch. ^lEliana,

some of the fountains

were presented, either
these wells

n.s., vol. viii. pp.

in the district to

which votive offerings

in the present age or the past.

had healing

Some

of

attributes, others conferred j^i'osperity,

or led to pleasant anticipations that

in a course of action

60-87, refers to

would ultimately terminate

which would obtain the object

dcr-ired.

BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

Over several of these wells

saints

155

had obtained the guardianship,

The Halliwellj

the native deities being deposed.

in the parish

of Chollerton, a chalybeate spring in a burn of the same name,

Gnnnerton

on

votaries to

same

its

has

Fell,

drawn

long time

for

numerous

In the village of Colwell, in the

healing waters.

on or about Midsummer Sunday, used

parish, the well,

be dressed with flowers, as was customary with other wells

to

else-

where in England on certain holidays.

Into the village wells at

Wark,

visitant

was wont

straw.

The Birtley Haly Well was

to cast in as

Sunday afternoons
ments from the
to be present

in

in

summer, and

village,

which

North Tynedale seems

sulphur.

On

the

till

itinerant vendors of refresh-

is,

for pilgrimage

have been the Bore Well on

to

is

strongly impregnated with

Sunday following

says Mr. Hall, ''that

recently visited on " fine

But the chief well

on the spot."

tide, the first

about a mile distant, were wont

is

Erring Burn, near Bingfield, which

''

New Year

at

an offering flowers, grass, hay, or

about

the 4tli

Midsummer

day of July,"

day, according to

the old style, great crowds of people used to assemble here from
all

The scene has been

the surrounding hamlets and villages.

described to

me

as resembling a fair, stalls for the sale of various

refreshments beino^ brouo^ht from a distance year by year at the

summer

The neighbouring

solstice.

formed

had been terraced,

slopes

for the convenience of pilgrims

and

seats

One

special object of female pilgrims was, I

pray

at the well, or express a silent

sufficient,

visitors.

informed, to

wish as they stood over

it

If the pilgrim's faith were

for the cure of barrenness

filled

am

and

her wish at the Bore Well would be certain to be ful-

within

number of

the

twelve months

visitors,

year to celebrate the old

this last

Sunday

Bore Well."

Well Sunday."

very considerable

with tents and purchasable commodities,

assembled even
at the

Midsummer

This festival was called " Bore

Our Lady's Wells,

or the

Holy Wells, on

the

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

156

banks of the Hart, near Longwitton, as related by Mr. Hodgson

in his Hist, of JVorthuniherland, of which the easternmost was

termed the Eye

all

parts, in

from

AYell, attracted a great concourse of people

memory

of the old people, on Midsummer Sunday

and the Sunday following, wdio amused themselves

Avitli

leaping,

eating gingerbread brought for sale to the spot, and drinking

the waters of the

Warwick

slew, once

Within Mr.
to

Gilsland

called the

dreds,

by

tremendous dragon,

whom Guy

was a yearly pilgrimage

" Head Sunday," and the Sunday after

wdien

Day

on the Sunday after old Midsummer

AV^ells

was

that

of

guarded the fountains.*

Hall's recollection there

not thousands, used to assemble there from

if

rail,

w^ell.

availabe,

''

it.

all

Hun-

directions

and by vehicles or on

foot

otherwise."

In the copious well of

also called

St.

Ninian

at

''Our Lady's Well," Dr. Embleton of Newcastle on

one occasion observed at the bottom

oflPerings.

Holystone, near Alwinton,

many

pins lying as votive

There was a holy well of great repute

Mary's Well

at

Jesmond

and the Rag Well

at

that

also famous,

garments attached

where the votaries

to

late

as

1740

it

at

Monkton near Jarrow,

in

was a prevailing custom

troubled with any infirmity, and a crooked

the well laved dry between each

dipping.

the

At

bushes ofrowino; near the sacred fountain.

Venerable Bede,

St.

had supposed healing properties,

Benton was

left frao^ments of their

called

trees

the

well

Brand's time,
to

])'m

and
of

''

as

bring children

was put

in,

and

Twenty children

were brought together on a Sunday to be dipj)ed in this well,

and at Midsummer Eve there was a great resort of the

The Rev. John Horsley {Materials for a Hist, of Northumberland,

''
They have a story concerning a dragon at Tliornton
p. 9) says,
They were mineral
Wells," ^Yhich arc in the vicinity of Longwitton.
''''

Avaters.

BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

neiglibourliig people (Brand's
Hist, of Newcastle, vol.

ii.

Pop. Antiq.^
In

p. 54).

p.

i.

157

383

(note),

and

Picture of Newcastle

tlie

added that the concourse at the summer solstice was

attended with " bonefires, music, dancino^, and other rural

it

is

sports,"

but that these customs had been discontinued before

1812, although people then alive

remember

have seen great

to

numbers of infirm and diseased children dipped

in expectation

of their being restored to health.

Quite recently

Mr. Hall was

iliccarton Junction of a

who had taken

man from

at

that district of Liddesdale

the journey by the railway to St. Boswell's for

the purpose of visiting a

Holy

and he returned home in

tive suffering

bv an eje-witness

told

His offering was a farthing,

AYell.

cure of a near rela-

full faith that the

from cancer would be effected by the application

of the simple lotion.

Mr. Hall gives a number of other

districts,

for

which I

refer

whether the accumulation of

Roman

in

part

propitiatory,

from other

and he inquires

coins and other relics in

Coventina's Well at Procolitia, on the

have been

illustrations

his paper

to

Eoman

and

Wall,

connected

may

not

wdth well-

worship.

The Hazelrigg Dunxie.

In crossing Belford Moor, by the

upper road leading

to

Wooler, there are several projecting rocky eminences of sandstone overlooking the valley, where
in the

Lvham^ Holburn, Clieesham

Grange, and two farms called Hazelrigg

lie.

Several of

the more conspicuous rocks bear names, such as Cockenheugh

Crags, Collierheugh Crags, Bounder's or

Bowden doors Crags.

Sma' Crag, and Jack^s (Jack Daw) Crags.

In former times, and

it

may

be so

still,

these heights were

frequented by a mischievous being, or rather

Hazelrigg Dunnie.

Dunnie

is

spirit, called

the

reputed to have been a petty

THE DEXHAM TEACTS.

158
reiver of olden time

who hoarded

his

gear in the crags, which

contain several cavernous receptacles adapted for concealment.

On

one occasion, however, he was surprised by the people of

and

Hazelriiiir in the irranarv robbino; corn,

He was

vengeance.

Hazelrigg " to

loath to die, for

His ghost, however, has haunted the place ever

pranks seem

to

chiefly

lie

and

rustics of the village,

caught

his horse

(as

is

somewhat akin

to those of the

when

ploughman has

fitting care,

the

field

and brought him

he will be horror-stricken

while his tractable brute, never guilty of such pranks,

already beheld

afiir

off,

kicking up his heels and scouring

According

across the country like the wind.

Dunnie

and

harness come slap to the ground just as he has

see the

finished

to be

His

since.

frightening the children

he thinks) in the

home and yoked him with

to

in

Often in the morning

Hedley Cow.

o'

This event happened ''lang syne.''

him.

kill

sacrificed to their

took " a the folks

it

his

(as

name

to other accounts

imports) was a Brownie, and created

uproar in mornings by an upturn of furniture.

He

also

was

general exchano-er of babies between the fairies and thouoditless

good wives, and was particularly on the

alert

when

the mid-

wife came, sometimes substituting himself for the horse that

her

broucrht

and landino^ both her and her conductor

morass, taking precious care that

"Dun"

in

at least should not

be " in the mire."

This

is

dim form

At other times

a sample of Dunnie's mischief

is

his

seen about the Crags^ ai)parently bewailing the loss of

his buried treasure.

This

is

inferred from his constantly repeat-

ing the rhyme given subsequently, whence the natives believe

that they could soon be rich

My

friend Mr.

W.

B.

Hail, of date 1st October,

enough

if

they only

to me from Hetton
"The other day, on

Boyd, writing
1860, says,

examining an old map of South Hazelridge,

running almost

knew how.

parallel with the

found the crag

Dancing Green Knowe, Avhich

liOKDKK SKETCHES OF FOLKLOIlE.

^^ort]l ][;izolri(l^^o,

Is oil

on the

Ijiit

called Collier (or Coller) Ijraes

the

rhyjiie.
J

I'oad

the

think,

further

little

Belford

t(j

is

ii

Oj^^o.-^itc

side of

the

])0ssiljly

].j9

tlie niur(!li, is

of

*oIli(.'r-heuuh

n on the south .^idi; of the

Bovvdeu Doors, of wliich, I

aloiiii;

crai^ called

word Bownders must be a

They

contraction.

lie

within half a mile of each other."

Still

more

recently, in passing a quarry before

coming

to

Hazelrigg, Mr. B. pointed out the steepest part, and said that

was there that Dunnie sometimes used

when he

an airing

to(jk

at night.

to

hang over

it

his legs,

iJuring high winds a })ecullar

hnid singing and changeable sound about one of the windows of

the farndiouse

attributed

it

Hazelrigg |)erplexed the ininales, who

X(ji'tli

cd'

On

to Duinn'e.

a careful exann'nation

it

ceived to be caused by a piece of paper, hxed in the

window, which the wincl had converted

Allan

Kamsay

in

some

^'

verses,

Spoken

was perto})

of the

into an iEolian har[).

to

^olus,

in the house

of Marlefield (Roxburghshire), on the night of a violent wind,"

actually compares the noise occasioned to that of the action of a
''

kow."
" Say, wliereforo

makes thou

In dead of night

To

liech

puff at winnocks, and cry

The story of Dunnie

when one day

I got

was

resting,

of the district

whom

tracts,

kow

Wow

"

'
I

within view of

rest of his character

I

'

from a herd-boy, who came

mentioned; the

Denham's

all this din,

like a

cpiestioned.

but I replace

it

was known
It

all

to

to

me

the places

an old

man

has a})peared in Mr.

here with additional remarks.

Mr. Henderson (Folklore of the NortlLern Counties, pp. 263,

210) compares Dunnie with the '' Picktree Brag," &c., of
whicli he gives a pretty full account.

In the notes to

Thomas

V/ilson's Pitman's Pcuj, there are particulars of another Bra^r of

the kind, which I feel

its

appropriate place.

bound

to cite, that

it

may

be preserved in

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

160

Mr. Wilson
Fellj

and

their

speaking of the

lias l)een

^vItclles

good treatment compared with

tliose

of Gateshead
of Newcastle,

as the J " were allowed full liberty to go Avhere they pleased,

in what shape they pleased, and in what way was most agree-

able to themselves, either to scud over our hills in the shape of

a hare or whisk throngh the air on a broomstick." ^

these, old

the

Low

Bland, was " the only real witch

Xell

Going

Fell."

to the

pit

meet "

to

One of

we had on

Awd

Xell and

Cuddy's swine,"
"

made

Twee varry

workmen " on

the

some untoward event."

far fra

the

sonsy things,"

look out through the day for

Bfabel was another of those old wives whose repute

was none

of the best.
" The highly -gifted race of ' witches,' " says Mr. "Wilson,
" seems rapidly tending toward extinction.
There are here

and there yet

to

be seen the remains of their weak and de-

generate descendants, but in such a feeble and feckless state

as hardly to deserve the

creatures

many

name.

I have

than raising a wind to blow

cottage or

known one

of these poor

years ago whose poAver never extended further

off the

roof of her neighbour's

shake his standing corn.

was accused of more

serious

mischiefs

natured accusations were true

is

I
;

very

am aware
but

how

that she

far these

ill-

difficult to say, for I

could never discern anything about Mabel that would warrant

them, for she was neither deformed nor ugly, nor did I ever
recognise her frisking about in any other shape than her own-

In some other respects, however, she was rather a singular

woman.

She had a memory that retained the date of every

event that had taken place for some miles round the place

Page

74.

Pages 20, 23.

BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

where

161

She could give you the day aud hour of

slie lived.

all

the births and deaths in the neio-hbourhood durino; her time.

She knew exactly who

came again/

she called

as

after

it,

suffering violent deaths, either in coal-pits or elsewhere

what

shape they were in (for they did not always appear in their

and what they

o^vn),

to speak,

what

was before the

laid

it

said

was

when they

that brought

priest or

could be prevailed upon

them back, and how long

All the haunted houses or places

at rest in their graves.

she had off by rote, and could have given

the

'

uncanny

folk,'

it

some such competent person got them

or

such

had

as

you the names of

'

bad

all

and had

een,'

amused themselves by plao-uino; their credulous neiodibours.

""
Poor Mabel has been dead many years. She was in the habit
of amusing her
'

young auditors with

the birth and parentage of

Dick the Deevil,' who frequently rode over the Black Fell

his

work upon

that

the

was well known

description of the

Pelton), given

me

land^ induces

by

in that part of the neighbourhood.

Pelton Brag

Sir Cuthbert Sharp in his Bislioprick

to believe that

it

places are only a few miles distant,

it

is

As

possible that he

it

stock.

It

when ho was

their habits,

from one

delighted in mischief, and whoever

mounted

always appeared in the shape of an ass) were sure to be

thrown into some bog or whin-bush

ture, as if enjoying the mischief,

laughin',^ as

many to

j^lace

the

might

If they were not the same they

were evidently, from the similarity of

(for

Gar-

must have been the same

extend the sphere of his antics to the latter

not particularly busy at home.

it

The

(Picktree, in the vicinity of

'

roguish sprite that played such tricks at Porto Bello.

common

to

Porto Bello Brag,' a kind of wicked sprite

'

the

had arrived
QXQYi Dick,

VOL.

Dick would
test,

say.

would run

He had

but none were able to

at a suitable

place for

who had become

II.

at parting,

off,

'

the crea-

nickerin'

and

put the assmanship of

sit

him whenever he

depositing

a favourite, and

when

who

his

load

in the

not

end was


THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

162

Dick, how-

the only one wlio had spirit enough to cross him.

ever,

from long practice, had a pretty good idea whereabouts he

would be

an

received
others,

and, from being on his guard, very seldom

laid,

as Dick, vdio

The case was

injury.

who had

often very different with

not his precaution, or were not such favourites

was generally accommodated with a

soft fall.""^

For another version of the Hazelrigg Dunnie, derived equally

w^ith

my own

Culley, of

from traditionary sources,

am

indebted to Mrs.

Fowberry Tower, which contains a few

additional

particulars.

The Miost known

''

as

Hazelrio-a

Dunny

"

said to be that of

is

a reiver, which takes the occasional form of a dun-coloured

horse or pou}-, and frequents a cave on the side of Cockenheugh,

near Hazelrigg, called the Cuddle's Cove.

a tradition contained
treasure,

in.

which he had no doubt buried

Cockenheugh

He

had, according to

the following old rhyme, lost a great

in the

neighbjurhood of

In Collier hengh there's gear eneiigb,

In Cocken heugii

But

there's mair,

I've lost the keys of

I'm ruined

Bowden Doors,

for evermair."

The two first-mentioned places are

''

Bowden Doors

Var,

"

"

For

is

tracts of

moorland, and the

craggy mass of rock near Lyliam.

I've lost the

key

^'In the infernal regions," says

o'

the

Bowden Doors."

Hans Anderson,

^^

and lament that they had forgotten the keys of

chests."

Pitman's Fay,

p. 75, note.

misers stand
their

money

BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

A
he

is

haunt of the

f'avoui'ite

even said

to

pay a

few words as

tion of the

^^

visit

Dunny ^^ is Fowbeny Bridge, and

now and then to Fo\Yberry Tower.
Caddie

Cuddie's Cove.

to the

word Cuthbert, and an

tradition than that of the

163

Heugh

Cuthbert's Cove on Cocken

more

older and

"Danny"

a corrup-

is

beautiful

assigns the Cuddie's or

an occasional resting

as

place of the famous St. Cuthbert when, as Bishop of Lindisfarne, he used to

It

is

make journeys through

Dunnie's credit

told to

that, if

his diocese.

supper plates were not

washed up overnight, the Dunny came and washed them

whether he was a sympathiser with tired or lazy people, or
whether he did not

plates

like

be long dirty,

to

tradition

deponeth not.
Apparitions.

In Murray's Traveller's Guide for Nortlmmherlandy pp. 161,

162,

it is

said

" Chillingham

Hazelrigg, the goblin called

monk;

who

Cresswell, a lady

tower; Wallington,

its

lady of awful aspect."

till

lately

Dunnie

its

Radiant Boy

Brinkburn, a terrible

starved herself to death in

its

old

headless lady; and Willington, another

Of

the history, but I find

several of these I have not traced

the

Castle, the seat of one of the

torian of Scotland, visited

boy"

^'radiant

again at Corby

branches of the

Corby

Castle,

to his sister

Howard

family,

Mr. Fraser Tytler, the his-

lying on the Eden, near Carlisle.

which he thus writes

had

'^
:

November

8th, 1840^ of

The whole place

is

redolent

of feudal antiquity, with a fine gallery of old portraits, an old

library,

and

(as

without seeing

you know) a ghost

but I have come away

the radiant boy of Corby.

ordinary, for I had to walk to

my

This was

extra-

bedroom every night through

a long dark gallery of which you could not see the termination,

with old warriors frowning on me, and the

through the Gothic window

at the

end

moon streaming

circumstances

in

which

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

164

one would Lave tliought any well-conditioned ghost would have

by." Burgon's Memoir

profited

lady writes me:

There

^'

Fowberry, situated close

of P. F. Tytler,

a ghost at Painters' Gate, near

is

to the cross

man on

this

kind

roads between Wooler and

The ghost here

Chatton, Fowberry and Lilburn.

a

where a man riding

at the cross roads at Lilburn,

with his head under

a lady wringing her hands are

arm and

his

said to be

is

Another instance of a ghost of

a dun-coloured horse.
is

300.

p.

said to be seen."

ghost used to frequent

Weetwood Sandy Lane, and

Weetwood Bridge and the road approaching

If I

remember

also

from Wooler.

it

some unhappy being " put away with

right,

himself," or committed suicide, somewhere thereabouts.

Matthew

Rev.

is

Hunibleton people

but

is

Crawley Dean,

coming back
July, 1728,

in

his

is

They
to

when

9:

p.

going

to

Mr. Punshon
apparition.

at Piercebridge, in

who had done

this

disturbed that they were glad to return

Adam

who

Crisp,

my

London and
told

On

me

that

the 4tli of

tour, the people

of a stone coffin which had been converted into a swine

trough, but the people

]\Ir.

^'

had encounters with an

talk also of his

him about the

was

in the

Materials for a History of

said to have

in forty-eight hours.

Crisp had sent

eel.,

was fought

never killed."

(1729-30), says,

apparition there.

me

battle

hunted sometimes by the Wooler and

is

The Rev. John Horsley

Nortliumherland

told

" The village of Humble

haunted by a ghost (of what sex I know not)

form of a hare, which

lived at

from Wooler, where the famous

ton, not far

in 1403,

Culley, writes

it

were
to its

so

haunted and

former place."

Sidney Gibson, in his Memoir on Nortliumherland,

36, states that

"the ruins of

family, built at a place called

ghost of such
habitable."

terrific

1st

mansion of the Orde

Sandy Bank,

character as to have

is

attributed to a

rendered

it

unin-

BOEDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

165

Dudley Brechax's Ghost.

The

Dudley Breclian haunted

spirit of

the

''

Big House," on

the Tenter's Hill, a bulky, red-tiled, and white-washed mansion,

one of a row built on a ridge, where the dyers of Wooler were

wont

days to stretch their webs

in former

When

story, with its details lost.

yisits,

an old

It is
its

eyening

descent vras like a " meikle cupple " falling with a

its

crash on

the

Many

ceiling.

bejond frightening them

When

to dry.

the ghost paid

it

the

a ''gliff''

folk

got;

but

perpetrated no other mischief.

people wakened and looked out early in the morning,

they would haye seen a carriage coming up the main street of

the town,

No
*

the

drawn by black

There

MS.

Brecham

shire.

"

its

a notice of the Brechans or

lived then in
''

Ramsay's Lane,

way

to the

churchyard.

of " Dudley Brechan."

Brechams or Brigbams,

He was
He was

had

as a dyer,

good bright yellongh,"

as he

in

John

and valued himself

pronounced the word

supposed, from his dialect, to be from Aberdeena great 'peaferer, often complaining of little to do

My

and consequent poverty.

liouse,

on

of the brothers Jackson, of date as far back as 1782.

for dyeing

yellow.

is

horses,

knew anything

one Hying at Wooler

father

when living in Stein Laidley's

when working by candlelight.

a frequent visit of Johnnie,

Knowing John's weakness he used

occasionally to provide a shilling's

worth of halfpence, which he put in a leathern purse and shook at him

when he came in. 'Aye weel-a-wat, Andrew, ye get it aw ye have
aye plenty and ma share o' the siller is very sma.'
I have often
;

heard

it

remarked that old people, though very feeble when they

began harvest work, revived greatly in a few days. I remember

gathering upon Horsden (a cultivated hill face above Wooler) after
T was sitting near Jenny Brecham, John's wife, at
the shearers.
dinner time, when she
'

And

first

for

made

instance,' said

she,

this
'

remark

there's

to one of her neighbours

our Johnnie,

out he could scarcely step over a strae, and

a kale-worm.' "

This pair

may have

can gather that they had a family.

now

when he came
he's as canty as

been relatives of Dudley, for I


THE DENHAM TRACTS.

166
It

was recollected that a

was buried

suicide,

" one wlio put down himself,"

churchyard gate of that place.

at the

Willy Waeby's Ghost.

Willy Wabby's

which once gained great

ghost,

(\\^alby's)

was contrived by a person who wished to get possession of a " big house," called Lark Hall, near Burrowdon,
notoriety,

The

about the year 1800.

dancing

off the

shelf

on

plates

and other crockery came

People going into the

to the floor.

house would suddenly have a pot or other utensil clapped on

the crown of their head, or be liable to have some other divert-

The country

ing cantrip played on them.

from a far way

ceedings.

off to witness or get the

There are

Nortlmmherland^

ii.,

full

folks

used

news of the

to flock

droll ])vo-

particulars in Mackenzie's History of

note, p. 42, but

this reference to

it

is

traditionary.

Andrew
castle,

Bates,

who was

from 1689

to

curate of

1710, was

houses reputed to be haunted.

Bates,

living

1763.

laying, as they stated

St.

John's Church,

much employed
I

remember

his

son,

Ulric

Bates was celebrated in particular for

it,

the ghost of one Barbara Cay, wife of

a Mr. Cay, a Presbyterian of fortune and reputation in

castle, after all the

New-

in exorcising

Presbyterian ministers had

failed.

NewCredat

Judceus (Spearman's MSS.).

White
The White Lady was
fountain.

Ladies.

either akin to the ghost or the spirit of a

wood between Yeavcring and Akeld, which

nothing more than a strip of modern planting,

'^

White Lady," who appears

frighten people.

to

The White

is

walk there during the night

Lady

near

is

haunted by a

Whittingham,

to

in

BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

167

Northumberland, had some connection with a well close

Eiver Aln above that village, situated

Lee

at the

the

to

or Lea-side.

The well goes by the name of the Lady Well or Lady^s Well.
'^ The Legend
of the White Lady of Blenkinsopp " is told in
Richardson^s

Tahle BooJc,

Leg.

Div.,

iii.

144-148

pp.

(by

William Pattison and G. B. Richardson)."^ At Detchant, near

Belford, is what was named to me a " Cattle Well, " f which

was frequented by

White Lady. I could ascertain nothing

more of her from the old man, who had heard of it in his
youth.
Detchant, he told me, was wont to be a lonely place,
and was infamous for robberies committed near it.
a

For the following account of a White Lady wdio haunts

am

Coupland Castle on the River Glen, I

Matthew

and I give

Culley,

dated August 17th, 1880

"According

to

who

she

appeared, tradition

is,

is

it

letter is

one of the rooms, a large and

(Coupland)

at

it is

as

my own

^uncanny' a reputa-

memory, and indeed

quite recently, strange j)henomena have been witnessed,

many
&c.,

and

unaccountable sounds, such as wailing voices, knockings,

have been heard

Mr. Denliam told

several papers

believed

New

first

certain that half a century

Coupland had

Within

has at present.

is

White Lady.'

wherefore she appears, or when she

silent; but

ago the 'haunted room^

tion as

His

in the oldest part of this castle

haunted by a ghost in the shape of a

"As

indebted to Rev.

words.

to a tradition,

gloomy apartment,

in his

it

to

the

died there.

at

night by persons sleeping in the haunted

me

that William Pattison,

Tahle Book, went to

who

contributed

London, and

it

was

G. B. Kichardson emigrated to Australia or

Zealand.

I Perhaps

well of this

cattle

drank at

On Wooler Common

it.

description cahed

''

The

ISTeatherd's

being employed in charge of the townspeople's cows.

there was a

Well," a neatherd

THE DENHAM TKACTS.

168

room and

in

close by; whilst during the last six or seven

White Lady herself

years the
seen on

rooms

said positively to have been

is

more than one occasion."

The Death

of Jean Gordon.

The Gipsies, or Faas, from

its

proximity to their head-

quarters at Yetholm, greatly frequented Wooler, especially at

the two fairs, which offered excellent opportunities for the

On

disposal of their wares.

one of the Faas

stole

one of these statute anniversaries

a pair of shoes from a

people, although some ascribed the

broke out

branching

and carried the

off

ill-

deed

culprit

the

to

The towns-

stall.

to the

country

mill-dam,

folks,

which

from Wooler water flows along the bottom of the

is situated, and ducked her there

high bank on which the town

till

she

was next

to

dead among their hands.

o-one so far as to set his foot

draggled with slime, and

bank above the

mill-lead

on her

down

the excitement subsided

laid

of

them had

keep her down.

was drawn

out,

When
all

be-

on a high stone on the wooded

but she was too far gone for recover)-,

and gave only a gasp or two and

who was

to

she

One

died.

''

once a schoolmaster in the place,

Old

Wilham Bolam,"

and who died

in the

since, recollected seeing her in that

workhouse several years

deplorable condition, and how before remo\'al the mud had to
The Gipsies never
be washed from her clothes and body.

vowed revenge and hence

be kept on their movements for many

forgot this barbarous outrage, and

a constant watch had to

years, to prevent their taking similar 'Svild justice," for this

wicked maltreatment of one of the clan. Within memory the

The woman's name

townspeople used to live in dread of them.
She was a
Faa.*
to
a
married
was
she
and
Gordon,
was Jean
relative of the
*

famous Jean Gordon, who was equally cruelly

The Falls (pronounced Faas) belonged

Yetholm Gipsies.

of the

to the family of the

King

BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

drowned by the mob

at

Carlisle.

continuance of bad weather

is

Till

169

day, whenever a

tins

experienced at the

cloud for the death

Jean Gordon,"

o'

town

little

the foot of the Cheviots, old superstitions people say,

'^

at

That's a

''A race of bad

or,

weather will always hang over Wooler for the death

Gordon, drowned in the mill-dam."

o'

Jean

Silky A Northumbrian Traditiox.

''

wha wad biij a silken gown,

Wi' a poor broken heart."
Scots' Song.

Eighty or ninety years ago the inhabitants of the quiet village

of Black Heddon, near Stamford ham, and of the country round
about, were greatly annoyed by the pranks of a preternatural

being called Silky.

This

festing a predilection to

of a female dressed in

name
make

silk.

it

had obtained from

itself

Many

visible in

a time,

its

mani-

the semblance

when any

of the

more timorous of the community had a night journey to perform, have they unawares and invisibly been dogged by this
spectral tormentor, who, at the dreariest part of the road, the
most

suitable

for

thrilling

forth in dazzling splendour.

surprises,

would suddenly

break

If the person happened to be on

horseback, a sort of exercise for which she evinced a stronopartiality, she

would unexpectedly

in her silks."

seat herself behind, "rattling

There, after enjoying a comfortable ride, with

instantaneous abruptness she would, like a thing destitute of

continuity,

dissolve

away and become incorporated with

the

nocturnal shades, leaving the bewildered horseman in blank

amazement.

At Belsay, some two

had a favourite

resort.

or three miles from Black

Heddon, she

This -was a romantic crag finely studded

with trees, under the gloomy umbrage of which, ''like one for-

THE DEisHAM TRACTS.

170

wander

lorn," she loved to

has the belated

engaged

twilight, as if

many

all

Here

the live-long night.

often

beheld her dimly through the sondjre

2:)easant

in splitting great stones, or

a stroke some stately

'^

hewing with

And

monarcli of the grove."

while he tlms stood, and gazed, and listened to intimations,

impossible to be misapprehended, of the dread reality of that

mysterious being, concerning

awake,

at once, excited

all

have heard the howling of a

the woodland

whom

so various conjectures

resistless

the branches creaking

tempest rushing through

in violent

concussion or

rent into fragments by the impetuous fury of the blast

to the

were

by that wondrous agency, he would

while

eye not a leaf was seen to quiver, nor a pensile spray to

bend.
''

The bottom of

All was delusion, nought was truth."

this

crag

pond, at whose outlet

tree,

sweeping

scene.

Amid

a rude chair,
sit

its

is
is

washed by

a picturesque lake or fish-

a waterfall, over which a venerable

umbrageous arms, adds impressiveness

the complicated limbs of this tree Silky possessed

where she was wont^

wind-rocked enjoying

in her

moody moments,

Spirit-like fitfulness,

Castle,

to

it

ascended with

during the pauses of the gale.

the present proprietor.

state

to

the rustling of the storm in the

dark woods, or the orush of the cascade as

Belsay

to the

Sir Charles

It is

M. L. Monck,

that the tree

due

Bart.,

so consecrated

in

to

of
the

sympathies and the terrors of the vicinity has been carefully

Though now no longer tenanted

preserved.
visitant,

yet spreads majestically

it

its

by

over the spot, awakening in the lore-versed rustic

winter's

its

aerial

time-hallowed canopy

wind raves gusty and sonorous through

when
its

the

leafless

harrowing recollection of the exploits of the

boughs, the

soul

ancient fay

but in the springtide beautiful with the full-flushed

verdure of that exuberant season, and recipient of the kindling

BOEDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

emotions of reverence and affection.

" Silky's

memory

seatj" in

of

its

It still

171

bears the

name

of

once wonderful occupant.

Silky exercised a marvellous influence over the brute creation.

Horses, which possess a discernment of spirits superior to man,

more sharp-sighted

at least are

in the dark,

were in an extra-

ordinary degree sensitive of her presence and control.

seems

to

She
have had a perverse pleasure in arresting these poor

defenceless animals while

misfortune occurred,

this

could devise

were

whim

to

make

and kicking

the restive beast resume the

The ultimate resource, unless it mio-ht be

spell, was the magic-dispelling witch-

proper direction.

her

was no remedy brute force

there

expostulation, soothing, whipping,

exerted in vain to

all

When

engaged in their labours.

revoke the

wood (mountain

ash),

which was of unfailing

One

efficacy.

poor wight, a farm servant, was once the selected victim of her

He had

frolics.

and

it

was

to

go

to a colliery at

some distance

for coals,

evening before he could return.

late in the

Silky

waylaid him at a bridge, a " ghastly, ghost-alluring edifice,"

since called " Silky's Brig," lying a little to the south of Black

Heddon, on the road between

Just as he had reached

''

that place

and Stamfordham.

the height of that bad eminence," the

keystone, horses and cart became fixed and immoA'eable as

And

in that melancholy plight

have continued
the

morning

quaking,

light

fate.

might both man and horses

and sweating, and stock-still till

had thrown around them

its

mantle of pro-

had not a neighbouring servant come up to the rescue,

who opportunely carried some of the potent witchwood about
tection,

his person.

On

the arrival of this seasonable aid, the perplexed

driver rallied his scattered senses, and the helpless animals being

duly seasoned after the fashion prescribed on such occasions, he

had the

heartfelt satisfaction of seeing

with alacrity to the draught

the coals reached

home

and

in safety.

them apply themselves

and
Ever afterwards, however.

in a short time both he

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

172
as long as

he lived, he took the precaution of rendering himself

by being furnished with a quantity of witch- wood,

spell-proof,

by no means being disposed

amuse herself

at his

that

Silky should a second time

expense and that of his team.

She was capricious and wayward.

Sometimes she

installed

herself in the office of that old familiar Lar, Brownie, but with
characteristic misdirection, in a

manner

that useful species of hobgoblin.

And

exactly the reverse of

here

may

it

be remarked,

that throughout her disembodied career, she can scarcely be said

to

have performed one benevolent action for the sake of

She had, from

qualities.

first

As

movements.

is

surprises

and

daydawn.
houses,

at night, or

(1),

her works

good old dames had thoroughly cleaned

If the

is

between the hours of sunset and

which country people make

especially

unforeseen

customary with that " sturdy fairy," as he

designated by the great English Lexicographer

were performed

moral

hankering for

to last, a latent

mischief, and gloried in withering

its

on Saturdays, so that they

and decent appearance on Sunday,

may

after

practice

of

their

doing,

have a comfortable

they had retired to rest

Silky would silently have turned everything topsy-turvy, and the

morning presented a scene of indescribable confusion.

contrary

if

the house had been

left in

which they generally found best

to

On

the

a disorderly state, a plan

adopt,

everything would

have been arranged with the greatest nicety.

At

length a term had arrived to her erratic course, and both

she and the peaceably disposed inhabitants

whom

obtained the repose so long mutually desired.

disappeared.

It

she disquieted

She abruptly

had long been surmised by those who paid

attention to those

dark matters, that she

pliantom of some person

who had

was

the

troubled

died very miserable in conse-

quence of having great treasure, which before being overtaken

(1) Journey

to the

Western Islands,

p. 171.

BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

by her mortal cigony
she could not He
to a

liad not

in her

still

173

been disclosed, and on that account

grave

About

the period referred

domestic servant, being alone in one of the rooms of a

house at Black Heddon, was frightfully alarmed by the ceiling

above suddenly giving way, and something quite black

uncouth

falling

from

with a clash upon the

it

did not stay an instant to examine

but at once fled to her

it,

mistress screaming at the pitch of her voice,

the house

The

deevil's in the house

With

ceiling!"

this terrible

''

The

announcement the whole family

mankind being amongst them

a considerable

courage to face

time
''

elapsed

the

whom

were entertained, a great dog or

her

and

to

go and inspect

who happened to be
the room, when instead

such awful apprehensions

more heard or

spirit

laid

on the

calf's skin lay

and uncomely, but

Silky was never

accomplished

last the mistress,

of the 23ersonage on account of

this

form

any one could brace up

before

the most stoutdiearted, ventured into

sufficiently black

at the idea of

a visible

in

enemy," or be prevailed

At

the cause of alarm.

deevil's in

He's come through the

were convoked, and great was the consternation

the foe of

and

The servant

floor.

and

with

filled

Her

seen.

she

c/old.

now

floor,

After

destiny was

sleeps with

her

ancestors as peacefully and unperturbed as do the degenerate

and unenterprising ghosts of modern

^Ir.

municated rough notes whence

Another informant

was

days..

Robert liobson of Sunderland, county of Durham, com-

at the

has been composed.

this sketch

states that the

house wherein

this

occurred

time occupied by the Hepples, respectable yeomen at

the place, whose descendants are yet the proprietors, and who,
it is

said,

acquired a considerable

sum from

treasure so unexpectedly brought to light.

puted to

many

other pi-osperous

men

Silky's long hidden

This has been im-

besides Mr. Hepj^le, and

not unfrequently in a spirit of envy.

Stephen Cochran, of

Clippens, in Renfrewshire, presented his relative,

Wm.

Cock-

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

174

burn, of Caldoun, the ancestor of the Dundonakl family, with

a large

sum

in freeinor

of

money

(it

was

said a skinful) for his goorl offices

him from a mahVnant

foundation of the family

that

''

and

to labour

sweet

life

both"

(3).

Some

AVe are

(2).

by an old authority

told

points of folklore

stretch their long

may

arms across

man

with that a

to be content

is

and

hath

flourish

is

them

aboye

be here illustrated.

waterfalls,

this

been the

earl, to liaye

but he that findeth a treasure

and

charcre of witchcraft,

was acknowledged by Thomas, the eighth

Trees that

by main-

taining a perpetual struggle with the powers of nature amidst

elemental commotion, supply,

for the spirits of darkness,

it

would appear,

fit

roosting places

and the ominous birds concerned in

their malpractices.
"

sings

James
''

The heron came from the witch-pule

Telfer

Where
Lay

and likewise Sir Walter

o'er the cataract the

slant,

tree,"

Scott,

oak

was heard the raven's croak."

In Barskeogh Wood, near Dairy, on the water of Ken, in

Galloway, " the clachan witches held their midnight reyels by
the light of the hunter's

Burn proudly rode on

moon

and the famed,

Lowran

the branches of the forest ash that oyer-

hangs the roaring linn of Earlston

in the mysteries

sister of

of witchcraft

while the young noyiciates

merrily danced in the

bosom

of the pool beneath, amid the white spray of the dashing

Fairies, too, as Burns tells us, delight
stream."
" to stray and rove

Among
(2) Mitchell

and

the rocks and streams

Dickie's

Philosophij

Paisley, 1839.

(3) Ecclesiasticus,

c. xl. v,

18.

"
;

of Witchcraft,

j).

386.

BORDEE SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

175

and there has been heard amid the darkness " plitch platching
as

it

^ye^e o'

some hnndreds

o' little feet

eiiy nicker, as
the upper linn

some hundreds

o'
''^

An

(4).

the fairies at waterfalls

o'

man

old

in

the

fall

Pergwm, Yale of Xeath, where

and the rock. As he stood behind
^''

Hole

"The

(6).

frae

Sewjd yr Rhyd

a road

runs between

the

they appeared

The celebrated

(o).

in Ireland, near Ballymore Eustace,

or Puck^s

cam

fall

rainbow, and their music mingled with

in all the colours of the

the noise of the water

a'

a queer

Wales had "often seen

particularly at that of

when

sic

creatures laughin'

Cwm

in

the stream

i'

gae owre, and there was

at yince the plitch -platching

is

Russians

fail

of the Liffey,

named Pool-a-Phooka,
believe in a species of

water and wood maids called Rusalki.

They are of a

beautifid

form, with long green hair; they swing and balance themselves

on the branches of

trees,

surface of the water, and

at the water's

edge

''

bathe in lakes and rivers, play on the

wring

their locks on the green

meads

(7).

The power of evoking

magic tempest, which was only

" an enchanted show

"With which the eyes mote have deluded been,"

is

one of the attributes of the beincrs not of this world.

Oberon attempted

to deter

Huon

For thus

of Bordeaux from proceeding

through the enchanted forest wdiich offered the shortest passage

" For before you have left the wood he will cause
to Babylon.
it

so to rain

on you, to blow,

to hail,

and

to

make such

marvellous storms that you will think the world

end."

But

this

ed) B. White

w^as

in

"nothing but

(6) Ihich, p. 371.

(7) Ihid., p. 191, from

Grimm.

going

to

phantom and enchant-

Richardson's Table Bool-, Leg. Biy.,

(5) Keightley's Fairy Mythology, p. 117.

is

right

ii.

137.

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

176

ments"

dwarf made

that the

(Devon)

Prior^s

is

valley,

coming

"

Doan

vicar of

tlic

Hound's Pool,

foot of a waterfall, called the

wooded

When

(8).

about to lay a ghost in a deep hollow at the

it

together,'

seemed

was

great

so

as they enter the

wood

as if all the trees in the

the

wind "

(9).

that the walls of Fyvie Castle, Aberdeenshire,

'

were

It is

said

had stood

for

seven years and a day, wall-wide, waiting for the arrival of

True Tammas (Thomas the Rhymer)

^'

At length he suddenly appeared

to

pronounce their

fate.

before the fair building, ac-

companied by a violent storm of wind and

which stripped

rain,

the surroundinoc trees of their leaves and shut the castle urates

with a loud crash.

stood, there

move

But while the tempest was raging on

was observed

sides, it

all

by the spot where Thomas

was not wind enough

to

shake a

pile of grass or

a hair of his head " (10).

has had a strong charm for the

as a spirit-raiment,

Silk,

popular mind, perhaps from

the

close

that,

snowy robe of the

or from

its leaf-like

ment of unhappy

its

cleanliness being associated, like

ghost, with ideas of purity

and innocence

/ss/e being judged akin to the tiptoe

Dr. Dee's Ariel was

souls.

"a

move-

spiritual

creature, like a pretty girl of seven or nine years of age, attired

on her head, with her hair

behind, with a

gown

with a train" (11).*

vol

ii.

p.

of

rolled

silk,

up before and hanging down

of changeable red and green, and

Mr. Campbell, in

his

192, states that the miller's wife at

Highland

(S) Keightley's Fairy Mythology^ p. 39.

(9) Folklore, N. and Q., p. 223.

(10) Chambers' Mliymes of Scotland,

(11) Mackay's Popidar Delusions, i.

p. 8.

p. 157.
* Cowley, as translated, Book of Plants, B. i, says cf
" Their subtle limbs silk, thin as air, arrays,

And

Tales,

Loch Xigdal, near

spirit;

therefore nought their rapid journey stays."

BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

177

Skibo Castle, was one day favoured with a sight of the Baiishie
" She was sitting on a stone, quiet, and beautlof the lake.
green

ftdly dressed in a

the sleeves of which were

silk dress,

Among

curiously puffed from the wrists to the shoulders."

the

wonderful relations of Glanvil, in his Saducismus Triumphaius,

of the

drumming demon

of Tedworth, the man-servant ''heard

a rustling noise in his chamber, as if a person in silks

moving up and down

rustled about as if

it

and the maids

^^
;

had been dressed

also

was

heard one ''that

in silk.*'

The mansion

house of Houndwood, in Berwickshire, has attached to it a

family apparition called " Cha])pie."
The servants were

annoyed with

its pertinacious visits even

in
the daytime.
" Sometimes a knocking would be heard at the front door,

and

if

anyone went

to

open

it,

nobody could be seen

except on

one occasion, wdien, on the servant opening the dooi, a grand

lady rushed past, and went up the passage with a majestic gait,
rustling in silks

and

satins

but this lady was never afterwards

seen, either within or witliout the house

Newcastle,

near
female

clad

whatever

it

in

was

regularly

is

rustling
that

silks,

set

'"'

and the

was embodied

(12).

as

dov>^n

spirit

Denton Hall,
haunted
or

by

goblin

a
or

in these appearances Avas

known by the name of Silky. " There is some obscure

and dark rumour of secrets strangely obtained and enviously

familiarly

betrayed by a rival

sister,

death; and the betrayer

halls

ending in deprivation of reason and

still

walks by times in the deserted

which she has rendered tenantless, always prophetic of

" Midnight curtains have
she encounters."

disaster to those

been drawn aside by an arm in rustling

profligate

Duke

of Argyle, while

residing

(12) Henderson's Rhipnes of Bericickshire,

(13) T. Doiibleday in Richardson's

p.

315.

VOL.

II.

silk

at

" (13).

" The

Chirton (near

p. 73.

Table Book, Leg. Div.,

iii.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

178

\ortli Shields), in the reign of AVilliam III, had a mistress

who

died very snddenly

and, as the neighbouring gossips con-

ckided she had been murdered, her spirit ever after took
nocturnal ramble, dressed in brown
that leads to Shields

seems

have retired

to

silk, in

its

the shady avenue

but in modern times this troubled spirit

to rest " (14).

She

is

also said to

have

rendered the mansion house untenantable by means of unearthly

noises.

She

is

Bighouse) in Berwickshire, there

,

a famous

is

similar attributes, called Pearlin' Jean.

Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe,

markable ghost
old nurse,

At Allanbank

the third Silky on record.

in Scotland,

""

and

Pearlin'

my

my

In

'

(or

endued with
youth," says

Jean was the most re-

when

terror

Jenny Blackadder, had been

ghost,

a child.

Our

a servant at Allanbank,

and often beard her rustling in silks up and dow^n stairs and
She never saw her, but her husband did.
alono- the passages.
She was a Frenchwoman, whom the first proprietor of Allanbank, then Mr. Stuart, met with at Paris, during his tour to
finish his education as a

Some

gentleman.

people said she was

a nun, in which case she must have been a sister of charity, as

After some
she appears not to have been confined to a cloister.
time young Stuart either became faithless to the lady or was

Scotland

suddenly recalled to
into

his carriage,

the

at

unexpectedly made

her

by

his

door of the
appearance,

parents,
hotel,

and,

stepping

fore-wheel of the coach to address her lover,

postillion to drive

on

and had got

when

his

on

Dido
the

he ordered the

the consequence of which

was that the

and one of the wheels going over her forehead killed her.
In the dusky autumnal evening, when Mr. Stuart drove under
the arched gateway of Allanbank, he perceived Pearlin' Jean

lady

fell,

on the top, her head and shoulders covered with blood.

doors shut
After this, for many vears, the house was haunted

sittino-

(14) ^Mackenzie's

N ortTivmherland

ii.

p.

456.

BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

and opened with great noise

179

midnight; the rustling of

at

silks

and the pattering of high-heeled shoes were heard in bedrooms

Nm-se Jenny

and passages.
called in at

one time

The picture

good/

said there

to lay the spirit,

'

were seven ministers

but they did no muckle

was hung up between those of

of the ghost

the lover and his lady, and kept her comparatively quiet

when taken away

became worse-natured than

she

ghost was designated

quantity

to

a species of lace made of thread.

when Thomas Blackadder was her
remember Thomas very well) they made an assignation

me

told

that

meet one moonlight night

Thomas, of course, was

embrace

to

in the

some

his

orchard at Allanbank.

distance, he ran forward with

Jenny

when

neared the spot where the figure stood,

he saw

considerable

way

last,

vanished

as

and

in

he

and prea

fright; but

and saw nothing, forgave him, and

Many

years after

this,

Allanbank

ladies paid a visit to

let

it

Thomas went home

off.

they were married.

was then

and behold

lo

again at the very end of the orchard,

it

Jenny, who came

1790, two

True

comer, and seeing a female in

tlie first

a light-coloured dress at

open arms

sently

The

from pJways wearing a great

Pearlin,

that sort of lace

(jf

Nurse Jenny
lover (I

but

ever.

passed the night there.

heard a word about the ghost

about the year

I think the

house

They had never

but they were disturbed the

whole night with something walking backwards and forwards in

tlieir

bed-chamber.

This I had from the best authority

'^

(15).

Sir Robert Stuart of Allanbank was created baronet in 1697,

so that

We

it

must have been previous

to that

time that Jean died.

cannot assign to these traditions h far back date; althouo^h

they refer to a period when

seldom seen, that

it

silk,

as

an

article of dress,

was

took the attention in country places.

find a lady's silk dress in the Bretun Lai of

(15) Mrs. Crowe's Niffht-side of Nature.

N 2

Ywenec.

so

We

Ladies

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

180

wore
not

mantles at Kenilwortli Castle in 1286

silk

till

the reign of

James

T.,

in

IMassinger's " City

general use.

England, that

Madam

"

it

was

came

into

but

it

wore

" Sattin on solemn days,

It being for the City's

honour that

There should be a distinction made between

The

wife of a ^^atrician and a j^lobeian."

In the time of Charles

waved

tabby or

II.

Secretary Pepjs' wife dresses in a

In the year 1668 the tide of fashion

silk.

French ftibrics, so that it became a

" the women's hats were turned into hoods made of

entirely in favour of

plaint that

French

set

com-

silk,

wdiereby every maid-servant became a standing

French King of one-half of her ^vages " (16).

This trade, we learn from the Guardian of September 2oth,
1713, was interrupted by Marlborough's wars; and it was

revenue

to the

apprehended that
bability half the

if

peace was then concluded, " in

looms in

times," says Washington

fine

pro-

down, and
" In the good old

Spittlefields ^vould be laid

our ladies be again clothed in French

heyday of youth, a

all

Irving,

^'

silk."

that

saw

my

aunt in the

lady w^as a most formidable animal, a^ad

required to be approached with the same aw^e and devotion that

a Tartar feels in the presence of the Grand Lama.

man

If a gentle-

offered to take her hand, except to help her into a carriage,

or lead her into a drawing-room, such frowns

brocade and taffeta

''

(17).

invitinor

from the court

winning

as they are musical

''

O Nancy

Hence

to

wilt

the

such a rustling of

the poets of these days in

cottage,

inquire

thou go with me,

Nor sigh to leave the flaunting town

Can silent glens have charms for thee,
The lowly cot and russet gown ?
(16)

Side Manufactures, p. 25.

(17)

Salmagundi, April 25, 1807.

in

accents

BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

No

181

longer drest in silken sheen,

1^0 longer deck'd with jewels rare,

Saj canst thou quit each courtly

Where thou wert

In

Scotland,

" wear
the

or

of

claithes

time

of

of Charles

men

the

James

upper

In 1621

II.

Prohibitory

1429,

extend

edicts

1673,

to

was statuted

it

women, weare any

down

"
?

were privileged

alone

classes

silk."
I.,

scene,

fairest of the fair

'^

in

clothing, except those that are

stuffs

made

that they shall have no silk

upon

their cloathes

roses,

and

was

felt

1750 presumed

to

lass

And

except silk

without pearling or

silk garters

wear a

silk

talk,

gown

became general.

this innovation

country

made

toties quotles.''^

as a terrible offence to the aristocratic circles of

Edinburgh, and became a town

"

in the countrej.

under the paine of one hundreth markes,

It thus

from
reign

That no servants,

of cloath, fusteans, canvas, or

buttons, and button holes

the

to

when

a girl of the city in

It

(18).

was long before

Thus, about 1724, sings the

"
:

"Although mv gown be homespun

My

skin

it is

grey,

as soft

As them that satin weeds do wear,

And carry their heads aloft."
Silk dresses were inherited as heirlooms fur generations.
" For her

gown some ancient matron quakes,

Her gown of silken woof, all figured o'er
With roses white, far larger than the life.

On

azure ground

her grandam's wedding garb,

Old as the year when Sheriffmuir was fought."

Graliame.
I shall not

venture

Xorthumberland.

As

to

we

trace this luxury

learn

from

(18) Chambers' Tnulitiuns of Edinburgh^

the

ii.

northwards

into

Spectator^

July

p. 55.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

182

28, 1711, the fashions of

rapidly
vinces.

inetropoHs did not then travel

tlie

now, but crept by slow

as

^'

makes

fashion

Cumberland than

into Cornu^alL

that the Sleenkirk

degrees

pro-

the

into

much

progress

its

slower into

have heard in particular

(neckcloth) arrived but

two months ago

at

Newcastle, and that there are several commodes in those parts

which are worth taking a journey thither

we know,

least

that a silk dress

reign of William

111.,

This at

to see."

had reached North Shields

and the degraded wearer^

in the

like a Scottish

damsel two hundred years before her, paid the penalty oi her
folly.

"

My
God
For

"

was of lincum green,

kirtill

Weill

lacit

gif I
fadit

with silken passments rair

is

my

Weil]

cherisliit baith

was vonng

For shame now

y.B.

In

Naturalists'
stititions at
is

said,

years.

yellow hair.

Wlien

For

fadit is

an

had never prideful been,

my

article

had great

the gait,

steill I off

yellow hair

in

the

Field-Club, for

stait,

with less and mair;

"
!

Ti-ansoctioiis

1S61,

Stamfordham,^^ by the

p.

93,

of

on ''Local Super-

liev. J. F.

Bigge, M.A.,

" The renoM-ned Silky has not been heard of

I

was

once

attending

arc at the bottom of one of the Whittle

woman

told

for

very old woman,

Pearson, at Welton Mill, the foundations of which,

old

Tyneside

the

Dean

if

it

some

named

they

reservoirs.

exist,

The

me, a few days before her death, that she had

seen Silky the night before, sitting at the bottom of her bed,
dressed in

silk.^^

BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

The Gray
''

^NIan

All old rude

183

of Bellister.

tale' that fitted well

Th^ ruin wild

and

lioary.'*

Coleridge.

was

It

the gray of the evening twilight,

at

century ago, that a stripling held his

Bellister,

with the view of

Tyne

crossed the

creasing fast

way towards

Havino-

he found the darkness in-

and although the distance he had

the castle of

enterinii; into service there.

Haltwhistle,

at

about half a

to travel

was

not great, yet in those days bad companions were more

common

than welcome on the unfrecptented roads after nightfall.

Leaving

the ferry, he passed a thicket of willow buslies, and then his

route lay along a broken road, which he had been directed to

would conduct him

follow as that which

not proceeded far

when he

distance in ad\ance

at the ferry,

over for some time previous.

little

and no one had come

The youth, a stranger

and looking Ibrward with

place,

some

a circumstance rather singular, as he had

few minutes

tarried for a

He had

to the castle.

descried a travelle]* at

solicitude

in the

towards the new

scene of his labours, soon overcame the mysterious feeling, to

which

gave

this idea

rise, in

the prospect of relief from his

own

anxious thoughts ])resented to him for some part of the jotirney.

He

therefore quickened

shouted to the

no regard

unknown

lie

and when

sufficiently

near

But the stranger paid

neither stopped nor looked behind.

now approached
lie

his pace,

indivitlual to stop.

The

lad had

within a few yards, yet with the utmost exertion

could not overtake him

for he passed

rapidity, gliding rather than

forward with superhuman

walking over the

siu-fa'-e.

An

un-

pleasant sensation of fear cre])t over the youth, which was not a
little

increased, by a closer inspection, so far as the dubious

light enabled, of the object of his misgixings.

His head was

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

184

uncovered, and his long hair hung behind, white as the frosts

He was wrapt

of winter.

and he appeared

his heeis,

in a long

graj cloak reaching

youth been

bundle under

to carry a small

arm, concealed by his upper vestments.

in the struggle, that

So occupied had the

he did not at

perceive that

first

he had now^ reached the broken gateway of the old

of Bellister.

At

the

when

instant,

to

his

its

castle

dark mass became

evident through the gloom, the mysterious figure unexpectedly

stood

and turning abruptly round upon the youth revealed

still,

the awful nature of the fellowship which he, in the simplicity

of his heart, was so eager to obtain.

seal

across

there

Death had

set his pallid

on that grisly countenance, and a bloody gash that ran

heightened the expression of

it

ghastliness imprinted

The thick beard was dripping with blood, and the

fore-

part of the garments was dyed with the ensanguined stream.

The being

fixed

its

large lustreless eyes upon the youth, and

pointing with a menacing scowl towards the dilapidated

melted
It

silently

ruiii

away.

was a scene of the deepest

horror.

For some time he stood

spell-bound to the spot, gazing into the vacant air that gave.

back no image, but extended

vast,

terrible,

expansion

itself in limitless

all-absorbing gulf

that

seemed

iilto

invite

to

him

forward in pursuit of the dread, unsubstantial essences that

roamed

its

dim and dismal depths.

titude, his first

home was

idea

was

Rallying his scattered for-

that of self-preservation.

His new

nigh, and thither, scarcely conscious of the action, he

betook himself.

The

old mistress

was the only one of the family

wdthin, and to her he revealed the horrifying apparition he had

witnessed.

The

old lady

was much concerned.

of a spirit near the place she was fully aware

it

from others wiser and older than

ration of wdiicli there were

several instances in which

herself,

now few
it

the existence

members of

survivors

had maele

Of

she had heard of

a frene-

and there

itself visible to

wei'e

persons

BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

whom

185

Such a thing never occurred, she

she well knew.

said,

without some accompanying calamity, and when, as on the

present occasion, there were manifested tokens of a vindictive
disposition
ing.

on the

came

It

spirit's part, the

very evening the unfortunate

illness,

danger was near and alarm-

and predicted. That

to pass as the old lady feared

was seized with a severe

lad

and before next morning was a corpse.

When

the castle was occupied

by the Blenkinsops,

many, many centuries ago,

norial lords,

.says tradition,

sought the protection of

its

ma-

wandering minstrel,

its

roof far on in the

evening, and the humble request was granted, and the aged

The days of high-

musician w^as invited to the family hearth.

souled chivalry and of generous feeling had not then departed,

Avhen, not yet

knowing

'*

the bleak freezings of neglect," the

minstrel obtained a ready admittance to the society of the gentle

and the august, and

with

his tale

and harp found favourable audience

all.

"

High placed

He

poured

in liall, a ATelcome guest,

to lord

and lady gay,

The unpremeditated

But

lay."

the hospitable boon had not been long conceded ere dark

suspicions began to rankle in the breast of the

He was

employ the basest means

appearance of
appeared

to

this

him

Bellister.

for gratifying his rancour.

stranger, at such an untimely hour, there

Distrust, therefore, sat

Some gentlemen

some revengeful

plot.

upon the countenance of the baron,^and

of

the north are called to this day barons,"

says Grey, in his Chorographia, 1619.

The Blenkinsops

of Bellister

were entitled to the designation of baron only in courtesy.

similar token of

to

In the

si;me reason to dread the intrusion of a spy, or

the disguised agent of his rival, to execute

" "

Lord of

neighbouring baron, who scrupled not

at feud with a

respect the Whitfields of Whitfield, in the

By

same


THE DENHAM TRACTS.

186

which he had been received declined, a

as the cordiality with

visible constraint

gathered over the minstrel's features, which

soon communicated
"

By

itself to the entire circle.

fits less

Was
For

On

frequent from the crowd

heard the burst of laaghter loud.

still,

as squire

and archer stared

that dark face, and matted beard,

Their glee and

Hence

it

was with more than customary

for withdrawal

the

game

Lord of

was obeyed.

fears,

])erfidy of his

After tbe company had retired,

The image of

still

deadly

He summoned
harper into

alacrity that the signal

Belllster continued to pace his apartment, filled with

perplexing anxieties.
justify his

declined."

his

the harper, too abject to

haunted him, and the

At length suspense

foe.

his attendants

presence.

experienced

oft

rose into passion.

and directed them

to

bring the

But how was every doubt and

jealousy anew inflamed wdien they found the chamber that he

had occupied empty, and the inmate gone

augured treachery from
that the o-uiltv errand on

his entertainer, or

Lither he

he was conscious

which he had been sent was detected.

In the mind of the baron his flight only served

unfavourable ideas

that

had

he had been led

to

to

confirm the

conceive.

The

bloodhounds were ordered out, and instant pursuit after the

commenced, the baron himself leading a band of

fugitive

ibllowers.

The bloodhounds were soon upon

his track,

his

and

rapidly outstripped the vengeance of their exasperated master.

They came up with

the poor old minstrel

vicinity, transmitted to the latest generation

i.e.

earl

the local

title

of yearl,

which, after they became extinct, passed to Whitfield of

Clargill, \vhose daughter

was

hard by the Avillow

called Countess of

and heiress

Clari;-ill.

married

to a

Dr.

Graham

BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

trees near the

banks of the Tyne, and tore him

187
to pieces before

any of the party had reached him.

Remorse

barbarous outrage seized the baron, but the

for the

deed of violence was irremediable.

hour he took

way

his

Whenever

after the sunset

the castle the fate

to

of the hapless

minstrel rose in terror before his eyes, and the visible shape of
the

murdered man attended him home.

his fathers,
still

and likewise

frequented

At some
efforts

to

ancient circuit

its

periods

notice

attract

appearances that

was

it

between whose

to the

fate

and

with
spirit

This agitation and

terrific.

inquietude were always found to be the

pending misfortune

slept

unsatisfied and unappeased.

more than usually outrageous its
became more assiduous, and the

assumed more

it

The baron

But the injured

that race.

all

house of Bellister and

its

own

of some im-

])i*elude
its

dependents,

had been induced an

there

inseparable bond.*

* l^imilarto this

is

the Irish and Gaelic superstitiuu of the Banshee,

or attendant fairy-wife of families of

tiie

was

approaching death of some one

to announce, hy her wailing, the

pure stock, wliose

oftice

it

of the destined race.

"

To me, my sweet Kathleen, the Benshee has

And

I die

ere to-morroAv

I die

This rose thon hast gathered, and laid bj

Will

live,

my

cliild, lonLjer

cried,

than I

my

side

"

Smijfh.

According

to Delrio, a spectral

woman

in

mourning

to appear in the castle of an illustrious family in

the death

of

its

mistress.

premonished by the

spirit

The Macleans
of one of their

of

attire

was wont

Bohemia previous to
Loch Buy are thus

ancestors.

" Before the

death of any of his race, the phantom chief gallops along the sea-

beach near to the

castle,

announcing the event by

tions " (Scott's Demonologf/, &c., p. 341.)

Thus

cries

and lamenta-

also the family of


THE DENHAM TRACTS.

188

The Gray Man no longer appears

murmurs

responds in sad
Bellister

near which

pathway

the broken

and

The

the schoolboy's bravery

is

by

and the

nor traverses

at Bel lister

clnmp of willows

the

rustic passes

is

haunted and forbidden

it

with a beating heart

over and his merriment hushed

his eye

rider, trusting neitber

applies the spur to his steed

still

But

to the wizard blast of evening.

vicinity continue to be a

its

place after nightfall.

it

and hurries

till

nor his ear,

The dread of an

past.

unexpiated crime and of a mystery unrevealed hangs unlifted

from the spot

and nature,

over the lonesome

way and

as she spreads the pall of

gloomy

the

ruin,

and

midnight

as the

sweep

of the rushing river combines with the moaning breeze and the

sympathise with the peasant's

owl's funeral scream, seems to

awe and approve

The

his reverence for the life of a fellow-being.

jottings of this

Northumbrian ghost story were com-

municated by Mr. William Pattison, a native of the

which the
artificial

castle

is

Bellister

situated.

Castle

district in

stands on an

mount, on the southern side of the Tyne, opposite

Ilotliiemiircus

had the Bodach na Dun, or the Ghost

Kiuchardine the Spectre of the Bloody

"

to

of the Hill

Hand

With Highland broad sword,

and

targe,

plaid,

xVnd fingers red with gore."

Gartinbeg House was haunted by Bodach Gartin, and Tulloch Gorin

by Maug
And like
burg,''

Molach, or the Girl with the Hairy Left

to these were the " Wliite

and the

fairy

who

Melusine,

recurrence of mortality to

Lady

of the

usually

some noble family

Hand (Pennant).

House

of Branden-

prognosticated

of Poitou.

the

Prince, in

his Worthies of Devon, records the appearance of a white bird per-

forming the same

(Croker's

Fai)-tj

wraiths, but they

spirit "

was

office

Legends,

had

for
p.

the

worshipful

a general

Brand

lineage

of

Oxenham

these

with
commission, whereas the " warning

126).

tamily appurtenance.

identifies

BORDER SKETCHES OF FOLKLORE.

HaltAvlifstle,

an

and was surrounded by a broad

irreo-ular

structure,

and

crumbling mass of ruins,

sycamore.
sops,

it

now

fosse.

consists

overshadowed

189

of

by

an

It has

been

rude

and

enormous

Being the seat of a younger branch of the Blenkin-

was the property of Thomas Blenkinsop 1553, and of

"George 1568.

At

present the castle and estate belong to the

Bacon family.*

* Mackenzie's Nortliuniherland,

ii.

p.

316.

XVII.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF NORTH OF ENGLAND
FOLKLOIiE.
Legends of Nafferton.
There are two legends about NafFerton
Nafferton

or

Castle,

concerns

Long Lonkin

more recent

structure,

one

to

Nafferton

Old Hall, built bv Philip de Ulecote,

the other, located at NafFerton Hall, a

is

a ghost story of a

murdered

NafFerton, in the parish of Ovingham,

north of Ovington, from which

it is

pedlar.

immediately

'Mies

separated by a small stream

which joins the rivulet flowing through Whittle Dean."

de Ulecote, a favourite of

King John, commenced

Philip

the erection

of the castle, taking the" materials from the Pioman wall in the
vicinity.

He was

dismantled ruin
it

was

left

not permitted to finish the structure, and the

still

remains mucli in the same state in which

" The building consisted
in 1217.

by the workmen

of a keep, twenty feet square^ and two outer balics, of moderate

There was

dimensions, placed on the summit of a gentle slope.

no natural protection on the west, nor would

to

make one

of a formidable character.

of Philip de Ulecote's castle

tion

lie

may

liave

At present

been easy

the remains

screened from passing observa-

by the surrounding plantations

in the winter season they

it

though

it is

probable that

be discerned through the leafless

trees as the traveller journeys along the high road contiguous,

ILLUSTRATIONS OF NORTH OF ENGLAND FOLKLORE.

Haddon-on-the-AVall

from

leadino;

191

Corbridcre." *

to

am

informed that the moat can be traced on three sides of the

building.
It

is

v.dth

^'Ballad

ruin that the Xorthumbrian version of the

this

Lammikin/' corrupted
As the
local association.

of

acquired a

Long Lonkin,

into

castle never

has

was inhabited,

unless as forming a receptacle of robbers, the popular tradi-

which

tion
as

it

have

to relate is manifestly

apocryphal in so far

The folio win o; narratives

relates to Xaiferton.

relatino: to

man named

from an old

both mansions I obtained in 18^-1

Forster, in Newcastle, the descendant of one of the tenants of

the Derwentwater family.

A
the
lord

by a gentleman named Long Lonkin (whom

lady, courted

Northumbrian ballad makes

whose circumstances made him

of Xaflferton,

desirable

One

match.

Lonkin vowed

to

a moss-trooper), preferred the

child

blessed

the

whom

His vengeance was most

certed his measures.

London on

both the mother and her offspring.

to stab

business,

came

in

and Lonkin, apprised of

the

to

he
It

to proceed to

his

approaching

and was admitted by

evening

In order

treacherous maid.

he con-

bitter, for

happened that the lord of the place had occasion

absence,

Long

be revenged, and, to accomplish his purpose,

attached to his interest the child's maid, with

had determined

more

marriage.

the

induce the lady to descend

from an upper chamber, by the advice of the maid he pricked

the child

till

The mother

it

cried,

called

and then a second time

down

to the

maid

she exclaimed that she could not

to

she

till

it

screamed.

appease the child, but

would have

to

come

herself.
"

Till yoii

* Hartshorne's

I can't

Memoirs of

berland, h. pp. 237, 238.

still

come down
the

him

ladie,

yoursell."

History and Antiquities of Northum-

192

TEE DENHAM TRACTS.

Lonkin pricked the

cliihl

a third time, and

poor mother

tlie

appeared on the scene, and was killed as well as her

The Lord of NafFerton had not })roceeded

mind

wdien an impression took hold of his

rio;ht

Two

home.

at

The

created.

of the hallads

on his

rino-s

tell

on

far

child.

how

alarm was

this

were burstino; in twain, and

fino-ei-s

Returning

down

speed, he called to the servants within to let

all

drawbridcre, and

it

beino;

was not

that all

the silver buttons of his coat would not stay on.

with

jonrney

his

done he was admitted.

the

^^dlen Lono-

Lonkin heard the noise of the coach passing over the bridge he
sought means to

esca]:)e

but the bridge was secured, and as he

could not get across the moat he fled to a dean below the castle,
in

which flows the Whittle Burn, and took refuge

tree that

overhung a deep pool

a large

in

AYhen the

in the water.

lord

of the place entered his apartments a horrible scene of carnage

was

ao-encv

it

had been

whole night, but

concealed
called on
to

maid did not conceal by whose

revealed, and the guilty

shoot

among

it

The murderer was sought

effected.

was not

morning

till

that he

it

to

descend, but he refused.

him

if

he did not surrender, but Lonkin recklessly

This pool,
is

now

then threatened

and sunk, never

to

Long Lonkin's Pool, the country

A good swimmer had dived into

called

bottomless.

from the crags on both sides and had found no bottom, and

was only

Lonkin.
it,

He

him

people declare
it

for the

detected,

The outraged husband

the tree branches.

leapt into the black boiling pool beneath,

rise.

was

l)y

great exertions

Some suppose

that

that there

for in the extremest cold

it

is

is

he escaped the fate of

a spring at the bottom of

never frozen over

but this

circumstance others account for from a weill, or continuous

eddy, being in the middle of

down

There are
*'

it.

Long Lonkin's

tree

was cut

thirty or forty years previous to 1844.

at least

seven versions of the ballad relating to this

oo-re," as Professor

Aytoun designated Lonkin,

or

Lammikin,

ILLUSTEATIONS OF NORTH OF ENGLAND FOLKLORE.

with a variety of other ahases.

is

hanged, and his accomplice

he

" boiled

is

Lammikin

193

In most of these the murderer

is

burned

In one

at the stake.

The Scots versions make

in a pot full of lead."

sometimes

it is Buncle
"
Lord Weire's Castle," Lord Wearie's
Castle, Berwickshire,
Castle," the Castle of " Balwearie," '^ Prime Castle," which

the architect of a castle

'^

he built up, but for his labour "payment got nane."

for

wrong

this

wrought out such a

New

The

Derwentwater
after

its

fatal catastrophe.

Hall at Naiferton,

was

statement,

It was
" brewed the black revenge " that

he

that

for

(Radcliffe) family,

it,

it

place,

Dilston Hall,

left it for

When

old

this

life,

man was

When

occu-

strange things Avere seen about

The

and most unaccountable noises were heard.

apparitions were most

or

who

had become a farmhouse.

pied by one in that line of

the

1768.

in

re-edification

acquainted with

according to the narrator^s

an occasional residence * of the

a time

any one was

rampant when a

child

to die, or as preliminaries to

was

any

to

be born,

fatal accident,

and they took the forms of a white weasel, a white hen,

white rabbit,

or a

and sometimes of a person without the

head dressed in white.

Rappings were

customary at

the

windows, and uproars in various quarters mingled with loud

Doors

shrieks.

not shut.

would

open

without

The farmer, who appears

to

would

and

cause,

have been a recent

incomer, accommodated himself to these disturbances as best

he could,

till

* I merely give the narrator's statement, and I

In 1677 Allan

accuracy.

Roman
Soc,

p.

priest,

Catholic recusant

228).

depones

(^Depositions

Dec. 19, 1688,

that

he

II.

am

from York

Edmond Johnson,

was

received

in

that

slept in

not sure of

Swinburne, of Nafferton,

Swinburn's, of Naferton (p. 28(^).

VOL.

He

one night they became insufferable.

gent,

Castle^

Roman
month

its

was a
Surtees

Catholic
at

Mr.

THE DENHAM TEACTS.

194

an upper room near the " leads." From the door of this room
a stair conducted to the " leads," round which one could walk,

by another door

access being obtained to this outer area

On

stair-top.

at the

occasion the commotion became so active

this

that he afterwards declared_, in consonance with his agricultural

many "

ideas, that if ever so

across the floor, they

As

vating.

if this

or cog turned on

trace-chains " had been trailed

would not have created a noise

was not
side

its

sufficient,

so aggra-

something like a skeel

commenced

rolling

down

the stairs

on the outside, and played " bump " against the door of his
room, as
appeared

if

would smash

it

covered by a hearthstone,
ascertain that no one

the

stair

When
ino^

to pieces.

The noise

"

the

called

inside

Hole."

Priest's

had entered from the

to his sleeping apartment, the

retrcatino; noises

Priest's Hole.

recommenced

Determined

To

he went up

leads,

and examined the door above, but found

he returned again

and

it

proceed from and retire to a cavity in his room

to

it

shut.

advanc-

in the direction of the

to be at the

bottom of

this

annoy-

ance, he called his brother to his assistance there and then, and

they took up the hearthstone.

Beneath

it

mulation of rubbish, broken bricks, &c., as

tentionally filled up.

the space of

its

This was the hiding-

was one of these concealed compartments in the

old

The operators having cleared

* Skeel, a

''

Roman

this

Catholic persuasion.

out were about to desist.

cylindrical ^yooden vessel for carrying milk or water,

with an upright handle

Glosm?y.

seat.

any dangerous emergency, and there

houses of the gentry of the

Isl.

had been in-

contents, until they reached a flagged recess,

place of the priest on

bow.

was an accu-

if it

They got a spade and a bag, and emptied

surrounded at the sides by a stone

generally

there

made

of one of the staves

Skiola," a milk-pail.

in place

of a

Hw. " Skal," a bowl. Brockett's

ILLUSTRATIONS OP NORTH 0 ENGLAND FOLKLORE.

for there

was nothing

in this to account for the noises, but they

imagined that they twice heard a voice urging them

On

strikino; the flao^s of the floor,

hollow

and on removing

this

one sounded as

to dig on.

if coverine:

they gained access to a second

apartment, stuffed with shavings and stable manure.

also flagged,

195

and pursuing similar

tactics,

This was

they were admitted

which was in like manner filled with

"
shavings and
horse muck " and while emptying it they came
to a third place of retreat,

upon a

shirt

and a nightcap.

The

shirt

was

all

bloody where

the bowels in a living body would have been situated

was worn.

when

it

There was no skeleton nor any human remains

but there was an oven, in which any vestige of humanity might

have been consumed.

It is needless to

comment on

lihood of the articles of clothing being neglected

took so

many

when taken up appeared

and the farmer was going

like

it,

^'

after

Tho

precautions to have their crime concealed.

material of the shirt

tried

the unlike-

by those who

to send

it

like

new linen,
when he

to tlie factor, but

being exposed to the atmosphere,

it

had become

burnt tinder."

The farmer now began

dwelt at the place

if

to question

an old

man who had

long

there could be any reasonable explanation

The

of what he had witnessed.

old

man

the interval between the Eadcliffes'

thought there was.

occupancy and

its

In

being

converted into a farmhouse, and that was a considerable time

before this occurrence, a
let

man had

kept an inn in the

hall,

and

out the rooms for the accommodation of shooters durino^ the

fowling season.
pedlar, to
tell of,

lodge

Once on
there,

a time there

came a "pethert," or

who having never more been heard

there were strong surmises of his having been murdered,

and many of the

old coal-pits thereabouts

body, without any result.

was observed

When

were searched

for his

suspicion had been allayed,

it

that the innkeeper's daughters began to dress in

garments made of an expensive material, which

2

girls in their

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

196

were not in the habit

station

with

of those which the

some

accustomed
" they did little good

But

to carry.

became ruined,"

ming

to wear,

but which corresponded

missing

this elevation

packman had been

was but transient;

everything went against them, and they

said the old

man, with a

sum-

satisfied air, in

up.

A well-told

murdered

story of a pedlar

in a lone farmhouse

above Rothbury, whose ghost haunted the perpetrator to her

dying day,

may

be seen in

W.

A. Chatto's Ramhles

oji

the

James Hogg in one of his ballads

murder of the " Thirlestane Pedlar," and its

Scottish Border, pp. 93, 94.

gives the tale of the

Thirlestane

discovery.

singular

is

near

situated

Primside

White, of date October 17th,

]\]r. Robert
" Similar stories to that of the Thirlestane Pedlar

Loch, Yetholm.
1861, writes
exist in

Northumberland.

murdered

the same

in

Poor fellows

Tradition speaks of a

way

Ray

Mill, near

Whelpington.

they would for the most part have some

and

and goods upon them

them of life, more especially
;

be discovered.

at

packman being

this

might induce rogues

as the cruel deed

money

to deprive

might not

easily

2CVIII.

LEGENDS RESPECTi:^G HUGE STONES.

"

Oh

make

tomb where mortal

his

Its buried wealth

eye,

ne'er descry.

oblivion claims

roll away
Her triumph o'er

Years

And hands

heroic

names

profane disturb the clay

That once was

And

may

fired

with glory's ray

avarice from their secret gloom,

Drags even the treasures of the tomb.'

He mans.
"

What

hath the miner found

Relic or treasure, giant sword of old,

Gems bedded

deep, rich veins of burning gold

"
?

Ihid.

" This

and

is

fairy gold, boy,

to be so still requires

and

'twill

prove so

We

are lucky, boy,

nothing but secresy."

Shakes2)eare's " Wmte7''s

"

The

and a

taste for gold everywhere precedes the desire of

Tale.'''

instruction,

taste for researches into antiquity."

Humboldt.

large stone in the middle of a field, or laid in cumbrous

bulk by a pathway

side,

attention of the passer-by

has

little

to

commend

beyond the conjectures that may be

raised as to the causes that have detached such a

from

its

itself to the

parent rock and conveyed

it

huge mass

to the situation that it

THE DENHAM TEACTS.

198
occupies.
tion

it

To

the individucals, however, under whose recogni-

has habitually fallen during a hfetime spent in

bourhood,

it

possesses an interest due to something

its

neigh-

more than

to a mere aofo-resation of unconscious matter transported from

its

parent

site

serving as the

by some unknown operation of nature.

emblem

many

that recalls

Besides

a scene of youthful

frolic many an hour of " perfect gladsomeness " spent around

^^ careless
hour," which even to the busiest
its base in the
affords a lucid interval it, in all likelihood, has

woven

become

inter-

with their higher principles, the reverence with which

they regard things of ancient date, and the veneration attached

These sympathies it
to the works and memories of their sires.
has enlisted in

its

favour from certain presumed purposes

it

have served in the economy of their remote ancestors, or

from some history " passing strange," of wdiich it is the

may

Perhaps

memorial.

marks, which

it

trophy of some

stands as one of those primitive land-

it

would be sacrilege
old battlefield,

carnage with which

it

it

"
in clanger

perhaps

it is

the

in proportion to the

bedewed and the obstinacy with

perhaps reared by the might of armies

was

was contested
over the tomb of some ancient
which

remove

to

memorable

chieftain

whose

^'

soul brightened

in the days of yore, ere an oblivious generation

had forgotten the story

it

bore a

name "

at

which the world

was the rude and unhewn altar

grew pale
on which, during the days of heathen idolatry, the Druid
priest offered cruel and detestable sacrifice to sanguinary
;

divinities,

which

it

"

or perhaps

it

and from the recesses of the sacred grove, with

might have been environed, promulgated his de-

crees of horror and of blood.

The general opinion,

how^ever,

with regard to any unusually bulky stone which the strength

and means of the agricultnrist cannot remove beyond the
precincts of his field, or which, variegated with the accumulated
lichens of centuries, catches the eye in solitary massiveness

LEGENDS EESPECTING HUGE STONES.

upon the waste,

had

is

that

chiefs lie hid "

mighty

it

marks the spot wliere " bones of

who, hke the northern Vikings,

men

their ill-gotten booty

their posterity,

199

inhumed with them

in order that

with no other heritage than the sword, might

not indulge in disgraceful inaction, or sully the fierce fame of

their rutliless race.

an accredited belief

It is also

troublous times with which past history teems,

were constrained

to adopt the

that, in the

many

people

means of concealment, which the

coverts of such stones offered, to secure their valuables from

marauding Dane, or Scot, or

Pict, or Saxon,

more pros-

till

perous times should dawn, and they, coming back from long

from the

exile or

battlefield,

should possess their patrimonial

But the expected calm returned not

property in peace.

or

the owner having fallen in distant lands, the prospect of his

scenes

native

never gladdened

relinquished wealth

his

bosom more

benefits that

might confer

it

and

his

mouldering and gathering dross in the

from which hard industry had wrung

fields
all

lies

excluded from

it,

as a ]3ortion of the circulatino*

medium.
In consequence of such various surmises, while these stones

on some occasions awaken misgivings from the wild

ciated with them, they have likewise
interest,

from the incentives that they supply

being the depositories of unsunned treasures.

riers, sufficient to

Mammon,

But

livelier

avarice,

as

fearful bar-

deter the devoutest champion in the cause of

Argus-eyed monsters, more hideous and

dread than Demogorgon, have had

it

entrusted to their vigilant

superintendence, and spells which baffie

to

to

separate the eagerness of adventurers and " the all-

wished for gold."

might

tales asso-

become themes of

human

ingenuity and

nnlock have interposed their potent seal against

all

attempts to recall the buried stores to their legitimate purposes.

And

even though these bugbears be disregarded as

fictions of

a terrified imagination, the uncertainty of money-finding

is

so

THE DENHAM TRACTS,

200
proverbial,

and the indications of

that even

the

its

existence are so deceptive,

most enthusiastic votary of the trade seldom

ventures upon

its

practice without

some more certain intima-

How

tions than the floating traditions of a past age.

it

then shall

the

be determined that his labour shall not be disconcerted

true period for securing the prize has arrived

and

The usual

hopes are not placed on perishable foundations?

intelligence of
diviner's

this

fact,

leaving out of view the aid of the

wand, which with magnetic certainty vibrates

emanations evolved from

dreams

three

its

sympathetic metal,

desires

is

unvarying dreams, and the mind

as to every circumstance connected with the

its

that his

to the

obtained by
set at rest

is

accomplishment of

Out of the

has preserved of endeavours

tales that tradition

after stone-concealed riches,

two

may

be selected, in neither of

which the lords of the manor were

claim to

entitled to lay

treasure trove.

In a

field

near Meldon, a favourite

site in

the records of local

treasure quests, was placed a large stone, under which a person

named James

Gillies

dreamt successively there was hid a box

of a three- sided figure

filled

with gold.

James was unfor-

tunately destitute of one of the prime qualities of an adept in

money

explorations

secrecy."

the

capacity of being

'^

sworn

to deepest

Recognising no merit in privacy or concealment,

whatever event of novelty occurred to him was invariably

uppermost, and what could better attract a wondering auditory

than a revelation of his unrivalled vision?

Henoe

it

became

blazed abroad and reached the ears of more individuals than

even he would have been willing to entrust

scruple of appropriating to their

own

mation so obligingly furnished.

it to,

who made no

private account the infor-

The

instances in which the

nocturnal hints were repeated became at length so frequent that

James, who was always a great

loiterer,

resolved to

make

201

LEGENDS RESPECTING HUGE STONES.

complete story of

materials

his

by exploring the " golden

harvest," which assuredly fortune had been devising for him, as

Arrived

the result of such incessant importunities.

at the spot,

he found indeed the stone, as the dream had represented, but

had been violently wrenched from

amining

its

position,

it

and upon ex-

former resting-place he beheld in the midst a

its

triangular pit that bore,

moulded upon

its

sides, the

impression

of some more solid nucleus having once existed there of

suffi-

wishes of the most eager aspirant

ciently

ample

after a

competency of the world's riches

size to satisfy the

but the " pose " was

gone, the coffer had vanished, while to the garrulous dreamer

there remained nothing but the mortification of having the prize

snatched from him because he could not hold his peace.

*'

But not a word of it, 'tis fairies' treasure

Which, but reveal'd, brings on the blabber's mine."
;

Massinger's Fatall Dowry.

money

coffer of a triangular shape is not a

peculiarity, for

Hogg,

in his Winter

Northumbrian

Evening Tales, has related

a tradition of a " three neukit stane like a cockit hat," under

which was hid a purse or pose

(London Bridge according

In the

fields

the

scene being Kelso Bridge

to other authorities)

between Lilburn and Middleton

which, in the suggestions of the

''

rests

Eeligio loci,"

is

a stone

not to be

removed while the present system of things maintains its

Two hinds, with more than the intrepidity of their
stability.
class,

resolved to explore

the

mystery that

enrich themselves by one energetic stroke.

it

shrouded and

Accordingly,

when

the shades of night had fallen and nature had sunk to repose,

having provided themselves with mattocks and spades, thev,

without informing any one, and without waiting for the cus-

tomary warnings, repaired

menced

to the scene of enterprise

their daring operations.

They

liad

and com-

already l)enetrated

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

202
to a considerable

depth without any manifestations of danger,

each fresh spadeful of earth communicating invigorated energy

to their

arms, and reinspiring them with hope

begun

to

themselves

flatter

and they had

oft-repeated

the

that

of

tale

demoniac watchers over the treasures that slumbered beneatii

was but a vain chimera which ignorance had conjured up,

when

all at

once one of them heard a low fluttering, as of some-

He

thing struggling to get free^ come from beneath the stone.

his impressions to his coadjutor, but as the

sound

communicated
had not reached him, he received but a rude banter to reassure
He again resumed the work, when suddenly a repeated
him.

movement from below shot a pang of terror to the heart of both.

One of them still persisted in disturbing the precincts of the
but scarcely had he removed the unhallowed soil
fated stone
when the stone commenced moving up and down violently, and
;

out there issued from under

forth
'^

creature

flafPered

all

it

and

in white,

the earth quaked to let

figure

in

and flew," and made such

outcry that the dehnquents, casting

hurried

off,

like

strange

down

it

swan, that

and hideous

their implements,

each in the direction his terrors prompted him would

farthest carry

fi'om the grasp of the evil thing which his

him

unhallowed doings had evoked from the recesses of the earth,

and whose rage no human power might avail to appease. The
sanctuary of the stone was ever afterwards inviolate.
its

pristine position

the swains in

its

it

still

vicinity

Fixed in

draws the dread and reverence of

who have

all

not yet learned to under-

value the opinions and belief of their simple progenitors.

The immovable stone has

a

hillside at Chertsey, in

and sand which they

its

representative elsewhere.

Surrey, "

lies

and believe
hid underneath." ^

call the devil's stone,

be moved, and that a treasure

is

On

a huge stone of gravel

it

Aubrey's Natural History and Antiquities of Surrey.

cannot

LEGENDS EESPECTING HUGE STONES.

In a

203

from the

famous astrologer, Dr. John Dee,

Lord Bnrghley, dated 3rd October, 1574, he says that
" of late, I have byn sued unto by diverse sorts of people,
of which some by vehement iterated dreams, some by vision
letter

to

(as

they have

thought),

other

imagination by night, have byn

where Threasor doth lye hid

(as the

by

speche

forced

to

their

informed of certayn places

which

for feare of

all,

Kepars

phrase commonly nameth them), or for mistrust of truth

in the places assigned,

and some

for other causes,

have forborn

corage them or cownseile them

In Ireland " the popular opinions with

to deal farder, unleast I should

how

to

precede." ^

respect to hidden treasures are that they are generally under

the guardianship of spirits

to affright mortals

who assume

who seek

various hideous shapes

them.

to discover

Several of the

great lake serpents and water-cows of the Irish Fairy Mytholoo-y

are supposed to guard treasures

are

employed."

similarly

Tynedale,

is

Hill," from

some instances black cats

Near Gmmarton, in North
;

in

a remarkable British earthwork^ called the

''

Money

the local tradition of a dragon-guarded hoard of

treasure 4
It is the

general opinion, worthy of notice as respects the

acknowledged supremacy of industry in contributing

in the pursuits of

life,

to enrich themselves

in preference to

special

benefit

that few of those

to success

who have endeavoured

by waiting upon such accidents of fortune,

engaging in a lawful

calling,

from the riches thence derived.

fairy treasures they have

gone away from

have received
Illusory as

their possessors with-

* Sir H. Ellis's Letters of Eminent Literary Ifen, p. 36.

f Wilde's

Lish Popular

Superstitions, p. 98.

also vol.
J Rev. G. R. Hall in Arch, y^liana, N. S., viii. p. 66
It was opened in 1865, and afforded only a negative
vii. p. 12.
;

result.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

204

No

out their enjoying any perceptible advantage from them.

one has ever come to

As a maxim

Italians.

undeniable
leaves

that

good who searched

for gold, say the

applicable to the bulk of mankind,

opulence

easily

it

is

and unexpectedly procured

thoughtless obtainer in even a worse state of wretched-

its

ness than his original poverty.

" For as he got

He

spends

it

it

freely, so

frank and freely

too.''

There are, however, individuals, exceptions from the crowd,

whom

in

prosperity,

of exciting them to a prodigal

instead

profusion, or conduct incompatible with their previous steady

attention to the duties of their station, only generates increased

worthy of the eminence

exertions, in order to be found

which they have unexpectedly

procedure, any unforeseen

reward

later

As an
cited,
ao-o,

of

their prudently acquired

which

will sooner or

and well-bestowed diligence.

remarks a popular story may be

illustration of these

to the relator's account, the testimony

and have, according

and

faithful witnesses.

farm-steading
a

berland,
the

participates in the blessing

the efforts of patient

moderate

of which the occurrences happened about eighty years

livino;

it

this

becomes so moulded

efflux of wealth

and incorporated with the products of

gains, that

By

attained.

to

few miles

period to which

situated

n.

from

we

near the borders of Northum-

was

Haltwhistle,

refer

occupied

at

by a family of the name of

In front of the dwelling house, and

at

about

sixty yards' distance, lay a stone of vast size, as ancient, for so

On

tradition am])lifies the date, as the Flood.

this stone, at

the dead hour of the night, might be discerned a female

fio-ure,

wrapped

crowned

black

upon her head,

in

a grey

bonnets

so

incessantly

with one of those low-

cloak,

familiar

knock

to

our

knock

grandmothers

knocking in a

LEGENDS EESPECTING HUGE STONES.

fruitless

endeavour

to split

impenetrable

the

205
rock.

Duly

as

night came round she occupied her lonely station in the same
lowj crouching attitude, and pursued the dreary obligations of

her destiny
depart.

till

From

the grey streaks of the

this,

dawn gave admonition

engaged, she gained the name of " Nelly the Knocker."

perfectly

which

to

the only perceptible action in which she

So

had the inmates of the farmhouse, in the lapse of time

will reconcile sights

and events the most disagreeable and

alarming, become accustomed to Xelly's undeviating nightly

din, that the business of life

went forward unimpeded by any

apprehension accruing from her presence.

man make

his punctual resort to the

Did the servant-

neighbouring cottages,

he took the liberty of scrutinising Nelly's antiquated garb,

that varied not with the vicissitudes of seasons, or pried

sym-

pathisingly into the progress of her monotonous occupation

and though

her pale,

momentary pang of
boldest,

it

ghostly,

terror that

was rapidly effaced

into wdiich he

contracted

appointment with his mistress

gave

unhinged the courage of the

in the vortex of

was speedily drawn.

garth, Nelly's unwearied

features

good fellowship

Did the lover venture an

at the rustic stile of the stack-

hammer^

instead of proving a barrier,

only served by imparting a grateful sense of mutual danger to

render more intense the raptures of the hour of meeting.

apathetic were the feelings cherished towards her,

and

So

so little

jealousy existed of her power to injure, that the relator of these

circumstances states that on several occasions she has passed

Nelly at her laborious

toil

without evincing the least flutter of

the nerves, beyond a hurried step, as she stole a glance at the

inexplicable form.

An

event, in the course of years, disclosed

the secrets which that marvellous stone enshrined, and drove

poor Nelly for ever from the scene so inscrutably linked with

Two

her

fate.

ino-

maturitv,

of the sons of the farmer were rapidly approach-

when one

of them,

more

reflectino^

and shrewd.

THE DENHAM TEACTS.

206

suggested the idea of relieving Nelly from

lier

avocation, and

of taking possession of the legacy to which she

was evidently

and urgently summoning.

He

proposed, conjointly with his

father and brother, to blast the stone, as the most expeditious

mode

of obtaining access to her arcana

daylight, in order that

and

this in the

open

any tutelary protection she might be

disposed to extend to her favourite haunt might, as she was

a thing of darkness and the nighty be

Nor were they

efiPectually countervailed.

upon clearing away the earth

disappointed, for

and fragments that resulted from the

explosion

there

was

revealed a cluster of urns, closely packed together, containing

Anxious that nothing should transpire, they had taken

gold.

the precaution in the meanwhile to despatch the female servant

a needless errand, and ere her return the whole was efficiently

And

and without suspicion secured.

own

succeed in keeping their

their reputation

so completely did they

counsel,

and

so successfully did

keep pace with the cautious production of their

undivulged treasures, that for

many

years afterwards they were

never suspected of gaining any advantage from Nelly's

ing "

their

figure they

knock-

improved appearance and the somewhat imposing

made

their superior

lucky farm.

''

in their

little district

As

Lilly

being solely attributed to

good management of their

the adept says, " Secrecy and intelligent

judgment and

to the

operators, with a strong confidence

and knowledge of what they

are doing, are best for this work.^^ ^

The

^^

Knocker"

a yard long,

who

is

Welsh

spirit, little statured,

indicates to the

veins of silver and gold.

* Lives of Lilly

workmen

about half

in the mines the rich

The buccas or knockers are

and Ashmole^

p.

48.

Mr.

J.

also be-

F. Campbell,

author of the West Highland Tales, on reading this in 1862, remarks:

" The same story is now current of a farmer near Skipness. It is but
a popular

tale, I

suspect."

LEGENDS EESPECTING HUGE STONES.

207

lieved to inhabit the rocks, caves, adits, and wells of Cornwall."^

Such

also is the

Thus widely

mine." |

from the

beliefs,

far

Wichtlein, the " swart fairy of the

German

scattered

are

the

common home, whence

pagan

of

relics

they diverged in the

back ages.

Far up
ridges of

in the bleak

moorland hollow that divides the

Hedgehope and "the wild Dunmore," half concealed

by rank heath and the gray mountain mosses, half sunk

yielding peaty

narrow

tail-

soil,

stripe of

hard by a

fretful rivulet,

in the

bordered by

its

emerald grass and rushes, stands the decayed

Druid Circle of Three-stone Burn.

It consists of a

sinMe

circle

of rude, unequal, porphyritic stones, placed in an oval, whose

diameter from west to east

38, and from north to south 33

is

The stones are about eight or nine yards

yards.

there are

many gaps

distant, but

occasioned by the stones having been over-

turned, or having disappeared in the ground^ during the lapse

of ages.

Whether they once enclosed an area dedicated

to

religious observances, or formed the thingstead for determining

the controversies

among

the rude tribes, the foundations

whose circular abodes, whose

whose

occupy,

undisturbed,

region,

hilly

is

still

open peat diggings, and

ground, laid out in antique fashion,

plots of corn

many

immaterial

a slope
to

of

still

and depression of that

our present

theme.

It

* Hunt's Popular Romances of the West of England p. 88.

Brand's Pop. Ant., ii. pp. 276, 283.
I Grose.
,

British townlet, with several

camps, attendant tumuli, and

hollow ways, as well as patches of ancient tillage ground,

is

situated

by the side of the footpath leading from Middleton to Ilderton-Dodd

shepherd's house
and similar remains are frequent elsewhere on the
;

hills

around, denoting a former dense population.

There are also

Cyclopean walls on the margin of the burn, near the ruinous circle.
Old peat mosses exist far up on the back of Cunnion, opposite to
Three-stone Burn, excavated not in modern times, out ascribed to the

THE DENHAM TEACTS.

208
consisted once,

11

of them

rumoured, of 12 stones, but only

tradition

were

and

visible,

was

it

ever the r2th was found, a fortune in

when-

foretold tbat

money would reward

the

The present worthy

tenant, at the head of a

company of hay-makers, whose work

in the adjacent haining

lucky discoverer.

had been interrupted by a shower, instituted a search

and

missing

pillar,

stones.

Thirteen

lo

always an unlucky number, so his pains-

is

Perhaps he was not aware that

taking was unremunerated.

Druid money
This

come."^

only bestowed by reversion in the world to

is

however,

fact,

had

prostrate stones

fallen

came

all

the

from the west, but the cause of

this

Ground broken by

like

dwellers thereabouts in the days of old.

ancient

after the

instead of twelve there were thirteen

has

peateries

that

light,

been observed on the heights behind

also

Other

Yeavering Bell.

to

relics are a horn, not differing

from that of

the present domestic cattle found while cutting turf for fuel to the

south of Three-stone Burn House, and " a sharping stone," lying

The stone may

18 inches deep, near a place called the Prashy Syke.

have sunk to that depth, but the place was dry and covered with
heath when

was

it

imbedded in peat.

found

It

is

form, squarish, seven inches long by one inch broad.

*'

badly sharpened " with, and was rounded, and not

the sides.

It

was reckoned

to be "burn-stone,"

not unlike some of the greywacke

series.

have been turned up near Hetton Hall, so

may

rock likewise
whetstones.

is

Stone
it is

of the
It

flat

usual

had been
as

now on

of a grey colour,

celts of

greywacke

not unlikely that this

have supplied the "primitive inhabitant" with

short stone

cist,

with bones in

it,

was disinterred

Carr's Fold, in the direction of Langlee, while rebuilding

it

at

some

years since.

* " Like

money by

the Druids borrow'd

In the other world to be restor'd."

Iludibras.

Druidse pecuniam
Patricius, torn.

ii.

mutuo

p. 0.

accipiebant

in

posteriore

vita

reddituri.

LEGENDS RESPECTING HUGE STONES.

disposition

during

Some time

was not ascertained.

gold promised to reproduce

209

after the vanished

another form.

itself in

granite of

its

bnriij

bed, detaches the tarni.<<hed specks of mica, which

as they are twirled

among

eddies, emit a flashing metallic

its

This was enough to tempt an exploration

lustre.

The

winter impetuosity, rushing against the decomposed

its

among

the

sand and debris, but the illusion of having met with a gold

mine among the Cheviot

that

Hills soon passed

were picked up were merely

true gold as a painted fire

is

^'

away, for the

scales

"as

from

cat's -gold"

far

from a real."

" Like the Leganiaii mine,

\Yhere sparkles of golden splendour

All over the surface shine.

But

if

in pursuit

we go deeper,

Allur'd by the gleam that shone,

Ah

dream

false as the

The bright

ore

is

of the sleeper,

gone.'

Moore.

But

expe<itations

of subterranean

wealth as concomitants

of the
" Stones of power

By Druids

can be

justified

or red of office,

raised in

magic hour,"

by various precedents.

In 1824, a gold sceptre

which may have been borne by some ancient

arch-priest or king in the great assemblies of his people,

dug up

in the circle of Leys, Inverness-shire

and

was

in I808, a

gold ring and an armilla of beaten gold were found in the

islanci

of Islay^ under a large standing stone.

the key has gone a-niis.sing.

lo?<es

Thus

the key of Bowden-doors, and

VOL.

II.

''

is

Sometimes

the Hazelrigg

"ruined

it is

Dunnio

^'

fur evei-nuiir."

210

DENHAM

'IHE

Of Cairn-a-vain,

a gigantic pile of stones on one of the Ocliill

hills in Kinross-sliire, it

" In the

TRACTS.

has been prophesied

Dry burn

well, beneath a stane,

You'll find the key

That

will

mak'

Equally fortunate shall

a'

it

o' Cairn-a-vain,
Scotland rich ane by ane/' *

be ^Yith the west of Ireland

where

the visions that dazzle the fancy of the half-starved inhabitants

compensate for and are created by contrast with the gloomy

features of the surrounding scenes

for there

lies

the Celtic

elysium, and

the accumulated treasures of centuries.

inhabitants of

Arran More, the

" The

the south isles of

largest of

Arran, on the coast of Galway, are persuaded that in a clear

day they can

from the

see IIi/ Brasail, the enchanted (or Royal) Island,

On

the paradise of the pagan Irish." f

coast,

the

north-west of the ishxnd they call this enchanted country Tir

Hudij or

the

city

of

Hud,

there which once possessed

its

hen

^^^'-

believing that the city stands

all

under some Druidlcal monunient.

l'^^^''-^^^

Burton, in 1765^ went in search of the

called Conane's

* Wilson's

Mr.

and

that

Mr.

Ogham monument,

Tomb, on Callan Mountain

Archccology

114, 310, 141.

and

When

the riches of the world,

Preldstoric

J. F. Campbell, in

(also called

Callaw

Annals of Scotland, pp.

some remarks on

with which he favoured me, says, " Cairn-a-vain

may

this paper,

signify cairn of

the ore or mine, spelt in the genitive mliein, pronounced Vein or Vain

with a nasal sound.

mine

may be

This looks more

visible at the

lilvc

a fact.

Tlie vein of

bottom of an old shaft

uucLm-

some

stone."

(20th January, 18G2.)

f

See West Iligldand Tales,

Mr. Campbell notes that

oighc,

the

paradise.

land

of

youth,

is

vol. iv.

this

is

some corruption

common name

for

this

Tir na h

Western

LEGENDS llESPECTING HUGE STONES.

Mountain)

was made
after

211

the people could not be convinced that the search

after

an inscription, but insisted that he was seeking

an enchanted key that lay buried with the hero, and

which, wheji found, would restore the enchanted city to

its

former splendour, and convert the moory heights of Callan

Mountains into rich and

riches

whenever

fruitful

this city is

* Yallancey^s Collectanea de

plains.

They expect great

discovered." ^

Eehus Hibenticis.

Topography of Ireland.

p 2

Beanford's Ancient

XIX.
MISCELLANEOUS.
The Plague or Silver Stone.
'^

Plac^uG or Silver Stones were })laced in the vicinity of a

When

town or bv the wayside and were used thus.

existed in a town, one

deposited the silver or

of the

money

parties

money

in

in water, in a cavity

the plague

transactions,

on the top of

the stone, and retired to a distance, while the receiver advanced

and took
''

it

out, thus preventing contagion.

The remains of

recollection

this stone at

being taken by her father

Hexham was

(my

of an aged lady

informant),

when

walk,

to

near the Silver Stone she was told to

would

find silver near.

silver,

unknown

and

to

upon

it,

coming
and she

father contrived to drop a piece of

to

to

her surprise

have returned some days

after,

her father, to the stone, but the spit did not pro-

duce the same

effect."

ham^ by Joseph Fairless,

Guide

p. 17.

Finding of

Near Wooler, when

to

the

Ahhey Church of Hex-

Hexham,

who picked

a horse-shoe

it

up

is

1853.

a Horse-siioe.

is

found, the holes clear of

nails are to be counted, as these indicate

the ))arty

stated that

a child, on

spit

which she readily found,

to her,

She confessed

deliirht.

unknown

Her

standing in the

who

going

how long

to be married.

it is

before

Elsewhei'e

MISCELLANEOUS.
the

number of

l^eople, it

that they

213

Some

remaining indicate luck.

nails

simple

the door of a house,

said, nailed a horse-shoe to

is

might always have moonlight, taking the horse-shoe

to

be the fallen moon.

Bees.

hive-bee lighting on the hand

is

fortunate and portends

the reception of money.

It is

still

customary

warn the bees of the death of

to

they will

master, otherwise

which the inmates

One had

bring luck no longer.

mouth of

seen a piece of the funeral cake placed at the

drao^o^ed within

their

the hive,

with a mournful noise.

Petting Stoxe.

Roping.

Eglingham Church was one of those in former times where

there was a " petting stone " for the bride to jump over.
At
other churches a stool was placed, with a

each

side,

over which they

by taking hold of

their

"jumped

to leap over,

and

lifting

holders of the rope claimed a

them.

After the

which

street or the road,

in order that

ceremony

ciently lowered to enable this

attendance at

in

way home, they were way-

and a rope placed across the

was necessary

man

the bride and bridegroom

hands and partly

couple were married, and on their

laid,

'^

money

to

it

might be

be performed_, the

perquisite.

In country

places the roping w^ould take place for three times at the least.

MY Mally, incoxstant Mallee.

A
" I

bought

to

The ribbons

my

NorthuDibrian Song.
Mally, the ribbons of red,

I bought her

All that I bought her,

For she

to another

was a crown every yard

it still

winna' do,

proved constant and true.

my

it

suffi-

Mally, inconstant Mallee

THE DEXIIAM

214

my

" I bniio-lit to

The ribbons

Mally, the rioboiis of

was

I bought her

All that I bought her,

For she

TRxVCTS,

to another

it still

Avhiter

silk,

than milk,

winna Jo,

proved constant and true,

m^

Mallj, inconstant Malice

This ^vas simg to a simple and rather plaintive

known
but

in the country district near

Hexham.

"
!

air,

The

and was

air I

know,

has possibly never been taken clown.

it

Old Toast
Mr.

W.

me

told

that

when

boy he had often heard about

Wooler, among country folks,

memory

of

it

Northumberland.

in ISTorth

following

the

toast,

but the

had now died out

''

Health, Wealth, Milk, and Meal,

Uaj

the Deil,

Rock him
In a

Who

wcel,

creel,

doesn't

"svish

ns

a'

wed."

GuiSARDiNG Rhymes.
Fragment
"

of a

silence,

gentlemen,

Alexander

We

Guisarding

is

my

Rhyme

if

in

you would

name, and

are six actors young,

I'll

South Northumberland.
silent be,

sing right cheerfully;

who never

acted before,

And we will do our best, and the best can do no

Oh the first that I call in, he is a squire's son,

more.

love, because lie is too

young

He's like to lose his true

The next that

What

I call in, he

is

a tailor fine.

think you of his work, when he

coat of

manv

made

this coat tf

colours and adornments.

mine.*

MISCELLANEOUS.
Billy

come thee way,

215

thy valiant spear,

witli

For thou canst act thy part, as well as any here.

^

As we

>;;=

marching round, think

are

of us

what you

will,

Fiddler strike up and play, the " Auld AVife of Covershill."

At Wooler,

in

North Nortlmmberlancl, children

beo-in cruisard-

ing on Halloween night, and continue in going about in separate

bandsj which

call

rhymes, of which
recites

most of the houses of the town, reciting

at
I

One

have obtained an example.

enters and

"

Redd

stocks (or sticks), redd stools,

Hero comes

pack of

in a

pack of

fools

behind the door,

fools

That was never here before."

Eggs

man

many

at

eggs,

Cheese.

versus

one time laid a wager

'^

teens "

at

least,

every morning in the year

i.e.

tliat

he would eat ever so

from thirteen

to twenty,

but this diet proved too

him^ and he died before the year was out.

He was

much

for

opened, and

a hard substance of the shape of a knife was extracted from his

stomach.

His brother obtained possession of

used

got a blade put into

it,

while labouring in the

field,

and he
it

laid the

as a knife.

it

this,

and having

Some time

after,

he had bread and cheese to dinner,

handle of his knife on the cheese and found that

was quite dissolved away.

would eat twice

as

He

many eggs

and on the same conditions.

then

made

a wager that ho

as his brother bargained to do,

The

offer

was taken, and he went

on with the daily meal of eggs, always eating a piece of cheese

after

them, and no

evil

The moral taught was,

''

effects

resultino^,

he

won

the wao^er.

Cheese digests eyery thing but

itself."

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

216

The Druid's Lapfu' and the Devil's Stone.

Tlie standing stone at Yeverinp^ in Glendale

is

a large

column

of porphyry planted upright in a field at the northern base of the

hill called

Yevering

a battle, but
prostrate,

is

spoken of as indicating

It is usually

Bell.

in reality prehistoric, there being another^

among

the old forts

By

the lower slope of that hill.*

the " Druid^s Lapfu'."

the

common

people

Another account

position.

it is

called

female Druid's apron string broke

and the stone dropped out and remained in

there,

now

and tumuli on the eastern end of

is

its

that one of the Druids,

present

who

are

represented like the Pechs or Picts to have had very long arms,
pitched

where

it

from the top of the

Bell,

and

people to be the

of stones " was a large heap of stones near

full

Hedgley, removed

17(38 or 1769, supposed

in

work of the

is

to cover

called in Armstrong's

Fair Cross. "f

The Eev. G. Eoine

N.

by the country

They were found

devil.

the base and fragments of a cross, which

''

soil

it fell.

The " Apron

map

sunk into the

it

S., vol.

viii.

p.

Hall, F.S.A., in the ArcJiceoIogia /Elianaj

68 (1879), notices a monolith, twelve feet

high, similar to the one

standing at Yevering, by the

still

of the Devil's Stone or Eock.

It

name

stands in the neighbourhood

of two ancient British camps, not far from Birtley Holywell, in

North Tynedale.

'^

Tradition asserts this to

scene of a Satanic leap, the

oncall

its
'

altar-like

summit

'

very hoof marks

in the shape of

'

have been the

being yet visible

what geologists would

pot holes,' a leap intended to result in the demon's descent

Both

stones

were

standing

in

Horsloy's

time

(1729-30).

Horsley's Northumberland, p. 12, and arc noticed elsewhere,

f Mackenzie's Hist, of Northumberland.

at

MISCELLANEOUS.

217

Lee Hall, on the opposite bank of the

river, about half a mile

distant; but the interval not being carefully estimated, the con-

sequence was a

the deepest abyss of the North Tyne,

fall into

just below the Countess

Park Chuts, thence called the

Crag Pooy where the Satanic personage

" ^

drowned

is

'

Leap-

said to have been

on the North Tyne, a cluster

Li a close near Barrasford,

of standing

stones

stood

within memory,

basalt, blasted

a few years since

which have been

The

removed by agricultural operations.

last

them, of

of

by gunpowder, yet

an

lies in

Beneath the stone fragments of bones and

inclined position.

charcoal were found in digging, which would indicate an ancient

"It

interment.

is

popularly believed that the series of stones

which once stood here were located on the

between two ancient giants, who from

spot^

through a duel

their respective stations

on the heights east and west of the river hurled these Titanic
missiles at each other,

which clashed and

stones the quoits ov palets de

fell

midway, a legend

which terms such great

closely resembling that of Brittany,

Gargantuan

Cavern Stories and Pipers' Coves.

The Hurlstone, a sandstone monolith, which stands
cultivated field on Chillingham
to

Xewton Farm, and

is

in

supposed

have been an old boundary stone, has already been referred

to, as

well as the legend attached to

Alnwick,

has written

appeared more recently in the

newspaper

* It

is

are

possibly

also described

more

The

it.

version of

it,

Newcastle
exact

by Mr. Hall,

in

late

Week!//

Chronicle

representations

of

Arch. yElian., N.

S.,

pp. 10, 11.

t Rev. G. R. Hall, Arch. jElian., N. S.,

Mr. Tate, of

but others that have

vii. p.

11.

the

vii.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

218
popular

Bewick Moor

Scorer writes,

A.

belief.

called the

'

far that

so

There

is

cavern

on

mentions an adventurer pro-

fully explored, although tradition

ceedlno-

'

Cateran's Hole,' which has not been

he heard supernatural visitants dancing

John Slobbs, London,

round the Hurlstone."

''

says,

suppose

heard in the far north

this will be a version of a story I

many

was of a cavern, somewhere, and nobody knew

where it went to, or where it ended. An adventurous wight
made np his mind to solve the difficnlty and win renown in his

years ago.

It

own rustic

circle.

He therefore took seven years' meat and seven

years' candles, or seven days'

meat and seven days^ candles

cannot say which exactly, but either will do

And

his journey.

and travelled and

as

happens in

travelled.

all

And

and

started

on

such cases, he travelled

he travelled until he had

only one-half of his meat and one half of his candles

he beo-an to consider that if he travelled

much

left.

further,

Then
and did

not reach the end of his journey, or an opening to gQt out of

some way, he would neither have meat nor candles to serve him
on his road back, and consequently must die there and never

more be heard
studying what

of.

And

to do,

it

happened that whilst he was

so

and quite

at a loss to

return or proceed, he heard a voice saying

'

he took

kindred."

it

to

Jee weak agyen

Turn back the stannin'

And

know whether

as a warning,

and returned

This writer's impression

heard of was on Greenslde

sty en.'

Hill,

was

to his

home and

that the cavern he

near Glanton.

J.

had

Swinhoe,

'Mt Avas always believed

writing on the same subject, relates
clear all the way from
passage
subterraneous
that there was a
:

Cateran's Hole, on Bewick Moor, to HelFs Hole (more frequently called Hen's Hole), a wild ravine at the foot of Cheviot
Hill

and that in the olden, troublous times of Border warfare

"

MISCELLANEOUS.
it

was frequently used both

219

for purposes of offence

and property, and

for concealment of person

and defence,

means of

as the

transporting rieving bands of hostile borderers from the one

An

locality to the other.

mind

adventurer, our wight,

to test the truth of its existence,

candles
exactly

whether
tell

seven years

for

either

but

made up

his

and took provisions and

or

seven

I cannot

days,

he tra\-elled on and on until the con-

sumption of half his stock suggested the necessity of returning

and just when he was wondering where he might

what he should

do, he plainly heard overhead the voice of a

ploughman, saying
'

to his horses

Hup

states

in

the Whirlstyeii.'

that an acquaintance recently explored the cavern

on Bewick Moor, and

yards

aboot and gee agyeen,

Eoond aboot

He

and

be,

ended in something

it

no simple obstruction, but

less

than forty

solid rock.

There w^as a different tradition about the termini of

posed underground passage in Horsley^s time.

He

this sup-

says that

Hebburn," which is near Chillingham, and by the

crags under wdiich lie Hebburn Wood, behind wdiich stretch
''

at

wastes of peaty moor,

stretch to

Bewick,

''is

connected

wdth the moorlands

a hole called Heytherrie Hole,

that

which

people imagine to be an entrance into a subterraneous passage,

continued as far as Dunsdale on the west (north rather) side of

Cheviot Hill, wdiere there

is

another hole of the same kind

Dunsdale Hole." *
is told of " Eelin's Hole," which

called
It

lies

far

up among

the

rocks on the east side of the Henhole Ravine, that a piper

having once entered

it

to explore

it,

his

music continued

Materials for a History of Xorthnmberland,p. 58.

to

be


THE DEXriAM TRACTS.

220

heard for half-way across the interval betwixt

Hole, on Bewick Moor.

it

and Cateran's

Like other pipers in a similar predica-

mentj his tune terminated in

"

I doubt, I doubt

I'll

ne'er win out."

Such a legend we have attached

Windielaw Cove, near

to

Eedheugh, on the coast of Berwickshire

Pudding

the caverns near i\Iontrose.

Thurso,
less

a hollow cove,

is

grinding of the

who ventured

'

worn

sea.

too far

and

is

some

also to

into the solid rock

There

''

of

Gryve, in the vicinity of

by the cease-

an old tradition of a piper

ben/ and ultimately

Many

lost himself.

people, good people, heard him long, long after, playing his
"
pipes in a low, hollow sound, some four miles up the country

(Robert Dick, in Smiles' Life of that worthy,

'^

Piper's Coe

way, has

o^

but there

is

a different set of ideas

(See Mactaggart's Gallovidian Encijclopmlia,

it.

There

382.)

The

p. 116).

in the parish of Colvend, in Gallo-

also its musicians,

connected witb
p.

Cowend,"

is

a Piper^s Hole on the banks of Peninnis, in

Mary's, Scilly, which communicates, as tradition saith, with

St.

the island of Tresco, where another orifice

name

is

seen.

men going

so far in tbat they never returned

quite through

and coming out

and such

like incredibles

off,

who have attempted

End have

known by

the

same

Strange stories are related of this passage, of

at Tresco with

Several

Fugoe Hole

Land's

to penetrate the

West of England

is.

dogs going

(Heath's Scilly Isles).

escaped only by great luck

teeth," as the saying

of

most of their hair

" by the

at the

skin of their

(Hunt's Popular Romances of the

p. 185.)

Remedies for Hydropiiobia.

To

cure the bite of a

mad dog

in

South Tynedale,

it

was

usual to send to " Lockerly," on the borders of Scotland, for the

MISCELLANEOUS.
water of some

into

Avell

221

which something flying over

had

it

dropt a stone which had communicated curative virtue to the

One day,

spring.

at the

my

place wdiere

suspicious-looking dog, which w^as going

was induced

fields

to

come

^'

informant dwelt, a

allyin

was

the stable and

to

^'

* about in a

tied

up

but

mad fit took it, and it broke loose and bit a weaver's dog
and many cattle. A man was forthwith dispatched for Lockerly
the

water

and when

to taste a little,

from the

it

was brought every animal on the place had

and the result was that no

evil

eftects

ensued

bites.

Another person had heard of great numbers of

cattle, in the

county of Durham, being aifected with hydrophobia, and a messenger was sent to the borders of Cumberland for a stone,

being placed among water

have the
in

effect of

curing tliem

pa])er, of date

Dogs,"

but unfortunately the remedy

The Gateshead Observer news-

particular case failed.

this

March 23rd, 1844^ under

stated that during

the

the heading of

no

state,

that the

'

much alarmed by

visits

spirit

of the age

'

Mad

in

Northum-

of dogs in a rabid

than seven having been killed.

less

^'

preceding three months the

neighbourhood of Kirkwhelpington and Birtley,

berland, had been

wdiicli

be given them to drink would

to

"

We may

add

has not yet banished the popular

belief in the virtues of Lockerlee icater

a large supply ha\ing

been procured by voluntary subscription.

The worming of

dogs has likewise been extensively performed.'' The ^'Lockerby

water " (Dumfriesshire) appears

to

have been intended^ for

wdiich see Mr. Henderson's Folklore of the Northern Counties^

p.

163; the confusion in the name arising from the similar

qualities of the far-famed

To move

the word
"\YOik

is

Lockhart of Lee Penny.

or run from side to

iiaUijiii\ >,\'j,n\i)'u\'^

also ailyin, vastiny' time.

side.

In North Nortliiniiberland

saunterini;-,

-ettinL;-

on slowly with

222
I

THE DENIIAM TRACTS.

am

enabled, from former personal acquaintance with a rela-

tive of the late

i\Ir.

Hume-byres Penny

Turnbull, to -whom the

belonged, to give some additional particulars of

those contained in Mr. Henderson's work,

Black Penny, possibly

called the

white penny.

The following
all

the cattle,

sultation

It

was

a place

at

it

amongst water
Ish. T. lent

efficacious.

T.'s

slaacrhtered or undero;o

it

penny

show how

to
to a

it

in

was

mouth and

its

be rendered

to

person near Morpeth, and having

never took the trouble of recalling

lost faith in its virtues,

Mr.

cow, or as others say

Perplexity was removed by a crow in

the hour of extremity fetching the

many

by a mad dog, and a con-

was held whether she should be

a course of medicine.

dabbling

was

Mr. T. by an aunt as an heirloom.

left to

bitten

It

in contradistinction to a silver or

Avas said to be its origin.

was

history to

its

supra.

iihi

nephew, who as well as him has now been dead

me

years, wrote

for

thus on the subject, 2oth April, 1843

" The magical penny which Mr. Turnbull had was not quite
large as a

common penny,

but thicker.

rim or border, and seemed

It

had been in the family

credit

out,

was given

Mr. T. has a

powers.

to its

account for the penny

came

to

left as

a deposit

much

letter of thanks,
it.

Hume-byres on

Upon one
his master's

he was provided with barrels to carry the healing water

penny was not

but at Nortlibank, near Linlithgow

and ])rocurcd

letter

It

and fearing that Mr. T. might not part

but, unfortunately for him, the

ride

it.

In Northumberland and Yorkshire

occasion a Yorkshireman

it,

got

and once a purse containing

but I have not yet prevailed on him to search for

Avith

The

at least.

when they

what amount was not known, was

for its safe return.

so

had a kind of raised

hundred years

for a

had been several times given

It

ol'

thanks.

it.

The

be composed of copper and zinc.

to

fomily lived at Hadden, near Sprouston,

gold, but to

it.

think

it

last [)erson

was

at

Hume-byres,

however, he extended his

his

master who returned a

who got

it

away, Bfteen

year;^.

223

]\IIiSCELLANEOUS.

ago, wrote to Mr. T. saying

is

His address

doubted.

lie

had returned

as follows

is

by post

it

The gentleman

Parish of Bothal, Bothal, Ogle, North Seaton.

for

whose

cattle

[In Mackenzie's

ton."

150,

is

it

said:

''

was John Saddler, Esq.,

w\as got

it

of Nortliumheiiand,

i/^i's^.

but that

Mr. Thomas Millburn,

ii.

Tritling-

149,

pp.

Hebron Chapelry^ Morpeth,

Tritlington,

is

Hebron, and one mile east

an old hall," &c. " Xear to

situated about If miles north-east of

Here

from the great post road.

this

old hall a neat

John

Sadler,

is

mansion house was

who from

knowledge and exemplary industry, risen

tural

acquired a valuable estate here.'']

about
a

it,

He

by Mr.

making

the

When

to opulence,

and

was inquiring

Hume-byres who was about

same inquiry

Morpeth and

at

found the circumstances of the penny belonging

Mr. Turnbull having been in that neighbourhood fresh in the

memory
The

of some of the inhabitants."

213, there

effect:

the

belief in

Hardwicke's
p.

^'

there w^as a cattle-dealer at

fortnight since

Wooler.
to

lately erected

a humble beginning has, by his agricul-

"mad-stone" extends
Gossip

Science

for

September,

a quotation from a

is

America.

to

1871,

New York

In

vol.

paper

to

vii.

this

" Five children, three white and two black, were bitten

by a mad dog

in

Tenn., one day

Pulaski,

week.

last

stones were applied promptly to the white children,

with the desired

eflPect,

of them being

all

while the negro children,

applied, have

January, 1872,

neighbourhood."

vol.

viii.

p.

Tennessee, writes that there

certain stones possess the

persons bitten

whom

It

is

not confined to such.

mostly prevails

well and safe,

mad-stone was not

the

In the same work, for

20, Dr. Josiah Curtis, Knoxville,

is

a popular belief in

America

that

power of averting hydrophobia from

by rabid dogs, and

"

now

said,

The account says there were several

gone mad.

mad-stones in the

to

Mad-

it is

among

it

is

quite

widespread.

the unlearned and superstitious, but

\

ery respectable lady in liichniond,

224
Va.,

THE DEXIIAM TRACTS.

one of these so-called mad-st(uies, in

lias

implicit
Illinois

and

faith,

who

fully

s})ecial localities

wliicli

she has

have known a reputable i^hysician in

believed

their

in

There are no

efficacy.

where these stones are found, nor

is

there any-

thing very peculiar in their appearance."

Mr. George Henderson, in his Popular Rhymes of Bericickshire, p. 23,

that

mentions a very recent instance of a healing stone,

might have become famous had the popular belief

cures not been superseded by the skilled veterinary.

is,"

in such
" There

he says, "or was, a locality near Ayton called the Corbie-

licugh, because of the

number

of corbies

(ravens or carrion-

Our

crows) that were wont to breed there in former times.

great-grandfather lived in Ayton about 1730, and he got into

his possession

an

corbie's

in

nest,

article

of glamourie which he took out of a

which

Corbie-heugh,

the

said

is

wrought many miraculous cures both on man and

is

only a few years

triangular

piece

keeping, but

it

since

of glass
is

now

this

the

size

of a pigeon's cgg^,

elongated.

It

stones

-not

so

it off.

From

its

our
1

1,

white as our

and almost opaque.

Kimmero;hame's

laid in the

thickness

It

cattle of

was

some

pond out of which they

The corbie may have mistaken the stone

and carried

in

October

and of that thickness, but more

(quartz),

by being

was

stone,

" The corbie's stone was about

said to have cured the Laird of

pestilential disease,

It

which was a small

letter of date

was of a whitish colour

common chucky

drank."

In a

lost."

1861, Mr. Henderson writes

talisman,

transparent

or

have

to

beast.

it

for

an egg,

could not have been

an elf-arrow head, which was in Ireland, sometimes " boiled

wdtli some reep halfpence In drink for the suffering creature." ^

])r.

p. loO.s.

^y. U, Wiklc, JVorfh. Brit. Agrkulbirist, October 23, 18C1,

225

MISCELLANEOUS.
Stewart Hall, in the parish of Eothesay,

Isle of

Bute, for-

merly the seat of the Stewarts of Kilwhineloch, was once "the

repository of certain blessed

curing
like

man and

beast,

under

stones
'

considered

the blink o^ an

manner " the milk of cows, which

returned freely as ever,

when they

those stones had been boiled." *

invaluable in
ill

e'e/

VOL. n.

Guide

to

In

witches took away,

got a certain drink in which

More might be

said about

curing stones.

* Wilson's

^'

Botkesay and the Isle of Bute,

p. 67.

XX.
BORDER SKETCHES xVXD FOLKLORE.
On

Capon Trees.

Covin, Coban, or

Dr. Jamieson, in his Scottish Dictionary, says^ that in Rox'^

burghshire, the CO cm-tree signifies

mansion-house, where the laird always met his

old Scottish

visitors."

He

derives

ment

corruption of

it is

supposed to be " coglan-tree."

from the French convent^ convention or agree-

it

which, again,

is

from the Latin conveiitum, a covenant,

or conventus, an assembly.

Cove?it,

nant or ao^reement in " Morte

lovers

a cove-

is

them was

called

thus a variety of

whose name and functions as the place of

" Riding " era, as the spot where rural

in the old

met and plighted

services

is

The witches of

prettiest of

The covin-tree

the ]\laiden of the Covine.

the trysting-tree,

Anglo-Norman,

Arthure."

Auldearn met in covines, and the

summons

a large tree in front of an

or

troth,

and commodities held and

where the exchangers of

still

hold their convention,

are indelibly impressed upon northern language and literature.

Sir Walter Scott, in a note to his Letters on
Witchcraft^ p. 277,
^'

The

holds

same view

the

tree near the front of

covine-tree^ probably because

Demonology and

as

Dr. Jamieson.

castle

was

called the

the lord received

his

company

an antient

there."
"

He is lord of the huiiting-liorn,

And king of the Co vine-tree
He's well lov'd in the western waters,

But best

When

on a

visit to

of his ain Minnie."

Alnwick

in

summer, 1861,

found

it

to


227

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLTTLURE.

be well understood that a tree, called there a coban or covan

once stood before every castle

tree,

Alnwick Castle

And

guests.

reference to
ball,"

for instance),

and

it

there used to be, and

sung by young

it,

against a tree.

From

(within

was there the

still

is,

bowshot

of

met

his

lord

rhyme having

while playing at ''keppy

girls,

the time they can keep up the

they also divine their future prospects as to matrimony or

ball,

spinster

life.

"

Keppy ball, keppy ball, Coban-tree,

Come down the lang loanin' and tell to me,
The form and the features, the speech and degree.
Of the man that is my true lover to be.

"

Keppy ball, keppy ball, Coban-tree,

Come down the lang loanin' and tell to me.
How many years old (name) is to be
07ie a

maiden, two a wife,

Three a maiden, /owr a wife," &c.

And

so on, the

married

state,

odds for the single, the even numbers for the

as long as

the

can be kept rebounding

ball

against the tree round which they play.

and the Northumbrian coban

But there

is

The Scottish covin

trees are thus identical.

another class of trees, that has puzzled both

antiquarians and county historians, that ought, I think, to be

coupled with these.

These are the capon-trees

for r,

b,

and

p, are letters mutually interchangeable in European languages.

One of these capon-trees, a venerable oak, in a very decayed

by the highway near

state, stands

and

fulfilled, it is to

''

obtained

It

its

to

be remarked, the

name from

Brampton, Cumberland,

office

of a tree of meeting.

the judges being formerly

by javelin men, well armed and mounted, from

met here

Carlisle,

who,

in

addition to the armour on their backs, were further loaded with

a goodly

number of

branches of
their

this

cold capons

and here, under the spreading

once stately tree, did the learned judges and

body-guard partake of

this food.'^

Q 2

(Denham's Cumber-

228

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

land Rhymes and Proverbs,

Tradition

^. 11.)

mistakes in the etymology of local names.

and by

makes amusing
The only other,

most famous capon-tree that I know

far the

of,

stands

on the property of the Marquis of Lothian, near Jedburgh.

Mr. Oliver, of Longraw, in a letter of 3rd April, 1855, states
:

"

It

has

its

name,

tradition says,

from

its

having been the roost-

ing-place of the capons belonging to the

From

Abbey,
is

literally coped,

topped.

many

of

of Jedburgh

other trees

word capen

has a short stem, and a wide-

It

spreading umbrageous top or

istic

monks

the shape of the tree, I think the

But

cop)^'"

besides

this is the character-

Another

capon-tree.

the

Roxburghshire friend suggests the '' kepping," or trysting-tree

but this is not likely, when there is a term in the language
;

appropriate to trysting-trees with a special function such as

this

may

Two

have once possessed.

been proposed by Mr. Jeffrey.

In

vol.

i.

48 of his Historij

p.

and Antiquities of Roxburghshire he thus mentions

banks of the river Jed, as

it

have

other derivations

"The

it:

winds round Prior's haugh, are

dotted with fine old wood, and at the foot of the haugh, on the

south margin, stands a large oak, called the capon-tree.

thought that the tree derives

who

its

name from

the Capuchin

It is
fi'iars,

delighted to wander amid such lovely scenes, and linger

beneath the shade of the wide-spreading oaks.

which the

named

tree

after

stands

belonged to the

The

the prior.

above the roots

The haugh on
monastery, and was

tree

measures twenty-one

about ten feet up

it

divides itself into

feet

two

branches, which measure respectively eleven feet and a half,

and fourteen

and covers
Morton's

feet.

fully

It is

Cyclopcedia

of Agriculture,

" The circumference of

twenty-six

feet.

between seventy and eighty

an area of ninety-two

its

vol.

ii.

J.

feet high,

Grigor, in

p. 477,

says

trunk two feet from the ground

The height of the

space occupied by the spread of

feet in diameter."

feet.^^

Mr. Jeffrey,

its

in

tree

is fifty-six feet,

boughs
his

is

is

and the

nearly a hundred

second volume,

p,

260,


BOEDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.
corrects himself

I am now
name from its remarkable
hood worn by monks of Jedbm-gh, and

resemblance to the

its

Calling pictorial representation to

which was called a

capon.'"

his

figures the capon-tree, with

his

aid,

artist

"

the origin of the name.

as to

that the tree derives

satisfied

229

two monks in

hoods, wielding sheep-crooks, conferring under the tree, if the

accompaniments are not

and the

beeves,

allegorical,

prices of wool

more correspondent

to

romantic predilection,

their

like the

about

the

and mutton

points of fat

an

character

historical

Lady Grace

of

Sir

occupation

any

than

John Yan-

brugh, for a cool retreat from the noon-day's sultry heat under
a great tree.

Mr.

In what language capon signifies a

capuche

(Latin

caputium)

are

the

friar's cowl,

Capuchon, capuce, or

does not inform his readers.

J.

customary terms

neither they nor their derivative, Capuchin, resemble

Relying then on analogy, we continue in

tlie

but

capon.

opinion, that the

capon-tree was the covin-tree of the Prior of Jedburgh, who,

like other

heads of religious houses, had the rank and attributes

of nobility.

A
to

poetical address to the capon-tree,

Hogg^s Instructor (2nd Series),

Esq., of

ii.

which was contributed

Longraw, embodies the striking

vicissitudes of

during the troublous ages of past history

have stood a

silent witness
"

by William Oliver,

p. 8,

this

To THE Capon-tree.

" Old Capon-tree, old Capon-tree,

Thou standest telling of the past,

Of Jedworth's forest wild and free

Thou art alone, forsaken, last.

Thou witness of dark ages gone,
Ere time doth lay
I fain would

Thou

sere

his scythe to thee,

know what thou

hast known.

and time-worn Capon-tree.

which

aged tree

may


THE DENHAM TEACTS.

230
"Jed wander'd
'

When

at its

own sweet

will,'

thy green spring-time

began

first

The wolf's lone howl the glades would

As through their moonlit depths he
The antler'd deer with ears alert,

Would

fill,

ran.

listen to his deadly foe,

Then bound away, with panting

heart,

O'er ridge of oak, through brake of sloe.

when those bands,

The Eternal City's legion'd ones,
Did strike their prows 'gainst Albyn's sands,
To combat with her savage sons ?
Say, did'st thou flourish

And

did the breeze, as passing by,

It whisper'd

Bear on the

And

"

through the spreading boughs,

Roman

battle-cry.

answering shriek of painted foes

And did the startled deer upspring

From thy wide toj^'s far-spreading
And did the wild bull's bellow ring
Through

forest, scaur,

shade

and tangled glade,

As that unwonted battle-cry

The breeze through Jed worth's
Now forest, Roman, all gone by

forest bore

Rome's tongue

The hoary Druid

a memory no more

bless'd thy shade.

And held thee sacred, mystic tree

What were the gods to whom he pray'd
What sort of faith had he in thee ?
;

Hast thou

e'er seen the sacred knife

The breast of human victim bared ?

Or, when the blood ebb'd with his life,
His agonized shrieking heard

BORDER ISKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

231

" Old Capon-tree, thou must have seen

That, of

all

creatures on this earth,

Man to his kind

And cruelest

has falsest been

yet there

is

mirth,

And joy, and love, and goodness much

Oh would that in a world so fair.

The

beautiful man's heart might touch

That crime-born sorrow were more rare

"

Rough savage hordes, with stealthy stride,

Have wander'd 'mid thy brethren hoar
;

And many
Has

a host, in warlike pride.

pass'd thee in the days of yore.

And holy monk and castellane,

And knight and baron debonair.
Have mingled in the glancing train,
With courtly prince and lady fair.

Ah

"

did'st

thou see that hapless queen,

The fair, the wrong'd, not blameless Mary

She wander'd sure, 'mong paths so sheen.

When at fair Jedworth she would

And did the fays among thy boughs

tarry

I^ot pine to see their

Ah

charms surpass'd
sunk beneath most cruel woes.

Unenvied was her

fate at last

u Twas in yon
glen * that Richmond's knight
'

Was

caught by Douglas

in the toil

In vain were numbers, valour, mig-ht

The well-plann'd ambush

Entrapp'd and conquer'd

all

all,

could

foil

or slain.

was the Southron's fate to yield,

Douglas from his king did gain
Another blazon to his shield.
It

And

This glen

is

about a quarter of a mile from the capon-tree.

232

THE DENHA.M TRACTS.

*'

Old Ferniherst,* whose battled keep

Still towers embosom'd in the woods,
Where, now, all warlike echoes sleep,

Has rung to sounds of Border feuds

The English, Scotch, and Frenchman'sf shout,
The clang of arms, the victim's wail.
The din of onslaught, siege, and rout.
;

Have sped along thy

*

native vale.

With thee, old tree, I live again.

To wander through Jed's forest
To see the mail-clad warrior train
Upon some Border foray ride

wide,

To hear the clang of hound and horn,

See falcon's stoop, and heron's wile

Hear matin-chime,

From
'

fair St.

Sweet Jedworth

at

Mary'sJ hallow'd

pile.

nestling in the vale.

Surrounded by the forest

Thy

grey-eyed morn

lone,

beauties grac'd the minstrel's tale,

And oft to princely guests were known

No princes now with thee remain.

Thy ancient woods are wede away

The winds sweep through thy ruin'd fane,
And monks and abbots where are they ?
;

'

I love not the unsparing hate

That would all ancient things reject

Nothing that e'er has been held great,

Or good,

or true, deserves neglect

And

though we many errors find.

These errors, once, were view'd as

Were

labours of the

sooth,-

human mind

StruggHng, as mind

is

yet, for truth.

* Ferniherst Castle stands half a mile from the

t

A.D. 1540.

Jedburgh Abbey.

tree,

BOEDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

"

The human ocean-stream

With hidden

subside

effect,

though

all

unmark'd by man,

Will modify the heaving whole

Some

now ages gone,

Will never, in
still,

rolls on,

depths, and ceaseless tide

single wave,

But

233

acted thought, through

span,

all life's

Shall tincture ev'ry living soul.

'^

And

now, old Capon-tree, farewell

There

awe bred by the thought

is aii

That thou, with

silent tongue, dost tell

Of swarming millions grave-ward brought

Fallen as thou hast shed thy leaves

That glory, honour, gladness, shame

That ev'ry passion which still heaves

The

''

breast,

was and

Our Capon-tree,"

Scene?'!/

and

objects in

will

be the same."

says Mr. Hilson, in his

Antiquities of Jedburgh,

Jed Water.

at the third bridge.

It stands
It

is

''

on a

told of

is

little

John

to

the

one of the noblest

meadow

terminating

Foster, the celebrated

he had a peculiar respect for old

essayist, that

Guide

pleasantry scarcely his own, designated them

and with a

trees,
'

fine old fellows.'

There are few who have not shared in the feelings of reverence

more ancient members of the

for the

objects around

striking

in a

The

tion.

of

them

recall

degree,

suggest

dismantled

olden times,

the

castle

telling

forest race.

the passing

the

tale

away of

train

may
of

While other

of

present

time, they,

pensive
the

reflec-

memorial

mutation and change

but a venerable tree has a moral which the dead and inert

remains of

lifeless

strength do not suggest.

and blossoming, and decline, and

there
it

is

something akin

may have

to that

in

human

In the budding,

the removal of growth,

life,

with whose progress

kept company through long generations of history.


THE DEN HAM TRACTS.

234
There

something inspiring

is

monarch of the wood

arms

aloft,

its

away from
the whole

sapling.

the sight of the

in

and

light

air

its

with the

strength of

castle-like

Its

massy boughs and doddered angles,

its

growth,

mind

thousand years, casting

and wooing the influence of

eagerness of the tender

trunk,

to the

the oak of a

its

freaks of

bourgeoning world of leaf and branch, spreading far

the central trunk

when

the strong but graceful balance of

seen, as in the Capon-tree, form as noble an

object as Nature's out-of-door world presents."

Alnwick 3Iercury, July

1,

1862,

WhiTT INGHAM VaLE.

"

Many

Now I gain the mountain's brow,

What a landscape lies below." Dyer.

of our Northumbrian

pleasing pictures of rural

and

villages present

calculated to inspire our hearts

life,

They are

with love for our native land.

of poetry

hills, vales,

filled

with the elements

for not only are the external features beautiful, but

they are also the scenes of historic events and old-world legends

which people them, as

generations.

with the busy

were,

it

Englishmen travel

of other

life

into distant lands in search of

the wonderful and picturesque, and often leave unvisited richer

scenes near to their

vale

own homes.

Let them wander through the

of AVhittingham, and then say where they will find

more

charmino- views and more interestincr associations.

Whittingham
which

is

is

but a small village on the banks of the Aln,

here a tiny brook

memorials of other times

and

in the

old

Saxon

yet

it

stands

in the fortlets

in the

his church,

From Simeon, who

hills,

footprints of

Roman has left his

and the Norman his pele
the

midst of

on the adjoining

weapons found near them, we see

the ancient British people

roads, the

wonderful
tower.

wrote his history of the church of

Durham

BOEDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

in the twelfth century,

existence

in

we

The name

Northumberland.

a personal name, and the

that

is

Hwittingham was in
Ceolwulph king of

to

Saxon, derived from Hiciting^

common

termination ham^ a town

being the town or village of Hwiting.

or village,
this

learn

737 and belonged

a.d.

England was divided

troubled period, wdien

kingdoms constantly

ral distinct

at

to

devote themselves

refuge in

monasteries.

to

During

into

war with each

seeming peacefulness and security of the

many

235

cloister

religious

According

the

to

tempted

and

life,

seve-

other, the

take

Venerable Bede,

nobles as well as private persons left the study of martial discipline

and became monks.

Ceohvulph, a

listless

and inactive

king, was smitten with the prevailing mania, and after reigning
eight years, he resigned his

monk

entered as a
it

by

his beneficence

crown

to his

nephew, Eadbert, and

the monastery of Lindisfarne

;

he enriched

milk and water had previously been the

beverage of the monks, but to gladden their hearts he introduced

wine

he brought with him kingly treasures and lands and

bestowed upon

Warkworth)

it

the

villages of

Bregesne (Brainshaugh, near

and Wercewede (Warkworth),

with

appendages and with the churches which he had

and besides

all

their

built there

Wudcestre, Hwitin2;ham

these, four other villages,

(Whittingham), Eadulfingham (Edlingham), and Eagwlfingham

(Eglingham).
here

made

Truly royal

gifts

to

a church.

No

mention

of a church at Whittingham, but there can be

doubt that one w^as built there about

this period, or not

afterwards, for the present church

retains distinctive

of Saxon times.
w^ere

is

little

long

work
Twenty-two years ago such early remains

more extensive

work was destroyed

still

much

of the old Saxon

the church

was repaired and

but unfortunately

in 1840,

when

altered.

Undoubted Saxon remains are few

in

North Northumberland

not even the foundations of dwelling houses, towers, or castles

THE DENHAM TEACTS.

236
can be traced.

Constructed for the most part of wood and clay,

the houses were frail and perishable

Saxons led to
while the

fell

the proud

and destroyed Northumberland by

all

ruin.

to

but the contempt and

Normans towards the conquered

the destruction of many monuments of Saxon art
swoop of the ruthless conqueror, when he wasted

by

hostility felt

Our Saxon

and sword, would reduce

fire

relics are

all

ecclesiastical.

Part of

the shaft of a Saxon cross supports the font in Rothbury Church;

other fragments of Saxon crosses are at

farne

Warkworth and

Lindis-

and several sculptured stones, remains of the Norham

Saxon church, are

But the most

built

up into a

pillar in

Norham churchyard.

interesting relic of the period

was taken from

is now preserved in Alnwick Castle

Museum it is a sculptured cross, with an inscription partly in
rude Roman letters and partly in Runic characters.
Formerly
many of the works of Norman builders were attributed to the

Alnmouth Church, and

;

Saxons

Alnwick

Castle

other churches with

Saxon

And

but

all

such are

we may

here

seen in churches.

was Saxon, Lindisfarne Priory

circular

arches

now known

to

belong

to a later period.

indicate the characters of the

It

and

w^ere represented to be

was founded on the Roman

Saxon

style as

type, but of a

rude kind, like the imitations made of the works of a civilised

people by a race
walls

was

nately of large

cement
in

little

advanced in

art.

The masonry of the

rough irregular rubble, or rag, formed indiscrimi-

and small stones and united with a coarse

this rubble

was sometimes

set, as in

Sompting Church,

a framework of narrow vertical strips of stone, extending

through the thickness of the wall, and projecting a

it,

representing as

it

little

were the wooden framework used

structing the frailer ordinary dwelling houses.

At

beyond
in con-

the corners

of the towers there was a peculiar quoining, called long and

short work, which consisted of a long stone set upright at the
corner, and a short one laid on

it

and bonding one way or both

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

when

Arches,

the wall.

into

large,

237

were semicircular, and

rested on a rude impost; and mouldings were flat and simple

the

windows were

times

with

were

highly

in

headings

triangular

characteristic,

double, being

from the

small^ usually with semicircular

but

All

these

that appeared in

in

and

set

belfry

were

back a

little

not to be seen
is

it

Whittingham Church.

the

windows

are

peculiarities

any one building now remaining

them

those

small

the

by a rude balustre

divided

front.

for

and some-

only some of

Rickman

gives a

brief account of this church, and a drawing of the tower, as they

existed before

modern

alterations

At

interesting features.

had marred

their peculiar

that period, the west

end of the

and

aisles

and one arch on the north appeared of the same early Saxon
of

style

architecture

exterior angles

work; "

corners

the

of the

wall

aisle

of the tower and the

had " the long and short

the upper stage of the tower there

in

was a double

window, the division being made by a rude balustre, and

in the

lower stage there was another original window with an heading

formed by two inclined stones

and a very plain arch with a

large rude impost and a plain square pier remained in the nave.

But of
of the

these peculiar features there only remain the lower part

tower,

which

Saxon long and short

shows externally the characteristic

still

and internally portions of a rude

w^ork,

double circular arch in the eastern wall.

Notwithstanding the

storms of eleven centuries have broken over this old tower, the
rubble masonry and quoins built of the gritty sandstone of the
district are

but

little

decayed

and now, when there

is

a greater

may we not hope that, as time

tower, man may hereafter lay no

respect felt for old memorials,

has

dealt kindly with this

ruthless

hand on what

North Northumberland
our early forefathers

ought not

to

is
;

left.

it

an

is

There

is

no such old

unwritten historical record

be deprived of

its

relic in

an architectural type adopted by

and

teachings and associations.

we

THE DENHAM TEACT8.

238

Leaving the church, we turn aside and meet with a memorial

of another period in a strong Border pele, with a vaulted under
storv,

and with

An

eight feet in thickness.

w^alls

and a window on the

entrance,

evidence that

east,

Sir Robert

Bowes and

Sir

is

an

In a Survey

Edwardian structure of the fourteenth century.

made by

original
it

Raufe Ellerker, in December,

state. " At Whyttingam,"

1542, two towers w^ere then in a good

say they, " bene tw^o towers whereof one ys the mansion of the

vycaridge and the other of the Inheritance of Rb't

wood Esquier both

in

These massive square fortresses,

now

picturesque objects in a

peaceful country, recall the period w^hen

life

and property were

insecure from Scottish marauders wdio lived

1460 there w^ere thirty-seven

castles

could not live in the district

by plunder.

and indeed one extensive lordship,

the Kidland, w^as entirely untenanted because

its

down even

This

protection.

to

In

and seven or eight of these

Without such protection men

pele towers in Xorthumberland.

tow^er for

Colling-

measurable good repar'ons."

there

of insecurity

state

was no

continued

Lord Wharton

comparatively late period.

reported on 20th March, 1556, that ^'the Liddledayle horsemen

in the nii^hte burnte a house a youno;

the same

began," continues he,

wdiear was arraigned
Skotts,

w^oman and 16 noute in

and hurt the ow^ner and two other."

'^

the

Wardaine court

James

at

''The 16th I

Alnewik

Castle,

Grosser, Ed. Cross, Robert Graye,

and Andrewe Noble, Englise rebbele, wdio confessed

their offenses openly.

Ed.

Cross,

Grey, and Noble suffered,

and Noble's head w^as set upon a tower's gait at the towne of
Alnewik." " A Book of the losses of the middle marches by
the Scotts Theuves, presented at Alnwick on 16 April, 1586,

gives the

names of 37 townes and

spoiled in this

ar

tyme of j^eace

and

villages that
all

have been most

or the most parte of

them

within 6 miles of Sir John Forster's dw^elling-house and

within his office."

Then

follows a large

number of complaints

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

The following

with a special account of the losses sustained.

an example " goods

the Scotts

is

taken out of the Lordship of Bewick by

16 horse and mares, 42 kyne and

Lilborne,

est

239

oxen, 17 score sheep and 20 marks worth of insight [household

New Bewick

goods).

30 oxen and kyne, 13 score of sheepe,

and insight worth 20 marks."

by

the period

Bowes

Sir William

January, 1596.

^^

The

darker picture

drawn of

is

in a letter to Sir R. Cecill,

and the

distrested people are in despair

country miserable from the horrible murders and incorrigible

Touching

pride and disobedience of the ravenous malefactors.

murders, I cannot yet come by the certane number, but the

number

is

beds.

take

above 20

great, the
it

that

manner

horrible

Buckbage

men

in their

found guiltye of murthers

will be

Sir Eobert Carr 16.

killing

The Bournes and Younge,

in

revenge of their feede (feud) for one of their name chaunceably

slayne

England by Sir Cuthbert Collingwood,

in

his

man

rescuing from him a poore man's goodes, have murdered 35

The value of the spoyles committed by the

Collingwoods."
Scots in 1587

was estimated

at

92,969

6s. 7d.

a great

sum

in

those days.

remarkable order was made in 1561 for fortifying the

Borders little

closes or crofts

were

to

be enclosed of lands next

adjoining every town or village, none to be more than two acres

or less than half an acre, so that the towns might be strengthened,
free passage prevented,

ditches,

except by narrow ways, hedges and

where a few men may

between enclosures were

or a thief may be

ways were

to

met

be

at

to

and annoy many

resist

the ways

be narrow and crooked, that an enemy

corners and annoyed by the

made by

tenants, farmers,

bow

these

and owners, well

ditched with a ditch 4 feet deep and 6 feet broad, with a double
set of quicks

and some ashes.

The great remedy, however,

these dismal times was hanging, and

Bournes,

Armstrongs, and

many

Elliotts

in

of the Carrs, Youngs,

endured

this

penalty for

240

THE DENHAM TEACT8.

The union of the two kingdoms under one

their lawlessness.

monarchy brought
close

of rapine and bloodshed to a

this period

and when we look back upon these horrors we

thankful for the freedom and security

now enjoyed

may

in the

feel

Border

lands.

The ownership of Whittingham

In John's reign

changed.

in the

middle ages was often

was held along with Thrunton,

it

Eylcj and Barton, by Michael, the son of Michael

I.''s

reign, Robert of Glanton held three parts of

it

in

Edward

with the half of

Glanton; and in the same reign the family of Flamvill had

possession of

it,

one half being held in capite from the king by

service of a sparrow-hawk yearly,

peculiar to

ancient

the

and the other half on a tenure

kingdom of Northumberland,

called

drengage, the lowest tenure giving a permanent claim to land,

but placing the holder only as a

lialf

freeman between the free

tenant and villain, for he was obliged to render servile duties in

ploughing, harrowing, and sowing his lord's lands.

from the Anglo-Saxon dreogan^

work

to

and

served in the word drudge, applied to a person

the

lowest kinds

of labour.

changes, the property

The term

it

is still

is

pre-

who performs

After passing through various

was in the seventeenth century held by

the Border family of Collingwoods

but George Collingwood,

having joined the cause of the Stuarts in 1715, he was executed

at Liverpool,

whom

and

his estates

were

forfeited to the

Crown, from

they were purchased by Liddell of Ravensworth; and

they are

now

held by his descendant, the present Lord Ravens-

worth.

Leaving the

Wood, which

village,

we

pass through the

great Thruntcn

has an area of 1,500 acres, on to the Thrunton

Crags, crossing in our route the branch

joined the Devil's Causeway a

little

Roman

road, which

eastward of Whittingham,

and which passing along the base of the Crags, and away by
Holystone, extended to Watling Street, thus connecting the two

BORDER SKETCHES AXP FOLKLORE.

great roads

wliicli,

during

Roman

tlie

241

occupation, traversed the

county.

The crags are sandstone^ and

these rocks

One

name

of these

AYedderburn^s Cave, another

is

In times of disturbance

of the Priest's Cave.

and insecurity, when the borders,

may have been

found

Cave^

refuge

may

them.

in

have found

and possibly a

to

used as

name from

the persons

Some persecuted

minister of

hiding places, and have taken their

wdio

were subject

especially,

plundering and slaughter, such caverns

religion

rise as cliffs to the

There are great rents in

feet.

and tumbled- down masses, which here and there

form caverns.
bears the

some parts

in

height of one and two hundred

temporary safety in the

freebooting

Wedderburn

Priest's

may

have

escaped death by concealment in the dark recess which bears

his

name.

The ascent through the wood

steep, but the toil is

over the Whittingham vale.

we

to the top of the crags is

very

rewarded by the magnificent view enjoyed

Resting on the summit for a while,

scan over the varied and beautiful features of the scene, and

trace the

boundary of the geological formations which have

impressed their character on the

of the porphyritic

hills,

The

district.

fine conical

forms

belonging to the Cheviot I'ange, are seen

rolling into each other at the

head of the

valley,

A mass of this

rock protrudes like a promontory as far eastward as the Ryles,

and northward in a deep bay

glomerate

w^e

have old red sandstone con-

some patches of the Tuedian or lower carboniferous

group are in the lower grounds

From beneath

at

Garmitage and Crawley Dene.

the sandstone hill on which

out one of the

we

rest,

there comes

lowest limestones of the mountain limestone

group, and in one of the shales, interstratified wdth

a species of Modiola.

it,

we found

The thick beds of sandstone forming

the

great crags of Thrunton belong to the same formation, and are

a continuation of the ridge wdiich, after bounding the valley of
VOL.

II.

242

THE DEXHAM TEACTS.

and Brcamisli

tlie Till

at Doddino-ton,

Eos

Castle,

sweeps round by Beanley and Alnwick Moor

tlience in a

southerly direction over the bleak upland moors of

Northumberland.
cultivated,
villages,

and

The broad vale wdiich

their

beneath

lies

is

highly

adorned with woods, and studded over with

halls,

and hamlets, forming indeed one of the most beautiful

Northumberland.

diversified scenes in

On

and Bewick,

Thrunton, and

to

Thrunton

the

nests

the

Crao-s,

some time

falcons

and brought forth their young

ao'o

built

but they have

been driven from their home by the incessant persecutions

of gamekeepers,

Any nobleman
of

and

rocks,

his

wdio

ruthlessly

might

surely

which miojht be taken

having

"vermin."

as

such

tenants

partridges

or

rabbits

may

in

not altogether disappear from

district.

C allaley Castle Hill

with wood.

a detached

is

most of our early

is

an

is

The rampiers and

down

the

easily bo

is

to

ditches are in

and the height from the bottom of the

distinct,

but one rampier

and broken

irreo-ular

is,

on the west

the north side the escarpment of the hill

there

of the

rounded in form, but modified

ground.

ditch to the top of the rampier

and there

hill

the site of an old camp, wdiich like

fortlets is

suit the outline of the

some parts very

is

rugged sandstone

form and densely shrouded

in

The summit, which

plain of about two acres,

side,

is

twenty

feet.

very steep, and

but there are two on the other

sides,

a third at a distance of about one hundred yards

hill

made.

sandstone rock.

on the west

The ditch

Two

side,

in

whence an attack could most

some parts

is

cut deeply into the

entrances are traceable nearly opposite to

each other, that on the

means of a causeway.
its

them

of

few

the

same range, somewhat conical

On

shot

food should not be ^^rudo-ed,

for

order that this noble bird

our

proud

be

W.S.W.

side crosses the

This fortlet

is

deep ditch by

remarkable, not only for

strong position and the skilful construction of

its

entrench-

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

ments, but aUo for the peculiarity of

some parts

in

24o

inner rampier,

its

formed of stones roughly squared,

is

even bedded with lime

and in

this

differs

it

^vliicli

and

built up,

from most

fortlets

attributable to the ancient British people, for their rampiers are

usuall}^

made

of undressed stones and earth.

originally a Celtic can:ip,

people, wdio reconstructed with

Eomans may

for a time

Prol)ably this,

was afterwards occupied by another

more

art the

have occupied

it,

inner wall.

for one of the

The

Eoman

roads passes at a short distance.

Callaley

House stands

at the base of the hill

ancient pele tower

the site of an

and

it

on low ground on

is

the subject of a

Northumbrian legend, which very probably had

curious

its

origin in the apparent remains of extensive buildings on the

Castle Hill.

The

A lord
castle

on

the vale.

of Callaley in the days of yore

this hill

She remonstrated

What

into her

hill

during the day.

It

were opposed

opinions and feelings of the age.

who was devoted

to

her interests entered

like

and pulled down

was soon whispered

to the

all

a boar,
that

became alarmed, and he

Under

sent

nlgh.t,

and nightly

had been

that the spiritual

erection of a castle on the

watch the building during the

of the destruction.

she could not attain by

by stratagem, and availed

scheme; he was dressed up

he ascended the

liimself

achieve

superstitious

of her servants

erecting a

but her lord was wilful, and the

building continued to progress.

herself of the

commenced

low sheltered situation in

his lady preferred a

persuasion she sought to

One

leo-end is briefly told thus:

some of

hill

the lord

his retainers to

and discover the cause

the influence of the superstitions

of the times, these retainers magnified appearances, and

the

built

powers

boar issued from the wood

when

and commenced overthrow-

ing the work of the day, they beheld a monstrous animal of

enormous power.

Their terror was complete

E 2

when

the boar,

THE DEXHAM TEACTS.

244

standino^ nmono: the overturned stones,

out

cried

in

loud

voice
'

Callaly Castle built on the height,

Up

day and down in the night

in the

Buikled down in the Shepherd's Shaw,

It shall stand for aye

They immediately
visitation

and never

and informed the lord of the sapernatttral

fled

and regarding the rhymes as an expression of the

will of heaven,

he abandoned the work, and in accordance with

the wish of his lady built his castle low

the

fa'.

modern mansion now

Alnwick Mercury^ August

"

And

George

stands.

in the

\'ale,

where

Tate, F. G. S., in

1862.

1,

Traditions of

Old Max.

down

Meg

or Meldon.

hast thoii never, in the twilight, fancied

Familiar object, some strange shape

And

form miconth

^'Aye! many

Thalaba.

"
?

Southey.

a time."

Seldom has the county historian stooped from

his

curt and

often dry collocation of dates and facts long since forgotten to

notice

what

his reader

would more thankfully appreciate, the

alleged spiritual occupants

more memorable than

ever hope

for.

that rendered

he, with

all his

best historian of

a spot

much

pded-up researches, can

More learned and more

thosewho have engaged

many

elaborate than most of

in such laborious works, the last

and

Xorthumberland, the Rev. John Hodgson, of

Hartburn, never overlooked those romances of uncultivated

EOEDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

minds

245

but was careful to enshrine them amidst the data of

charter chests and pubh'c records, where they reward the reader,

dash of verdure amidst rocks hoary

like a

Had
''

he not told

Meg

alive,

of

we

us,

Meldon " was stigmatised

and continued

Nvith the

hues of time.

should never very well have

known why

as a witch while she was

be a ghost so long as there lingered any

to

commissioned

belief in spiritual beings

to Avalk the earth after

the sun had gone to rest.

''

Meg

of Meldon," he

^'

says,

would seem

to

have been

Margaret Selby, mother of Sir William Fenwick, of Meldon,

who

distinguished himself as a royalist in the civil wars, and

May, 1652.

died in

She was a daughter of AVilHam Selby,

Esq., of Newcastle, and brought to her husband. Sir William

Fenwick, of Wallington, a considerable fortune, which, being

mortgaged upon

]\[eldon (then belonging to the Herons),

manor passing

the cause of that

Fenwick

On

family.

who

also

In a picture of her, which was

1810 (she having been related

had a portrait of her

at

Ford

habited in a round hat, with a large brim tied

gown turned up

and in a

stiff

vandyked

sleeve of linen

hat

her nose

is

'^

to the

Delaval

Castle), she

down

was

at each ear,

nearly to the elboAvs^ with a

the whole shoulders were covered

with a thickly-gathered ruff or

says ^Mackenzie,

at

represented to have been a miserly,

money-getting matron.

at Seaton Delaval in

family,

is

possession of the

husband she resided

the decease of her

Hartington Hall, and

pitiless,

the

into

was

frill."

''

She

is

represented,"

in the costume of a witch, with a high-pointed

crooked, her eyes penetrating, and her whole

countenance indicates that superior acuteness, intelligence, and

strength of mind, ^\hicli being so

uncommon among an

ignorant

and barbarous people, acquired her the character by which she

is

distinguished." *

''

The investment of her fortune in the

* Mackenzie's Hist, of Northumberland ^

ii.

p.

394,

'

THE DEXHAM TEACTS.

246

mortgage of Mekloii, and the hard case of the young Heron

being forced

conveying the ancient seat and lands of

to join in

his ancestors

her son, were circumstances likely enough to

to

cause a strong popular feeling in ftivour of the ousted heir, and

as strong a hatred to his wealthy oppressors/'

But
White

besides
says,

drawback

this

An

"

opinion

is

to

popularity, Mr.

her

generally

sagacious 2)eople in the neighbourhood that

of a large amount of
the

manor of Meldon

money
;

and

prices

have dealt largely in corn

were low,

rise in the

make

to

possessed

beino- ever desirous of turnino-

to

Amongst

these she

and being enabled, when

extensive ptirchases, she would,

market took place,

it

sums on such commodities

as could be disposed of again to advantage.

said to

Meg was

Eobert

by the

besides that which she invested on

accoimt, she frequently laid out heavy

is

entertained

realise

when a

thereby a proportional

profit.'
^*

In addition

Hodgson,

'-

to

her hoarding propensities,'' continues Mr.

was a witch, and, being a

tradition reports that she

person of considerable celebrity in her day, she has since her

death continued the subject of
tale.

She used

to

many

a winter evening's ghost

go between Meldon and Hartington Hall by

a subterraneous coach road, and the entry at Hartington into

this

underground way

vras

by a very large whinstone

in the

Hart, called the battling stone, upon which people used to beat
or hattle the

lie

out of their webs in the bleaching season.

As

a retribution for her covetous disposition and practice in unearthly arts, her spirit

and

was condemned

rest seven years alternately.

icalk she

was the

to

wander seven

j'ears

During the season she had

terror of the country

from Morpeth

to

to

Harting-

She frequented those places whei'e she had bestowed

her hoarded treasure but always abandoned them when the
ton Hall.

pelf was discovered and turned to useful purposes.

Many

nights

of watching and penance are said to have been spent over a well

BOEDEE SKETCHES AXD FOLKLORE.

a

to

little

souili-east of Melclon

the

deposited a bulFs hide full of gold.

247

Tower,

she

vrliere

had

The most frequent scene of

her midnight vagaries was about Meldon Bridge, along the

baitlements of which she was often seen running in the form of
a

little

coffin

the

Another of her haunts was

doo\

on the

D-Ift

site

of

of seeino'

posture for

many

an ancient stone

in

Newmlnster Abbey, where those who had

have seen her

^rliosts

nights together.

slttinc^

This coffin

was

in a doleful
called

by the

country people the trough of the maid of Meldon^ and water found
in

it

vras

a specific

in

removing warts, and curing many

Mackenzie says "it is used as a trough

" One of her most favourite forms was that of a

inveterate complaints.^^
for cattle."

beautiful

But she was Proteus-like, and appeared

woman.

in

a thousand forms, lights, and colours, flickering over the AVans-

row of beech trees, in the lane between

The people of Meldon, however,
the bridge and Meldon Park.
became so familiarised with her appearance as to say when she
beck, or under a fine

passed them,

there goes

Meg

of ^leldon.'

Such

v\'ere

the fables

with which, the calumny of an ignorant and superstitious age

aspersed the character and

memory

of a person vrho was pro-

bably .much more enlightened and virtuous than her credulous

contemporaries.

" Within the

last

to the discovery of

century some large fortunes are attributed

bags of her gold.

That which was deposited

Meldon Tower has never been found but the

Meldon school-house once gave way with the Avcight
of a bag of her money. This occurred while the master was

in the well near

ceiling of

out at dinner, and the varlets wdio were fortunate enough to be

and devouring the contents of their satchels

in,

at the time,

had

a rare scramble for the coins." *

It is related

'"

by

^\i\

Kobert White, on the testimony of a

Ilodg.son's lli6t, of Xorthumbcrla/id, part 2, vol.

ii.

pp. 11, 12.

248

THE DENHAM TEACTS.

correspondent, that an attempt was once

countryman

made by an honest

mass of treasure whicli had been

deposited in the well near Meidon Tower. " He was requested to
to recover the

repair to the place alone, on a particular night, exactly at twelve

o'clock,

would

and he would meet another person

assist

him

He was

in raising the gold.

that to be successful profound silence

Being a man not

served.

the time

and found the

like himself

who

further reminded

was necessary

to

be ob-

he attended at

destitute of courage,

assistant, apparently a decent-looking

Having brought with him

personage, awaiting his arrival.

piece of chain and a set of grappling hooks, he attached them to

a jack

roll,

which

at that period

would appear

of drawing water.

fixed over the well for the purpose

comrade seemed
their business,

to

have been

to

His

bo perfectly acquainted with the nature of

for he

rendered him

all

the assistance in his

power, and when a loop was formed towards the middle of the
chain the countryman thrust one leg therein, while the other
allowed him to descend with

To

possible care.

all

his surprise

he found the well nearly empty of water, and fastening his

grapplers round the
the top.

money succeeded once more

in ascending to

Grasping the other handle of the jack he and his

fellow exerted themselves so well that the treasure

raised,

him

and the former, seizing

that he

might land

it

it

firmly, gave

on the bank.

safely

however, when he was performing

task, excitement

had wound him

it

this last

was speedily

swing towards
Unfortunately,

important part of his

to the highest pitch

of wealth was about to be placed at his feet, and

'

V\x^

have her now,' escaped from his

dissolving spell on

lips.

the store

tlie

words,

This operated like a

what was done, the hooks quitted

their hold,

the object of his anxiety eluded his grasp and descended again
into the well, out of

mortal power.

which

Even

the

it

is

never more to be raised by

personage who had assisted

countryman seemed changed from the masculine

the

to the femi-

BOEDER SKETCHES AXD FOLKLOEE.

nine gender, and appeared to be no other than

who, strange

man

to rehite,

own

what, had his

made him

'

had endeavoured

Meg

herself,

bestow on the poor

marred the design, would hare

folly not

gentleman for

I have also

to

249

'

" *

life.'

met with several kindred

relations

Some

native of that part of the country.

from an

ao-ed

children, while play-

ing in the ruinous " castle " or tower of Meldon, where tradition
says she once resided, happening to turn over
lighted
so
^'

it,

much

as their hats full

cannie " about

''

it

went

better for

it

stones,

all

but there had been something not

made good enough use of

away, and they never knew themselves any

it,

for although they

" a yery prevalent opinion about evil-got

thus brouoht to

some of the

upon a considerable sum of money, of which some got

money

lii'ht.

stonemason once dreamt that a triangular box

with

filled

gold was concealed underneath a large stone that lay in one of

the fields near Meldon, but before

had spoken of the circumstance

making

to

a trial to obtain

some one or

other,

it

he

and sure

enough, some days afterwards when he went, the stone was overturned and a

where

it

had

^'

three-neukit " hole appeared in the midst of

Who

lain.

bad secured the treasure was never

divulged.

In troublesome times,
say,

it

my

informant went on in substance to

was customary to conceal valuables from the clutches of

lawless freebooters, in the hope of recovering

rights of property

not Meg's accursed

pelf, is

them Avhen the

Of

became again respected.

the treasure that,

this kind,

and

wrapped up

in

a bullock's hide, was sunk to the bottom of the deep, clear well

of ]\Ieldon.
JSTot

only had

It
it

was never discovered except on one occasion.

been revealed

to sight,

* Richardson's Local Historians

138, 130.

but

it

had been got hold

Table Book, Legend. Div.,

i.

pp.

250

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

and two oxen and two horses had been yoked

of,

hanled

''

brim,

to the

it

challenging

when one

and had

of those engaged spoiled

all

by

the fiends of the nether world to do their best,

all

have her now."

for w^e

to it

made

Scarcely had he

the impions

when the bag bnrst asunder, and its ponderous contents

went plunging down into the depths and were never seen more.

boast

But

often

the youngster gazes wistfully

still

ether overhead, for he

may

there,

and

other,

may

the

unfathomably deepened by the reflection of the

crystal waters,

blue

down through

sure that the

is

treasure

is

yet

he not cherish the hope that he, as well as any

whom

be the lucky one

it

to raise to plenty

is

and

honour
''

The

infernal machinations of

Meg," says Mackenzie, " long

continued the terror of the neio^hbourinolast

age were so foolhardy as

where

it

reported

is

to

sun was below the horizon."

the domains that

it

had once been her pride

Avent out in the grey

w^ould have been

dreadful exit

Fated only

as long as permitted in the beloved

ploughmen

still

^'riding in her coach

discernible

for, as

to

a boy, never passed

himself with
^^

sort

it

the

own, she tarried

territory, for

when

the

dawn to catch their horses she

among the dissolving vapours,
hills."

Mr. Hodgson remarks,

her particular pleasure to haunt Meldon Bridge,

when

when

to review at night

and four upon the Meldon

She was a true ghost,

of the

venture through Meldon woods,

made her

she

Few

villao-ers.

late in the

My

it

was

informant,

evening without bracing

of defiant exorcism, saying to himself,

AVhat do I fear on Doll [a riding mare] and w^ee Fanny [his

canine attendant] beside me.^^

i\Ieg

he was never put in jeopardy of his

A woman
Morpeth

to a

had not been

and her daughter were once bringing

Captain Middleton,

who

tlicn

to

cross

in

going lor the bridge.

letters

from

dwelt in that quarter,

and night came u])on them as they reached a

had

listening, for

life.

field

which they

There was a slight

BOEDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLOEE.

^^grimeing" of snow on the path

at the time,

When

and from a track

woman had

of footprints they remarked that a

251

preceded them.

they arrived at the bridge, the mother thought she saw a

white woman, some

ments, and

''

had

it

way

leaning against one of the battle-

off,

in her

mind"

to

say to her daughter, who,

not so observant, had perceived nothing,

'-

whose footmarks we saw " but a feeling

as if that

thing ^'not right"

the place

there's the

made her hold her peace

where the object of alarm appeared

till

woman

was some-

she had passed

to stand, but

when

she looked back the figttre had vanished, and as for the footsteps, like

Lucy

Gray's,

'*

further there were none."

This

is

easily explicable.

''

Things viewed at distance throngli the mist

By

their distortion tevrifj

The abused

But

sight."

we say of
known for his

wliat shall

vidual, well

of fear,

and shock

another of Meg's pranks

An

indi-

scepticism in regard to ghosts, had

frequently heard of ]\Ieg's achievements in frightening people,

He, however, had no scruple in

but would not credit them.

perpetuating the belief
dressed

in

white,

among

till

" You've come

mirk night,

he placed himself on the parapet wall of

Meldon Bridge, and there

stayed long

the credulous, so one

he found

awaiting passers-by.

sat

Meg

At

the

" and Fve come

to fley, let's

same time she drew herself a

nearer him, while he, jealous of a too familiar intimacy,

still

further along.

Meg

give

him a push, which he

She

at length

came

so

little

moved

repeated her movement, and he

shrunk from her approach.

not

herself seated alongside of him.

to fley,'^ * said she,

baith fley thegither.''^

He had

still

close as to

hastily attempted to shun, but lost

Frighten.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

252
balance, and

headlong into the

fell

Meg was rewarded

Another adventure
in

Let us hope that

vrater.

with a respite for ducking the rival ghost.

in

Meg was

which

1877 by a clergyman

in

me

concerned was sent

that neighbourhood, in

the hand-

writing of the narrator, a tradesman, I believe, in Whalton.

shall

reproduce

Two

told.

it

pretty nearly in the language in which

dwellers in the hamlet of Thornton

Meg's appearance as a ghost, and a friend of

who coidd not be brought

to credit

it,

sat

who

theirs, a

it

was

believed in

Scotchman,

one night after having

been at the smithy, in a public-house at Meldon, disputing as to

They then

her existence or non-existence as a spiritual visitant.

left

in

company

At a certain part of the road

named Todd, gave some chains he was

for Thornton.

one of the two believers,

carrying from the smith's shop to his mate and

As soon

behind.

fell

two were out of sight and hearing he took

as the other

a short cut across a corner of a field and placed himself behind

a hedge at the foot of a bank, a favourite haunt of ^ieg, and

getting himself into the most ghostly style he could assume, he

awaited their arrival.

^^

Where

are ye,

The Scotchman came up

Meg?

Let's

stepped out into view, saying,

Meg?"
the

The other

Scotchman

thing, picked

but the

''

see

lad dropped the chains

after him.

first,

shouting,

Meg!" when Todd

Here's IMeg, what want ye wi'

and made

off,

and

Todd, thinking he had overdone the

up the chains and ran

fiister

you,

after

them

to stop

them,

he ran the faster ran they, the tinkling of the

chains behind keeping up their terror.

The two

lads

had got

upon Meldon Bridge over the ^Yansbeck, which was then a

very narrow and steep structure. At the one end of it they
disturbed a kyloe that had got out of a

field.

This started out

as Todd was passing, and "gave a rout," and ran headlong

Todd, taking the beast for Meg,
across the bridge behind him.

increased his speed, the most frightened of the three.

there were three men and a kyloe

all terrified

Thus

and running

at

BOEDER SKETCHES AXD FOLKLORE.

The

their

utmost

state

of fear, from Avhich

pith.

tliree

men

arrived

they were

long

narrator adds a remark of identification.

''

ZDo

home

in a serious

The

recovering.

Todd was

said to

be the father or grandfather to Jack Todd, the Asood wagoner.

Botli the public-houses in

Meldon were

closed before

my

day/^

Stripping off the accessories of these stories, the machinery

engages our attention; and from

native

soil

to

obtain intimations of the

of the fragments of ancient beliefs, thus specially

The seven

localised.

we

it

years'

the cave that opens

enchanted inmates

wandering and alternate

portals

its

may

be

rest

is

akin

once septennially, that

enfranchised

or

to

its

Tliomas of

Ercildoune^s and other waifs that have fallen to the good folks

The Pixies

seven years' compulsory residence in Fairyland.

Devonshire, for

wdiicli

those that oflPend

them

The

spirit's

When

o^ beast,"

Bray's authority, punish

same sacred

appearance as a dog

ard sanction.

to

we have Mrs.
for the

is

also in

interval.

accordance with stand-

the evil one himself assumes the " shape

a black dog

is

Thus he aj^peared

a favourite form.

Janet Watson, tried for a watch, 1661; and

instance to Eobert Grieve, alias

(tried

anno 1649),

in

in a

Hob

to cite a

Grieve_, the

Border

Lauder wizard

haugh on Galawater, near Stow,

'

like

a great mastiff, bigger than any butcher's dog, and very black,

upon

running
p. 35.)

him."

(Satan's Jnvisihle

The notion may come from the

an unclean animal

is

east,

held in detestation.

as a certain truth/' says

World Discovered,
where the dog as

" The Turks report,

Morgan's Historu of Algiers^

'^

that the

corpse of the Heyradin Barbarossa was found four or five times

out of the ground, lying by his sepulchre, after he had been

there

inhumed

his grave,

till

nor could they possibly

dog together with the body

them no further

make him

Greek wizard counselled them

;

to

which done, he lay

quiet in

lie

bury

still,

a black

and gave

trouble."

Wells, marshes, and pools of water actually appear to have


THE DENHAM TRACTS.

254
been resorted

to as

portance in periods

In the day of calamity the

of alarm.

consigned his bronze cooking ntensils to the

Briton

ancient

places for concealment of articles of im-

nearest " well-eye/' or peat

pit,

rather than permit the inyader

to gain possession of them.

In Ireland, trcasnre crocks gnarded by huge serpents

legend to that

found in

is

effect.

In

wells.

at

In Wimbell Pond, in Snssex,

the bottom of the deepest lakes.*

an iron chest of money

lie

concealed, f and there

is

a Yorkshire

Some haye been enriched by money

Slmr]-)'^ Histor?/

of Hartlepool we read of

one Nicholas ^Yoodifield, farmer at Mainsforth, in Durham,

who

filled his

bottom of a

brogues so

y^ell,

Avell

with gold pieces discoyered at the

that he purchased the

manor of Trimdon,

in

that county.

box of simken treasure,

land,

was

under a

laid

two twin oxen, two twin

in

spell to

lads,

Bromley Lake, Northumber-

be won,

"by two

twin yauds,

and a chain forged by a smith of

]dnd:^'X a myth corresponding to the helpers at the well of

Meldon.

We

find a similar

agency and catastrophe repeated in

A person

haying intimation of a large chest

a Yorkshire tale.

of gold being buried in an

artificial

mount, called Willy Howe,

near Bridlington, " dug away the earth until

sight

it

appeared in

he then had a train of horses, extending upwards of a

quarter of a mile, attached to

means he was

it

by strong iron traces

hj these

just on the point of accomplishing his purpose,

when he exclaimed
*

^ Irish

iii.

Hop Peny, prow Mark,

Whether God's will or not,

Penny Journal, p. 234.

and Queries, Folklore,

Choice Xotcs

Pt.

White,

p. lOG.

we'll

in

Richardson's Local

]\

have

this ark.'

113.

Ili^t.

Table Boole, Leg.

I)ir.,

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

He, however, had no sooner pronounced

than

in vain."

it

vel remains,

^^athan's

still

deeper in the

his future efforts to obtain

Keeve

a large

is

it

beino-

change repeated

slight

round basin, which a

of vrater a hundred feet in height has formed out of the

According

solid rock.
bell,

above water cried,

it

other replying,

Xo

^'

to tradition,

which some men were

for

brought

it

all

"We have the legend with a

"'^

in Cornwall,
fidl

awful blasphemy,

this

the traces broke, and the chest sunk

all

where

hill,

ZOO

there

was

Thank God, here

we have

got

vrho

had

but the

''

it is
it

a silver

it

when one

fishing,

thanks to him,

in

without him,'

immediately tumbled in again and there remained."

For aught we know an animal's skin would bo the most

durable coffer that could be suggested to a rude people.

prankish

dog or

"sewed up

^'Silky's" treasure was

spirit

calf-skin."

That

in a great

In the ruins of a round tower in Southwick

parish, near Borland, Kirkcudbrightshire, as the tradition goes,

there
as

lies

much

as

somev\diere in the foundation a bull hide full of gold,

would enrich

in the parish of

the shape of
gold. J

''

all

" Katie Xeevie's hoard,"

Scotland.

Lesmahagow was

secreted under a vast stone in

a kettle-fall, a boot-full, and a bull-hide full" of

In the scarcity of manuflictured products

at

period of our history the hides of animals performed

portant services of which at present

wo have

little

an early

many im-

idea.

The

ancient Scot cooked his meat in a cauldron improvised of the

skin of the animal that furnished the meal.
a hideful of tallow in good preservation

peat moss.

a Highland

There are instances in which a hide was employed

as a wiiiding-sheet.

of Chester,

I have been told of

dug out of

The body of Hugh Lupus, the great Earl

the Conqueror, and who died

who came over with

* Hone's Talle Book,

i.

col. 82.

I Life and Labours of Dr. Adam Clarke, p. 117,

% Chambers' Popular Rhi/mes of Scotland.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

256

when discovered

before 1120,
^'

leather/^

in

1723 was

and then enclosed in a stone

coffin.*

was

prior of Durliam, wlio died in 1374,

liide at the price

first

wrapped

in

John Forcer,

stitched

up

in an ox-

of nine shillings, including the tailor's wages

and the hide was found " tolerably fresh," but the body much

when

decayed, in 1729,

the

pavement of that part of Durham

Cathedral where he had been laid was under repair, f Tradition

in tliis respect appears to have retained the impress of primitive
practices, of

which there are no longer any

recollections.

The Drake Stone. Harbottle.

Near the frowning

and

rugged

crags

of

Harbottle,

in

NorthumberJand, which impart a high degree of sublimity

tlie

adjoining scenery,

the Loughs,
It is

which

is

the

famous

^'

Bowder Stone

rivals the

customary with the young

men

Westmoreland.

in

in the

neighbourhood

climb up this huge rock, from the top of which there

prospect of the vale below, but

and address

The

it

is

to

a fine

requires considerable dexterity

to descend.

rustics here relate a story respecting the

with great glee.

On

one fine

summer

''

Drake Stone "

evening, a few years ago,

He

a stranger arrived at the village.

entered a public-house,

and having taken some refreshment, immediately departed.

intention

to

Drake Stone," near

was

little difficulty,

to

His

ascend the Drake Stone, which he did with

and

after

remaining for some time on the summit

of the rock, enjoying the beautiful and extensive prospect, the

deepening gloom warned him that

it

was time

to depart,

and he

therefore set about descending the dangerous rock, but in vain.

He

looked at the yawning depth below and shuddered at the

* Defoe's Tou7' through Great Britain,

f Eaine's

Durham

Cathedral.

ii.

p.

oGG.

257

BORDER SKPJTCHES AXD FOLKLORE.

prospect of atiomptiiig to descend
in,

human being was

not a

agony of fear was obliged

further,

in sight,

tlie niglit

and the poor

to content himself

traveller in

himself up in his garments as well as he could,

to obtain, if possible,

was not
to lie

in his power, the

some

To

repose.

knowledge of

an

with remaining on

the cold rock with the starry heaven for a canopy.

down

was closing

Wrapping
he laid him

sleep,

however.

made him

his situation

Early on

awake anxiously awaiting the break of day.

morning the inhabitants on rising were surprised

hear a human voice, " loud as the huntsman's shout," bawling

the following
to

Seeing his danger, they immediately pro-

lustily for assistance.

ceeded to the stone, and by proper means and some exertion he

was

from

safely extricated

had passed so
Harbottle

his

very perilous situation where he

sleepless a night.

is

Saxon camps

not only distinguished by one of the most perfect

in the county, but

the birthplace of General

by uncle Toby

in

it is

also

remarkable as being

Handy side, whose regiment

is

noticed

Tristram Shandy. Almuick Mercury^ ^^^g-

1863.

Legends of Brinkburn.

The history of Brinkburn Priory, by Mr. F. R. Wilson, the

architect, so far as

it

can be traced from an elaborate study of

the remains of the buildings, and in incidental notices from old

writers, forms one of those local

have added so

much

monographs that of

to the value of the

wickshire Naturalists'* Club.

With the '^ Book " or Chartulary of Brinkburn
sible
''

to

public

that there are

research^

many

late years

Transactions of the Ber-

Mr. Wilson does

well

still

inacces-

to

assume

chapters in the history of Brinkburn yet

untold."

The contributions

that

we now

present are written neither on

sculptured stone nor in old dim writs hard to be deciphered,

VOL.

II.


THE DENHAM TRACTS.

2 00

but have boon preservod by faithful tradition evon until now,

and what we have

do

to

have been delivered

is

to

render them accurately as they

to us, so that the popular interest in the

may

ruined monastery on the Coquet

have

also

abiding

its

record.

The Hunter and

Under

which a stranger may know by

a grassy swell,

being surrounded with a wooden

priory, tradition

there

affirms

which the entrance remains

ment

to

which access

railing,

a subterraneous passage, of

is

manner denied

an apart-

and as these

visionary dwellings are invariably provided with occupants,

who had

asserted that a hunter

in

to

perpetual

by the aid of enchantment,

slumber in that

mysterious abode.

Only once was an unenthralled mortal favoured with a

the place, and of those

who

it is

some way offended one of the

priors was, along with his hounds,

condemned

its

on the outside of the

as yet a secret, leading to

in like

is

Hounds.

iiis

are there

entombed

alive.

sight of

shep-

herd, with his dog attending him, was one day listlessly saunter-

ing on this verdant mound,

when he

beneadi him, and springing aside

lie

felt

discovered a

where door had never before been seen by

opening upwards of

had been standing.

number of

steps

its

own

flat

man yea,

door

that door

accord on the very spot where ho

Actuated by curiosity, he descended a

which appeared beneath him, and on reaching

the bottom found himself in a

Groping along

the ground stirring

this warily,

he

gloomy passage of great

at last

extent.

encountered a door which

opening readily ho, along with the dog, was suddenly admitted
into

an apartment illumined so brilliantly that the

day seemed

to shins there.

Tliis abru])t transition

ness to light for some minutes deprived

him

full light

of the

observing objects correctly, but gradually recovering

enough

to strike

him with astonishment,

for

of

from dark-

on one

power of
]ie

beheld

side, at a

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

259

table with his head restinf^ on his hand, slept one in the garb of

a hunter, while at some distance another figure reclined on the

many

with his head lying back, and around him lay

floor

hound ready

renew that

as ever, to all appearance, to

wdiich consigned

them

all to

the

a noble

fatal chase

On

chamber of enchantment.

the table lay a horn and a sword, which, seeing

all Avas

quiet,

the shepherd stepped forward to examine, and taking up the

horn

applied

first

whom

to his lips to

it

sound

ever he

made

the attempt, which alarming

and the figure started no longer.

half drawls

it,

own

and now both men became

dog, as

if

restless

lifts

it,

the sw^ord,

and made some

to hustle about,

while

by the same uneasiness, slunk towards

the increased commotion and hearing a

agitated

Alive to

the door.

him he replaced

Reassured, he

angry movements, and the hounds began

his

But the hunter, on

it.

he kept a watch, showed symptoms of awakening when-

noise behind him, very like the creaking of hinges, he suddenly

turned round and found to his dismay that the door w^as moving

Without

to.

moment he rushed through

w^aiting a

closed entrance, followed

by

He had

his dog.

the half-

not fled ten paces

wdien, shaking the vault with a crash, the door shut behind

and a

him

terrible voice assailed his ears,

The

for his temerity.

him

pouring maledictions on

fugitive traversed the passage at full

speed, and gladly hailed the light streaming in at the aperture

The shepherd quickly ascended the steps, but before he

got out the cover had nearly closed.
He succeeded, and that
was all, in escaping perhaps a w^orse fate than those victims of
above.

monkish thraldom

whom

not so fortunate;, for

it

he had just

had just raised

wdien the door fastened on

it

left
its

and nipped

but his poor dog w\as

fore parts to
it

come up

throuo-h.

This story being a family inheritance of the European race of

people has obtained a wide circulation, and there are many

modes of
which

telling

it it

it,

answerable

has been adapted.

to the flir-separated localities to

We
s

recognise

it

in the banished

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

260

Saturn reposing in a cave on a remote desolate coast * in the

;

Seven Sleepers of
in

Roman

Epliesiis

in the seven foreign

profound slumber,

habits, lying in a

o-arb,

call the

Switzerland's

till

lake of Lucerne

in

Frederick

who

three Tells,

sleep in their antique

hour of need, in a cavern near the

Dane

Ogier the

or

Castle of

enchanted in the vaults of the

Holger Danske,

Cronenburgh

miraculously preserved

Barbarossa

cave on

of the Helvetic confederacy^

in the three founders

^vhom herdsmen

in a

extreme northern confines of

the shores of the ocean, in the

Germany;!

brethren,

to

in

1|

the

unite

Eastern and Western Empires, in the Kylfhausen Berg in

Thuriugia, or^ according to another legend, in the Untersberg,

near Salsburg

but in the latter place the tradition vacillates

betwixt him and the great Emperor Charles

.;

^^ and in the

legend of the tomb of Rosencreutz, as told in the 379th number

of the

Transferred to Britain,

Spectator.

mountain and

it

has peopled the

sea-side caves with enchanted warriors

and hunts-

Of King Arthur and Sewing-shields I have already

The story crops out in
written in the Borxlerers^ Table Booh.
The
the tale of the ^'Wizard's Cave" at Tynemouth.ft

men.

correct

legend

Dunstanborouo-h

about

Castle

tells

that

its

* Plutarch.
t Gibbon.
\ Paulus Diaconus de Gestis Longohardum, lib. i. c. 4.
Magnus Hi storia de Gentihus Septentrionalihns, liomcv, 1555, lib.

Mrs.

Heman's

Works,

ii.

p.

Olam
i.

c. 3.

Quarterly Revieic, March,

G5.

1820.
Inglis's

Journey through Norway,

Sweden,

and DenmarJc,

II

290, 291.

p.

Quarterly lleriew, nbi sup.

Menzel's

History

of Germany,

i.

1820.
*" Keightlcy's Fairy Mytliology, p. 234
tt Hone's Table Bool;

ii.

p.

747-750.

487.

Quarterly

Pu'vieiv,

261

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

chieftain

was charmed with

hounds, his sword, and bugle-

his

horn, and enclosed in one of the vaults of that ancient fortress

the

Monk

of

adjuncts

and

Service,

being

others

At Fast Castle the adventurer comes out a hoary-

imaginary.

headed man, minus his

men

"three

contains

Lewis,

*
;

" hounds,

and

hawks,

In the Cheviots the cave

coat-tails.

in

armour"

with

surj'ounded

Walter

Sir

horses." f

their

Scott

an early poem makes them an army assembled by the

in

spells

Kerr.J

Sometimes

they are to return with Thomas of Ercildoune;

and mean-

of

Sir

Michael

while remain
Hills.

Scott

Halbert

aid

to

entranced within the chambers of the Eildon

The vault

at

Roslin holds alive a warrior

be approached every seven years

and the

who may
him

difficulty to free

here, as well as elsewhere, depends on the choice of the horn or

Thomas

the sword.

the Rhymer., with a

mighty

host, lies asleep

under Tom-na-hurich, a mountain near Inverness.

" Beside each coal-black coursei- sleeps a knight

raven plume waves o'er each helmed crest,

And

black the mail -which binds each manly breast,

Girt Avith broad faulchion, and with bugle green,

Say,

who

is

he, with

summons strong and high,

That bids the charmed sleep of ages

While each dark warrior rouses

fly

at the blast,

His horn, his faulchion grasps with mighty hand,

And

peals proud Arthur's

march from Fairy-land

"
!

Lejjden.

Widdrington, a

Tate of Iledgehj Moor, by James Hall,

p. 84.

Alnwick, 1827.
I

Poems by Robert Davidson

of Morebattle, p. 172.

Sir Walter Scott,

X Lockhart's Life of

Scott's

Demonotogu,

p.

183

i.

p.

where

o K >, &c.
a

similar

from Reginald Scott's Discoverg of Witclicrajt

Remains,

p.

357.

story

is

cited

Leyden's Poetical

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

262

The Bells of Brixkburn.

Centuries ago, one of the priors of Brinkburn presented the
bells of that building to the priory of

They had been

Durham.

the pride of the secluded sanctuary on the Coquet, for their

tones were j^ossessed of great power combined with sweetness,

and many tempting

had Durham made

offers

the

bells

way

till

they reached the river

However, they prepared

swelled.

or

to ford it

when

but

by some

according to the popular belief were removed

from the backs of the horses

and sank

was

of rain having fallen

the horses reached the middle of the stream the bells'

fell,

and

Durham,, under the care

to

They journeyed
Font, which owing to a quantity

of some monks.

means

them,

at length,

coveted were removed from the tower and dis-

so

patched on horseback on their

much

to secure

But she prevailed

but hitherto to no purpose.

by miraculous

Owing

to the bottom.

interposition,

either to the dangerous state

of the stream, or from the bells beino; unwillinof to be removed,

the exertions of the

monks

so they returned to

Brinkburn and reported the

the

to recover

Brinkburn prior determined not

with a messenger to

Durham

to

them proved unavailing

to be baffled, sent forth-

request the presence of his

brother prior, and both ecclesiastics then proceeded with a

attendance
superior

to

abilities

of high

monks were manifest

imprisoned

the

liberate

bells,

To
are

this

day

heard

it is

at

to

a saying in Coquctdale that

'^
;

and

WaUis,

Northumherland, assures us that the

removed

to the cathedral

are doubters.

lifted

Durham, were lodged

Durham

lo

the

For they had no sooner

ridden into the stream, than the bells were

and being conveyed

and

full

church functionaries over humble

every one.

to

But

disaster.

^'

in

bells of

Brinkburn
his

in

bells

History

of

Brinkburn were

on the banks of the Wear.

Walter White

with ease

there in safety.

Still

iSoD, says " the deep

there
i)ool

BOEDEE SKETCHES AND FOLKLOPtE.

where the
[Coquet]
''

ago,

bells

were

lost

and Mr. Wilson

positive

is

tliat

was found buried

a fragment of the bell

on the

be seen in the river

to

still

is

2G3
^'

some years

at the root of a

on the opposite side of the river." f

I fear that several of the tales of '^ flitted " bells are popular

tree,

Thus

myths.

Abbey

hill

says

tradition

was transported

was a popular opinion that the

lost in the

them

Tweed

bells of

is

'^

fitted

up

bells

of the abbey

Clackmannanshire,

it is

across the river Forth.

The

||

it

sunset.

bell

Jedburgh Abbey were

made

to ferry

Cambuskenneth

of

was

in

passage

lost in its

tradition that St.

is

and that he hung a

It

Sunday morning, when

it

was dumb
rang of

was subsequently removed

Strath, dedicated to another saint,

remained dumb

and the

to

where

on which

tree

after w^ithered away.^" **

Bells

it

its

it

Northumherland and

Gazetteer

Coldingham Priory,
Hilson's Guide

Border,

p.

week

accord

till
till

ever afterwards
so long

hung

satisfied

187.

Scotland,

of

the

own

were sometimes not

Berwickshire Naturcdists' Club's Proceedings,

J Fullarton's

all

had

the

bell in a tree,

the old church of

j-

It

of Morvern Church had

There

remained for centuries.

It

there.

preach at a place called Ashig, on the north-east

coast of the Isle of Skye, "

where

Coldingham

reported that one was for some time in

been transferred from lona.

sunrise on

still

adorn the venerable cathedral

to

the town of Stirling, but that the finest

to

of

is

that they were carried off

Hexham, and
there."
Of the

to

Maree used

bell

opposite Kelso, in an attempt

Another tradition

across.

the

that

Lincoln, and

to

i.

p.

iv. p.

140.

290.

Hunter's

p. 75.
to

Jedburgh,

Fullarton's Gazetteer,

i.

p.

p. 15.

233.

II

Dr. N. M'Leod in Good Words, 1863, p. 837.

** Dr. W. Piceves on St. Maelrublia, in Proceedings of Society

IF

of Antiquaries

oj'

Scotland, vol.

iii.

[.

2'Jl.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

264
with their

new

^'

They required

positions.

were reconciled

Many

change.

to the

to

be

tied,

till

they

of them, says Brand,

are said to have retained great affection for the churches to

When

which they belonged, and where they were consecrated.

a bell was removed from

was sometimes supposed

its

original

and favourite

situation,

it

to take a nightly trip to its old place of

residence, unless exercised in the evening,

and secured with a

chain or rope."^
Tiie tolling

of the bell of Brinkburn Friorj'- was once the

occasion of the burning of the pile by a party of marauding

who would

Scots,

stood

embosomed

not have discovered

fairies

lie

mortality, unheard of elsewhere,

the potency of the bells.

resume

remedy the

in

fairies

was

bell

formerly dwelt a

them, he

is

Were
It is

it

in consequence

was

insufferable,

when matters were

and as

restored

true to the general behef about

hill

near Botna^ in Sweden, in which

a sort of Scandinavian fairy.

When

Botna Church, and he heard the ringing of

related to have said

" Pleasant

'^

troll,

u]) bells in

is

to

of the

on the green banks of the Kale.

reinstated,

quo ante.X
This
these beings. " There is a

fell

bell

reassembled from the ends of the

that they perpetrated

in statu

they got

it

This

must have been attributable

Eoxburghshire,

their revelry

But the mischief

buried at Brinkburn.

Half a century ago the

Hounam,

of which the banished

earth, to

situation, so densely

in woods, except for this imprudence, f

Mr. Wilson says the

parish kirk of

its

it

were in Botnabill to dwell,

not for the sound of that plaguey bell."

said that a flirmcr

having found a

sitting

troll

very

dis-

consolate on a stone near Tiis lake, in the island of Zealand,

* Brand's Popular Antiquities,

ii.

136.

rtichardson's Table Booh, Leg. Div.,

Davia:>on's Poeiih^, p. lOo, &c. 222, 223.

i.

p.

223.

EORDER SKETCHES AXD FOLKLOEE.

and taking liim
liim with

'

A7ell

where are you going, friend

he, in

a melancholy tone,

cannot

live

dinging

'
!

decent Christian man, accosted

at first for a
!

265

'

am

going

?'

'

Ah

said

'

off out the country.

here any longer, they keep such eternal ringing and

" -^

SUPERSTITIOXS CONNECTED WITH

HoLED StONES.

In the western part of Cornwall there are several ancient

monuments known by

the

name

of

^'

Holed Stones."

They vary

hole, generally near its centre.

The monument
larly call attention is at

to

a round

and

in form.

which I would now more particu-

Tolven Cross

by the wayside

a conspicuous object

in size

Formerly
but within the

or fourteen years a house has been built betwixt

It

now forms

They

by

consist of thin slabs of granite, each being pierced

part of a garden hedge.

In a

it

last

it

was

twelve

and the road.

field adjoinino-

the

opposite side of the road, perhaps eighteen yards from the stone,
is

a low irregular barrow, about twenty yards in diameter and

studded with small mounds.

superstitious practice

stone at

Madron

a practice

was

still

told that

Dr. Borlase has alluded to the

of drawing children through the holed

to cure

them of weakness or pains

observed at the holed stone at

St.

some remarkable cures had been

only a few weeks since.

The ceremony

finish

it is

effected there

from one side

on that side where there

is

little

trough-like stone, called the

side of the barrow,

to

essential to success that the operation should

grassy mound; recently

made, on which the patient must sleep with a sixpence under

head.

consists of passino- the

child nine times through the hole alternately

the other, and

in the back,

Constantino.

was formerly used

'^

his

cradle," on the eastern

for this purpose.

Keigbt ley's Fair^/ Mytliolwjn,

[>.

112.

This


THE DENHAM TRACTS.

2G6

That holed stones

stone unfortunately lias long been destroyed.

were not originally constructed

liar

custom

more than

some instances the holes are not

evident, for in

is

for the observance of this pecu-

or six inches in diameter.

five

person digging close to the Tolven discovered a

few years ago a

pit in

which were

fragments of pottery, arranged in circular order, the whole being

covered by a

flat slab

diately filled

barrow

up the

Imagining that he had disturbed

of stone.

place, with

some mysterious

commendable reverence he immeTaking the proximity of the

pit again.

in connection with the pit,

the Tolven

is

erected perhaps to

Mercury, Oct.

it

seems most probable that

a sepulchral monument, stones of this kind being

a peculiar

class

of personages.

Ahiicick

1869.

1,

Warnings.
In

treatincr of warnino;s believed to be sent to relatives before

the death of their near connections,

I speak of incidents that

were communicated by parties who, as it is expressed, have

long since " gaen to their place," it is hoped to a better one,
for worthy, well- living people they were, although

the infirmity of a superstitious foreboding.

humble
died,

life.

are

from

all

E. H., on the night on which her grandfiither

was engaged in darning stockings in the house of her

half-sister,
if

haunted with

They

whose grandfather

this

was

not,

when

she heard as

a person was moaning in the adjacent cottage.

sister,

who was

heard any noise

in bed, on
;

its

being alluded

and when she went out

to, said

Her

half-

she had not

to inquire at the other

house they were at rest in bed, and she could not obtain an
answer.

When

she

returned and resumed her work,

she

became once more conscious of the sounds of distant moaning.

When morning arrived, there was nothing the matter with the
peo})lc

in the

other house

but three days afterwards,

wheJi

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

came

the news

of her

relative's

267

decease, she found that the

time corresponded with that during which she had been listen-

human

ing to those mysterious tokens of

agony, but her relative

had passed away quietly without a murmur.

The same grandfather had

of some ap])roaching calamity before the death of his

lifetime,

before
his

On

wife.

first

him the

hand, as

from

rettirning

if

he were preparing

sheaf,

which

the spot

where

up a

to tie

when he reached

in

appeared.

Her
flail

man, when once thrashing with the

father and another

in the barn, heard twice

or thrice a singular noise, as if

something was screwed down from the

Her

the floor.
it

some sheep, he saw

selling

man, with a corn rope or band

vision of a

vanished from before his eyes

it

been forewarned, once in his

also

with his

hended

its

warning

father, thinking
^^

foot.

Ah

''''

you

an"*

for

man had

that, the other

was

roof^
fire,

said the other

ominous character,

for

it

and then

went

And

me."

on

man, who had appre-

ye needna tramp

''

fell

to extinguish

it

oot, it's a

accordingly, shortly after

one of his cbildren, and. her father his

wife and two of his children, carried off by fever.

These are Berwickshire occurrences, but the same creed was

An

old

that three sharp taps

had

prevalent about the same period in Xorthumberland.

man who

lived

on Tyneside told

me

been applied to the window before his

first

were not taken into account

was over.^

aunt

who had

carrier,

she

all

got a token of the death of

one, whose wraith she

One day

till

was vouchsafed

was surprised

to

see

on a day customary for him

ing towards her across a

* For death-wariungs
see xVubrey's Miscellanies,

lea,

to

wife died, but they

all

an

her kindred except

behold instead thereof.

this relative,
to

He had

who was a

be elsewhere, approach-

within view of the door of her

by three distinct knocks on the bed's-head,

j^p.

121-2, London, 1721.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

268

housG; where she stood.

She remarked

was

own

also looking out at her

door^

such a one there at that time of the week

who may

On

day the

that very

was hampered
This same

dame

of her sagacious

prescience,

on one occasion foretold the death of one of her

that she

neighbours,

Having

crossing the

in

movements, and swept away.

its

so sure

also felt

relevant reply.

and he seated on a pack-horse

stiff,

directing

in

was drowned

carrier

who

but her neighbour,

made no

not have perceived anything,

Tyne, the water being

a neighbour,

to

what could have brought

asked one of the place

'-Ave," says she,

avIio

how

her morning's i^upplv of milk

'AVell!"

who

consumptive,

possibly

lass

milk.

sold

had been purchasing

she was, the answer was,

^'she^ll

flit

soon," and she died

next day.

A joiner^s

wife in the country above

of her husband^s death.

It

Hexham

got a " token

'*

was on a Sunday, and he had gone

to church,

and she being

the period

when she expected

left

at

home was on

the outlook at

She saw him on

his return.

his

way

back, as she thought, go past a dike-end, but he was so

loiion

in arriving' afterwards that she

outside the house

man

left

to

bed that

High
These

at

Wooler

Fair."
stories

may

incipient stages of

them

after-

his father died.

His father dropped down suddenly shortly afterwards

''

in

it.

Wooler heard three raps before

in

went

After a short suspense, how^-

husband reached the house, but took

noon and never

ao;ain

and although the whole of the road was

view, she saw nothing of him.

ever, her

wondered, and

have

no

be accounted

still

doubt

trivial,

more extravagant
been

propagated

but they show the

beliefs,

and some of

traditionally.

The

narrators will sometimes express their unbelief by the qualify-

ing statement that "

an auld

freit."

we needna mind

thae freits," or

it's

"just

BOKDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

Again, A. C. believed that she
of her daughter shortly before

liad a

2C9

warning of the death

She and her

she departed.

husband were watching beside the sick bed, when,

o'clock
'^

Ah

" she exclaimed, addressing her husband, ''my daughter's

Did you hear

gone.
child

four

at

morning, she heard a rap on the bed-head.

the

in

was

asleep

that

"

He

rose,

and observed that the

but in the afternoon of that day, at four o'clock,

the hour foreshadowed, the child died.

woman had o^ot warnino-s of the death of all her

who still survived, far away from his
district, or much communication with her, being resident

Another

brothers except one,

native

in the vicinity of

London, while she dwelt

ties are

much

perplexed about the welfare of their relatives out

of reach of being visited.

sister

and

in the northern part

Poor people who have no other earthly

of Northumberland.

In this instance, for about a week, his

had most troublous dreams

reo-ardino; her last brother,

This was

told a friend of her apprehensions for his health.

about three weeks before word reached her of his sudden

and a

letter following

announced

illness,

his death.

Another individual dreamt of witnessino- the marriacre of a

neighbour who was already a married man, but who was at
present from

home

at a distance.

While he was

circumstances of his dream to his wife, this

taken badly and died shortly

tokl these stories

marriage

From

the

Heaton, a

who

after, for, said the narrator

and thoroughly believed them,

''to

dream of a

a sign of death."

is

same party

among

believed in

relating the

man came homo

I derived a

specimen of some warnings

Near

the colliery population near Xewcastle.

woman was returnino; one nio^ht from a visit

who was sick and hved about a mile away.

to

her gossips

one of

As

she

passed the mouth of a certain pit near the road she saw, as
were, a white female rise up,

who

in a short time

and assumed the shape of a white galloway of

fiery

grew

in

it

size

temper, which

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

270

about

moutli with

struck

the

pawing

in eagerness to cleave the clouds, causing the particles

coals

so as

to fly

even

to reach

annoyance

about the

pit

tlio

her,

as if

and while she was concerned

her

occasioned

this

heels,

its

had vanished.

it

Although she never had had any experience of such apparitions,

she augured disaster from

One

wdiom she

to

told

next night to the

it

pit at

it,

either to her friend or the pit.

and declared he would go

w\as sceptical

one o'clock and see

truth in the vision, and wonderful to

tell

if

there

was any

he beheld the same

wild thing she had done, and was so overcome that he sicarfed
for fear.

was seen by another party a third time, and the

It

next day after four

In a

letter

men were

killed in the pit.

from Mr. Denham, dated October 27th, 1852, he

o'ave

me

may

be appropriately told here.

good example of a

from Westmoreland, w4iich

icraith,
''

have heard a curious relation

of two men, father and son (the latter of

and he only died

years,

woman in crossinoj
o
What is singular,
naming

a,

whom

the one said to the other,

some two or three miles

On

both knew.

distant, the first

as the most simple and singular ghost

Departed

father

black

man

this

is

so

and

so,

news which met

their ear

to in childbirth,

stovj/

that ever I

me

met with.

son, John.

from Bee's Dianj, January 17th, 1684-5

life

satt

upon

John Borrow (of Durham), and 'twas

drawn by

cotcli

box

he

his death severall apparations

doo- at

is

was Isaac Xelson, of the

reported y* he see a coach

and of

it

natives of Westmoreland, and respectable yeomen."

The following
''

naked

This relation has ever occurred to

nearly an hour previous.

They were

for forty

getting to their home,

was the death of the individual above alluded

The name of the

knew

nio-ht.
lonesome moor in Westmoreland by
I/O

whom

the female

this year), seeing the ghost of a

6 swine,
fell

all

black,

sick u]:)on't

and a

and dyed,

appeared after."

one place gave three ti'emendous yowls, in the dead

of night, before a person died.

purpose and had to be driven

It

av-ay.

came

to the

door for the

BOEDEE SKETCHES AND F0LE:L0EE.

271

In the vicinity of Kendal, in Westmoreland^ a cock-crowing

ominous of something

at night is often considered as

^'

family.

the Superstitions of Westmoreland^

''

had a servant, an elderly

man, who was much disturbed because the cock took

head
bed.

him
or

crow

to

in the night-time, frequently before

Whenever
into

evil to the

few years ago," says Mr. Pearson in a paper on

this

was the

case,

was perceived that

it

He was

no small perturbation.

some great calamity would occur

was indeed curious, a female

to

it

into his

we went
it

to

threw

afraid that either death

to

some of

whom

he was

did indeed die soon afterwards, so that there

is

And what
much attached

us.

no doubt he

is

more than ever confirmed

the night

is

in the belief that a cock-crowing in

ominous of death or some great misfortune "*

In Fifeshire, I was told by an acquaintance, an old cock

had

it

been a young one

it

would have been the

crew about eight o^clock

at night.

caught and brought

into

it

less

thought of

person was sent out,

the house,

and

^^

for

threw

its

who
neck

This was a death-omen to the family^ unless the spell

about."

had been reversed by

killing the cock.

Dr. Beattie, tho poet and philosopher, evinced " a singular

but deep-rooted aversion

perhaps

it

arose

from

all his life for

this

the crowing of a cock ;"

popular superstition about cock-

crowing.

In ^Westmoreland, " a dog howling three times, a cock crowing the same number before midnight, putting a stocking on

wrong

side out

these

are

all

considered very ominous things,

and bring a gloom on a weak mind which

will last a

whole

week."
In North Northumberland

said that

London Saturday Journal, March

t Sir

it is

W.

Forbes's Life of Beattie,

London Saturday Jovrnat,

vol.

i.

ii.

p.

" the coroner never

31, 1841, vol.

p.

243.

134.

i.

p. 131,

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

272

comes once but he comes twice,"

two
'^

will be sure to follow.

Also,

if

i.e.

if

one

there are other two to break yet,"

death occurs,

fatal

one breaks a

disli, it is

much

credited that

there will be

'

if

should there happen

more within

to be four there will

one has anything stolen from them

of articles of
dentjdly,

is

four die

common

use, or

it is

a short time, and

be two more."*

If

a token of evil to follow,

In Montgomeryshire

Newcastle.

at

''

the loss

even the dropping of them acci-

thought to be a token." f
is out

dream that a tooth

If one

if

This signifies, that whenever a funeral takes

six.'

beheved in

a saying

is

one dies there will be three,

place there are generally two

-was

In the

be broken.

i.e. to

parish of Llanymynech, in Montgomeryshire, " there

said

it

is

a sign of a relative^'s

death.

An

old

who had

man had

o-ot

died, but one

warnino-s at the death of

was

still

left to

him.

his children

all

One day a drop of

blood gathered at his nose, which he observing, exclaimed sorrowfully,

^'

Ah! my

son^s dead."

It

was

too true, for a letter

arrived next day which confirmed the omen.

There
popular

is

of wdiich
'^

a good description of a Warning, agreeable to the

belief, in the
is

laid in

Border novel of Matthew Paxton, the scene

Northumberland, close

Before the story had lost

its first

to the Tillside.

annt of mine, far away in Liddesdale, was very

knew

it

see her,

not, sick unto death,

when one

and

my

"*"

visiting, at a part of the

John Fcwtrell
xiii. p.

t Ibid., p. 12G.

ill,

though

I
to

night I was riding by myself alone along a

be hiding to fright me, I heard

Cluh, vol.

mind, an

mother was away west

very lonely road far aw^ay from any house, on

from a day's

my

freshness in

in

my name

Montfjomery8}Lire

125 (1880).

my way home

road where nobody could

called three times,

Collections by

Powys-Land

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

273

Matthew. Mattliew, Matthew, in a voice I could not clearly

mind, bat so

my

like

was one of them.

few days

after I got a letter

and saw that

my

my

mother's or

I did not think

aunt's that I thought

much

of

it

it

at the time, but a

from Liddesdale, with a black

seal,

aunt had died at that very hour that I had

heard the voice, so I could not help connecting these things in

my own mind and thinking it was a warning from the departing

spirit to

me." *

Physical Endowments or Imperfections.

It is a belief

not only in the north of England but also on the

Continent, that the seventh son of a family, born without any
girl intervening, is endued with sovereign virtue
the power

once attributed

crowned heads of healing diseases by the

touch, and that he is destined to be a skilful and eminent phy-

As an

sician.f
'^

to

attestation of his capabilities, a representation of

the seven starns "

his

breast.

is

believed to be impressed on his side or

medical practitioner, near Newcastle, to

flatter

one of his customers, told a mother that she should make her
newly-born seventh son a doctor. "'Deed,'"' she says, " I ha vena'
the

means

to

make him

a doctor, but if ye'll take

and make him one, you^re welcome

sae lang wi' ye."

Avitch.

October 17, 1663, one William Moulthrope, a Pontefract

labourer,

was

Charles 11.
these:

yersell,

hae him, as I've dealt

If a seventh daughter appeared in uninter-

rupted succession, she was to be a

On

to

him

^'

called in question for speaking seditious

Among

What

is

other expressions which

the king better

than

words of

he used were

another

man?

for

Robin Bulman (meaninge one Ilobin Bulman, of Pontefract,

Matthew Paxton, 3

vols.,

London,

1S5I:, vol.

t See also Aubrey's Miscellanies, p. 129.

VOL.

II.

ii.

pp. 181-2.

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

274

laborer), a seaventli somie, can cure seaven evils,

can but cure nine, soe that

than Robert Bulnian.'^*

Myddvaij

p.

tlie

kino-e is but

and the

kinoje

two degrees better

prescription in the P/u/sician of

456, for the cure of warts is:

''Wash

the w^arts

with the water from a font in which the seventh son of the same

man and

wife

is baptised/'-'

popular but strange remedy for sleep-walking,

peculiar attribute of individuals born with their feet

benevolent and even sensible old lady, thus privileged " in

morning march, '^ once

to cure her grandchild

feet

afflicted

lifers

illness

with this unreasonable

This she did by stamping nine times with her

restlessness.

naked

what proved a mortal

rose from

who was

the

is

first.

on his breast.

^^
In Northumberland there are what are called ''evil eyed
and " bad-handed " people. Those who have the misfortune to

labour under the latter imperfection,

if

they set a cletch of

chickens, or even handle the eggs, they will miscarry.

a farmer^s wife, has been notified to

Fenwick,
" bad hand," and the servants had
Egg-setting, I

am

told, is not

me

as

Mrs.

having a

to set the cletch of chickens.

such a simple process as one

would think, but has to be gone about after a form, and has
annexed

to

it

place a few of

certain av ell- established conclusions.

its

I will here

saws and observances, which are from Ber-

Avickshire.

eggs to a cleckin, odd numbers being lucky.

" Wet-fited " ('meaning web-footed) " beasts sit a month, and

It takes thirteen

hens three weeks."

If eggs are set before the sun go
if later in the

down they come out

cocks

evening hens are hatched.

If eggs are atteini)ted

" not come out."

to

be set on a Sunday the chickens will

* Depositions from York Castle, p. 101.


BOEDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

Housewives don't
that

when

eggs in May, altliongh

set

set in that

month they produce

275
confessed

is

it

the strongest birds,

Tpie Sigx of Life.

Professor Lebour, of the University of

Science, Newcastle, furnishes
stition,

which

me

Durham

College of

with a somewhat singular super-

" The

I have not seen noted elsewhere, called

Sign of Life."

The expression

^'

is

one,^^

"I

he writes,

have

only met with in the neighbourliood of Falstone, up Xorth Tyne,

where a peculiar tremulous involuntary twitching of the eye

is

said to be the

'

Sign of

and

Life,'

if

number

repeated a certain

of times (three times, I think) in a month or a year (I forget

which)

is

supposed to portend great things, but Avhat things

whether good or bad

I cannot remember.

regard to

son,

the postmistress of Falstone, a very

My

ledge.

mysterious

this

wife

me

informs

'

My chief informant

Sign of Life,' was Mrs. Rob-

Avith

mine of

the

that in

(Hampshire and Wiltshire) the same

local

know-

of England

south

tiling is called

'

Living

Blood.'"
A^iRTUEs OF Irish People.

cow

in the

Wooler

having been stung by an adder,

district

an L'ish woman, who laughed

application to her,

was brought

when "the pap

believed that
die.

On

if Irish

o'

the hass

people spit

this subject, see

the while at the people's

to stroke or

She was

occasioned by the poison.

throat,

all

all

rub the swelling

also called

on

came down."

to

rub the

It is also

round a toad the animal

Mr. Henderson's Folklore,

will

p. 166.

The Evil Oxe.

great fear of the presence of the

advertently pervaded the popular mind.

T 2

Evil

One evoked

One of

in-

the propitia-

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

276

tory names gi^'Gn to the malign being was '^ Owcl Harry.'
" As cunning as Owcl Harry " is a popular phrase.
An old

had a grown-up son

Avife

she had a maternal

Harry, whose Christian name

called

On

one

Harry, Harry,

my

pride in unnecessarily repeating.

occasion she was heard

saying to him,

''

son Harry, I daurcna ca' ye Harry at neet, for fear the deil

should come."

After death, and before the deposit of the inanimate body in

was placed over

the tomb, watch

claim
that

it

had

shire

if

it,

fairly lapsed.

Long ago

archfiend should

lest the

deceased was one of his disciples

as a perquisite

who had been

happening

to

a \qvy

wicked man.

One

of

the

to

the door, beheld a large misshapen

towards the house, not quite straight-

forward, but questing backwards and forwards, as

He

for prey.

called out the rest of the

ill-looking thing, but they speedily

Not long

after the door opened^

All betook themselves to prayer.

did not

know what

proached the bed

to

is

company

if in

to

search
see

the

drew back and shut the door.

and a big dark

Some raved

do in their perplexity.

man

entered.

nonsense, others

The man ap-

but prayer being maintained he went away,

not being commissioned further," as

This

company,

field

go out

animal coming up a

''

Berwick-

in a country place in

some neighbours were watcliing beside the corpse of one

my

informant suggested.

a piece of simple peasant lore without exaggeration.

" The alarm often experienced by country people on their

seeino^ a balloon descendino-

sino-ular instance is said to

shepherd who tended his

sternation, the
fled

on their

fields

is

w^ell

known.

have occurred on the Scottish border.

'

peaceful people,^ saw, with con-

phenomenon immediately overhead and

The voyager shouted, and threw down a
hope of tempting him to render assistance. The
aerial

precipitately.

crown-piece in

shepherd, seeing the shining bribe and hearing the voice, guessed

with

whom

he had to deal, and turning his head towards the

BOEDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

supposed arch-fiend,

thee!'"

defies

(1823),

out

cried

H.

(T.

Bell,

'

277

Na, na, Satan

Ahiwick,

Sauney

in Xeiccastk

Mag./\\.

351.)

p.

In the case of the will of Thomas Hopper, of Medomsley, son

of

Humphrey Hopper, who

as if

''

exorcism.

j^ractices

when
owne

died insane 1575-6, the father acts

he considered his disease as being diabolical possession and

his sone

The

said

Umphray

was madd and raved. '^*

father wlien the said

Umphra went

and asked the said Thomas,

in againe

not thy father

And

'

he, the said

Whoe am

Thomas, wold

his

and came

to the doore,
'

And

art the blak devell of Edeedsbrig.'

conjeured the devyll

The son ^'kend not

Am

I?

say,

'

Thou

Um-

then the sayd

phray saynd the said Thomas and corssed (crossed) hym, and

Away, devell/ many times. "f During one

paroxysm the attendant could not control the patient,

spyttyd, and said^

violent

and was obliged

'

waken

to

examinate cauld of the said

the father to assist.

Umphray

'^

Then

this

out of his bedd, which,

seinge hys sone, the said Thomas, in that radg, maid a compas

about his said sone

Thomas bedd, and

away, thou fowell

tlieife,

that

Thomas many

times,

'

son

Thou

to

spytted and said,

tempt

'

Fye,

us,' sainge to his

or I have offended God.'

"ij:

common name in
lived
at
Howburn

one Cuddy (Cutlibert, a

There was
Cuthbert's

comes

territory)

Blacket,

who

St.

or

Holborn, in Lowick parish, in the era of Buonaparte's wars,

and

beincT

Belford

to

a volunteer he

undergo

fuddled, and in returning

* Depositions

Ihid.,

burn

p 272.

\ Ihid., p. 275.

to

come and ^o

to

One night he got

passing over a stone laid

in the

and other Ecclesiastical

271.

training.

home was

for a brido-e across a ditch or

p.

had occasion

military

Boole House Plant-

Proceedings

at

Lurham,

278

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

He might

iiig.

surrounds

man

it,

have been

civilest

lie

foregathered with a gentle-

who conducted

dressed in black

was the

on the broad heathery moor that

lost

but at this juncture

liim

gentleman he ever encountered, but before he

had gained an undue influence over him he chanced

at his feet,

houses

and behold

Lowick

in

He

Howburn.

to

Forest,

for ferlies being seen about

it

consisting

was an

by pitmen

cottages inhabited

to glance

The Bogle-houses
of a few humble

they were cloven.

uncanny

place, notable

and unearthly noises being heard,

which may have been only the wailings of the wind exaggerated

by the

fears of the lonely dwellers.

DiVINATIOXS.

Sowing hempseed

is

served by Eobert Burns.

part of the Halloween ritual as

In Northumberland

pre-

practice does

its

not appear to have been confined to the epoch of that festival.

The

direction

is

Go

one door of the barn and out

in at

another, and while sowing the

at

hempseed say

Hemp seed I sow thee

And she (or he) that is to be my true
Come after me and mow thee."
"

On

looking over the

left

will be seen cutting

making

shoulder the form of his or her lover

down

the experiment,

the visionary crop.

it is

gone through the operation,

see a coffin.
eve.

love,

This was practised in Dorsetshire on

(W. Barnes,

in

deter one

having

was shocked on looking behind

to

Midsummer

Hone's Year Book, 1175.)

Another form of prying into the future was

churchyard and look through the keyhole

my

To

told that a too curious girl,

informant had forgotten the remainder.

to

go

to

the

but unfortunately

"

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

Put your shoes with the

pillow as

you turn

soles

in to sleep

turned upwards beneath your

and repeat,

" I hope this night that I

The woman

that's

my

clothed in her rich array,

But

in clothes that she

and you will be favoured in a dream

Avife.

when

she of

see,

wears

ever\^ day,"

Avith a sight of

The person who

gone through the performance

trial;

may

bride to be

Xot

destined to be your

279

successfully.

told

her

me

One day

who

this

after the

riding out, he passed a girl and said to himself this

whom

I dreamt.

He had

is

had

is

a firm conviction that, although

They became acquainted.

a stranger, he had seen her before.

and subsequently were married.

In Dorsetshire if a girl, " at going

to bed, put her shoes at

right angles with each other, in the shape of a T, and say,

''

Hoping
I place

this night

my

my

true love to see^

shoes in the form of a

"'

she will be sure to see her husband in a dream, and perhaps

in reality
''

by her bedside."

Whenever

go

(W. Barnes,

to lye in a strange

uhi sup.)

bed I always tye

my

garter 9 times round the bed post, and knit nine knots in

and say "to myself

'

it,

This knot I knit, this knot I tye,

my

To

see

In

his apparel'd array,

love as he goes by

As he walks

in every day.'

Connoisseur. Xo. 56*

^^

You must

be in another county, and knit the

about the right-legged stocking

(let

left

garter

the other garter and stock-

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

280

ing alone), and as you rehearse these following verses, at every

comma

knit a knot
'

This knot I knit,

To know

know not

the thing, I

may sec,
The man (woman)

vet,

That

How

he goes and what he wears,

And what

he does

my

that shall

all

liusband (wife) be.

days, and years.'

" Accordingly in your dream you will see him

with a lute or other instrument
paper."

"

(Aubrey's Miscellanies^

gentlewoman that

my

confessed in

she used this method, and dreamt of her husband,

About two or three years

never seen.

Sunday

at

church

young Oxonian
sister,

Sir
'^

'

This

William

is

(at

Our Lady^s Church

She

in the pulpit.

the very face of

a musician,

137.)

p.

knew

if

a scholar, with a book or

if

tlie

hearing that

whom she had

after, as she Avas

in

on

Sarum), up pops a

cries out presently to her

man

saw

in

my

dream.'

Soames's lady did the like." *

Lovers in an open passage

night sought to see through

at

the meshes of a riddle the form of their future partners in con-

nubial life."!

This custom

is

of one's lover,

been common

said to have

without any form of words,

when

it

in

being sufficient

Northumberland

to

secure a dream

round

in a strange bed, to tie the garter

the bedpost.
If one eats a red herring

raw

to supper,

and goes

to

bed

backward, not saying a word, he will dream of his future wife

before the morning.

On

the appearance of the

first

moon

after the

new

year, look

* Aubrey's Miscellanies, pp. 137-8.

t

Hodgson's Hist, of Northumherland, part

2, vol.

ii.

p.

329.

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

through a black
see

silk

handkerchief unwashed

by the number of moons

will elapse before

you are married.

we have

Magazine, Xo. GO (1825)^

moon through
days

are few

What

old.

a query

is

'^
:

number

the cause of this

will

of years that

Observe the new

moons

till

she

phenomenon

who have

country

in the

and you

it,

of

This holds good

age in days.

young people

at

number

In the Glasgoiu Mechanics^

a silk napkin, and the

will denote lier

six

visible the

281

"

visible

is five

or

There

not tried this

experiment.

Another way with the moon

is

to

appearance of the new moon after

first

say any other

new moon

is

as good),

stand over the spars of a gate or

charm

Kew

go out

it

thus

Year's

^'
:

At

the

Day (some

in the evening

and

looking on the moon, and

stile

say:
'

All hail to the moon,

I prithee good

moon

my

This night, who

'^

all hail

reveal to

to thee,

me

husband (wife) must

be.'

In Yorkshire they kneel on a ground-fast stone-

You must

1 knew two gentlewomen that did

when they were young maids, and they had dreams of

presently after go to bed.

thus

*
those that married them.'*

At Wooler
their

neck

The

a husband.

upon with

servant girls

in order to
first

tie their

left-leg stocking

dream of him whom they were

cut of " baby's cheese "

similar intent

so also

is

is

round

to get for

used to dream

a portion of the plateful of

cake thrown over the bride\s head immediately before

she

enters her future home, as well as a narrow piece of the bride's

cake passed nine times through the wedding ring,

*-

Aubrey's Miscellanies,

Henderson's Folklore,

p.

p.

138

115;

knowing, and therefore I repeat

Highlands

of

being

quoted, but not exactly, in Mr.

the omitted
it.

this

particulars

It is said to

Scotland (Napier's Folklore,

are

worth

be customary in the

p. 98).

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

282
clone of

beer^

purpose for " dreaming pieces."

first to

wliom the ring

Akhough

6.

Sops are made in

and a ring introduced, and then they are supped, and the

umbrian formula.

number of
obtain,

is

The

first

wed.

Denham and Mr. Henderson have

Even-ash "

^^

treated of the

be

falls is to

both Mr.

leaf,

they have not the exact Northash which has

leaf of the

divisions on each

which

side,

pulled with the following

rhyme

is

very

an equal
difficult

to

" Even, even, ash,

I pull thee off the tree,

The

first

My
It is

ash,

young man that

then placed in the

under the shoe,

The same

friend,

I do meet.

lover he shall be."

now

shoe.

left

will get

It is also said,

" Even-

you a sweetheart."

deceased,

who

me

supplied

with the

above from Long Benton, communicated, in 1845, the following

varieties of divining in a small
''

Scalding pease

is

common.

way.

My mother has seen a bean placed

in a sivadj the receiver, whether male or female,

On

married.

land, /rzVcZ pease are served

company

up on a

furnished with a spoon

is

dish.

to be first

of division.

They then

Every one of the

they help themselves in

regular succession, until the quantity

mode

is

Carling Sunday, in some parts of Northumber-

is

too small to allow of

dole out one

at

a time,

and whoever gets the last will be first married.

" Saint Agnes's Fast. My father knew a woman who

tried this

that

charm, but contrary to the usual number o^one, saw actually three
the last of

whom

man whom

had a wooden

leg.

she saw in her dream,

circumstance

This w^oman had the second

when

she told

adding that she thought

it

my

father of the

very improbable that

she would get the third, as he (a neighbour) had then a wife

alive,

and she had a

dislike to his

wooden

leg

but

who can


BOEDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.
control the fates

this

28 3

man's wife dying, and her husband

also,

she so far conquered her aversion to his timber toe as to become

his for better for worse."

''

On the eve of St. Agnes's day (January

many kinds of divination are practised by

their future husbands.

''

This

Siippeiiess to bed they

is

must

" In

upward eyes

Tvitli

virgins to discover

called fasting St. Agnes's Fast."

retire,

]Sor look behind nor sideways

Of heaven

21)^ says Brand,*

but require

for all that they desire. "f

number of young men and women met

Scotland, a

together on St. Agnes's eve at midnight, went, one by one, to

a certain

and threw

field

repeated the following

'

Agnes

in

rhyme

some

grain,

sweet, and

Hither, hither,

shadow

of

the

' '

On

Agnes

St.

take a

row of

night,

pins

and

they

destined

bride

'

"

or

supposed to be seen in a looking-glass on

'^

which

Agnes fair,
now repair

Bonny Agnes, let me see

The lad who is to marry me.

The

after

bridegroom was
this

very

night.":!:

21 day of January," says Aubrey,

pull out every one^ one after another,

saying a pater noster (or Our Father), sticking a pin in your

sleeve,

and you

will

Near Kendal
ao-o

'^

''

you

of

there

were ceremonies in use not long

or her

shall marry.^^

of rather an awful nature, whicli for those who had the

courage to use them were said

j-

him

dream

Pop. Antiq.,
Keats'

i.

to yield the desired information.

p. 21.

Eve of St. Agnes,

st. vi.

by the Eev. T. F. Thiselton Dyer.

J English Folklore,
London, 1721.
Aubrey's Miscellanies, p. 136.

p.

]84.

284

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

One was

walk backwards round a church three times on a

to

certain night in the year^ and then

the ghosts of their

before

them

but

enjoy that hap])y

their coffins.

sit

down

in the porcli^ wlien

intended husbands or wives woukl pass

if

they were unfortunately not destined

I recollect

when

a boy hearing an old

he had gone through this trying ordeal

that

apparitions of his two wives passed before

afterwards married them."*

him

years' continuous vigils

See

on Midsummer eve, when

passed

the parish

by

in

Brand's
all

that

man

in the order he
to this

was

required three

it

Po;:>. Antiq.,i.-p.

were

aver

and that the

Something similar

practised in Yorkshire on St. Mark's eve, but

also

to

then they would see the apparition of

state,

to die that

procession into the church.

115

year in
{Ibid.,

p. 170.)

To
''

of beliefs belongs

this class

which

She-Holly/'

Table Book,

iii.

and becoming

the superstition about the

I first related

pp. 254,

scarce, I

255

may now

In Northumberland holly

is

in the Local Historians'

but as that work

transfer

it

is

out of print

here.

divided into two kinds, he and

lie has prickles, but of she, being the upper leaves of the

she.

tress,

"

The

Smooth and miarmed

the j^ointlesfe leaves appear."

shediolly possess the wondrous virtue, if

leaves of the

gathered in a proper manner, of exciting dreams concerning

that

momentous

the leaves

topic
a future husband or wife. To ensure this
must be plucked upon a Friday evening, about mid-

by parties who_, from their setting out until next day at

dawn, must preserve unbroken silence. They are to be col-

night,

lected In a three-cornered handkerchief,

and

after

being brought

* Mr. Pearson on Superstitions of Westmoreland, &c., in

Saturday Journal,

i.

p.

131 (1841).

London

BOHDEK SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

285

home, nine of the leaves must be selected and

tied with nine

knots inside the handkerchief, and then placed underneath the

pillow.

My

dream worthy of

all

credit will be the issue.

informant was once the leader of a party in an expedi-

by means of these potent holly

tion that promised,

unlock the secrets of futurity.

It

time a farm labourer, of his master's

When

servant.

leaves, to

consisted of himself, at that

sister,

and the female

decent folks had gone to bed these three mad-

caps set out in profound silence for the tree, which stood at a

farm homestead

considerable distance, and havino-

at

there they provided themselves with the requisite supply.

their

way back

voured

silence essential to the rite.

much

This, though produc-

agreed that

if

it

and

to return,

his

two companions would provide him

at that

The

difference between master

He went home and

but as he would not answer the questions put

return

to

his

master^s

house, into

At

admitted by his expectant partners.

and he having undressed

knocked,

him he was
which he was

to

time he entered

as quietly as possible

prepared his holly, crept in behind him.

the slumbering farmer,

invaded in

this

shouts out.

Xo

who

the

this to

bedroom, which was upstairs, the master happened

his master's
to be asleep

make

period was not so wide as to

be reckoned an impropriety.

forced to

the head

was previously

on going home he should be refused admittance

with a bed beside the master.

and servant

As

mirth, elicited no profane vocable.

of the party lived at a separate farmhouse,

he was

On

each endea-

to the frolic that

induce his or her fellows to break, in a heedless

to

moment, the
tive of

added much

it

aot

who was

and

This, however, roused

surprised

to

find his

bed

^' Wha's
thou?^^ he
Geordy ? ^^ (his first-born,

unceremonious way.
reply.

lived at an off- farm).

(another of his sons).

(the real person).

''Is thee,

Deep

No

silence.

answer.

'^

"

Is thee.

Is't

thee,

Tommy ?
Michael

'^

^^

Michael heard him well enough, but pre-

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

286

The farmer

tended to snore in sleep.

some perplexity was

in

about to don his garments and descend to the kitclien

after his singular

show.

As

ill -able

It

was well he did

would have equally

parties below

door,

bedfellow.

him

tantalii^cd

inquire

to

not, as the

dumb

Avith

was, they were both stationed at the bedroom

it

The farmer

mirth.

to restrain their pent-ujo

at

length, supposing the intruder to be actually asleep, and that

he could be none other than he had surmised, judged

When

advisable to follow his example.

most

it

morning arrived the

whole thing was explained, and the farmer enjoyed a hearty

The

laugh at his own share in the pantomime.

result of the

matter Avas that Michael had a dream, in which he saw two

damsels, of

whom,

the thoughts of the evening being uppermost,

or
whom he afterwards led

was one, but neither of them was she

the master^s sister

rather they, for he

was twice married

before the priest.

In the island of Bute there

different species.

This

Blane's Chapel, at Kilcatan Bay.

test

height "is divested of

its

under

supposed qualities

''

" coban

tree,"

is

grows

^^

of a
in the

Devil's Caldron,''^ near St.

^^

This

dreaming

tree " to a

by those who

its foliao-e

by breaking

Avished to

off small pieces to

put

ball," as played

at

Alnwick, at the

another example of rural divination, although

confined to children.

own, contributed

I shall again avail

to a local journal,

"'

myself of an

On

article

of

Covin, Coban, or

Dr. Jamieson, in his Scottish Dictiojiari/, says

Capon Trees."

that in Boxburghshire the covin-tree signifies

front of an old Scottish mansion-house,

met

tree

their pillows."*

The game of " keppy

my

dreaming

a very lofty pine which

is

centre of an enclosure called the

o-reat

'^

is

his visitors."

A corruption of it

* Wilson's Guide

is

" a large tree

where the
supposed

to liothesaij, p.

to

131.

laird

in

always

be " coglan-

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

He

derives

agreement;

which

ivec."

from the French convent, convention or

is
from the Latin conventum^ a

it

again

covenant^ or convenfus, an assembly.

is

287

a covenant or agreement in

Covent, Aiiglo-Kormaii,

" Morte Arthnre/^

The

witclies

of Auldearn met in covines, and the prettiest of them was called

the maiden of the covine.

The covin-tree

is

thus a variety of

name and functions as the place of

"Riding" era, as the spot where rural

the trysting-tree, whose

summons
lovers
vices

in the old

met and plighted

troth, or wdiere the

and commodities held

indelibly impressed

Walter

and.

still

ser-

hold their convention, are

upon northern language and

Scott, in a note to his Letters

crafty p.

exchanges of

literature.

Sir

on Demonology and Witch-

" The tree

277, holds the same vie vr as Dr. Jamieson.

near the front of an ancient castle was called the covine-iree

probably because the lord received his company there."
"

He is lord of the liimting-liorn,

And king of the covine tree

He's well lov'd in the western waters,

But

When

on a

best of his

Alnwick

visit to

own Minnie."
in

1861 I found

it

to be well

understood that a tree, called there a coban or covan tree, once

stood before every old castle (w^ithin a
Castle for instance),

And
it,

it

there used to be, and

sung by young

ballj

and

spinster
"

divine

still is,

girls wdiile

against a tree.

they also

From

their

bowshot of Alnw^ick

was there the lord met

a

rhyme having

his guests.

reference to

playing at " keppy ball," or catchthe time they can keep

future

prospects

up the

matrimony or

as to

life.

Keppy ball, keppy ball, covine tree,

Come down the lang loanin' and tell

to

me,

The form and the features, the speech and

Of the man that is my true lover to be.

ball,

degree.


288

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

''

Keppy

ball,

keppy

"

One

coban

ball,

Come down the lang

How many years old

loaniii'

(her

tree,

and

name)

tell to
is

me,

to be

a maiden, two a wife,

Three a maiden, four a wife.

Five a maiden, six a wife," &c.

And

so on^ the odds for the single, the even

married state so long as the

numbers

for the

can be kept rebounding against

ball

the tree round which they" P^^J*

The Scottish covin and Korthumbrian coban

thus identical,

Brompton^

haugh

at

in

it

shown

is

that capon

trees

beincr

trees

such as that at

Cumberland, and the capon tree on the Prior's

Jedburgh, are of the

class,

the

letters v, h,

being mutually interchangeable in European languages.

Tate, to

whom

owe

the rhyme, in return adopted

See Hisiori/ of AlmcHck,

i.

p.

my

and p
Mr.

theory.

436.

TuRxiXG THE Riddle.

much

less

One

Moll

Satan,

Ha' (^lary

was accustomed

instance of applicants,

She turned
frightened)

it

form of divinations

excusable

'^Turning the Eiddle."

The following
Hall)
to

in

to

this

thief,

shifts

with

lost or

stolen.

and thus ^'gliffed"

(or

One Jenny Sim, having

restitution.

had purloined some caps and

that called

malpractice, at the

whenever anything was

make

is

a lively instance:

Wooler, overintimate

resort to

and named the

them

is

from a washing

laid out to

dry, had recourse to her, after other

means of recovery fjxiled.

" The old folks of Wooler mind it well
what a day that was
all the houses shook as if stirred by an invisible wind," for she
;

had actually bought up the prince of the power of the

To

this

we

find

a parallel in the

evidence, April

air.*

1,

1G70, of


BOEDER SKETCHES AND rOLKLORE.
That

tliis

was a very prevalent

Depositions before the Courts at

York

practice appears from the

Durham and

those kept at

Castle, published in

two of the volumes of the Surtees

and 40.

26th January, 156G-7, Margareta

Society, Nos. 21

Lambert against Elizabeth Lawson.

'^

John Lawson, husband

of Elizabeth, informs that the said Margaret

'

289

is

an exorcist,

that for certaine things lackinge she turned a seve

She was

of shores.'"*

also a

upon a pair

reputed ''charmer."

Between

1561 and 1577, one AUiee Swan, wife of Robert Swan, made a
confession after the minister in St. Nicholas Church at
castle,

upon Sunday

after the

Sermon,

New-

for turning the riddle

and

To this iniquitous act she had been recently incited

by the means and procurement of Margaret Lawson, Anne
Hedworth, Elizabeth Kindleside, Agnes Rikerbye, Anne Bewike,
and Jerrerd Robison.
And "not havinfr the feare of God"
sheares.

before her eyes, " but following the persuasion of the devell,"

she had " of a

secret

lucre and under colour of a sino;ular and

filthie

knowledge of

lost things,

used by the space of certen

yeres to cast or tourne the riddle and sheares, a kind of divi-

nation or charming erpressedly forbidden by Gode^s lawes and

the Queue's Majestic." f

I^i

shoemaker, had as a hired

1573, Thomas Hardye, of Morpeth,

man

one John Bell,

who was "

sus-

Margaret, wife of Richard Wilson, who ''sayth, that in her former

husband John Akers'

all

life-time, she

but three halfe-pence

great wind,

and

Wilkinson, who

after

fell

once lost out of her purse oOe.

and, shortly after, there hapned to be a

the wind was downe

she

mett with

Anne

and

telling

into a great rage, bitterly cursing her,

her that she had bene att a wise man, and had raisd this wind which
had put out her eyes, and that she was stout now she had gott her
money againe." Depositions from York Castle, p. 177.
* Depositions at

Durham,

p. 84.

t Ihid.,^. 117.

VOL

II.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

290

pect of micheiy (knavery) and untreweth concerning a shirt of

one Thomas Sonier/^ his

Turner of Fclton.

fell o^Y-

While

workman, now servant

residing

]\Iorpeth

at

Christenmas and Easter,'^ Somer had "his

away]
this

and maid mocli

do for yt

to

examinate to make no wonder for

shirt

to

Robert

''bytwixt

goon [taken

and the said Bell moved

yt,

and said

for a grote

of this deponent's pnrsse he shuld cause the said shirt to

reported that thcr was a

agai'ne, saing that he, the said Bell,

wyff in Newcastell,

his cosinge, thatculd torne the ryddle, etc.

and within thre days next

shii-t

that

come

was a laking.

examinate found his said

after this

And

then the said Bell demandyd 4d,

of this examinate, and this deponent wold not agree to gyve the
said Bell
shirt

any thing unless he wold

tell

hym who had

The consequence was

he lacked."

that the

his said

Aldermen of

and the representatives of the shoemaker trade, discharged Bell from working in that town till " he had brought
ISIorpeth,

them a

certificat

frome the said wyffe of Newcastell, that she

but this he failed to do,

and therefore he was accounted " to be no honest man." Bell
required of Somer " 6 names of everge syd of his neighbours,"
along with the 4d., to give to this " wyf of Newcastell that wold
could

tell

of things that weir stolne

turne the redell, and get

him

the shirt within a weack." *

At Newcastle, February 15,1659-60, Elizabeth wife of George

fisher, was accused for practising witchcraft, and besides she was reported to be a charmer, " and
j

Simpson of Tynemouth,

turnes the sive for money.^f

of

Thomas Grace,

land,

and

On December

was presented "for turninge of the

stolne."

says a pair of

13, 1598, the wife

of the parish of Stannington, Northumber-

The Rev. John Hodo-son

spring shears were

* Depositions at

Durham,

ridle for things loste

in

noticino^ this case

commonly used with

pp. 251, 252.

I Dejwsiiions, ^'C.,from Yoric Castle, p. 82.

the

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

riddle,

" and of

of the person

their

own

who had

291

accord turned round

stolen the goods

when

name

the

pursued was called over

them."^
^'Dec.

Cumberland.

1G67.

10,

Before

Thos.

Denton,

Mary, wife of Stephen Johnson, of Carleton, saith, that,

219.
as shee was coming from Clifton, shee met with Jo. Scott, wdioe
told her that his wife

cloathes of

had

George Carre's that was

of Clifton, told them that they

them, and that

whoe

it

was

and sheares

cast the riddle

stole

knew

as

for some
and one Jo. Webster

much

as he could tell

bleare-eyed lasse that gott them,

little

this

The Rev. James Raine, who quotes

example, informs us that the formula used by the operator

was

as follows

lived neare them."

"

By

St. Peter

and by

St.

Paul

has stolen

If

Turn about

's

and shears and

riddle

all."t

Dec. 12, 1596, the wife of Thomas Grace, of Stannington,

Northumberland, was presented

at a visitation for

riddle for things lost or stolen.

(Hodgson.)

turning the

Charming.

Charmers and

fortune-tellers, as distinct

from witches, have

long maintained their trade in the north of England, nor

belief in

^^

spaeing

women"

is

the

yet obsolete^ even in the busiest

haunts of industry on the Tyne or Wear.

There are several

examples recorded in the depositions before the Ecclesiastical

Courts at Durham, wdiich carry back the practice to a remote
period.

In October, 1446, Mariotde Beltou and Isabella

* Hodgson's Hist, of Northumberland^ part

f Depositions, ^^c.^from

York

ii.

vol.

Castle, p. 82, note.

ii.

p.

Brome

329.

'

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

292
were accused of
diviner

by

this crime.

and

lots,

was blamed

Tlie first

in particular

to obtain those

to clear herself

whom

on

their affections

were

by twelve hands of honest women,

who became

her neighbours,

set.

i.e.

security for her.

a similar cause was cleared by four hands.

women

power of causing

desirous of being married that she had the

them

being a

for

of telling disengaged

She had

six people,

Isabella for

In October, 1450,

Agnes Bowmer, late of AVitton, was summoned for forecasting the

future by lot.
She as well as the others denied the allegations.*
and

23 March, 1451-2, Joh. Davison

summoned, and

against her that she used divination

by

being a mediciner, in what manner

is

lot,

ferro

c ")

It

was alleged

which consisted

in

not specified, with lead

and comb and iron (" utetur arte medical

et

Davison were

Alicia

Alicia the mother compeared.

'

cum plumbo

et pect

4 Feb., 1566-67, John Lawson accused of

f.

defaming Margaret Lawson by calling her ^'a chermer," his

reply being that

it

had been

so reported.!

In Oct. 20, 1663

one Nicholas Battersby, of Bowtham, in Yorkshire, exercised

the art of a wise

man, having had

had

those persons that

stolne

''

skill in the

moneyes

discoveringe of

and where the monyes

might bee found. "

Feb. 3, 1664-5, at Newcastle-on-Tyne, before Sir Francis
Liddle, knight, mayor, Mrs, Pepper, midwife, was cited for

using charms to remedy the

was

lioure
^'

And

afilicted.

One Eobert

Pyle, pitman,

one of which lasted ^'the space of one

and a halfe," and he was " most strano-ely handled."

affected with

fits,

the said Mrs. Pepper did take water and throwed

his face,

and touke

this informer's child,

* Depositions, 4'C.,from

t ^b^'^; p. 33.
t Ibid, p. 84.

Ibid., p. 101.

York

itt

upon

and another sucking

Castle, p. 29.

BORDEE SKETCHES AND FOLKLOEE.

and

cliikl,

reason

And

shoe

demanding the

she did soe, she replyed, that the

breath of the

them

laid

why

293

to

moutli.

liis

children would suck the evill spirritt out of him, for he

possessed with an evill spirritt

mayor

before

either

was

and she said she would prove

ministers

or

Another female witness did

bottle of holy water,

that

see this Mrs.

itt

he Avas bewitched."

Pepper

''

for a

call

and tooke the same, and sprinkled

upon

itt

a redd hott spot which was upon the back of his right hand and
did take a silver crucifix out of her breast, and laid itt upon the
;

And

said spott.

what

knew by

did then say that slice

his disease was,

the said spott

and did take the said crucifix and putt

itt

in his mouth." *

still

charming by applying living animals

older example of

to the mouth, in order to re-animate the sinking frame of the

patient with fresh

life^ is

recorded as happening at Wooler, on

July 2ord, 1604, when the Yicar-General of the Bishop of

Katherine Thompson and Anne
"
pretended to be common charmers of
Kevelson of Wooler,

Durham

proceeded

sick folkes

and

against

their goodes,

and that they use

to

ducks or drakes, and to sett the bill thereof to the

sick person,

manner

The

and mumble upp

as is daranible

and

their

charmes

in

bring white

mouth

of the

such a strange

horrible."" f

disease called the thrush in the interior of the

prevents infants from imbibing their food.

Aubrey

mouth
gives a

singular case, akin to the above, which he appears to have had

from " an experienced

hold

it

mouth;

midwife.''^

in a cloth^ that
till

it

is

dead

it

" Take a living

does not go

down

frog,

and

into the child's

and then take another frog and do the

* Depositions, ^-c, from York Castle,

t Visit. Book, Eegister Office,

p.

Durham

4'C.,from Yorl' Castle, p. 127, note.

127.

quoted also in Depositions^

294

THE DENHAM TEACTS.

same.""^

This distemper

actually called in

is

North Northum-

berland " the frog in the mouth."

Feb. 16, 1653-4, John Tatterson of Gargreave, Yorkshire,

being disabled in body " and depressed in mind, " troubled with

'^

ill

who would have advised him

spiretts,

Ann

has recourse

to

cured

for

him,

Greene, a wise

which he ought

Ann,

worshippt the enemye"

''

This informant went to

was perswaded

tellinge her that hee

could helpe him, beeinge pained in his eare.

shee told

him

that that

was not the matter.

that blacke w-ool

was good

some heire outt of

that she

The which

disease

for itt,t but he said

"Whereuppon she loosed the

garter from her legg, and crossed his

with, and gott

or mediciner, wdio

have been grateful^ but

to

instead thereof becomes her accuser.

the said

to

woman

left

eare 3 times there-

his necke,

without his consent.

Aubrey's Miscellanies, p. 144.

"

For Ulceration of the Ears. Take the seed of the ash, othert
wise called the ashen keys, and boil briskly in the water of the sick

man foment the

By God's help it
;

ear therewith and put

some therein on black

icool.

The Physicians of Myddvai, p. 327.

" For Noise in the Head, preventing Hearing.
Take a clove of
garlic, prick in three or four places in the middle, dip in honey, and
will cure it."

Ihich^ p. 338.
it with some black wool," &c.
an ingredient in the charm, " which was made by the

insert in the ear, covering

Black wool

Lord

is

Jesus

and shown to

Himself,

Christ

Olives,

to

gather
"

herbs to

New

the

three

brethren,

cunt
we go said they to the
heal wounds and contusions." &c.

asking them where they went

of

shorn wool, especially that of the neck of a black

Ihicl,, p.

455.

sheej), is

good against wounds in the beginning, stroaks, desgramma-

tions, bruises,

wine, and

is

and broaken bones, being soaked

used in embrocations."

p. 113, Oxford, 1G61.

in

vinegar, oile or

Lovell's Panzoologicomineralogia,

This appears to be from

Plmy and

Dioscorides,

but I do not find in either author mention of the wool of a black sheep.
Amoui? the Romans the victims offered to the infernal gods were
black

BOEDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

And

295

he askeinge her what she ^yould doe therewith,

slie toiild

him what matter was that to him, she would use it att her
pleasure
goe his waye home and care nott. But, goeinge
home, hee was more pained than beefore, and returneinge to her
;

he told her

uppon she

to looke to itt

or hee would looke to

And, accordingely, hee

matter runinge outt of his eare as

In her own defence she

charme

and promised hee

crost his eare three times againe,

should mend.

itt

said,

''

Where

lier.

did,

some corruptible

did amend."

that she sometimes useth a

and used

for cureing the heart each (ache),

itt

twice in

one night unto John Tatterson of Gargreave, by crosseinge a

garter over his eare and sayeinge these words,

namej

9 times over.

Likewise for

'

Boate, a GocVs

paines in the head, she

requires their water and a locke of their

boyles together, and afterwards throwes

lieire,

them

which she

the

in the fire

and

and meddles nott with any other diseases."

Some of the pretensions of those impostors called wisemen

burnes them

are contained in the depositions, Jan. 19, 1673-4, before Robert

Roddam, mayor

of

Newcastle,

against

Peter

Banks, who

cunningly took advantage of the popular credulity in a variety

of ways, most likely to succeed, as being in consonance with the
ideas of that age.

Jane, wife of Cuthbert Burrell, shipwright,

deposed that he persuaded people that he could

people for a term of years and

life,

" Whereupon divers seamen repair

for that period.

putt trust in his conjurations,

such leases."

let leases to

thereby insuring their lives

to

him and

and pay him 20s. a pcice for

year and a half previously he tried

upon her husband, who was accustomed

to

impose

to take sea voyages,

by

The wile
thrusting one of these fictitious leases into his hands.
having discovered the fraud ^^was mighty angry and much
The contents were these: " I charge you and all of
greived."
you, in the high sword name, to

belonging to

(such a ship)

assist

from

all

and

blesse Cuth. Burrell,

rocks and sands, storms

296

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

and tempests thereunto belonging,

indignantly

thrust

the

into

for this jeare/''

This she

which account Banks

on

fire,

" threatened he would plague" her, ^'that she should never be

worth a groat," and he continued
stratagems."

The

^'

to molest

her by his

Banks hath

said Peter

''

strange

often confessed to

her and others that he used inchantments, conjuracions, and

magick

arts

and,

malicious spiritts

in

perticuler,

name

lived in Gateshead, whose

him when

in

conjureing

and, espetially, about a young

was

the informer

being molested with

knows

she

evil

woman

and
that

who came

not,

to

and discovered about her

present,

a spirit and the

Whereupon he

like.

looked in his books, and writt something out of the same into a

paper and delivered

when

that

it

to

lett

fessed, the

told her

her open that paper, and she

And

would be noe more molested.

And

young woman.

that

the spirit appeared

afterwards, as

Banks con-

same woman came back again, and gave him thanks

He ''made

and payment."

medicined and conjured an

his cracks
evill

spirit

and boasts,"
that

^^

that he

Thomas Newton's

daughter was troubled with, and in the night time he burnt

peices of paper in the fire written on for that end, and a certaine

number

in the night, at a certaine time^

had mastered the

pell people that

spirits.

had

ill

He

likewise said that he could

husbands

to

be good to their wifes.

he did nominate one Jane Crossley,

lease for that end,

pains

and had got

and that the same

that time, her husband

lease

and used words that he

10s.

to

whom

com-

And

he had letten a

and two new

shirts for his

endured for a yeare, and, during

was loveing and kind

but the yeare

expireing, and she not renewing her lease, her said husband

was

ill

and untoward againe.

or

And

he also declared that he

away a man's life a yeare before his appointed

make him live a yeare longer." Ellinor Patteson,

could take

Phillips, alleged that contention

Banks,

^'

time,
alias

having arisen between her and

she often in the night time was terrified with visions

BOEDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLOEE.

and apparitions

and in such a manner

Banks was standing up

att rest and quietnesse
Banks persuaded her

fire,

and could never be

was wronged and bewitched

she

Therefore by his perswasions she per-

litle

in order to medicine

as she tlionglit the said

made agreement with him/'

she
'^

that

and he could cure her.

mitted him to cutt a

of

in flames
till

297

haire out of the back side of her neck

and cure

After which he putt the

her.

haire into a paper, and having sealed

the informer, and bidd her burne

it.

it

upp, ga^e

it

again to

After which she amended

better." *

and grew

In an accusation of witchcraft, April

of Healy, saith

^'

that his mother,

12, 1673,

Mark Humble,

Margaret Humble, then lyeing

not well, Isabell Thompson tooke some of her haire to medicine

her." t

The Eev. James Eaine remarks

sick person

is

derivable from classical antiquity.

Thomas Wilson,
"

in his

AwVe just
Te try

Which

And

He

that the use of the hair of the

Pitmain Pay,

p. 17,

has these lines

been ower wi' somethin' warm,

to ease the

weary cough,

baffles byetli the

drugs and charai,

threetens oft to tyek

adds in a note: " Quackery

is

him

off."

The

not confined to drugs.

ignorant are often imposed upon by what designing knaves

'

charms

^
;

and wdien the former

fail

recourse

is

had

call

to the

latter."

Wilson notices another charmer and

fortune-teller,

who once

carried on a great traflic near Brampton, and transmitted the

profession

to

her daughter,

* Depositions,

Cj-c,

who was

from York

t Ibid., p. 201.
\ Ibid., p. G4, note.

still

more a

proficient.

Castle, pp. 204, 205.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

298

Elizabeth or Lizzy Douglas

on the

and restoring

strayedj
inflicted

many
a

by

heart

for,

under

laboured

that

cattle

many

a forlorn maiden

initials of the

name

assistance in the case of

some

to shuffle the

were

to for

dwining away

She was rather puzzled how

but, after applying her fertile

some time, she came

money from

She was once applied

cattle that

under the power of witchcraft.

;

make her

of the swain of her choice, not forgetting,

pocket into her own.

act in this matter

mind

to

it

them from the power

it

was

had no

tried
effect

have ^laid

salt

upon the
on their

disease,

ties of

This, of

tails.'
;

Lizzy, no doubt, often missed

but she sometimes made a lucky

afloat

with the dupes that consulted

but her daughter,

it is

her far-famed parent.""^

At Wooler,

note.

free

succeeded to the business, and inherits the rare quali-

to cure the stye a gold ring is applied nine times

to the place affected,

for

and that they might as well

She has been dead many years

said, has

with

was destroying them.

that

which kept her fame

her.

to

but the owners of the cattle declared that

her mark on these occasions

hit,

'

to the conclusion that slitting their tails

and putting pieces of rowan-tree into the opening would

course,

for

away with

be told^ she delighted her with the

to

however, whilst shuffling the cards,

the girl's

diseases

bamboozling and mystifying the

after

inquirer with a variety of questions, so as almost to

say what she wanted

or

recovering things stolen

She was the oracle of the vicinity

witchcraft.

miles round, and sent

light

Brampton, and carried

lived near

''

of fortune-telling,

craft

also

the cat's

tail

if the

eye

is

rubbed

it.

charm there

for a

new

tooth

was

to

wra]) the tooth in a

The Pitmcm's Pay and Other Poems, bj Thomas Wilson,

p.

85,

BOEDER SKETCHES AXD FOLKLORE.

piece of paper along with some salt and cast

299

it

into the fire,

saying
" Fire,

fire,

burn byen,

Lord, send

me my

tiiith

agjen/'

customary among children in the south of Scotland, the

saying being
This

is

" Fire,

And
To

fire,

send

burn bane.

me my

obtain a clock at a raffle,

sure to get

tooth again."

sit

Anxe Baites and Others

^'

April

Before

1673.

2,

Thomas

Baites,

times in the

you

will

be

for Witchcraft.

Humphrey

Armstrong, of Birchen-nooke,
of

crossed-leg and

it.

spinster,

Mitford,
saith, that

of Morpeth, tanner,

company of

Barwick, Barrasford, and

the
at

rest

Ann

Esq.

Ann, wife

hath beene severall

of the witches, both att

Ridingbridg-end, and once

att

the house of Mr. Francis Pye, in Morpeth, in the seller there*

The

Ann

said

att the

Baites hath severall times danced with the

and, other sometimes, her blessed saviour.

said

di\'cll

places aforesaid, calling him, sometimes, her protector,

Ann

He

hath seen the

Baites severall times att the places aforesaid rideing

upon Avooden dishes and

egg-shells, both in the rideinge house

She farther

and

in

Ann

hath been severall times in the shape of a catt and a hare,

the close adjoyninge.

saith that the said

and in the shape of a greyhound and a bee,

see

how many

" April

shapes she could turn herself into.

4.

saith, that since

who

Before

Sir

Richard Stote.

The same witness

she gave information against severall persons

ridd her to severall places where they had conversation

with the

divell, she hathj

Anne Driden and Anne

them

letting the divell

to the rideing

beene severall times lately ridden by

Forster, and

was

last

night ridden by

house in the close on the common, where

300

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

Anne

Forster, Anne Driclen, Lncy Thompson, John

"Wm. Wright, Eh'zabeth Pickering, Anne Usher,
Michaell Ajneslej, and Margaret his wife, and one Margarett,

the said

Crauforth,

surname she knowes

^vhose

not, but she said to the protector

she came from Corbridge, and thre more, whose names she

knowes

were

not,

all

present with their protector, and had

meates and drinkes they named, siltt ^ upon the

sorts of

by pulling

a rope,

and they tooke the bridle of

and made her singe

them

to

all

table

this informant,

whilst they danced

and

all

of

them who had donne harme gave an account thereof to their ^^rotector, who made most of them that did most harme, and beate

who had donne no harme. And Mary Hunter

those

George Tajdor's

killed

that she

had power

Feb.

''"

1672-3.

5,

Anne Armstrong,

filly,

and had power over

said she

his

mare, and

Johne Marche.
Xewcastle-on-Tyne, before Ealph Jenison.

of the farre hinder leg of

of Birks-nooke, saith, that, being servant to

one Mable Fouler of Burtree House, in August

last,

dame

her

sent her to seeke eggs of one x4nne Foster, of Stocksfiekl

they could not agree for the price, the said

as

her to

sitt

clowne and looke her head, which

And

did.

then the said

Anne

lookt

'

after,

deaths,

who

tould her that the same

first

that

made

the next that

woman

would ride her

* Sile^ Northumbrian,

Wonts.

milk

she

And, about three

little

man

after

day-

with ragg'd

at Stocksfiekl.

that lookt her head

a horse of her spirrit,

;

and

nesses she should be changed, if she

purify

'

head.

askt this informant where she was on the Fi'iday

She tould him she was seekeing eggs

last.

the

old

but

desired

accordingly

seekeing the cowes in the pasture, a

breake, she mett, as she thought, an

Anne

informant's

this

And, when they had done, she went home.

days

had

is

to

into

what shape and

would turne

dish.

should be

and who should be

percolate, to flow

through a straining

So he

to there

like-

God.

also, to strain, to

Brockett's

North Country

BOEDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

And

with

all

how

tould this informer

they could to allure her

first,

301

they would nse

by there

all

meancs

bv rideing

tricks,

in the

house in empty wood dishes that had neyer beene wett, and
also in

egg

shells,

and how

swinging in a rope
But,

drinke.

if

harme her. And,

whatever they desired hy

to obtaine

and with severall dishes of meate and

she eate not of their meate, they could not

how it

at last, tould her

should be divulged by

eateing a piece of cheese, which should be laid by her

she laie

downe

and

left

so

But

her.

after

he was gone she

downe dead and continued dead

And, when she

And

when

in a field, with her apron cast over her head,

till

suddainely

towards six that morneing.

went home, but kept

arose,

fell

all

these things secrett.

since that time, for the most parte every day, and some-

times two or three times in the day, she has taken of these

fitts,

and continued

And

dead often from evening

night a

before Christmas, about the change of the moone,

little

informant see the said

Anne

Forster come with a bridle,

and bridled her and ridd upon her

came

cockcrow.

till

she was lying in that condition, which happened one

wdiilst

this

as

to (the) rest of

crosse-legged,

end, where they usually mett.

And when

up

in her

own

Anne Dryden,

but,

when

the bridle

of Prudhoe,

And when

to her, a

owne, and then in a

catt,

And when

rest of the

long black

which they

and bad

they danced in severall shapes,

and the

she stood

Anne

Forster,

man

rideing on

called there pro-

they had hankt theire horses, they stood

spott of ground,

other shapes.

in the like-

of,

and Luce Thompson, of Mickley,

a bay gallow^ay, as she thought,

upon a bare

now

was taken

shape, and then she see the said

and tenne more unknowne

tector.

they

she light of her

back, puird the bridle of this informer's head,

nesse of a horse

till

her companions at Rideing Millne bridg-

first

this

all

informer sing whilst

of a hare, then in their

sometimes in a mouse, and in severall

they had done, bridled this informer,

horses,

and

rid

home

Avith their protector

302

THE DE^^HAM TEACTS.

And

first.

And

for six or seaven nights together they did the same.

was with them they mett

the last night this informer

Dryden, and Thompson,

which they

and the

and

rest,

tlieiro

protector,

head of the table in

call'd their god, sitting at the

a gold chaire, as she thought

all

where she saw Forster,

a house called the Rideing house,

at

and a rope hanging over the

roome, which every one touch'd three several limes, and whatever was desired was sett upon the table, of several kindes of

meate and drinke

drew the

table,

But when

did.

last

This was their custome

and kept the reversions.

which they usually

to

and when they had eaten, she that was

informer used meanes

this

avoyd theire company they came in their owne shapes, and

threatned her,
shift

she would not turne to theire god, the last

And from

But further

troubled her.

being in the

and

if

should be the worst.

cast her

field,

that time they have not

saith that,

seeking sheep, she

apron over her head.

closed
^'

all

Apr.

9,

Thomas Horsley and

At
Sir

John day

last,

downe, being weary,

she got upp she

which she tooke up and

and since that time hath dis-

it,

which she formerly kept

1673.

sitt

St.

And when

found a piece cheese lying at her head

brought home, and did eate of

on

secrett.

the Sessions at Morpeth, before Sir

Richard Stote, knights, James Howard,

Humphrey Mitford, Ralph Jenison, and John Salkeld, Esqrs.

" Anne Armstrong, of Birks-nuke, spinster, saith, that the
She now further
information she hath already given is truth.
saith that

Lucy Thompson,

of Mickley, widdow, upon Thursday

in the evening, being the 3rd of Aprill, att the house of

Newton

off the

Riding,

John

swinging upon a rope which went

crosse the balkes, she, the said Lucy, wished that a boyl'd capon

with silver scrues might come down

to

her and the

rest,

which

were five coveys consisting of thirteen person in every covey

and that the

said

Lucy did swing

twice,

and then the said capon

with silver scrues did, as she thinketh, come downe, which

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

capon the said Lucy

sett before the rest of the

303

company, whereof

the divell, which they called their protector, and sometimes their

was

blessed saviour,

And

bright gold.

their cheif,

the

said

demanded

the plum-broth

thereupon

it

Lucy

chair like unto

come down

in a dish,

came down upon the

and

swing,

did

further

which the capon was boyled

did immediately

a botle of wine whicli

sitting in

in,

and

and likewise

swing.

first

" She further saith that Ann, the wife of Richard Forster off
Stocksfeild, did

swing upon the rope, and, upon the

she gott a cheese, and upon the second she got a

swing,

first

beakment*

of wheat flower, and upon the third swing she gott about halfe a

quarter of butter to knead the said flower withall, they haveing

noe power

to gett water.

" She further saith that ]\Iargret, the wife of Michaell Aynsley
of Riding did swing,

and she gott a

flackett

as she thought, about three quarts, a

for pyes,

and a peice of

t of

kening

ale containing,

wheat flowers

J of

beife.

She further saith that every person had their swings in the

^^

said rope,
severall

and did gett several dishes of provision upon their

swings according as they did desire

which

this in-

formant cannot repeat or remember, there beinge soe

persons and such variety of meat
the said meeting did carry
^^

And

away

and those thai come

many

last att

the remainder of the meat.

she further saith that she particularly

knew

at the said

meeting one Michael Aynsly of the Rideing, Mary Hunter of

Birkenside, widdow, Dorothy Green of Edmondsbyers in the

county of Durham, widdow, Anne Usher of Fairlymay, widdow,

Eliz.

Pickering of \\']nttingeslaw, widdow, Jane wife of

Makepeace of

New

* Beatmont, a

Ridley, yeo.,

Anthony Hunter

measure containing about a quarter

j-

Flackett, a flask or wood-bottle,

Kening, half a bushel.

Wm.

of Birken-

of a peck.

THE DENHAM TEACTS.

304

John Whitfield of Edmondbyers, Anne Whitfield of

Dixon of Muglesworth Park and Alice

side, yeo,,

the same, spinster, Chr.

widdow, and

Ebchester

widdow, with many

whose

Elsabeth Atchinson of

Eliot of Ebchester,

his wife, Catherine

Andrew

Issabell

others, both in

knowes but cannot

faces this informer

Crooked-oake,

of

Morpeth and other

tell

places,

their names.

All which persons had their several! meetings at diverse other

places at other times

viz.,

upon CoUup Monday

tenth of February, the said persons met

last,

being the

at Allensford, where

informant was ridden upon by an inchanted bridle by

this

Michael Aynsly and Margaret his wife

Avhen they tooke

it

which inchanted

bridle,

of from her head, she stood upp in her

proper person, and see

all

owne

the said persons beforemencioned

danceing, some in the likenesse of hares, some in the likenesse

of

catts, others in

likenesse,

the likenesse of bees, and some in their

and made

this

informant sing

till

owne

they danced, and

eyery thirteen of them had a divell with them in sundry shapes

And

meeting their particular

at the said

and danced with them

divell tooke

and

did most

evill,

them

to

an account, and those that did most

most

of.

"And

this

first,

them that

called every of
evill

he maid

informant saith that she can very well remember

the particular confessions that the severall persons hereunder

named made
times

and

to the devill then

Lucy Thompson

first

divell that she

and there,

as well as at other

of Mickly confessed to the

had wronged Edward Lumly of Mickly goods by

witcheing them

and in particular one horse by pincing

to

death, and one ox which suddainly dyed in the draught, and the
devill

"

incouraged her for

it.

Ann Drydonof Pruddoe confessed

Thursday night

after Fasten's

ing wine in Franck Pye's

even

seller in

to the devill that,

on the

when they were

drink-

last,

Morpeth,

thai;

suddenly to death her neighbor's horse in Pruddoe.

shee witched

BOEDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

Anne

^^

305

wife of Richard Forster of Stocksfiekl confessed that

she bewitched Robert Newton's horses of Stocksfiekl, and that

was one of them that had but one shew on, which she

there

took and presented with the foot and

And

meeting.

the divell at next

all to

she further confessed to her protector that she

had power of a childe of the said Robert Newton's

Issabell, ever since she

was four yeare

about eight yeares old, and she

now

is

and she

olde,

called
is

now

pined to nothing, and

continues soe.

Lloreover Michael Ainsly and

''

and they ridd behinde

mill,

confessed to the

had power of Mr. Thomas Errington's horse, of

divell that they

Rideing

Anne Drydon
his

man upon

the said

horse from Newcastle like two bees, and the horse immediately

he came home, dyed

after

and

was but about a moneth

this

since.
'^

The

sakl

Anne

Forster, Michaell Ainsly, and

Lucy Thompson

confessed to the divell, and the said Michaell told the divell
that

he called 3 severall

dore, and

made

the divell asking them

for they

times

at

how they

And

kitchen

that ni^rht,

sped, they answered nothings

had not got power of the

miller, but they got the shirt

of his bak, as he was lyeing betwixt

women, and

laid it

under

head and stroke him dead another time, in revenge he was

his

an instrument

downe

And

Ralph Elrington's draught from goeing

that they confessed to the divell that they

grinde
''

to save

the water and drowneing, as they intended to have done.

goe of the
all

Mr. Errington's

a noise like an host of men.

mill,
till

and that they intended

they had flowne

Mary Hunter

all

made

confessed to the divill that she had wronged

told her protector that

she had gotten the power of a fole of his soe that

And

she had gott power of the

and that they had an intention, the

VOL.

II.

the gecr

in peeces.

George Tayler of Edgebrigg's goods, and

to death.

all

have made the stones

to

last

dam

it

pined away

of the said

Thursday

fole,

at night, to

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

306

About

have taken away the power of the limbs of the said mare.

Michaehnas

last

when he and

she did come to one John Marsh, of Edgebrigg,

his wife

was rideing from By well, and flew some-

times under his mare's belly and sometimes before

the likenesse of a swallow, untill she got the

dved within a

week

And

after.

fessed to the divill that they got

oxe's far hinder legg.

And

breast, in

its

power of

it,

and

it

she and Dorothy Green con-

power of the

this is all

said

John Marshe's

within the space of a year

halfe or thereabouts.

"Ann Usher,

of Fairly May, confessed to the divell that by his

was a medciner, and that she had within a little space

done 100 hurt to one George Stobbart, of New Eidly, in his
And that she and Jane Makepeace, of Xew Ridly, had
goods.
help she

trailed a horse of the said

they have

now power

Geo. doune a great scarr, and that

now

of a greye of the said Geo., which

pines away.
''

Elizabeth Pickering, of Whittingstall, widdow, confessed,

had power of a neighbor's beasts of her owne in

that she

Whittingstall, and

that

she

had

killed

child

of

the

said

neighbor's.

"And

this

informer saith that

the said persons were

all

frequently at the meetings and rideings with the

and

divill,

craved his assistance, and consulted with him about

all

the

aforesaid accions.

"She

further saith that

Jane Hopper of the

the divill that she had power over

feild^ for

Wm.

near the space of two yeares

sore pinedj

and she hopes

to

have his

Hill confessed to

Swinburne, of Newlast past,

life.

by which

is

And Anthony

Hunter, of Birkenside, confessed he had power over Anne, wife

of

Thomas Richardson, of Crooked Oak

power of her limbs, and askt the

her
the

life.

Stobbart.

and helped

to

that he tooke

divill's assistance to

And Jane Makepeace was

witches,

at all the

destroy the

away

take

the

away

meetings among

goods

of

George

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

And

''

this

informer deposeth that

yeares of the

fifty

liad a lease of

come.

I>uey

two are yet

to

her

for

47 yeares, whereof seaven are yet

Thompson had
come, and,

have persuaded

Ann Drydon had a lease for

Ann Forster

whereof ten ar expired.

divill,
life

307

being near out, they would

lier lease

informer to have taken a lease of thro

this

score yeares or upwards, and that she should never

mony,

or

know

or,

way

to get as

^^And further

this

Apr. 21, 1673.

^'

want gold

she had but one cow, they should

if

to

a lease of two and forty, whereof

much milk

as

let

her

them that had tenn.

informer cannot as yet well remember.'^

The

said witness,

Anne Armstrong,

deposes

further before Ralph Jenison, Esq.

On Monday

"

see one

last, at

night, she, being in her father's house,

Jane Baites, of Corbridge, come

catt with a bridle

hanging on her

foote,

in the

forme of a gray

and breathed upon her

and struck her dead, and bridled her and rid upon her

name

of the devill southward, but the

does not

now remember.

And

name

after the said

in the

of the place she

Jane allighted and

pulld the bridle of her head, and she and the rest had drawne
their

compasse nigh

to a

bridg end, and the devil placed a stone

in the middle of the compasse, they sett themselves

downe, and

bending towards the stone, repeated the Lord's prayer backwards.

little

And when they had done

man and black cloaths,

black

son, of

calld of one Isabell

Thomp-

widdow, by name, and required of her what

Slealy,

service she

the devill, in the forme of a

had done him.

She replyd she had gott power of

the body of one Margarett Teasdale.

with her he dismissed her, and

Edward Watson,

of Slealy,

And

call'd of

who

after he

had danced

one Thomasine, wife of

confessed to the devill that she

had likewise power of the body of the said Margaret Teasdale,

and would keepe power of her till she gott her life.
''

At

severall of their meetings she has seene Michall

and Margaret

his wife,

now

Aynsley

prisoners in his Ma^^^^ goale, and

X 2

THE DENHAM TRACTS,

303

Jane Baites, of Corbridge, ride upon one James Anderson, of

Corbridge, chapman, to their meetings, and hankt him to a
stobb, whilst they ^Yere at their sports,

ridd upon
''

May

and when

tliey

had done,

him homeward.
She further

12.

saith that

on the second day of

where she see a greate number of them, and amongste the

she see one
to

Ann

Partcis, of Hollisfeild,

the pareshe of

And

lyinge upon the table.

it,

reste

and heard her declare

the devill that she did enter into the house of one

Maughan, of

May

Berwicke bridge end,

laste, at night, the witches carried her to

Haydon, and found

John

his wife's rocke

she tooke up the rocke to spinne of

and by spinneinge of the rocke she had gotten the power of

Anne

the said
still
^^

torment her

May

14.

till

she had her

life.

She being brought into Allandaile by the pari sh-

iners, for the discovery of witches, Isabell

suspition,

and would

that she should never spinne more,

Johnson, being under

was brought before her, and she breathing uppon the

said

Anne immediately

and

laid three quarters of

said if there

the said

Anne

did

fall

downe

in a

sound

an houre, and after her recovery she

were any witches

in

England

Johnson was

Isabell

one.

" At Morpeth Sessions

as aforesaid

Mill, saith that about the latter

Robert Johnson, of Ry doing

end of August

last, late at

night,

lyeing in his bed at Rydeing Mill, betwixt two of his fellowservants, he herd a

man,

whoe was

Upon which

within.

as

he thought,
this

call at

the dore and ask

informant rose and went

and layd his head against the chamber window

it

was

that called,

though

it

to

know whoe

and he heard a great noise of horse

had been an army of men.

none would answer.

Soe he returned

Whereupon he
to his bed,

morneinge, riseing out of his bed, he wanted his

feet, as

called,

but

and the next

shirt,

which

seeking after he accused his two fellow-servants, which were

amazed

at

the thing and

denyed that ever they knew of

it,

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

309

wliich this informant further searcliinc^ after, found

under

his pillow at his

Errinojton's

He

bed head.

and

drauo^ht,

lapt

upp

further saith, that

Mr.

Ra. Elrincrton^s,

Stiford leading tvth corne there,

and being

it

beino-

late in

awav

at

comeinghome,

informer could not rest satisfyed, but went to seek the

this

know what was become

draughts and to

of them, and met them

comeing out of Stiford towne end, and came homeward with

them,

till

they came to the water.

And

^Ir.

Errington's draught

being got through he herd the people with the other draught

And

cry that they were goeing downe the water.

on

to a

horse and rode

thereabouts, where he

downe
came

great deep pool, where,

might have been

after

them some 3 score yards or

them

just at the entring into a

he had not made great help, they

if

both

lost,

to

then he got

men and

beasts.

And

getting them

turned and brought upp to the other draught they came

home

all

together, and this informant haveing loosed the beasts out

of his maister^s draucrht and froeino- to bed, was that nicrht sud-

dainly strucken dead in the kitchen to the sight of his fellow-

He

servant.

further saith that, about some sixteen dayes before

he could not by any means he could use gett the

Christmas

last,

mill sett,

and about the hinder end of Christmas hollidayes,

beino; sheelino;

some

oates

setting, all the geer, viz^,

but the stones, flew

about two hours before the sunn-

hopper and hoops, and

down and were

almost killed with them, they comeing against

force

"

and

He

further saith

that^

Olliver, his fellow- servant,

their sights,

And

and rode

other things

him with such

violence.

about a moneth since, one

went

to

and rode upon a gray gelding of

bee.

all

casten of, and he himselfe

was

as well

as

Newcastle in the morneing

his

good

master's, which, to
like as

his fellow-servant sayed that he

as heartily ass

come home

and

this

to the

all

any horse could

came

any horse could doe.

informant went

Wm.

as well

And

after

homo
he

is

dore and took*; the horse

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

3iO

by

and led him into the

bridle

tlie

And

stood.

him

there haveing

stable

where he usualley

hand by the bridle reen,

in his

and haveing not gott him fastened nor out of

his

hand,

suddainly the horse rushed downe, he being not hott at

rideing

all

and soe continued a good while, sometimes lookeing

very cheerily about him, and other sometimes striveing, as

were for
goe

to

till

with

life

and death, soe that

it

informer w^as forced to

this

bed and leave him, and in the morneing when he came to

the stable again he found

of the stable they rippt

him lyeing dead, and takeing him out

him upp

to see

what might be the cause,

and could finde nothing, but that the horse was

right

all

enough

in his body.

''John ]\Iarch, of Edgebrigg, yeoman,

he went

since,

Armstrong heareing him named began

him

if

saith, that,

about a month

a place called Birkside nook, and there

to

he had not an ox that had the power of one of his limbs

taken from him.

And

how

know, she

she

came

to

he telling her he had, and inquireing

told

Hunter, of Birkside, and another,

him

at a

that beast

meeting amongst diverse

power of

and she not knowing her name Sir James Clavering

and Sir Richard Stote thought proper

byers, and there to cause the

woman

to carry her to
to

come

the intent she might challenge her.

And

Dorothy Green, a widdow, and she

said she

that joyned with

And

Mary

that she heard

witches, confesse to the divell that they had taken the

ox.

Ann

speak to him and askt

to

Mary Hunter

to

Eden-

her ther, to

she challenged one

was the person

in the bcwithcheing of the said

the ox now^ continues lame and has noe use of his farr

hinder legg, but pines away, and likely to dye.

Ann Armstrong

told

him

the devill that they bow^itched a

gray mare of

his,

that about a fortnight before Michaelmas last, he

were rideing home from Bywell on a Sunday

same mare, about

He

saith that

that the said persons confessed before

sun-sett

and he

and

at night

saith

his wife

upon the

and there came a swallow,

wliicli

EORLER SKETCHES AND FOLKLOEE.

31

above forty times and more flew througli under the mare's belly,

and crossed her way before her

strook at

meanes hinder
the

And

brest.

this

informant

with his rod above twenty times and could by no

it

it^

untill of its

ownc accord

And

went away.

it

mare went very well home, and within four daycs dyed

and, before she dead, was two dayes soe

holding, and

was strucke blinde

mad

that she

was past

four-and -twenty liourcs

for

before she dead.

'^

He

further saith, that the said

on Monday

his house

last,

Mary Hunter came downe

where he had

she askt her what she had to say to her.

to

Ann Armstrong, and

And she told her that

she was a wdtch, and that

she had seen her at the devilFs

The other askt her where, and she answered, " In

meetinges.
this

same house,

when

night, being

last

And

companye."

Sunday, amongst

all

the

the said informer saith, that that very night

she said they mett, he was was soe sore affrighted that

he was in a manner dead

and afterward comeino;

to himselfe

againe he herd a great thundering and saw a great lighteninge

in the house,

and

resemblances of

the

to

catts,

number of twenty

And

and creeping upon the walls.

And

the girll singing to them.

the young

girll

girll."

in the bed,

till

and

said,

the

of the

and continued soe

roome

the witches were gone

iier

body lyeing

were dead, neither breath nor

And

for the

presently after they

life

being

most part of an

came

and open her eyes and loked on them

before she spake anything.

all

" Alas

he fetched in two or three of his neighbors to see her

in that condition.
to stir

being in bed with

his servants,

x^nd he went upp and found

as she

discerned in her

hour

lay

floores

immediately after I herd

woman, awakened, and came downe out

where the
with the

creatures in the

and other shapes, lyeing on the

companyes were

And when

there,

her away, but were prevented.

in she

for about

an hour

she spoke she said that

and were endeavouringe

And

began

to get

further he saith, the said

THE DEXnAM TRACTS.

312

Ann Armstrong

enquired of

tlic

said

Mary Hunter

sonn

for her

Anton, and there being one of her sons called Cuthbert, wee
told her that

man

he was the

and said that

it

she askt for, which she denyed,

was not the man,

and had seen him

severall

tymes

for she

at their

knew him

meetings

ver}^ well

and desired

her to send him downe, and a lass that she, the said Mary,

upon and singe unto them, and she would

severall times ride

resolve her whether

afterwards came

She

to him.

liearing he

were they or

it

Thereupon Anton

not.

downe and questioned her what she had to say

would lett him know at the sessions,

said she

was

to be there

and because he had threatened her

she would say noe more, but

was

told this informer, after he

gone, that Anton had confessed before the devill he had taken
tlie

power of Anne, wife of Tho. Richardson of Crooked Oaks'

limbs from her, and had likewise bewitched several cattle to

And

death.

Richardson

further saith, that he

knowes

Ann

that the said

very bad condicion, being sometimes able to

in a

is

He

goe, and other times that she cannot goe without help.

never see the said

ledge,

Ann

in his life before, neither, to his

know-

was she ever where he was, nor never sawe none of

him all this when he went

" Geo. Tayler, of Edgebridge, yeoman,

beasts, but told

Birkside nook to speak with one

his

to see her.
saith^ that

coming

to

Ann Armstrong, whoe had

oftentimes formerly desired to have seen him, and she being

asleep

upon a bed, her

being asked
that

if

if

she

he were the

man

lived at Edgebrigg,

awakened her and raised

or could

Mary Hunter

name him,

her,

and

name was Geo.

she came to know

Upon

Tayler.
it,

and

she answered

that had a fole lately dead,

his

demanding on her liow

she herd

sister

knew him

she told

of Birkenside, widdow, confesse

he

if

him

his

that

it

before

the divell at meetinge they had that she had gotten the

power

and the

life

of his

about Michaelmas

fole.

last,

The

said fole began not to be well

and dyed about a moneth

since,

and

it

BORDEE SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

had noe naturall disease

to his

body of

several I parts of the

313

knowledge, but often swelled in

it

and

its

head and lipps would

have been sore swelld, and letten him have endeavoured never
soe often to blood

thinking thereby to prevent

it,

could never get any in noe part of the body of

was dead, he opened

and he

see if there

its

death, he

And when

it

were any blood or not,

saith that he thinks, very, a quart pott w^ould have holden

that

all

to

it

it.

it

had and more, and that

litle

that

it

had was

all

drawne

about the heart thereof.

''

He

Ann Armestrong told him that she heard when

Mary Hunter and Dorothy Green, of Edmondbyers,

saith that

the said

confesse to the devil] that they had the power of his oxen and

kyne, horses and mares, and that now, at this present, he has
a grey mare, the

dam

of the said fole, pineing away, and in

the

same condition that the

his

goods doe not thrive, nor are

fole

was

And

in.

he thinks that

all

neighbours goods,

like his

notwithstanding he feeds them as well as he can, but are like

an atomy es.

"Apr.

Marke Humble,

21, 1673.

of Slealy, tayler, saithj

betwixt 7 and 8 yeares agoe,

that he,

walking towards the

high end of Slealy, mett one Isabell Thompson walking down-

And when

ward.

she

was gone past him, she being formerly

suspected of witchcraft, he lookt back over his shoulder and did

up her hands towards

see the said Isable hould

when he came home he

the house that he

wrong.
fitts

all

in a

And

for

afraid

Isabell

his neighbours.

And

came

Humble then

And

iii

ill

by

and admiration of

to the sight

whilst he continued in this distemper,

to his

bewitched him.

soone be knowne.

And

Thompson had done him

some 3 or 4 yeares continued very

most violent manner,

the said Isabel!

liad

was

his back.

grew" very sick, and tould the people

house and said

She tould him

if

it
it

was reported she

were so

it

would

further saith, that his mother i\Iargaret

lyeing not well, Isabell

Thompson tooke some

of

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

314

her haire to medicine her."

pp.

Sf'C,

from York

Castle,

191201.

x\ll

the accused persons denied their guilt, but the result of

the affair

is

not known.

Two volumes
and

Depositions,

issued

by the Surtees Society, Depositions

other Ecclesiastical Proceedings fj'om the Co^irts of

extending

from 1311

Depositions from

to

the

Durham,

Reign of Elizabeth (1845),

and

Castle of York, relating to Offences com-

tlte

mitted in the Northern Counties hi the Seventeenth Century (1861),

contain a large assemblage of witchcraft cases from the Northern

English Counties, to which only a limited reference can be made,

for the

more

salient features.

The

case on record

first

of Margaret Lyndyssay along with another

of Edlyngeham, Xorthumberland,

who

woman,

is

that

in the parish

Feb. 1435

cleared

herself of the imputation of being an enchantress, whereof she

had been blamed by John de Longcaster, John Somerson, and

John Symson.*
the

16 Feb. 1447-8, Mariot Jacson,

accused of

same crime, was, on the favourable testimony of her neigh-

bours, restored to her pristine good credit. f

About 1569 one

Margaret Reed, apparently of Newcastle, had been misrepresented

as

being a

^'

women

Anderson,

called

Elizabeth

17th May,

water wych."t

Stockton, two foolish

revile each other,

her

neighbour,

1572,

at

and one of them,

Annie Barden,

crowket handyd w^ytch," the accusation being aggravated by

the w^ords being shouted out " audiently," where " might
'^

many have herd

in the

Shafto,

them, beinge spoken so neigh the crosse and

toune gait as they were.^^

Throkeley,

of

Wilkinson did

call

Northd.,

18 Jan. 1574, Margaret

bears

Katherine Anderson

^'

testimony that Janet

hange lipped witche; "

and another witness from the same place

'

did heare the said

315

BOEDER SKETCHES AND EOLKLORE.

Janet Wilkinson

and that

deedes doinge/ *

which took place

Bell and

Robson

'

darted

comen of Hedden-on-the-Wall

she had

'

Anderson

Katlieryne

call

witclie,'

for his

good

15 July, 1586, a case of chiding deposed on,

at Blaidon, parish of

Ryton, between Arthur

John Robson, wherein the cause of

said to Bell,

Thou

''

offence

was that

haist a witch to thy eld-mother,

and why cannot the young theef learne

at the old ? " this

mother" being

wife's mother.f

Chamber, BelFs

Isabell

"

eld-

These instances of defamation give place in the succeeding

century to full-framed articles of accusation.

December

31,

1646, Elizabeth Crossley and others, of Hepten Hall, in York-

accused of maliciously, on being refused alms, causing

shire, are

young children

whereof they died, a stroke

to take convulsions,

with a candlestick to draw blood from the reputed witch having

proved

although

ineffectual,

counteract

temporarily affording

Her

influence.

Crossley's

relief,

to

Mary

confederate,

Midgeley, being denied an almes of wool, and obtaining instead

thereof an alms

Wood,

of Hepten

of milk, from Martha the wife of Richard

Hall,

" shee departed very angry."

The

consequence was that the day after six of the milch kine
sick.

Upon

her

confessed

remedie

this

it if

too that shee

wished her

to

Wood

Mrs.

fault

away

hied

in slighting her,

Longe

it

but at

last

goe homo,

for the

and lay underneath them, and,

to

her againe."

Wood came

to her to

desired

her

to

tooke six pence of her, and

kyne should mende, and desired

her to take for every cow a handfull of

come

and

fell

woman, and

was before shee would take

she could.

had done

it,

''

the

to

if

salte

and an old

sickle,

they amended not, then to

Mary Midgeley

confessed that Martha

" aske her advise touchinge one of her

kyne whose mylke earned in the gallin ;" whereupon she told
her that she had " learned of one Issabel Robinson who had

* P. 313.

r. d\6.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

olG

were

ffood skill (if anythiiio^e

take a
to

God

for

and

salte

litle

mend."

March

it.^

of Dorothy Rodes of Boiling,

conceiving that she

is

evil repute, as well as

is

'^

haunted by one Mary Sykes, who had an

by the likeness two other women, one of

the," and ^Miad

much

that,

'

Bless the,' but

'

''

Bless the,"

by the death of

lo?s

monthes, that he had

'

wold make them

He

I'le cross the.'

further saith

some three dayes before the saide Cristenmas, he goeing

about 12 o'clock in the night, with a candle

to fother horses,

and lanthorn, his beasts standing neare

Mary

said

him,

to

nyne or tenn beasts and horses, but she

fewer/ and

Ilichard Booth, of

of Tonge, IMary Sikes had

Christenmus was twelve

since

to

18, 1648-9, a girl, daughter

To Henry Cordingley,

his goods."

wished her

frightened into convulsions by

had often heard Mary Sykes say

I'le crosse

^'

said

sliee

nnder the cow, and pray

had been dead two years previously.

Boiling,

and

it

The others denied the charges, and pro-

bably nothing came of

whom

and

o-one),

old yron, lay

his horses,

he sawe the

Sikes riding upon the backe of one of his cowes.

And

he, endeavouring to strike att her, stumbled,

saide

Mary

and soe the

flewe out of his mistall windowe, haveing three or

fewer wooden stanchions, the saide cowe being then white over
with an imy sweate.
blacke horse, worth

was a

fortnight,

And

he likewise saith that he had one

16s.,

begunn

to be sicke

about Tewsday

and continewed dithering and quakeing

Sonday following, and then dyed.

And

till

he, opening the saide

horse, could not finde an eggshell fall of blood.

And he is
And he

verily perswaded that the saide horse was bewitched.

saith, allsoe, that a

manner

a fortnight,
the

blacke meare of his hath becne sicke in like

as the former horse was, since about

till

weomen
^^

the

tyme

Tewsday

that the saide i\lary

but, since that, she hath recovered

Depositions, i^r

from York

C<(stlt',

last

was

was searched by
and amended,

pp. 6-9.

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

and eates

her meate

lumpe

litle

about

sawe the

like

And

they further say

Mary Sykes was

10 Jan., 1650-1, Margaret

out

stretcht

it

they never

tl.at

acquitted.*

Morton,

Wakefield of giving a

as

neare her arme

The jury were

upon anie other weomen."

incredulous, and

accused at

left side

a wart, and being pulled

like

an inch.

lialfe

women sworn

Five

well."

verle

searchers did indeed find " upon her

317

little

Kirkethorpe,

of

was

boy of about four years

then in good health and likeing, a peece of bread," after

which the child " begann to bee sicke, and his body swelled very
old,

''

much, and
neither

his flesh

o;oe

did daly after

much

The mother

nor stand."

waste,

till

he could

Morton sent

mistrustino;

and she submitted to ask the child forgiveness three

"
times,
and then this informant drew bloud of lier with a pin,
for her,

and immediately
the informant

''

amended."

after the child

at divers times "

chirned nor cheese

when

'^

she earned."

Morton and found two black

In addition

could not get butter

spots,

Four women searched

both sides, an inch broad, and blew in the middest."

were then both dead, " were suspected to be the

called

and acquitted.

Ann Hudson,

scratched her and

''

servant

sick person

drawn

is

woman

had recovered

after he

had

blood.

West Eiding of York-

a reputed witch for above twenty years," cured

girl,

''

and prayed

again," whereupon she

witch

who

She was

In September, 1650, a

Jan. 23, 1651-2, Hester France, in the

shire,

like."

Besides

sister,

of Skipsey, in Holderness, was charged

The

with witchcraft.

she

one whereof " was black on

being long suspected for a witch, her mother and

tried at the assizes

to this

when

is

to

God

that she shold never bake

seized with catalepsy.

The reputed

prevailed on to visit her and submits to be scratched,

and the symptoms are considerably abated.

* Ihicl, pp.

28-30.

t Ibid., p.

Another person
38 and note.

318

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

ailing for half a year, sends for her

was

^^and

very sore, and sayde,

me

done

this

come

she being
^

patient

woman

as she

chamber he scratcht her

into the

I think thou art the

woman

that hath

wrong,' and then she answred and sayde that she

never did hurt in her life."^

March

One Elizabeth Lambe

17, 1652-3.

them harm, and

sick people of doing

the preceding instance she

ties

for

is

like

accused by several

the poor

woman

in

has to submit to various indio-ni-

being so notorious.

She frightened John Jonson, of

Reednes, by appearing to him at night, accompanied by an old

man in brown clothes, whereupon " his goods fell sick, and the

what disease they were

farrier could not tell

ill

When

of."

others of his neighbours had received loss ^^in their ffoods.

which they did conceive

of,

quieted by her."

"

Lambe

this Eliz.

to

be the author

they also did beat her, and was never afterwards dis-

his wife

The constable had a

meeting the said

downe on her knees and asked her

did soone after recover."

child sick,

owne

Eliz. at her

whereupon

doore, she did

forgiveness,

fall

and the child

Nicholas Baldwin, of Rednes, declared

drowned him " thre younge foles

by witchcraft," whereat Baldwin,

that about the year 1648 she

ever as they were

foled,

enraged beyond measure, did beat her with his cane, and he
declared in his evidence, ^' had it not bene for my wife, because
she sat doune of hir knesse and aske

her worse."

She

also cruelly

the heart in his sickness

him."

The

sick

draw blood from

man
her,

me

forgivenes, I had bet

handled one Richard Browne at

by drawing

''his heart's blood

thought he would get better

who had

so drained

him of

if

life's

from

he could
stream,

and she being brought to him by a wile, Browne said to her,

" Bes, thou hast wronged me. Why dost thou soe ? If thou
wilt doe soe no more I will forgive thee."
And she answered

Ihicl, pp. 51,

52

^;

BOEDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

He

nothinoj.

week

The

after

till

the blood came, but within

he died."*

may

case of Elizabeth Roberts, Oct. 14, 1654,

entire.
last,

then scratched her

319

"John

be given

Greencliife, of Beverley, sayth, that on Saturday

about seaven in the evening, Elizabeth Roberts [who was

the wife of a joiner at Beverley, and denied any knowledge of

what was charged against her] did appeare

wearing

to

him

clothes, with a ruff about her neck,

in her usuall

and, presently

vanishing, turned herself into the similitude of a catt, which

fixed close about his leg, and, after

whereupon he was much

upon

there seized a catt

head, upon which he

much

strugling, vanished

Upon Wednesday

pained at his heart.

his body,

fell

which did

on the

strike liim

into a sw^ound or traunce.

After he

received the blow", he saw^ the said Elizabeth escape upon a wall

Upon Thursday

wearing apparell.

in her usuall

she appeared

unto him in the likenesse of a bee, which did very

him,

to witt, in

throwing of his body from place

withstanding there were

The bee was

five or six

in his bonnet,

persons to hold

no doubt of

reported of date at New^castle, Xov. 10,

afflict

to place, not-

him doune."f

Another cat case

it.
1

much

663, before Sir

is

James

Clavering, Bart., mayor, wherein Jane, wife of \Ym. Milburne,

of Newcastle, imagined that "

about 8 o'clock

night,

att

Fryday gone a seaven

night,

she being alone and in chamber,

there appeared to her something in the perfect similitude and

shape of a

catt.

And

the said catt did leape at her face, and

did vocally speake with a very audible voyce, and saide, that

had gotten the

informer

life,

and vrould have

which she replyed,

Upon which

itt

of one in this house, and came for this

life

itt

before Saturday night.

I defye the, the devill

the catt did vanish.

and

all

To

his works.

The second time

the cat

appeared, " the said catt did violently leape aboute her neck and

* Ihid., p. 58.

t Ihich, p. 67.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

320
shoulders, and

port

was soe ponderous

but did bring her doune to the ground," and kept her

itt,

there for a quarter of an

On

hour.

attempted to pull her out of bed,

her

she was not able to sup-

tliat

if

the

third

occasion

it

her husband had not held

This cat she believed was Dorothy Stranger, the wife

fast.

of a cooper,

who had

threatened her, " and non

And

else.

she

haveinge a desire to see her did this morneing send for the said
Dorothy, butt she was very loth to come, and comeing to her
she gott blood of her, at the said Stranger's desire, and since

The dress of the witch of the period

hath been pritye well."

The

preserved for us by this witness.

a grey one.
tlie

said

"And

is

was not a black but

did transforme ittselfe into the shape of

itt

Dorothy Stranger,

in the habit

and clothes she weares

upon her head, a greene waist-

dayly, haveing an old black hatt

coate,

cat

Another woman,

and a brounish coloured petticoate."*

Newcastle, Jane AVatson, a medicincr and reputed witch,

at

wore, in 1661,
third,

named

"a

red waistcoate and greene petticoate."!

Isabell

Atcheson, wore a "green waistcoate."

Dress was not one of the items in which witches differed from
other people.

Katherine Earle was accused of having

Jan. 11, 1654-5.

struck

Henry

Hatefield, of Ehodes, parish of Rodwell, gent.,

upon the neck "with

his maire
fell

sicke

witli a

upon the necke

docken
also,

stalke, or such like thing,

whereupon

maire imediately

his

and he himselfe was very sore troubled and perplexed

paine in his necke."

She had

also clapt

one Mr. Franke,

late of

Rhodes, between the shoulders with her hand, and

"You

are a pretty gentlemen

upon the

and

said Mr.

Franke

fell

will

you

kisse

me?

sicke before he gott

home, and

never went out of doors after, but dyed, and complained

against the said Katherine

on his death-bed."

much

Katherine

Ibid., pp. 112, 114.

125.
X Ibid., p.

Ibid., p. 69.

I^^^^'^ P-

said,

Where-

93.

t
BOI^DER SKETCHES

AND FOLKLORE.

321

mark was found upon her

heaving been searched, a

^^

in the

likenesse of a rapp."

In the case of Jennet and George Benton, June

1G56, at a

7,

farm called Bunny Hall, near Wakefield, Richard Jackson, the

occupant, besides grievous torment as if he were '' drawne in
peices at the hart, backe and shoulders," hears singular noises

^Mike ringing of small

At

heard three heavy groans, and

and

He had

time clapt to and fro

was scene
said

^^

his wife

and servant,

doggs did howle

at that instant

a great

also

thorrow two barn dores.

was removed

he,

last

windows, as though they would have puld them

yell at the

in peeces.

with singinge and dancinge,"

bells,

accompanied with groans.

and

swine which broako

and trunkes,

the boxes

many

Also the dores in the howse

severall aparitions like black

And

in the house.

at that

as they conceived,

doggs and

catts

he saith that, since the time the

Jennet and George Benton threatned him, he hath

lost

18

horses and meares." *

In such cases complaints were

racked with pains.

common

Tynemouth, Feb. 15, 1659-60, having

limbs,

attributes

it

to

and

his

;^'

one Elizabeth Simpson,

who

she said

daughter obtained quiet, but not the use of her limbs.

'^

tormented Jane Milburne's body

soe intollerably that she could nott rest

to

at

power of her

'^

Stranger (Nov. 10, 1663)

like

lost the

and did punch her heart and pull her

whereupon the father drew blood from the accused,

tormented her in bed,

in pieces

of the heart being

Frances Mason, daughter of a soldier

teare

her very heart in

the night, and

all

pieces." J

May

17,

was

1673,

Dorothy Himers of Morpeth accuses Margaret Milburne, of

causing her to take
said Margaret;

and

fits

in

which she apprehended she saw the

of these she " did apprehend that

in one

she did see the said Margaret Milbourne, widdow, standino- on

an oatescepp

att

* Ibid., p. 75.

VOL.

II.

her bed

feet,

thinkeing she was pulling her

t IbuL, p 82.

X Ibid, p. 113.

THE DEKITAM TEACTS.

322

In one instance,

heart with something like a threecl."*

castle, Aug. 8, 1661, the pain at the heart

certain ointment,

employed

The witch appears

bedside, and asks

him

it

burns

her

me

''

on thy forehead,

asked her Avhat

Oh, burnt

'^

it

was

that burnt

to the heart. "f

Mary Watson, witch and

mediciner, transfers
^^

presently dyed. "J

Thomp-

Aug. 18, 1661, at Newcastle, the complainant, Alice

son,

continually cried

out

^'

of one

wrongs her, saying,

Katherine Currey,

Doe you

continually cry out that she pulls her heart

and

is

in the

roome

to carry

her away."

'

alias

doe you

And

she doth

not see her

not see her, where the witch theafe stands

heart,

for

on thy brow," and

is

a disease to a dog within the house, Avhich

Potts, that

in the night-time at the

off that

that ointment that

puft and blew and cryed,

Oct. 10, 1661,

wype

He

death."

to

she answered

to

New-

case a headache, transferred to

to

the witch herself

^'

at

by the use of

is

she pricks her

Cases of vomiting pins, or being pricked with them, occur.

July 12,

1656,

Elizabeth

Mallory, of Studley Hall,

Lady

daughter of the

Mallory,

who

afterwards became wife of Sir

Cuthbert Heron, of Chipchase, Bart., and at his decease

re-

married Ralph Jenison, of Elswick, Esq., aged 14, accused

William and Mary AYade as the cause of her long sickness and
fits,

declaring she would never recover

fessed she

the

woman had

had done her wrong-; or was carried before a

and punished.
^'

till

This young lady

vomited severall

made

justice

people believe that she

strange things, as blottinge paper

full

pins and thred tied about, and likewise a lumpe of to we

pins and thred tied about

it,

and a peice of wooU and

and likewise two feathers and a sticke."

two

cats,

" one blacke and one yellow

con-

In another

catte."

i)ins
fit

When

* Ibid., p. 202.

t J^bicl, p. 89.

i Ibkl,i^. 93.

Ibid.,i>. 124.

of

with
in

it,

she saw

they were

BORDER SKETCHED AND FOLKLORE.

committed

prison

to

rightly divined

sho was freed of her

Wade

fits.

what was the matter with

323

her,

himself
she was

viz,

^'possessed with an evill spirit/'* not unlike that which animated Christian Shaw of Bargarran House, who caused the
death of seven poor persons by similar accusations. The date,

however,

is later,

April

1697. f

1,

1670,

it

was shown that on

Mary Earneley of Alne, Yorkshii-e, fell into a

which she continued a long time, " sometimes
cryinge out that Wilkinson wyfe prickt her with pins, clappinge

the previous day

very sick

in

fit,

her hand upon her thighs, intimatinge that shoe pricked her
thighes;'' and she also ran a spit into her.

Ann
two

The

old

woman,

Wilkinson, was also accused of bewitching to their death

sisters

of

Mary

Earneley's, out of the

there being taken, a

little

mouth of one of them

before her death, " a black ribbond

with a crooked pinne at the end of

She

it."

also cursed people,

and prevented butter coming when there was a churning.

was
''

acquitted,

if

In another Yorkshire case, Aug.

Timothy Hague of Denby,

Mary Moore

saith, that

did vomitt a peice of bended

paper with two crooked pins in

tymes scene her vomitt crooked

An

accusation of the

before Sir

latest

Thomas Loraine,

it,

to

w^xr and

does by tormenting his

endeavouring

to pull

a peice of

att severall other

pinns.'^

stamp

occurs Dec.

wdierein Nicolas
^^

11,

woman

sick

wife,

of bad

had threatened

turn he had done her.

ill

1680,

Rames informs

being a

for witchcraff severall yeares hearetofore,''

avenge herself for some

She
1674,

he was present when

and hath

that Elizabeth Fenwicke, of Longwitton,

fame

6,

by riding upon

her out of the bed on to the

floor.

This she
her,

* Ibid., pp. 75-78.

f Mitchell and Dickie's Philosophj of Witchcraft, pp. 33-116.
% Depositions,

Ibid., p.

S,'C.,

pp. 176-7.

210.

t2

and

More-

THE DEXnAM TRACTS.

324

tlie Avlfe, a black man, tlionglit to be the

" by the said Elizabeth Fenwicke danc to^eather." Eames

over, in presence of
devil,

goes to the accnsed to ask her to

came

his wife proposed to

of her for bewitchino- her.

visit his

Fenwicke

''The saide

long since,

it

answesheard

]:^lizabeth
..

and the sayde Anne Kamcs answeared againe,

finger,

have

and when she

must have blood

would doe her anv O

have
c;ood she mi^rht
O
and the saide Elizabeth would ha cutt her

a^^ain
that if her blood
CD

had

wife

that she

uppon the brow whoar other

it

})eople

give

I will

'

it

uppon

witches;' and the sayde Elizal)cth answeareth againe that

if

her

chyldren should get notice of the saide blooding they Avould goe

But she consented

madde."

to the operation,

and the husband

appears to have thrice run a great pin into her brow, before she

would bleed,

and

she, the

sayde Elizabeth, desired him nott

to

no further prejudice was

to

and he declared that

discloasc

it,

him

his

or

^*

wife

he would

not

if

prosecute

She was

her."

acquitted.*
that of

Anne

Baites and others, April 2, 1673, apparently modelled on

some

The most
of the

Northumbrian

interesting

trial

of

all,

Scots cases of that period, would require to be given

entire, being, as

Mr. Raine remarks,

''

one of the most extra-

ordinary that has ever been printed."!

Witchcraft.
I did not find

many

fresh dlustrations of the belief in witch-

craft in those portions of

to

Northumberland where

endeavoured

hunt them up.

The

last

witch in the north was said to have been burnt at

Eglingham, a village mid-way between Wooler and Alnwick.

I

have only tradition for

A woman

was

'^

this statement.

scored above the breath " for a witch, some

* Ibid., p. 247.

^^'^'^'^

IT- 191-2U1.

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

seventy or eighty years ago, at St. ^Slnian's

on the 27th of Septemher in a stubble

River

Till,

not

brow with

girl at

little

But

to

thumbs under the

being bewitched.

is

held

Floddenfield.

said one

crookit

" I met

day,

my thumb

at her."

whom
Mr. J.

in AVeardale, in passing a wntch, doubling

G. Fenwick says that

the

which

a pin.

Wooler

folks call a witch.

fair,

near Fenton, on the

field

One attacked and

seducing her husband, making a bloody
from

far

scored the other for

cross on her

325

forefingers

was considered a preventive

Those who have the eyebrows met are witches and warlocks.

Red

An

old

man

me

told

being accounted witches.

that his aunt used to keep a piece of

tree, or elder, constantly in her kist (chest) to

hour

clothes

butterflies are killed,

prevent her

from mahVn
o influence.

stone with a natural hole in

bed-post to prevent sweating

was sus])ended from the

it

at night.

called a " self-

was

It

bore."

similar stone

hung on

a nail on which the key

is

placed

is

called a witch's stone.

]\Ioreover, a stone

with a hole

bed prevents nightmare from

friend writes

holes in

them

in

tied

it

man and

to

the tester of the

beast.

from near Newcastle in 1845

I have frequently seen

'^
:

Stones with

hung up behind

the doors

of dwelling-houses to keep out evil spirits."

Witch

stones, so far as I

have examined them, consist of old

whorl-stones, of loom-weights, of any holed stone picked up in

* FoVdnrr lUrord,
j

ii.

p. :2o5.

See Aubrey's Miscdlanies,

horses at night,

it

may

p. 147.

To prevent

the

be either a Hint with a hole in

Lag rifling
it hung ly

tbe manger, or a flint without a hole will do if suspended from their

necks.

t
THE DENHAM TRACTS.

326
the

and even of the upper stone of querns or hand-

fields;

mills.

Cows and

cows' milk are particularly susceptible of being

hurt or perverted by witches.

All the coAvs' milk of a

Northumberland was once

in

]:lace

bewitched, the milk having become so glutinous that

drawn out

To remedy

in strings.

could be

it

the cows were milked

this

in a south-running stream.*

When

cows

have

eat nettles, or

Also when the kirn

then are said to be bewitched.

and butter

not come,

will

person than

is

back

its

cow calved

to

it

discovered that
strength

customary

keep the witch from hurting

Good luck

to her,"

suddenly taken
If a person,

ill

when

witched,

a stronger

failing,

is

i.e.

woman

the cow,

to strew salt

docs the

it

is

along

all

it.

milking a cow doesn't say,

some misfortune

In the parish of Gargunnock, Stirlingshire,

her.

is

if

if sold.

Avas

If a stranger going past a

"

by

bitten

nothing wrong with the product.

Witched cows recover

a

is

it

owner, whose

the

churning, there

When

udders

their

they give bloody or lappered or stringy milk, and

pismires,

will

if

befall

cow

is

ascribed to some extraordinary cause.

called to see one, does not say,

''

I Avish her

luck," there Avould be a suspicion he had some bad design.

farmer in Northumberland at one time

his cattle

Becoming

by a strange malady.

lost

number

of

suspicious that they

were bewitched by a certain malevolent neighour, he had

a " Skcely man," avIio advised him to take the

recourse to

* "Estqiuuido lac etiam crueiitum excernitur

iimlierculfB

lac

omiie

emiilsum

aqua)

fluenti

quo animadverso,
infundinit

alea3

mulctrali inverse id est fundo emiilgeat, et signo crucis notant.

Hfec

improbuutuv."

Con.

scribe

111

aniles

superstitiones

Gesneri Ilistoria Animaliuin, vol

Sinclair's Stat. Acct.

ista)
i.

prodita3

pp. 58, 59.

of Scotland^

xviii. p.

123.

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

of one of the dead cattle and burn

lierii't

of pins.

it full

AVliile this

it,

327

after

was doing he was

to

having stuck

take the pre-

caution of having the doors and windows kept close.

The rite
was scarcely half completed, when the person suspected came
'^
reeling "' at the doors and windows for admission, '' as if she
would
heart

pull the house

down."

If the witch arrives before the

consumed, the operation

is

is

rendered inefficacious.

sheep's heart stuck full of pins and similarly treated

was

effica-

These are from both the north and

cious for a bewitched cow.

south of the county.

''

i\Ir.

In the parish of Sowerby, near Hahfax, Yorkshire," writes

John Carr, of Bondgate Hall, Alnwick,

in 1824,

was taken

cottager

ill

soon after calving, and in the family

distress at the prospect of losing

man was

consulted,

and the true

in

who

its

chief support, a cunning

declared that the cow was bewitched

and replaced by the witch herself

calf carried off,

the shape of the

"where

cow of a poor

the writer happened to be at the time, the

and that by sur-

calf then with the cow,

rounding the disguised witch with a

circle of fire,

and slowly

cow would recover and

The horrible sacrifice was actually

roasting her until quite consumed, the

the true calf be restored.

performed in the midst of the assembled

terrific

deemed

villagers,

and the

bellowings that issued from the burning sufterer were

certain evidence of the witch's presence

and were replied

of the

infamous proceeding.

to

and

by triumphant shouts

escape,

The cow

died,

inability to

at the success

and

the

vile

impostor saved his conjuring reputation by impudently alleging

that they

had

not, as he

had urgently directed, conducted the

previous preparations with sufficient secrecy, whereby the witch

discovered what they were about, and again changed places
with the calf before the burning." *

"'

Newcastle Magazine, 182

I,

p. 4.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

328

A
to

femulc on the liarvcst

break her

As

sickle,

riclo-e,

once

the misfortune

liaviiiir

was obliged to proceed home for another.

she went hastening along a hare hirpled across

broken

sickle at the hare,

field, as if

and

tlie

path

She hurled her

before her, and then turned round to gaze.

sprang suddenly across the

it

a pack of harriers were on

At

trail.

its

near the same spot, she encountered

the

her return,

same

hare, in the

attitude as before, and, determined not to be beat this time, she

launched the fresh sickle at

and struck

it

it

But

on the brow.

instead of flying the hare with a wild scream of vengeance

darted at her, and began biting and scratching her on the face
like

an enraged

A fight,

cat.

commenced betwixt

attended with loud outcries, then

the two, which two labourers

woman's

the vicinity o^ erhearing hastened to the

there

On

no saying what might have happened.

is

hold of the hare

to lay

Not long

escaped.

it

slipped

after that a

mowing

in

rescue, else

attempting

through their hands and

very old

woman

in that quarter

unknown manner and by a sharp instrument, an

made athwart her brow. This venerable dame had

had, in some

ugly gash

hitherto been very intimate with the individual

who fought

witli

the hare, but from that time forward could not abide her, and

She now

diligently avoided her presence.

tation of being a witch, for

with dread, she

Losing

this,

she

fell

under the impu-

though looked upon askance and

had hitherto preserved external

came

forth in her true colours,

propriety.

renounced the

friendship of her former associates, wreaked her fury on milk,

butter-churns, and dwining babies,

stock and shook his corn
disasters within her

What

befell

her

and

in

neighbours'

was not

The most powerful

fell

foul

in short, committed
limited

of the
all

farmer's

the untoward

geographical range.

told.

efticicnt in averting the influence of

revoking the

s])ell8

of witches

was

mountain ash [Sorhus auciiparla)^

called

Northumberland the Whickcn

and iiuwan

tree

in

magic

ivitchicood,

divers
tree.

the

parts of

Under

BOEDEK SKETCHES AXD FOLKLORE.

these standard terms

it

mentioned by Turner, the father of

is

English botany, in his Herbal, part

"

The

foh 143, Cologne, 1562.

ii.

groweth in moyste woodes, and

tre

umberlande a roAvne

329

of England a quick beam tre."

called in

is

it

a whicken tre

tre, or

North-

in the south partes

Ihre derives the word rowan

from runa, incantation, because of the use made of the wood

in

magical

As an

arts.

infallible antidote to avert supernatural

malio^nant nature,

influences of a

Nations bore attestation to

to

it

its

among
npon

their laws

has lono; been celebrated.

Rudbeck mentions
They

functions the most select.

character

it

sovereign qualities, and assigned

its

the northern Gothic tribes.

which

wood, an honour

its

sacred

inscribed

shared with

it

Bishop Heber noticed a parallel superstition in

the beech.

Hindustan connected with a species of mimosa, which

little

distance wears considerably the aspect of the mountain

'^

ash.

bed,

sprig

worn

in

the turban,

was a perfect security against

or suspended over the

all

evil-eye,

spells,

insomuch that the most formidable wdzard would

could help
the

approach

it,

and witches

when such

its

when

days of yore^

hillock,

shade "

in

footed

fairies

leaf""

inspired images of dread

in

he

if

In

on every emerald

it

might

^'

the

rowan-tree

Northumberland and

else-

Almost every mansion and outhouse was guarded with

some shape,

for

it

would have been heresy

adage
x"
*

"

not,

ttc,

Journal).

cast their cantrips with unlimited

was of paramount importance

where.

(Heber^s

a debasing state of ideal fear prevailed that

sound of a shaken

it

at a

There

is a
''

Rowan tree and red

Hand the witches a'

thread
in dread." *

rioxbiiriihshirc savhii;' to this effect

Hagberry, hagberry, hang the

Iiowan-tree, rowan-tree, help

it

deil,

week"

TJie hag-beiry i> the biid cheriy i^FihUus padus).

to

doubt the

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

330

Usually the dwelling-house was secured with a rowan-tree

that

pin,

the evil thing might not cross the

In

threshold.

ploughman yoked

addition to the bit in his pockety the

oxen

his

a rowan-tree bow, and wath a whip attached to a rowan-

to

More-

tree shafts drove the incorrigible steer along the ridge.

had

over, the ox not unlikely

his horns decorated with

thread, amidst wdiich pieces of rowan-tree

wood carved with quaint

portion of the

fenced in person, home, and

bade defiance

the

stall,

inserted, or a

devices and similarly

would be danMino-

crarnished with threads

remembered

were

at the

when

man

a superstitious old

Thus

tail.

agricultural labourer

sorcery and fiendish malice.

to

that once

red

It

used to be

by

the axle-tree of a cart driven

broke down, his more enlightened com-

panions jeeringly asked at him where was his "rowan-tree

In a case of supposed witchcraft in Yorkshire,
pin the day ? "

Aug. 26, 1674, Thomas Bramhall was inexpugnable

art,

to

'^

my

much whighen about him,

for they tie soc

purpose, else I could have

yeares." *

But

on the deep, and

incidental

to

was equally

it

sailors, to

theii'

magic

to

I cannot

worn him away once

requisite to a prosperous

come

in

two

voyage

ensure no other hazards than those

profession,

had over and above

their cargo

a store of this harm-expelling preservative on board.

A deceased friend
"

i\Ir.

old

wrote to

me

John Holmes, of the Banks,

man who

travels

the

several years since, saying

country with besoms.

knows an

in Cumberland,

He

carries

with him and gives to the women, his customers, pieces of

rowan-tree, of an inch or so in length, wdth various cuts and

notches on each, two of which, one on each end of the piece

of wood, are in the form of a cross.
in the pocket, will

keep

* Depositions, 4'C.,from
I

J. II.,

p. 18.3.

ill

These, he says,

if

carried

off evil spirits."

York

Ixichardsoii's

Castle, p. 209.

Local Hist.

Tabic Book, Leg. Div.,

ii.


BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

Lambe

who told me a pure version of the

Bamburgh Castle, the same story which

met with

I once

enchanted toad

331

a person

at

converted into the ballad of the " Laidlej AYorm," in

which the development of the

plot

mainly depends upon the

potentiality of the rowan-tree over whitchcraft.

my

cated the story to

has interwoven

communi-

who

friend Dr. Johnston, of Berwick,

with his

it

own

materials in a passage or two

of his Natural History of the Eastern Borders, pp. 233, 234.

I will give

it

a long time

nearly as

ago

it

is

Once on

found there.

Bamburgh

Castle

a time

residence

the

Avas

of a

witch stepmother, who, from hatred and jealousy, banished her

lord's son

a toad;

beyond the

and

this

seas,

and changed

his fair

daughter into

loathsome shape she wfis to endure until her

brother could return and dissolve the enchantment.

brother very often

made

vain, for the coast

was guarded by a powerful

ship that strove to reach

invisible

agents,

The fond

the attempt to return, but as often in

the shore

or the nails drew

was
off

spell,

and every

either driven off

themselves from

by
the

At length he bethought

beams, and the vessel went to pieces.

himself of having a ship built entirely of rowan-tree wood, and

the sails

on

the

and the ropes bound with red thread.

brother's

embarkation

the

vessel

favouring sea, and in spite of the might and

under the command of the step-dame,

into the desired haven.*

it

Immediately

bounded over the

skill

of the witches

sailed, as if self-moved,

Lambe's version

illustrates this

more

fully:
"

They

built a ship without delay,

With masts of the

With fluttering sails

And

* There was no
story.

set her

on the

rown-tree

of silk so fine,
sea.

" interposition of

a fairy "

in

my dm ft

of the

THE DEXIIAM TBACTS.

332
" The

qiicGii

To

look'd out at

licr

see wliat she could see

bower window
;

There she espied a gallant ship

Sailing upon the sea.
'

^Yhen she beheld the

silken sails

Full glancing in the sun,

To sink the ship she sent away

Her witch wives every one.
"

The spells were vain the hags returned

To the queen in sorrowful mood,
;

Crying that witches have no power,

Where
Aided by the

Index_,

1st vol. of

the

there

is

rown-tree wood."

which, however,

is

not very correct, of

summary of the
Durham may be
Lawe of Hart, co. Durham,

Richardson's Table Booh, a

incidents of witchcraft in Xortliuml^erland and

28tli July,

compiled.

1582, Allison

" a notorious sorcerer and enchanter," did penance once in the

nnirket-place at

Norton Church.

Durham, once

Hart Church, and once at

in

Janet Bainbridge and Janet Allenson,

Stockton, were accused of

^^

of

asking counsell at witches, and

Lawe for cure of the sicke " (Surtees).

Two men and two women were committed to prison by Sir John

resorting to Allison

Forster, on suspicion of having caused the

Ridley, of Willimoteswick, sheriff of

16tli

January, 1585-6 (Sharp).

death of Nicholas

Northumberland, who died

In 1619, the witch-finder, in

consequence of a petition from the inhabitants of Newcastle, was

invited there
set aside

in

from Scotland by the magistrates.

This impostor

twenty-seven out of the thirty suspected persons, and

consequence fourteen witches and one wizard belonging

to

Newcastle were executed on the town moor (Gardiner's EnglancVs

Grievance).

The following entry occurs

parochial chapelry of

St.

Andrew

in

in the register of the

Newcastle:

^M 650,

21st

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

August.

mor

333

Thes partes her under named, wer executed

town
Brown,
jMaddeson, Ann Watson,
in the

for Aviches.

]\Iargnt

Isab'

Eljenor Henderson, Elisabeth Dobson, Matthew Boner, Mrs.

Elisabeth Anderson,

Brown, Margrit

Jane Huntor, Jane Koupling, Margrit

Ellenor Robson

Moffit,

for stellin

of silver

spownes,

Kattren Wellsh for a wich, AjUes Hume,

Pootes."

At

Marie

the close occurs ^^Jane Martin, the millar's wif

of Chattin, for a wich."

In 1649 the following entry occurs in

Gateshead parish books, wdience it is copied into Sykes' Local

" Paid at M^'^^ Watson's when the justices sat to
Records
:

examine the watches,

trying the witches,

3s. 4d.

for a grave for a witch, 6d.

The witch-finder afterwards

try w^omen there,
allows

into

them

him

w^ent into Northumberland

where he got of some three pounds a piece

to escape, for wdiich

Scotland, where

(Brand).

it

is

being called in question he

satisfactorj^ to

know he was

to

to

fled

hano-ed

July 30, 1649, the magistrates of Berwick invited

to try witches w^ithin the tow^n (Fuller).

In January, 1652, Francis

w^ere executed in the city of

At

for

5s."

Adamson and one named Powlc

Durham for witchcraft (Surtees).

Durham, July, 1668, Alice Armstrong,

the assizes at

w^ife

of Christopher Armstong, of Shotton, labourer, was tried for

bew^itching to death an oxe belonging to Barbara

Thompson

(Sykes).

In the Legendary Division of the Table Booh,

i.

pp. 391,

396, Mr. Robert White narrates the adventures of one of the

Delavals of Seaton Delaval with w^itches, whose place of convention for the performance of horrible rites was AVallsend Old

Church.

" The Witches of Birtley " form the subject of a well-written

sketch
pp.

by James

241-261).

truth in

it

Telfer in his Tales

I

and Ballads (London, 1852,

if there is any more

question, however,

than the declaration in the opening sentence that

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

334

" the village of Birtley, in North Tynedale,

tradition as having

been

is

spoken of by

one time a notable haunt of witches."

at

Jane Frizzle, a notorious witch on the Northumbrian

side of the

Dcrwent, near Muggleswick, as we learn from a note

in the

to a

Derwent, written by Dr. John Carr, who died

poem

in 1807,

and cattle," but ere he had com" she had long breathed her last." The scene of Robert

'^practised on men^ maidens,

posed

it

Davidson of

was

by the

told

poem,

]\[orebattle's

'^

The Witch's Cairn," was,

Mr. George Tate, Newton Torr, on the

late

River College, among the Cheviots.

resembling a ruinous

Its natural

castle, certainly

crown of rock,

corresponds to " the old

cairn on the edge of the fell," but the author in his notes does

not exactly specify where

it

was

Leaves from a Peasants

entitled

Edinburgh

lished in

reference

to

little

book,

Cottage Drawer, was pub-

in 1848, pp. 230,

His notes make

18mo.

cases of witch-burning at

estate of Hartrigge,

This

situated.

Beggar-Muir on the

near Jedburgh, where the

last

victim

is

supposed to have perished in 1696.

Margaret Stothard, a poor old woman belonging to Edlingham, waSj 22nd Jan., 1682-3, delated for witchcraft and charming before Henry Ogle, of Edlingham, Esq. The depositions
elicited

mancy.

several

popular beliefs in this department of necro-

To John

he was in his bed

]\lills,

at night,

yeoman

at

Edlingham

came something

Castle, while

in a blast of wind,

which, pressing him over the heart, emitted cries like those of a
cat

then a light shone at the bed-foot, and Margaret Stothard

was

visible in the light

with which visitation he was so greatly

affrighted that he took a

persons to hold him.

fit,

during which

it

required several

Moreover, one night, when returning

from paying his rent, he had occasion to ride past her door, when
a flash of light crossed " over before him, and as he thought

went

to

her dore," wherewith both him and his horse were

tcrrorstruck

for

''

his hair stood

upward on

his head,"

and

his

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

horso

^^

ward,"

335

took to a stand and would neither goe back nor fortill

he prayed to a higher power for deliverance.

same woman had charmed

This

a sick or rather a bewitched child

Caw, of Lemenden, and cast the trouble upon a

calf, which ^^ went perfectly madd," and had to be slaughtered.
A child of a woman belono-ino; to Lorbottle, Avho had shVlited
of one Jane

this

supposed witch in denying her alms, grew unwell the next

morning, complaining that the

woman was

like to

break her

back, and press out her heart, and continued in this condition
till

she

morning about cock-crow.

next

died

''

My

Lady

Widdrington," being informed of the circumstances, could form

no other conclusion than that the child had been bewitched.

But the more curious

particulars are contained in the eyidence

of Isabel Maine, of Shawdon, spinster,

of Jacob Pearson, of Titlington, gent.

who was

the dairymaid

The milk of the cows

haying gone wrong would not produce cheese, and belieying

by

some witch or other," she applied to

Margaret Stothard, of Edlingham, as a " reputed charmer."

this to be occasioned

Margaret promised
it

''

make

to

right again, and accomplished

Although Miss Maine was a half belieyer

within eight days.

in Margaret's powers, she

on the subject

all

was not disposed

to

make experiments

she must have her curiosity satisfied.

still

formant asked the said Margaret Stothard the reason

milk came

to

it

and

this

that

the

some

ill

eyes had looked on

it

Informant further asked her what was the reason that

her master's cows swett soe

then she bidd hir take

and she further

allwayes

In-

why

be in that condition, she the said Margaret said

was forespoken, and

that

*'

salt

said to this

when you goe

your pale or skeel

to

this

when they

stood in the byar

and water and rubb upon

and

their backs,

Informant as touchino; the milk,

milke your cowes put a

Informant refusing

to

little salt

in

doe that, she

would then giye her a piece of Rowntree wood, and bid her
take that alwayes alouix with hir

when

she went to the cowes."

THE DENIIAM TEACTS.

336

She kept the piece of wood, but found no necessity

as the quality of the milk

butter and cheese of

was

restored,

and

slie

for using

it,

could get " both

She then proposed

to pay Margaret
" for hir soe mending or charming of the said milk, and would
it."

have given hir a penny, and said

answered and said noe, a

master being informed of

which she added a

little

little
it,

it

was charmer's

dues_,

but she

Her

of anything will serve me."

gave Margaret a

fleece of wool, to

more, in a free-handed sort of way

the result being that after that " they had their milke in very

good order." The last piece of advice received, she indignantly

" The said Margaret Stothard said if you judge any
rejected.
person that hath wronged your milke, take your cowe-tye and
aske the milke againe for God's sake (a

common formula

a case),"^ and she the said informant answered she

do that,

if their

in such

would neer

milke should never be right anymore."

It is

probable that no further proceedings were taken.

In a calendar of prisoners confined in the Castle of ^'ewcastle, to

^^

be tried

name

of

Matthew Robson of Leeplish,"

in

at the assizes in

Jane Kobson, wife of

1628-9, occurs the

Tynedale, committed by " Cuthbert Ridley, clerk,

1628/''

and

cliaro-ed

^'

with

felonious

the

killincr

1.9

of

July,

Mabell

Robson, the wife of George Robson, of Leeplish aforesaid,

his

brother-in-law," by sorcery or witchcraft.^

In 1711

WiUiam Grey was

a quack and warlock doctor at

Littlehoughton, Northumberland,

(Parish Register of Long-

houghton.J

* Milking the

cow-tcther, see Napier's Foil-lore, ^r., pp. 75, 170

Henderson's Folklore, pp. 190, 200

Scotland, p. 329, cd. 1870
p.

230.
f

Mackenzie's Hist, of Kortlnnnherhmd,

X Mickleton

MSS.

Chambers' Popular Bliymes of

Kelly's Indo-Europ. Trad, and Folklore,
;

in Hid., p. 36.

ii.

pp. 33-36.

BOEDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

The

belief in witchcraft

notices in the Neiccastle

March

the obituary

21, 1807, occurs

"

At Hartburn, near Stockton, aged upwards

woman, who has for many years past, by the common

the following

of 90, a

Among

died liard.

Chronicle for

337

people, been reputed a ivitchJ^

proprietor of an estate near Wooler, a generation back,

erected a shepherd's cottage in a most exposed situation near

the

summit of Hartsheugh^ one of the lower Cheviot

The wife of the

last

shepherd who tenanted

it

Hills.

got credit for

The winds, however,

being a witch and a brewer of storms.

overmatched her, for they not only dismantled the house, but
" blew up the hearth-stone.^^
In a list of the inhabitants of Wooler about 1782, written by
James Jackson from recollection in 1837, I find mention of
*^
Jenny Hardy, a reputed witch," as living near Padge Pool

Garden, about the north-west end of the town.

neighbour,

its

both

very

low-roofed

and

The house and

small,

are

now

removed.

An anonymous

who

writer,

dates from Alnwick, Feb. 14,

1770, gives a credible statement of the effects of being nurtured

up

in superstitious beliefs, such as

were prevalent

at that period,

witchcraft being not the smallest to be dreaded.

had been
^^

initiated

perfect adept in

by
all

his

grandmother, until he became a

the branches of superstition, from the

trifling prognostics of coffee-grounds to the

"

the planetary worlds."

chatter in

my walks which

some calamity.

my

The writer

awful predictions of

hare could not start or a magpie

I did not interpret as prognosticating

couple of straws lying across each other in

path were as terrible as a drawn sword in the hand of a

murderous

ruffian."

"

My

case

was by no means

singular.

had several acquaintances equally wrapt up in superstitious

One would not pare his nails on a Friday because it
absurdity.
VOL.

II.

THE DENHAM TEACTS.

338

was unlucky; another would refrain from going on the most

important journey if he met a person carrying water as he set
out and a third pretended to cure several distempers by burn;

ing horse-shoes in the chamber

fire

while he repeated certain

magical prayers and incantations over the patient.

superannuated

woman was

nearly bled to death by our thrusting

a large pin into a vein in her temples,

we having

her for a witch, and the author of several

at that

time befel us

many

all

the

little

long suspected

accidents which

of us constantly wore charms and

amulets for the prevention of witchcraft

devoted slaves to

poor old

foolish freits

and

in short,

we were

which fable yet has

feign'd or fear conceivM."*

Mr. Raine

is

of opinion that in none of the

trial cases

there

was any conviction, and compliments the clear-headed jurymen

of the Xorth from their freedom from prejudice. At some of the

Durham

assizes the accused

were perhaps not

much good

" The poor suspected creatures had sad treatment

money.

the hands of blind justice

buried,

at the

arrested, examined,

at

tlie

to

s.

d.

.040

Mrs. Watson's when the justices sat to examine

witches

Given to them

To

at

imprisoned,

charge of the community."

Going to the justices about the witches

Paid

In

so fortunate.

1649-50 witches cost the ratepayers of Gateshead

.......
......

in the Tolebouth,

Durham

and carrying the witches

constables, for carrying the witches to goul

Trying the witches

A grave

for a witch

The departed witch of

St.

Mary^s, buried at a charge of six-

BOEDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

pence for her grave, would be committed

339

to the earth in a parish

coffin."^

Notes of Possession

in Books.

In a copy of Sir John Skene's Regiam Majestatem, Edinburgh, 1609, that had belonged in 1708 to Sir James Calder,
of Muirtoune,

who was

created a baronet 5th

November, 1686,

I find the following

" This book

By
The

mine

is

nyne I

leters

Calder

is

you show.

a leter bright.

first is J,

The next

ye would know,

if

will

in all

mens

sight.

James Calder
" Sir

1708

James Calder

years.

Mourtone

of

the right owner of this book,

is

Amen."
" Hear

a book, but small.

is

But doth

in

it

contain."

This book had also been the property of Robert

rector of Sutherland, 1617, also of

who

Gordon,

George Lord Strathnaver,

died fifteenth Earl of Sutherland, 4th March, 1703.

contains another

rhyme

in

an ancient hand.

" James Desenne

And

in

my

I pray to

And

God me defend,
God wits send,

misrie

God my hand

bring

It

my

to

mend,

sowell to ane guid end.

ffinis

quoth dan bobus."

* Mr. James Clephane on Abigail and Timothy Tyzack, and Old

Gateshead.

Arch. jElian.f

n.s., viii.

pp. 230, 231.

THE DENHAM TRACTS,

340

New

Some

To request a

on the morning of the

light

Northumberland
very bad omen.

At

up her

fire

ISTew

Year

North

in

held by those retentive of old scruples as a

is

to cover

Year's Observances.

a farmhouse a careless servant, neglecting

on the Old Year's night, had

her neighbours before

would kindle

it

in the

to

be obliged

morning.

to

Her

master, apprised of the fatal omission, predicted some unforseen

would be the consequence, and accordingly some time after

two valuable cows that this girl milked were found one morning
Several wall not for any consideration
strangled at the stake.

evil

even allow a horroiced

This heathenish belief

from

St.

Eome
take

on

fire

fire to

is

proceed from their dwellings.

condemned about

Boniface to Pope Zachary, wdience

New

a.d. 746, in a letter

Year's day no one would suffer a neighbour to

out of her house, or anything of iron, or lend any-

thing."

(Hospinian apud Brand, Pop. Aiit,

lucky

sweep any

to

appears that " at

it

out dirty water on

i.

Nor was

9.)

dirt or ashes out of the house,

New

Year's day, but

it

it

nor throw

was customary

to

gather everything inward, in order that plenty might bless the

household for another season.

up before the

New

All dirty clothes must be washed

Year's advent.

keeping one's property together,

it

While

careful

thus of

was on the other hand

unlucky to go out empty-handed, and to meet one with a bottle

and

glass in

hand was

foot a person

encounter.

To

On

fortunate.

that

day

to

meet as

first-

with the eyebrows met was considered a bad

spill

salt

especially heinous on

New

is

at

times

all

Year's day.

with some of the observances at

New

of Scotland are worth remarking.

unlucky,

but

it

is

The coincidence of these

Year's tide in the

West

Confer Napier's Folklore,

p.

160.

The Rev. G. Rome

u^liana,

n.s., viii. pp.

Hall, F.S.i^., in his article in the Arch,

Qo, 67 (1879), on

''

Ancient Well Wor-

BOEDER SKETCHES AXD FOLKLORE.

341

North Tynedale/' mentions several curious observances

ship in

West Northumberland at New Year's

ancient paganism.
At the ancient village of

connected with wells in

of

tide, survivals

Wark

there are three springs of water for the supply of the

^'

inhabitants.

On New
was

of these wells
their being

of the Well
et

seq.,

the
'

who

Year's morning, within memory, each

by the

visited

the

the

Fopular Antiquities^

[see Brand's
refers to

in

called

villagers

what was

take

first to

vol.

curious custom], that

this

draught drunk by any one in the

New

Year.

is,

hope of
^

ii.

Flower
p.

the

366
first

I have heard of

one aged crone, who had the reputation of being uncanny, and
concerned in forbidden devices of witchcraft, endeavouring to
anticipate her rivals

by going

midnight hour,' so as

to

incoming year. Whoever

it

was

to the wells before

the witching

be in readiness for the advent of the

first

drank of the spring would obtain,

believed, marvellous powers throughout the next year,

even to the extent, as

my

informant averred, of being able to

pass through key-holes and take nocturnal flights in the

And the fortunate

air.

recipient of such extraordinary powers notified

his or her acquisition thereof

by casting

into the well

an offering

of flowers or grass, hay or straw, from seeing which the next

earliest devotees

they, too late,

would know that their labour was

came

to the spring in the

At

flower of the well."

the Croft-foot

in vain

when

hope of possessing the

Well

at Birtley (formerly

Birkley) the same custom was followed in the last generation.

''

There the villagers of a generation ago frequented the well in

early hours of the

New

Year, like their neighbours at

but they held that the fortunate

Year's morning

who

would

it

find that

should

retained

first visitant

Wark

of the well on

fill

his flask or bottle

its

freshness

New

with the water

and purity throughout

the whole year, and also brought good luck to the house in which
it

remained.^'

THE DENHAM TEACTS.

342

Midsummer Boxfires.
The Rev.
festivals

R. Hall, ^y^iting in 1879, says that "the

Gr.

or bonfires of the

summer

until recently

summer

at the

solstice

fire

Old Mid-

were commemorated on Christenburg

Crags and elsewhere by leaping through and dancing round the

" The
fires, as those who have been present have told me/^
driving of cattle through the smoke of the need-fire, as a sup-

posed preventative of murrain, and the carrying from farm to

farm as quickly as

made by two

men

could ride the sacred self-lighted

pieces of dry or rotted

very quickly, has occurred at Birtley within the

and

this

fire,

wood being rubbed together

last thirty

years

forms one of the most recent survivals of the adoration

once so generally rendered to the great orb of day and to the

element of

fire/^ *

The Rev.

J. E. Elliot Bates, rector of

on Whalton and
Naturalists'

its

Vicinity, written

Club {Proc,

Midsummer's

vol. vi. pp.

Whalton,
for

the

in a paper

Berwickshire

242-3 j, narrates that " on

eve, reckoned according to the old style,

it

was

formerly the custom of the inhabitants^ young and old, not only
of

Whalton but of most of the adjacent

villages, to collect a

large cartload of whins and other combustible materials, which

was dragged by them with great rejoicing (a fiddler being seated

on the top of the cart) into the village and erected into a pile.
The people from the surrounding country assembled towards
evening,

around

when

it,

it

was

set

on

fire

the elders looked on

their beer, until

it

and whilst the young danced

smoking

was consumed.

their pipes

There can be

and drinking
little

doubt

that this curious old custom dates from a very remote antiquity."

In his evidence in March, 1878, in the Whalton Green case,

which was decided

"'*

in favour of the right of user

Archaeologia ^liana,

n.s., viii. p.

by the

73.

villagers,

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

the rector of

Whalton gave evidence

as to the constant use of

the part of the green in question since 1843.

he said,

"was

lighted a

little to

313

"The

bonfire,"

the north-east o the well at

Whalton, and partly on the footpath, and people danced round

it

and jumped through

That was never interrupted." *

it.

Friday Unlucky.

The Messrs. Eichardson,

invited on a Saturday to

were super-

painters, Newcastle,

of lucky and unlucky

observers

stitious

Day

They were

days.

the artist's to inspect a particular

had an engagement elsewhere. " Why not

come on Friday then " asked Mr. Day, " when none of us are
occupied ? "
The excuse was, " Me an' ma son dinna' like to

process, but they

begin any work on a Friday."

unlucky

It is

to enter into the

time on a Friday

and Friday

a bargain on.

Sailors reckon

Sunday

best

is

tlie

vessel that sailed

day

is

occupancy of a house

Friday the worst day

for a fortunate voyage.

term-

to sail

An

on;

emigrant

on a Friday was wrecked.

In Northumbeidand

unhicky

it is

to cut hair

pare the nails on a Sunday, for according to the

''

at

buy or make

not a good day to

on a Friday, or

rhyme

Friday's hair and Sunday's horn,

Ye'll meet the Black

Man

on Monanday morn."

See also Dyer's English Folklore,

p.

237

" Friday cut and Sunday shorn,

Better never have been born."

On

the other hand,

editions

of Ausonius

" an old hexameter

has

Arch'

at the

end of the

Ungues Mercario, barbam Jove,

uE liana,

uhi sup.

344

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

Cypride crinis

on Wednesday, beard on Thursday, hair

(nails

on Friday)"*
In Westmoreland, " there are few country people will begin

any important work on the Friday.

making

If they

commence hay-

or the corn harvest on that day, they believe

an unfortunate termination.

it

will

an unlucky day, and

It is

have

it

will

not do to begin anything of consequence on that day." f

At Wooler
people would

is

it

the same:

^^

Xever begin any work," old

you, "that ye canna finish that week."

tell

Barring-out Day.

On

this

Newcastle,

subject I received a communication

May

the form in which I obtained

a teacher's

the Cheviots, not

life

I shall preserve

there. J
it,

as

who

nearly in

preserves some peculiari-

it

not likely to occur

many

it

dated

is

1844, from Mr. Robert Bolam,

18th,

was informed kept a school

ties in

which

now

although

among
men

years ago, I encountered young

Avho ke])t school and were boarded alternately for a

month

who had children.

" Barring-out day" was the last school day in the year

in

the shepherds' houses

day in which

all

schools broke

and was looked forward

to

up

with great anxiety by the pupils in

the county of Northumberland.

day on which they for one

short hour were to have the mastery

On

the year.

general

the

that

Mr. Pearson on

Saturday Journal,
\ Mr.

was worth

vol.

all

the rest of

day a small subscription was made; in

boys contributed 3d. and

* Grimm's Teutonic Mythology, vol.

t

Superstitions
i.

p.

i.

of

p.

the

girls

2d.

''

each,

123, English edition,

AVestnioreland, &c.,

London

130 (1841).

Bolam contributed to Richardson's Table Book, Leg.

Wild AdAenluics Avith the Dwarfs on Simonside

IG. &7,

the

for the Christmas holidays,

Div.,

i.

Hills."

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

345

To

being as rare as they were odious.

defaulters

the

this

coming mutiny_, added a

master, though well aware of the

donation of sixpence or a shilling, and several neighbours too

aided the fund.

With

this

money

a quantity of bread and

strong beer was procured, wherewith the scholars regaled themselves until they

became warm with the

liquor,

when

the master

was mobbed and turned out and the door locked on him.
parley then took place as to the

number of

play the

days'

children were to have, nor was the dominie admitted again until
the terms were settled and he had consented to forgive

them

for

their riotous conduct.

When

it

understood that the quarter pence

is

during the vocation,

had

so strong

it

may

an objection

do not profess

naturally be asked

to

to trace the

why

a lengthened recess

custom back

still

run on

the master

Though

to its origin, I will

hazard a conjecture that the social manner in which schoolmasters were in those times usually engaged was not without
its

influence on the conduct of both masters and pupils.

It

was

customary for two or more of the wealthier inhabitants of a

rural district to give the master his board and lodging, in weekly
rotation, for the tuition of their children, allowing

what he could by the attendance of others

many

cases the pocket

scanty,

friends

and
and

as

money accruing

to the

he had to spend the holidays

relations,

him

to

make

in the vicinity.

In

master was very

among

his

own

a long vacation j^ressed sore upon his

scanty finances, and furnished him with a sufficient motive for

an early return

to his free quarters, while

on the other hand the

children in their fondness for play cared not

how long

his stay

was protracted.
[Mr.

Bolam had forgotten

that

if

the

schoolmaster had

abdicated too long, his manliness would have been called in

and

woukl have been said of him that the children

had the upperhand moreover, if he was conscientious, there
question,

it

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

346

was the waste of precious time, even though the days were then
of the briefest.]

Mr. B. goes on

to relate the only instance in

saw "barring-out" put

into practice:

1808, the pupils of Mr.

Edward

in the

On

which he ever

the 23rd December,

Storey, at Throphill, assembled

schoolroom during the dinner hour, and having elected

one of the senior boys as speaker, locked themselves

in.

On

and peremptorily requiring admission, the

the master arriving

youth behind the door resolutely requested a fortnight's play.

After a

little

made

be

altercation, the master, perceiving himself likely to

the object of ridicule

assemble

by the neighbours, who began

see the fun, thought

to

the terms, but no sooner

had he

most prudent

it

set his foot

to

to accede to

over the threshold

than he broke his word by abridging the term to nine or ten

days.
till

In

this instance the

bread and beer were not brought in

the middle of the afternoon.

In

this

school these customs

were wholly done away with on the following season by Mr.

Alexander Eoss, Mr. Storey's successor.

Grammar

[At Alnw^ick

when Mr. Eumney was

School,

master, a flimous barring-out occurred, which lasted for a week.

It

was headed by Percival Stockdale, who describes

Memoirs^

vol.

i.

pp. 88-92; see

At

pp. 90, 91, 96.

St.

Andrew's day.

but the playtime

is

in his

also Tate's Hist, of Alnwick,

that place this anniversary

It is still practised in

rarely

it

more than

some rural

a single day.

schools,

The

contri-

butions levied by the scholars are spent on sweetmeats.

Scotland " the maister

is

ii.

was observed on

In

steeketoot" on the "shortest day.''

In the school that I attended there was an annual " barringout."

The

verses used were very puerile, although defiant:

" This

is

the shortest day,

An' we maun hae the play,

An'

if

ye wunna gies the play,

"We'll steek ye cot a' the day."]

347

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

GuisARDiNO Rhymes.
for Guisard's sport,

Redd room, redd room,

For

to this

house I must resort

Resort, resort, for merry play.

Call in Goliah, and he'll clear the way.

room, a room, my gallant boys,

Give us room to rise.
Stir up the fire and give us light,

For in this house shall be a fight.

you don't believe the word I say,
way.
I'll call in Goliah, and he'll clear the

If

No.

Here comes

2.

Goliah, Goliah

I,

With sword and

No.

Nos.

No.

The game,

1.

Alas

1.

the game,

sir,

I'll slash you to inches in

and 2 fight 2 falls, and

alas

my

name,
hope to win the game.
not within your power

side, I

sir, it's

less

than half an hour.

1 breaks out into a lament.

what's this I've done

I've ruin'd myself,

Round

is

my

by

pistol

and

kill'd

my

only son

the kitchen, round the hall,

Is there not a Doctor to be found at all ?

One
No.

at the door says

Yes
The

3.

No.

1.

No.

3.

No.

No.

3.

No.

1.

No.

3.

here

am

I,

Johnny Brown,

best Doctor in the town.

How

to be the best

came you

By my travels.
Where did you

travel

Doctor

town

Hickerty, pickerty, France and Spain,

Then back to old England again.

What

can you cure

Anything.
cure a dead

man

No.

1.

Can you

No.

3.

Yes, indeed, that I can.

[Holds a bottle to the

slain champion,

Rise up. Jack,

The

in the

result being that

he

is

resuscitated.

and

and says

fight again.

THE DENHAM TEACTS.

348

No. 4 enters. Here comes

Eow-rumple,

in old

On my slioulder I carry a dumple,

In my hand a piece of fat.

my

Please can you pitch a copper into

old hat.

After this beggarly conclusion, and the singing of a song or

two, the

little

actors,

having obtained a donation, hasten

off to

the next dwelling.

Verses used

old Valentines in Northumberland and

in

Berwickshire.
heart of gold
1 drew you for
I

thou love

my

of

Valentine

mine,

drew you out among the

rest,

my very

best.

And

took you for

The rose is red, the violet's

The honey's sweet, love, so

blue.

are

And so are they that sent you

And when we meet, we'll have
Round
So

is

My

love to you,

heart and

Your

love

hand

may

my

friend

no end.

are joined together.

change, but mine can never.

round, the bed

The ring

is

You and

I shall be a pair.

Some draw

a kiss.

(or as) the ring that has

is

my

you
this.

valentines

And some draw

by

is

square,

lot,

those that they love not

But I draw you whom I love best,

choose you from among the rest.

And

round, and hath no end.

The

ring

And
And

this I send to you,

if

is

you take

it

in

my

good

I shall be glad with all

my

friend

part,

heart.

"

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

349

But if you do these lines refuse,

The paper burn, pray me excuse.
Excuse me now for being so bold,
I should have wrote your name in gold
But gold was scarce, as you may think.
Which made me write your name with ink.
;

The above purports

be taken from a collection of

to

Groom

century valentines, and was sent by Thomas

Jebb.
nerly,

Ann

''

to

last-

Ann

Jebb, however, married, in 1788, a Mr. Nun-

and became grandmother of one of

hundred of the

the six

Balaklava charge,"

Kern-rhymes

On

Northumberland.

in

the conclusion of the harvest, while carrying the corn-

baby from the

field,
''

the reapers shout

A kern,
A kern,
For Mr.

And
It is usually recited

company.

The

a kern, a heigh-ho

a kern, a heigh-ho

B.'s corn's

well shorn,

hae a kern, a heigh-ho."

we'll

by the

folloAving

a'

clearest- voiced individual in the

specimen of

the echoes on the green banks of the

it

has often awakened

Wansbeck

" Blessed be the day our Saviour was born

For Master Lennox's

corn's all well shorn.

And we will have a good supper to-night,

And a drinking of ale, and a kern a kern
!

Those who would not join in the

or roughly pulled and pinched.

version of the harvest

^'

rhyme

The master's corn

We

bless the

their ears "cobbed,'-'

is

ripe

and shorn,

day that he was born,

Shouting a kern

ahoa

In Glendale an abbreviated

in use

is

had

call

a kern

ahoa."

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

350

The DROW^^ED Faa, a Wooler Tradition.

The Wooler Fairs were wont

to

be regularly frequented by

numbers of the Yetholm gypsies. At one of these periodical

gatherings a female " faa ^^ stole a pair of shoes from a stall.
There had been in those days an inefficient system of police, for
the

Wooler people (although some ascribed

the hasty action to

the country attenders, tradesmen, or others of the

out and drowned the culprit

One man,

it

used to be told with shuddering,

in

set his foot

the

on the

When

water.

succeeded this popular outburst, the dead body was

reflection

dragged out and

wooded

down

victim to hold her

struofo'lino;

broke

fair)

ofP-hand in the " Blue Mill " dam.

laid

upon a high

stone,

still

conspicuous on the

bank east of the town, above the present

Wooler

Mill,

The

where the slime was washed from the inanimate form.

vowed revenge on

gypsies never forgot the cruel outrage, and

the town, although, owing to the watch kept on them, they

were prevented from putting

people,

all

gone now, used

this retaliation.

The town

Old

their threats into execution.

to

keep in memory their dread of

also

was believed

to lie

under a

curse for the unexpiated offence against justice, and whenever a

long continuance of snow, or thunder, or rain, or gloomy days

prevailed, the superstitious

prophecy was being

hang over Wooler,

the mill-dam."

would mutter

fulfilled,

''

to

each other that the

that a race, of

for the death

bad weather

of Jean Gordon,

will

drowned in

Singular effect of isolation and consequent

dependence on physical phenomena, that they feared no

retri-

bution worse than frowning skies, and imagined that they had
spells of

bad weather in which the

participate

Wm.

J. H., in

rest of the

district did not

The Gypsies of Yetholm^

^*c.,

edited

by

Brockie, Kelso, 1884, pp. 138-9.

Denwick.

Denwick;

a pretty village of sixteen cottages,

was one of the

BORDEE SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

351

At IMichaelmas time Alnand Denwick played

and on the Monday the

ancient villa of Alnwick barony.

wick feasted

'^

youthful population of Alnwick went to enjoy the games

rhyme

distinction appears in the old popular

"Alnwick

feast

the

and Denwick play,

Bonnie lasses had-away."

Had-away

an Alnwickism, meaning come away.

is

Hist, of Ahiivickj

ii.

p.

Tate's

376.

Games.
All the ordinary

games of

football, handball,

droppy-pocket-

handkerchief, kittie-cat and buck- stick, or as

is

it

called

in

Scotland, hornie holes, clubbing or brandy-ball, and throuo-hthe-needle-se,

were played in the Pasture

Easter, Whitsuntide,

tide,

holidays.

Not

far

one of the

tree,

Michaelmas, Christmas, and other

from Ferniherst

Castle, a

very large oak

remains of the great Forest of Jed,

last

called the capon-tree

Alnwick on Shrove-

at

and near

to

is

Brampton, by the roadside,

stands [stood] the branchless trunk of a capon- tree, beneath

whose shade, tradition

were the principal

assize

when met

says, a cold

is

a ball-playing

rhyme

" Stottie

Popular Rhymes of Scotland,

bairns

am

to a handball

by

p.

115,

and

all to

me,

I to hae?

Ane to live, and ane to dee,

And ane to sit on the nurse's knee

many

judges of

ba', hinnie ba',

How mony

Addressed

which capons

for the

there by the authorities of Carlisle.*

* In Dr. Eobert Chambers's

there

collation, of

was provided

dainties,

girls,

who suppose

"
!

that they will have

children as the times they succeed in catching

it.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

352

Keppin Well.
Glanton 1ms a famous well with imaginary salubrious
It w^as the

common

well of the villagers, and

lies

qualities.

near the base

of a slope of Glanton Hill beyond the present scliool-house, and

am

the water issued from a pipe.

mary

weakly children

to

for parents to take their

be strengthened by the application of

They were wrapped up

It

told that

in blankets

it

'^

kepped"

their turn in

carrying home

was a great

in

summer

refreshing waters.

was called the Keppin^ or Keppie Well, owing

having to be caught or

*'

was once custoto

and placed under the spout.

to the

water

in pails, or skeels, or jugs,

with which the townspeople resorted to

It

its

it

it

in the

morning to take

the domestic supply for the day.

resort for gossip, but

had no connection with

kepping " in the sense of convention.

Callaly Castle Rhymes.

The

old generation

been ascertained of

who dwelt round

late years,

Callaly Castle,

had some reason

for their

it

has

rhymes

and traditions of another structure than the castle that occupies

the present low-lying site having occupied the area of the old
British

Camp on

Callaly Castle Hill.

In preparing for a meet-

ing of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, on June 25th, 1890,

Major A. H. Browne, the genial and kind-hearted owner, caused
excavations to be

made

all

over the platform occupied by the

extensive settlement of the pre-historic race

strono-hold.

The operation

is

who had made it a

much

not yet completed, but this

has been revealed, that within the area of the ancient encampment there are the foundations of a medieval building of an

oblong shape, constructed of ashlar stones laid with mortar, and

old
that the occupants had strengthened the interior wall of the

camp with

a facing of mortar-laid ashlar, of which two courses

BOEDER SKETCnES AXD FOLKLORE.

at least are

preserved, having

still

till

lately

dOO

been buried under

rubbish, and that they had also strongly rebuilt the walls of the

main gateway, and while quarrying

for materials to

It

just possible that this

is

been the

newly discovered

Castrum de Kaloule

'

of the List of Fortalices,

may have removed

the owners

in

New

Callaly "

fied in the

is

rings.

may have

Old Callaly

1415, but which afterwards

to a

watered situation in the vale below.

'^

edifice

vet'/' the Castle of

made

execute

camp

these operations had deepened the ditches of the

more

sheltered and better

That there was in 1415 a

apparent from " Old Callaly " being speci-

return of fortified places of defence on the Borders

at that period.

The rhyme appears

subject to

numerous

to

have been popular, as

variations.

the history of these, which

I have before

may

it

me

it

has become

materials for

be of interest to preserve in

a series.

" Northern Bards;' 1812,

It first occurs in Bell's

(1)

with this comment

p.

199,

''At Callaly, the seat of the Claverings, tradition reports that,

workmen were

while the
hill,

little

every morning
the whole

them

to

encrao-ed in erectino; the castle ui^on a

distance from the present edifice, they were surprised

to find their foi'mer day's

impeded by supernatural

watch, they heard a voice saying

'

up

Build

There

it
it

will stand

Taken down from

VOL.

in

II.

at night

down on the Shepherd's Shaw,

Upon which the building was

where it now stands."
(2)

and down

in the day,

which causing

Callaly Castle stands on a height

It's

umbrian

work destroyed, and

obstacles,

and never

fa'.'

transferred to the place mentioned,

tradition

Gateshead
2 A

from an

ancient

North-

;;

THE DENHAM TEACTS.

354

" Callaly Castle stands on a height,

Up

in the day,

and down

in the niglit

up on the Shepherd's Shaw,

There it will stand and never fa'."
Set

it

J Hardy, in Richardson's Table Bool; Leg, Div., ii. p. 109 (1846);

whence it was transferred to Mr. G. B. Richardson's Guide to
the Newcastle and Berwick Jlaihuay, p. 12, and IM. A. Denhani's

Popidar Rhymes,

The

^-c,

1858

Monthly Chronicle, 1889, pp. 378-9.

learned afterwards, varies to

first line, as I

" Callaly

Ha' stands up on a height."

(3) " Callaly Castle built on a height,

Up in the day and down in the night,

Builded down

in the

It shall stand for aye

George Tate,

W.

and ne^er

fa'."

of Ber. Nat. Club., iv. p. 225 (18G1)

to Northumberland, p. 357 (1888).

Hist,

in

Shepherd's Shaw,

W.

Tomlinson's Guide

(4) " Callaly Castle stands on a height,

Up i' the day an' doon i' the night
If ye build

There

it'll

it

on the Shepherd's Shaw,

stand and never

fa'."

D. D. Dixon's Vale of Whittingham,

p.

32 (1887).

(5) " Callaly Ha's up on a heet,

Up i' the day, an' doon i' the neet,
If ye beeld

There
L.,

it'll

it

down yon Shanter Shaw,

stand, an' nivver fa'."

on the authority of his grandfather and grandmother, Alnwich

and County Gazette, July 5, 1890.
(6)

''

Callaly Castle stands on the height,

Up

by day and down by night,

Set

it

Then;
Version at the

castle,

down by the Shepherd's haugh,

it

shall stand

1890.

and never
.

fa'."

355

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLTTLORE.

Callaly Pot Boiling.

the " Callaly pot

When

boiling

Is

''

bad weather.

indicates

it

mist in a ferment rises straight np from the ravine between

the Castle Hill and Lorbottle Moor, and clings to the top of the

This

hill.

is

a snre sign of rain, both as seen from Biddleston

on the west and Shawdon on the

boiled

The " Callaly pot"

east.

vras

by the Clavering owners, who were a Catholic flimily, to

who on Snnday and

provide a dinner for the poor people

holidays attended the services at the chapel attached to the

The " Haggerstone

mansion.

has already been noticed.

mist

still

kail

pot,"

damp

towers up on Callaly Hill in

import,

of similar

Both are things of the

past^

but the

weather, an un-

o barometer.

failino;

Hob Thrush's Mills.

Hob

Thrush's Mill Kick

is

a deep fissure with deep pot-holes

and waterfalls in Callaly Crags, near Callaly

in the sandstone

by the continuous

The pot-holes

Goodfellow's or
visionary

bring

grain.

down

Hob

in the

cn.iarter

of Lorbottle

rocky water-course are Eobin

Thrush's Mills, wherein he grinds his

The

mills are set agoing

by

spates,

which

stones that rattle in the pot-holes, like the grinding

Another haunt of

gear of a mill set in motion.

was a

worn out

action of the flooded waters

of a streamlet originating in the eastern

Moor.

Castle,

sort of

Brownie,

was

Holy

at

who
Hob Thrush

this sprite,

Island, in

Island (now St. Cuthbert Island) where St. Ctithbert frightened

,

him, and got the whole island

is

to himself,

very susceptible of an affront, as

Henderson

He was

we

name

inclusive.

Hob

are informed by Mr.

in his Folklore of the Nortliern Counties, see p. 264.

fond of seaside caverns.

The

oldest

mention of him

is

perhaps contained in the following quotation from Halliwell's

2 A 2

THE DEXnAM TUACTS.

35

Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words^

Thrush, a goblin or

]nilllj)e,s is

If

Avith

spirit

See Cotgrave, in

fellow.

generally coupled
v.

Loup-riarou

i.

v,'itli

p.

453.

Hob-

Robin Good-

The

Tarlton, p. 55.

called the Ilob-thrnsh louse.

he he no Iloh-thrush, nor no Eohin Goodfellow, I could find

my heart to sip np a sillybnb ^vith him." Tu'o Lancashire

all

Lovers, 16-iO,

There

Edge,

is

p.

222.

a Hob's

Flow near Oakenshaw Burn and Caplestone

in the dreary

swampy

solitudes close on the

between England and Scotland.

Border

line

J. H., in Hist. Ber. Nat. Cluhj

vol. xiii. p. 52.

RowHOPE Wedding,

tradition of Ihe

[In Kidhand.]

" Rowhope Wedding "

still

lingers in the

memories of several of the residents of the Vale of the Coquet.

This wedding took place about the year 1840, when dames

Hornsby and Mary Telford were married

at

Alwinton Church.

There was a race for the " Kail," when sixteen horsemen rode
for the prize, Rowhope being seven miles from Alwinton Church,

among the
The number of

far

Cheviots, at the very foot of the

Windy

Gyle.

guests invited to celebrate the wedding was so

o-reat that the little

house at Rowhope was

which gave

the local

rise to

throng anywhere, that

it

saying,

filled to

the door,

whenever there was a

was "like the Rowhope weddin'

stram])in' ither\s taes, an' rivin' ither's claes."

D.

D. Dixon's

Tractate on Old Weddinfj Customs in Upper Coquetdale and

Alnclcde, 1888, p. 8.

Elsdon.

An

''

Elsdon Feast," accordino;

and Heather Broth."

Mr.

to a native, is

W. W.

" Curlew

Eo-o-s

Tondinson, in his Guide

to

BOEDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

Northumherland^
'^

Cold Elsdon."

306,

p.

siijs

Whatever

it

the

village

may

be

OO

popularly called

is

winter,

in

has a

it

cheerful aspect in autumn, being outwardly surrounded

background of
''

but there

hills,

is

a cleugli behind

its

by

famous

Moat," down which a wind from the moorlands must sweep

with great force.

One

could not endure

its

lour/^ he wrote,

of

its

rectors, the llev. Charles

between two beds,

'^

^'

winter temperature.

keep

to

Dodgson^

I lay in the par-

me from

being

frozen to death, for, as Ave keep open house, the winds enter

from every quarter, and are apt

Hexham

George Chatt, thus

poet,

for visitors

to creep into

by quoting the country

"

An' heather broth

bedittles

j^roverb

bed
this

The

to one."

entertainment

an' curleAV eggs,

Ye'll get for supper there."

The people of Redesdale, of which

kind-hearted and

this is the capital,

hospitable as a visitor

are as

can desire^ and there

no lack of wdiat the old Scotch people called " creature

is

Experto

comforts."

crede.

J.

H.

The Heather Chieftain.

Col.

John Blenkinsopp Coulson, of Blenkinsopp

called the
at the

''

Heather Chieftain," from having ridden

Hall^
to

was

Morpeth

head of the voters of South Tynedale^ during the

fiercely

contested election of 1826, with a sprig of heather in his hat.

He

died in 1863.

HowiCK

L At Lowick,

Hoi.E.
if

the

LuwiLK Weatheh Wisdom,

wind in summer

is

in

" Howick Hole,"

the people expect thuntler.

2.

When

JJlack-heddon Hill, one of the K\loe ranoe, looks

the denham tracts.

6d8

had approached Lowick, and the seams and depression

as if

it

on

face

its

3.

become

vivid, rain

is

Norham Feast wind

The

shaking corn.

certain.

is

very Inu'tM in September for

feast is about the equinox.

WlIITTINGHAM PlACE EiIYMES.

Eshngton

for bonnie lasses,

Callaly for craws

Whittingham for white bread,

Thrmiton for Faws.
These are pLaces on the Ahie.

Faws^=

Gypsies.

Whittixgham Fair.
Are you going

to

Whittingham Fair ?
thyme

Parsley, sage, rosemary, and

Remember me

to one

For once she was

Tell her to

who

lives there,

a true love of mine.

make me

a cambric shirt.

Parsley, &c.*

Without any scam

or needle work.

For once, &c.*

Tell her to

wash

it

in

yonder

well.

Parsley, &c.

Where

never spring water or rain ever

fell,

For once, &c.

Tell her to dry

it

on yonder thorn.
Parsley, &l:

Which never

bore blossom since

Adam

was born,

For once, &c.

'"'

In the original these are given

in ful

359

BORDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

Now

he

asked

lias

me

questions three,

Parsley, &c.
I

hope he

answer as

^Yill

many

for

me,

For once

Tell

him

to find

me an

he was, &c.

acre of land,
Parsley, kc.

Betwixt the

salt

water and the sea-sand,

For once, &c.

Tell

him

plough

to

it

with a ram's horn,

Parsley, &c.

And

sow

it all

over with one pepper corn,

For once, &c.

Tell

him

to reap

it

with a sickle of leather,

Parsley, &c.

And

bind

When

it

up with a peacock's feather,

For once, &c.

he has done and finished his work,

Parsley, &c.

tell

him

to

come and

he'll

have his

shirt.

For
D.

D.

Dixon's

Tractate

on

The

once, &c.

Vale

of

Whitdngham,

INewcastle-upon Tyne, 1887.

*'

To Cuthbert, Car, and CoUingwood, to Shaftoe and to Hall,

To every gallant generous heart that for King James did fall."

Apparently a Jacobite
Scott's

Memoranda

toast,

preserved

among

Sir AValter

(Lockhart's Life of Sir Walter Scott, royal

8vOj p. 731), not correctly taken down.

George Collingwood of

of Eslington, a descendant of Sir Cuthbert Collingwood, Captain

John

Shaftoe, Robert Shaftoe of Bavington and his son, and

John

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

360
Hall of Otterburii,
1715-6.

were participators in

" rising " of

the

do not remember any Carrs or Cutherts.

J.

H.

" Tinmouth Avas Tinmouth \Ylien Shiels* was nyeii,

An' Tynemouth

be Tynemoiith wlieii Shields

'11

Guide

gyen."

is

Tynemouth,

to

p. 42.

The Four Quakters of the Globe.

The cabin boy's

^'

fewer quarters

Proosha, Memel, and Shiels."

It is said that the

hev?^^ and the

the globe

were

''

'*

Roosha,

Ibid.

Northumbrian

Durham

o^

greeting,

salutation
'^

What

^11

is,

"

What

''11

you

you stand."

Jarrow (Co. Durham).

''

There was once an awd wife at Jarra,

An' she had newt better

awd man in
An' who-o-rl'd him ower

So she put her

t'

dee,

a barra,

the quay."

Ibid.

RiMsiDE Black Sow.

Dimside Black Sow

Hill,

remarkably

is

a large

block on

sandstone

like the effigy of the

animal

it

is

Kim side

supposed to

represent.

Signs of the Weather.

At Hauxley, on
worth, bad weather
Park, which

lies at

distinct to the view.

the
is

Northumbrian coast

soutli

from Wark-

portended when the white wall of Alnwick

a considerable distance northwards,

The sounds of the sea

foretell

is

very

bad weather

a night or two before, and the blast comes out of the direction

North Shields.


BORDErv SKETCHES AND FOLKLOPvE.

whence the noise

may
''

altliougli wlicn first

arises,

361
heard the wind

not be in that quarter.

Fire," or " Sea Mare,"

Mar

On some

fishermen.
sort before

bad weather.

them "greasy
brine

over.

all

When
Island

spoken of by the Hauxley

is

nights there

'^

is

o'

fire" of this

There are also what are called by

spots," or smooth-looking

M.

vast

spaces, dappling

the water breaks white between the land and

it is

the

H. Dand.

the sign of a blast from the east.

Holy

Ibid.

From Mountain to Mile."

"

Spoken of two farm places near Glanton.

Debdon Dirt.
The

coal at

Debdon

Colliery,

which adjoins Rimside Moor,

above Rothbur}', was so inferior that

"

Debdon

It is

Dirt."*"*

now

it

was stigmatised

as

disused.

Scotland.

The lordship of Wark,

in Tynedale,

Scotland for a long period as a

Edward

I.

made

the disrupture.

fief

There are

banks of the Tyne called Scotland,

at Allerwash.

On

was held by the Kings of

from the English Kings

e.g.

still

till

portions of the

below Haydon Bridge,

the north side of South

Tyne England

pointed out, and Scotland on the south of the river, as

is

still

preserving the distinction.

The Highlands.

The Highlands
Cheviot rano'e.

at AVooler is often

the

name given

to

the


THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

362

Like the Cobbler

The Cobbler

is

the West

ix

the Carter

the East.

in

one of the Arrochar Hills at the head of

Loch Long, Argyleshire

the Cheviot Hills,

is

Carter Fell

whence the

rivers

is

a prominent

Reed and Jed

member

of

arise.

Cutty Soams.
Cutty Soams was a coal-pit Bogle, a sort of Brownie, whose

was

disposition

sometimes
sionally

man

to

mischievous,

purely

but

do good in an indirect way.

he

condescended

He would

occa-

bounce upon and thrash soundly some unpopular over-

or deputy viewer
*'

to cut the traces or

but his special business and delight was

soams " by which the poor little assistant
;

putters (sometimes girls) used then to be yoked to the

wooden

trams underground. It was no uncommon thing in the morning, when the men went down to work, for them to find that
Cutty Soams had been busy during the night, and that every
pair of rope-traces in the colliery had been cut to pieces.

By

the ghost of one of the poor fellows

many he was supposed to be

who had been killed in the

pit at

one time or other, and who

came to warn his old marrows ^ of some misfortune that was

going to happen.

At Callington

larly haunted, suspicion

fell

Pit,

which was more particu-

upon one of the deputies named

Kelson, and soon after two men, the under- viewer and the over-

man, were precipitated

man

one strand.
fired a

was

to the

bottom of the

pit,

owing

Kelson cutting the rope by Avhich they descended,

but

a climax to this horrible catastrophe, the pit

few days aftca'wards, and tradition has

killed

to be

As

to this
all

by the damp.

it

Cutty Soams Colliery, as

nicknamed, never worked another day.

1887, pp. 2G9, 27U.

* Tcllows.

that Nelson
it

had come

Monthly Chronicle^


BORDER SKETCHES
SiiiLcoTTLE Blue

Of anotlier

xVND

363

FOLKLORE.

Bonnet or Blue Cap.

Goblin, altogether a more sensible and indeed an

honest and hard working Bogle, a writer in the Colliery Guardian

of

May

23rd, 1863, wrote as follows

" The supernatural person in question was no other than a

name was

ghostly putter, and his

Blue-cap.

Sometimes the

miners would perceive a light-blue flame flicker through the

and

settle

on a

full coal-tub,

air

which immediately moved towards

the roily-way as though impelled by the sturdiest sinews in the

working.

Industrious Blue- cap required, and rightly, to be paid

for his services,

which he moderately rated

as those of

an ordi-

nary average putter, therefore once a fortnight Blue-cap's wages

Avere left for

him

in a solitary corner of the mine.

a farthing below his due,

pocket a stiver

Blue-cap

left

if

If they were

the indignant Blue-cap

would not

they were a farthing above his due, indignant

the surplus revenue where he found

it."

At Shilbottle Colliery, near Alnwick, Blue- cap was

known as Blue Bonnet. Montlthj Chronicle, p. 244.
The following

series

better

has been kindly furnished by Captain

G. Huggup, Gloster Hill, AVarkworth, and consists both of

B.

Popular Sayings and Folklore.

"

You
The

Ton

was

^'

is

o'

Hexham

Lang unkenned

kenned; " and the third,

This

H.

are like the Piper o'

are like the Piper

first

J.

'^

He

"

Hexham."

he had only three tunes.

the

second,

^^

Naebody

didna' ken hissel."

said to an unmusical person.

" Once more round Jarrow Slake, and then Til be done."

This was used by a tailor while making a pair of breeches for

a very stout gentleman.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

364
"

My

That

is

going' round by Newcastle to get to Shields."

father often used this say no; to express disapproval of the

i

method of

His ancestors havino; farmed in

some work.

doino:

the neighbourhood of Bedlington for a long period, I think

likely that he Jiad picked

up

it

in his early days

it is

from some one

of his relations.

"

When a

refers to the S.H. gales

it

Bamborough-

which bring

so

much

this county.

[This

is

already entered, but in a different form.]

''

good ever came ont of Howick Hole."

child I have often heard this proverb in

I think

shire.

wet to

^N'o

It's all

do not know

ower

[all over] like

if this is local,

Jack's weddin"

but I never heard

it

beyond the

county.
" Gannin' folks are aye gettin'."

Those who travel

''

o-ano-ino; fit,"

''

What

much

&c.,

is

are always picking something

has that to do with the price of coals

have often heard

up.

the Scots form.

this

"

used in North Country ships during

an argument on any subject.

It

means, "

You

are getting wide

of the mark."

"

That
so

it is

is,

You

can

make

I have given

indifferent to

a kirk or a mill on't for

you

my

advice,

mu what becomes

me."

and you won't take

of the

[)j'oject.

it,

BOKDER SKETCHES AND FOLKLORE.

He

"

This means,

Only

five

He had

'

buff

'

nor

stye.'

'

"

not a word to say," a very

no suggestion as

I can offer

expression.

calving.

''

neither said

365

common

to its origin.

years ago I had a cow that took milk-fever after

An

elderly

woman

immediately asked

if

careful to rub a pinch of salt along her back at the

we had been
moment she

calved.

I have

seen a corpse laid out with a small plate of salt placed

on the breast, and believe

it

to

be usually done in IN'orthumber-

land.

Seventy years or so ago

it

was a common practice among the

Hauxley fishermen, when shipwrecks had been

up the cat in a cupboard. M. H. Dand.

scarce, to shut

The peasant women believe that the " black and white
puddings " made at a pig-killing w^ill certainly burst while
boiling if the cook does not, Avhen

puddings into the

not present.

each

putting

pot, mentally dedicate

to

it

string of

some one who

is

This has nothing to do with the subsequent dis-

posal of the delicacy.

Our peasantry have,

or had within

superstition that if a pig

was

the flesh would not take the

killed

my

when

recollection, a curious

the

moon was

waning*,

salt.

Dr. 0. Schrader, in his Prehistoric Antiquities of the Ay^yans^

speaks of something analogous to this as being of most remote
antiquity.

R.

G. Huggup.

Neat's Fire.

In another communication Mr.

Huggup

says that his uncle,

James Huggup, now deceased, gave him an account of the

custom of using
occasioned by

IN'eat's

worms

Fire to cure the hoose in

in the throat.

the district on the clayey lands

It

cattle,

a disease

was used every year

south of the

in

mouth of the

THE DENHAM TEACTS.

0(j6

The farmers came

Coquet, but long before his time.

arrangement as
fire

to the order in

which they were

was kindled with some ceremony

to

use

an

to

The

it.

farm agreed

at a certain

upon, and the cattle were then shut up in the straw-barn, wliere
the fire

was kept up among them

for

some time

after

which

a lighted brand was carried on to the next farm, where preparations

had been made

for a similar proceeding.

the virtue was gone, and that

forward

to

this clay

worms

with dread of

many

If

deaths

among

itself to a practical

went out

the herd.

land was undranied there would be

For the process of making

it

would probably be looked

in the throat in cattle, so that there

commend
see

}'ear

much
is

When

loss

from

something

to

farmer in smoking the herd.

''
Xeat's Fire," or " Need Fire,"

Mr. Denham's entry, uhi supra,

^'

Xeed

Fire.''"'

XXI.
PLAXT LORE

A BIOGRAPHY OF BORDER WILD

FLOWERS.

The Ribwort Plantain Plantago lanceolata, L.

Grateful to the traveller to leave the dustj j^jathway near a

town, bared by public

traffic

of every green thing

same road stretching away through the

district;

for the

frequented countrv

less

for those strips of verdure, that like the

ever-fresh-

ened margin of a stream, line the wayside on either hand so

clean, so cooling and so grassy, while they lighten his move-

ments over

their

elastic

sod, cheer

the spirits,

by

nowhere

there a

also

variety of their vegetative coverings

for

is

the

richer assembLage of country graces, beautiful anywhere, but

nowhere more luxuriant and better looking than there the

ground being kept continually fertilized, and but sparingly
cropped by flock or herd.
fesses

spring

how
;

there the

laughs out in
brightest

There the gaudy dandelion

irresistible is the penetrative influence

demure daisy

the

sunshine

organization

earliest unseals its

con-

of openino-

rosy

lips

and

there the speedwell sparkles

heaven's

of

first

azure

and

there

the

buttercups speck like golden studs nature's emerald raiment.

'

Amid

his

Can Imagination

gay creation, hues

boast,

like these

"

These spots are the favourite resort of the Ribwort Plaintain.

Youngsters in search of flowers

will likely refuse its black

apparently bloomless heads, a place

among

and

the almost indis-

THE DEXnA:!J TRACTS.

368

criminate ingredients of the spring posy

and

it is

true that

its

napless sugar-loaf hat looks rather odd and unflowerlike beside

the trimmer head-dresses of
it

its

more

cannot be said that amidst them

for

vet

among

the greens

"
;

during the period of flowering

they are

pretty objects

its

and nodding anthers streaming

circles of pale slender filaments

around a dark centre,

it

" Like a purple beech

Looks out of place

companions

brilliant

about a saintly head,

like the radiance

and particularly when

sensitive to the aerial currents, they look

like its feelers agitated

by the breeze.

ingly, ])lack,

and tapering

bloom wears

off,

The

and becomes quite

spike arises droop-

but erects

to the point;

cylindrical,

itself as the

and the colour

progressively changes to brown, as if not sufficiently imbued

with dye to withstand the sunlight

of the interior surface of

some variety

in the size

its fast

this

being the lighter shade

expanding

florets.

and shape of the heads

or narrower foliage; and in the length and tint of

Li moist mornings, the

and stamens.

last, like

There

is

in the broader
its

filaments

those of grass,

being easily detached, are sprinkled copiously over the shoes of

such as tread the " de^\T lawn."
forked, or multiple

new race

with a

The heads sometimes become

sometimes entirely converted into leaves,

of stems and heads originating from the centre

of

more springs from the typically unclothed stalk.

the older botanists
these are of modern discovery

all

that

or one leaf or

Xone
knew

we know

of them

and attempted

tion under names such as we might apply

Although the schoolboy

yet in
violets

his

estimation

may

not admit

compared with

to
its

it,

claims as a flower,

what are

"
''

For the smaller

Or

But toys

sort of boys,

for greener damsels

meant

their classifica-

them.

"
?

" roses,

369

PLANT LORE.
for

from

mimics

heads

Its

''

and go and

other,

obtains the weapons of a warfare that

lie

Two

manly " might.

One then

Whether

it.

holds out his stem,

opponent with another aims a deadly blow

his

at -vvhlch

each

challenge

an equal n amber of the toughest stems

select

of ribwort they can meet with.

behead

heroes

little

must

successful or not, he

a stem with a head on

to the risk

It

thus by alternate attempts

is

in turn

to

submit

of the next stroke

and

the contest continued, until one of

them

lose all the

heads of his flowers, in wdilch case he also

loses

the fight.

Both the game and the

Kemps.
''

ke^np^ as at present in use,

land end " in the harvest field.
''

'Twas on the

Of

left

sickles spoke

And

W'

capons are called

the struggle for the

is

the harsher jar,

commencing war,

anger miitter'd low

The soldier saw with jealous glance.

The blacksmith's ridge too far advance.

And

And

held that ridge a foe

bore away

that action soon

Like light'ning glanced along the boon.

Till all,

from side to

side,

was

Resentment, bustle, rage and

And

foot to foot the

kempers

life,

strife.
join.''"

Story's Harvest.

But

''kemp,"

descent

"

sayeth

and

in

the

Verstegan,*
olden time

Is

word

signified

of

^^

noble

a champion,

or

knio;ht skilled in feats of arms.

''

But on did come the kyng of Spayne

With kempes many

a one."

Ballad of King Estmere.

In Anglo-Saxon cempa

is

a soldier, oa//2^ia?z to fight; the Danish

* Restitution of Decayed Ivtfilligmce, p. 233.

VOL.

TI.

2 B

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

370

kempe

is

a giant

The Cimbri

the Island ic kcempei'^ a warrior.

struck terror into their enemies, not less by their fighting quali-

than bj the

ties

name which

these had stamped on them, for

The
of the brave ". *
"
"
our kernp or
the Compeador
proudest title of the Cid was
kemper in the Spanish idiom. " Compeador is a term hardly
were

they

kempers,

''

bravest

the

translatable into English, for our

most

answers, excites

I'eadily

feeling

which

thrills

Compeador.' "

Sir

word

little

champion/

which

to

of that proud triumphant

Spanish bosom at the mention of the

the

James Kempt

and Dr. Van-

at AVaterloo,

derkemp, the African missionary, each

in their respective fields

The

of honour, vindicated their ancient lineage and name, f

Swedes

call

Plantago media kampar, from their

Plantago major

contend or struggle.
*'

kemps," perhaps the

''

of Scotland

^'

word

^'

Cock-fighters "

is

also

our

In some parts

the Ribwort's name.

is

lages around Newcastle,

kantpa, to

sometimes

is

kemp-seed" of Jamieson.

Soldiers "

it

In the

the term

pit-vil-

for i\\Q

game; modified about Berwick to " Fightee-cocks." In Suffolk

it is "Cocks" (Moor); ''Fighting-cocks" in Northampton"
shire, '' many a time have I played at fighting-cocks with them
'' Fighting-cocks " in the east of England (Hal(C. W. Peach)
;

liwell);

"

Plardheads,'"'

Lancashire (Brockett)4

in

not, however, appear to have

sions that has earned for

it

been

the

its

title

does

It

celebrity in boyish diver-

of

''

Herba martis/'

for

fell under the warrior god's protection for another reason.

For " Mizaldus and others, yea almost all astrology-physicians,

it

Percy's BeUques of Ancient Poetry^

i.

p.

373

and Ruddiman

Sibbald's Glossary.
f

''

Kemp,

soldier."

the

surname of

man,

that

is,

Chamberlayne's Magnce Britannice Notitia,

The English name has passed over into Ireland

" Cocks and liens " in Waterford.
in Armagh
\

in

it is

Phrysins in J. Banhin's

TJist.

Plantaj-vm,

iii.

English,

old

p. 162.

p 505.

''

Cocks

"

371

PLANT LORE.
liold this to

be an herb of Mars, because

cures the diseases of

it

the head, which are under the houses of Mars."

^'

continues Culpepper,

^^

Neither,"

there hardly a martial disease but

is

it

cures."
It

was once a custom

Berwickshire to practise divination

in

Two

by means of kemps.

were taken

spikes

in full bloom,

and

being bereft of every appearance of blow, they were wrapt in a

One

dock-leaf and put below a stone.

of them represented the

They were examined next morning, and

appeared in blossom, then there was to be " aye

lad, the other the lass.

if

both spikes

them twae

love between
w^as

not

'*

to

''

il

none, the "course of true love"

The

run smooth."

ended as the parties wished,

appeal, however, generally

for since

it is

the rule in the inflo-

rescence of spikes that the florets blow in succession, the being

laid

beneath a stone would have

little

in retarding

influence

their expansion if ready for development.

similar supersti-

tion prevails in Northamptonshire: thus Clare in his Shepherd's

Calendar^ p. 49

"

Now young
And from

girls

whisper things of love,

move

the old dame's hearing

Oft making

'

love-knots

Oi blue-green oat

or

in the shade,

'

wheaten blade

Or, trying simple charms and spells

Which

From

And

rural superstition tells,

pull the little blossom threads,

They

out the knot-weeds button heads.

put the husk with many a smile,

In their white bosoms

Then

if

for a while,

they guess aright, the swain

Their love's sweet fancies

'Tis said, that ere it lies

tries to

gain

an hour,

'Twill blossom with a second flower,

And

from the bosom's handkerchief

Bloom

as

it

near had lost a leaf."

2

P.


'

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

372

From
374,

p.

i\l

Baker's Nortliamptonsldre Words and Phrases,

iss

appears that

it

indifferently

knot- weed" in that county

three

the

to

""

i.

applied

Centaurea

of knap-weed,

species

is

and scahiosa
all of which agree with ribwort
having hard heads or " knaps/' which is Gerard's expression

cijamis, nigra,

in

for the

what

Love,"

Following on the knap-

compact spike of the ribwort.

weed we can
for

is

trace the superstition back again to the Borders

Robert Story, the Northumbrian bard's

Guihrum

in

the

^^

Dane, but Ceiitaurea nigra.

Flower of

Bertha,

the Danish maiden, and secretly though vainly attached to him,

is

the instructress in the English language of

])rince,

wounded and taken

" This plant, of

And

Aymund,

a Danish

prisoner.

many branches on

a stem

each branch crested with a purple

gem

Which, armed and plumed, like a warrior stands

AVe call a thistle.'
This the tenderest hands
'

]\[ay grasp,

As

It has

no name

The

rest,

For

'tis

Which
^'

although

its shai)e

being to the others not

it

to

wot of

but, above

should be styled
it

and colour strike

unlike-.

'

The

flower of love

the wondrous spells belong,

thus some bard has worked into a song.

Young Waddie, on

summer's eve.

The maid he long had wooed, addressed

'

See

I these flowers of

bloom bereave,

And put them underneath my vest.

The first shall bear thy name, 'tis meet;
The other that of Edith Bain
!

And

won't the morning, love, be sweet,

That

sees one relic

bud again

'

* Story's Poetical Works, 336, 33'

^'

PLANT LORE.
They parted as young lovers part,
With many a last good night and

''

'

'

kiss

each went home, with lightened heart,

And

To dream a dream of love and bliss.

Yet her heart was not happy quite
;

She pondered on these flowerets twain

And oft the maiden said, that night,
O which of them will bud again ?

Next morning to her cot he hied

Come, guess on which the bloom's begun
:

'

I nothing care,' she archly cried,

'

So Edith Bain's be not the

'

He

arms.

in his

caught her

'

one.'

We

Life-wedded by this token plain

And

is

not love, the morning sweet,

That sees the

''

meet,
!

'

bud again

relic

The Maiden, having sung her simple

Two

flowers selected

cut the bloom

lay,

away

Then bade me place them underneath my

To represent the two I loved the best.
'

'

Nor
is

vest

the favourite of the twain.

"
have a doubt that that will bud again.'

know,' she said,

But

'

of ribwort.
are these the only mysterious properties

It

poem from the

introduced as a magical herb in a burlesque
laying of ane
"
the
of
An interlude
MSS., entitled

Bannatyne

Ghaist," the scene of which

Thus runs

in the vicinity of

bound him

the spell that

"

is

Litill gaist, I

conjur the.

and larie,
God, and Sanct Marie,
First with ane fischis mouth,

With

lierie

Bayth

fra

An

syne with ane sowis towth,

With

ten pertaine tais,

And nvne

knokis of windil

strais.

North Berwick.

3 7 J:

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

With

And

three heids of curie dodibj'

bid the ghaist turn in a body

Tlien after

The

conjuratioiin,

tliis

htill gaist will fall in

And

down

thair efter

soun,

lye,

Cry and mercy piteously

Then with your left heil sane,
;

And

it

The "Curie Doddj "

shire

it is '^

Dods."

It

never ciim againe,

will

As mnckle

mige amaist."

as a

^^

"^

in

" Curl-Doddies

is

In MorayBanff and Aberdeen, " Carl-

the head of the ribwort.

is

Carl-Doddies

^^

in

Forfarshire, as I

formed by John Nevay, who has introduced

to the

Skylark" {Foems,
"

From yonder

Among
I

field

258)

where

it

into his

in-

Hymn

sits

thy mate

Curl-Doddies, clover red and white,

saw thee

With

p.

am
"

rise,

thy soul elate

blest connubial love.

Blithe warbling up the ethereal dome,

Right

thy grassy home."

o'er

There are a plurality of plants claimants of the name.

In Ber-

wickshire and Roxburghshire the ScaUosa succisa and Knautia

arvensis are

Curly-Doddies " and likewise the rising crosier-

"'

headed fronds of the male fern

natural clover bears the
Scotland, t

"

Dod "

is

name

Lastrea Filix-mns)

and Curly Kale

6.

t In the following passage from "Ane Brash

Clerk " (Sibbald's Chron. of Scottish Poetry^ i. p.
p. 19), it

appears to be a synonym for clover

''

Quod

My

he,

my

claver,

hinny-sopps,

Be

Orkney

in the south of

the reedmace {Ti/plia latifolia) in the

* Dr. Gordon's Flora of Moray, p

ii.

in

my

my

curie

sAveit

of

Wowing,

370

dody

possody,

not owre bowstrous to your billy."

by

Evergreen,

375

PLANT LORE.

" Curly

north of England.

'^

obvious enough

is

may have

the masculine import which

and which

still

remains

hemp, Carl-tangle.

in

had

it

but " Carl"

language,

in the old

such terms as Carl- cat, Carl-crab, Carl-

The

Irish Caoirle, a club, a reed

diminu-

tive, Caoirlin, also offers itself.

Dr. Jamieson thinks " Doddie"
signifies bald
and hence we have the '^ Angus doddies, " cattle
;

Then we have

without horns.

Gaelic; and also

But the

plant.

"Dolde"

likelihood

Doddie," frizzled {doideach) in

''

German,

in

is

that

is

it

the top of a tree or

the

same term

as that

Thus we have
hills.
Duddo (Dodd, and A.S. hoey

applied on the Borders to round-topped

Dodd

Ilderton

in the Cheviots;

a height) in Xorth

ton

Durham, and

Doddington and

lington,

Dodd End

its

Dodd Well, Dodd House near AValDodbank near Whitfield,

in Alston parish,

and Doddheap on Reed Water

Dodd and

the

Dodd

Hill in the

Hawick, and the Dodburn

not forgetting the

'^

in

Northumberland

in

Lammermoors

the

of

high Dodhead," and

We have
be

Dodd and Dodds

its

among

originated

an old English word dod

metaphorically applied

to

redoubtable occu-

to lop as a tree,

cowed

The family

the Border

to

cattle,

hills. "^

which might
knob-headed

In this sense

flowers, and smooth hills of the conical form.

is

Belton

Dodd near

Kirkton parish, Roxburghshire,

pant of the '^Riding Times," ''Jamie Telfer."

name

Stanning-

also in the parish of

it

only the truncated pyramidal heights of South Africa that

can correctly be said

to

be dodded.

In Fife the bairns make a plaything of the Curly Doddy,

saying
" Curly Doddy, do

Soop

my

my

biddiu'

house and shool

Brockie's Famih/ jy'd/ws of

Chambers' Popular Bh/jmcs,

my midden

t/ie

Folks of

p. 43.

".

Shit- Ids, p.

41.

THE DENHAM TEACTS.

376

Those of Berwickshire form of the heads of Scabiosa succisa a

The head is twisted round a few
horolocre of a primitive sort.
times,

and then

circumvolutions

Moreover,

As

The number of

position.

its

kind of plantain, like others of the genus,

is

great virtues, and for medieine good."

P'ull of

a healing herb

tion "

recover

the true index to the time of day.

is

this

"

to

left

it

ranks with P. major, wdiich as an applica-

bleeding of wounds and to consolidate their

to stop the

is renowned in Berwickshire as the " Healin' Leaf," or

" Healin' Bkide." The Highlanders and Irish call the ribwort

lips,^^

Slan-lus,

healing-herb,

i.e.

wounds. ^

The

sickle-hurts.

Irish

and

reapers

apply
greatly

it

bruised

vaunt

its

to

fresh

merits for

thus Shenstone's

It is

" Plantain ribb'd, that heals the reaper's wound."

In Ayrshire P. major

From

P. lanceolata.

''plantain

speare''s

plantain

but Dr.

Bom

"

its

is

thus employed;

Galloway

it

is

being a specific against poison, Shake-

leaf" appears

plantain leaf

have been the greater

to

Drummond makes

Your

in

is

Ben. " Eor what, I pray thee

it

the ribwort.

excellent for that."

"
?

Pcom. " For your broken sliin."|

''

When

this

principles

and other herbs were

in repute as vulneraries, the

which should regulate the treatment of wounds were

* Another

Gaelic

name

equivalent

to

the

above

is

Lus-an-t-

slanuehaidh.
t In Yorkshire, as I am informed, it is believed that the
plantain leaf may be beneficially applied fresh to any hurt in the leg.

377

PLANT LORE.

The supposed virtues of the herb, however,

effect
it was firmly bound over the cut so
raw edges came in contact, adhesion followed, and the

understood.

little

produced
that the

this

good

wound

healed nearly as well as though the plant had not been

used.

The

of the

wound

real secret of the cure

each other

to

was the

application of the lips

but this was not understood, and

the supposed vulnerary bore off the credit/' ^

tion of plantain to check the flow^ of blood

Dioscovides and

Pliny,

is

The applica-

mentioned by both

and subsequent herborists only copy

what they promulgated.

Dioscorides

hydrophobia

recommended

reported of ribwort as a novelty

given

Roscrea

at

spoonful of

in Ireland

morning and evening

for a

rib-grass applied to the

terrier

all

the

others

same thing

find the

1796 with success

to

a table-

a dog)

every

week, and a poultice of the bruised

wound

until

and cured one j^erpon out of

life

for

Ribworth, or rib-grass, was

^'
:

in

(arnoglossos)

(the quantity given

juice

the

we

century

anrl in the last

plaintain

his

died

healed.

it

sev^Ji

althougli

This saA'ed the

who were

bit

they had

bv a mad

immediate

recourse to sea-bathing.^^ f

P. lanceolata was cultivated more frequently formerly than

combined with a grass crop. It affords an early bite,
but is not much relished by stock. " On poorer and drier soils
at present,

it is

in

said to

answer well

Wales, where

fertility in districts

bare

for

by some

roots

i.

p.

it is

much used on

the hills

spread and occasion a degree of

which would otherwise be

" Botanists, ^^

rock."

Hushandrijy

its

for sheep, being

continues

the

512, ''differ in their estimation of

said to be injurious to cows,

better than

little

writer

of British
its qualities,

and by others

it is

asserted that the richness of the milk in the celebrated dairies of

"^

Driimmoiid's First Steps

f Daniel's Rural Sports,

i.

to

p.

Bvtany,
177.

p. 24:6.

THE DEXHAM TRACTS.

378
the Alps

or

clover"^

Alcliemilla

However, the

'^

(Meum

mutellina being the

ment

grows

It

or

"

2:)lant,

first) is

esteemed the

Riz/"*

the composition

second

in the wild-hay of the

Alps

a different species, Plantago

6,000 feet and upwards,

at

with

along

prevent cattle from being hoven."

^^

Adelgras

best milk-producing Alpine

alpina.

When sown

vulgaris.

also said to

is

it

and the common lady^s

attributable to this grass

is

mantle,

By

experi-

of Plantago

of 100 parts of the ash

lanceolata collected on the Bradford clay, a calcareous loam,

consisted of 2"37

silica,

7"08 phosphoric acid,

14-40 carbonic acid, 19*10 lime,

acid,

3-51

6*11 sulphuric

090

magnesia,

peroxide of iron, 33*26 potash, 4*53 chloride of potassium, 8*80,

chloride of sodium. X

The Icelanders, who

^'

P. lanceolata^

call

Selegrese," use

it

for food.

Ribwort
bees, in

down

eagerly sought after for

is

some

localities,

its

pollen

about the 19th of July.

by the hive-

The bees

pull

the long filaments with their forelegs, pass the anthers

between their mandibles, by which means the pollen

upon the

face

and body, whence

is

scattered

speedily transferred to

They wheel round the flower with wonderful

the hinder legs.

celerity,

it

is

and then hasten on.

The

pollen thus collected

is

of a

pale yellow or whitish tint.

met with a small oblong

I once

Mecinus semicylindricus.

Cheshire Report,

I Berlepsch on the

Mountains,
\ J.

Soc,

T.

xi. p.

Van

p.

gall

black weevil

a small

I obtained

This,

on the stalks from which

of a

corresponding shape,

believe,

is

the

first

time

its

18!.

p.

Alps;

or Sketches of Lije

and Nature

in

the

350.

Way

and G.

H. Ogston

in

537.

Troil's Letters on Iceland, p. 108.

Journal of Eoyal [Agric.


379

PLANT LORE.

The upper

transformation has been noted.

surface of the leaves

of both this and P. major are mined by the maggots of a small

two-winged

Phytomyza

apparently, for they did not hatch with me,

fly,

same

nigricornis of Macquart, the

species that

is

so

The

abundant in the leaves of sow-thistles and Cinerarias.

larva of a small moth, Gracilaria tringipennella of Zeller, mines

the upper surface of the leaves of the

P.

lanceolata

begins to feed in October, changing to pupa in

brood feeds up in June and July. ^

butterflies,

Melitcsa

also feed on the leaves

by preference

select

this

Appendix

(in the

to

late

also

caterpillars

quoted

]\lacer

species of Arnoglossos

and of

This

Macer.

by Ovid, but

is

it

botanist

opinion

both

said Odo,

or Odobonus, a

name

(|), is

bring forward, in his leonine verses, the specific

to

which

lanceolata,
leav^es

mentioned

this

not the ^milius

Macer,

physician of later times in the guise of his

first

of Banchory

Murray's Northern Flora), considered that

was William Turner, the early English

following

of three

Steropes Paniscus

Adams

Dr.

by Dioscorides, P. major being the other

doubtless

the other

and other plantains, t

was one of the

lanceolata

May

and those of various other Lepidoptera

That distinguished scholar, the

P.

The

M. Athalia and

Cinxia,

one brood

alludes

the

to

lance-shaped form

the

name

of the

*'

Altera vero minor,

Dicunt, quod

quam

Lanceolata continued to be the

became the common one, and

viilgo lanceolatam

ut lancea, surgat acutis."

foliis,

officinal

term, while Lanceola

exists to the

present day as the

Lanceole of the French, and the Italian Lancivola.

plantains, from the

five ribs in the leaf,

The

* Stainton's Tineina, p. 198.

Manual of

Stainton's

PuUeaey's Sketches,

British Butterflies

i.

p.

32.

lesser

were called Pentaneuros

and Moths.

THE DENHAM TRACTS.

380

or Quinquinervia, to distinguish
''

them from P. major, which

propt by her seven nerves," was the Heptapleuros or Septi-

nervia.

It

Rib-grass

is

Enghsh name Rib-wort

doubtful whether the

is

modelled on

Simpling, London, 1657,

Coles,

this.

p.

indeed, in

30, says, " Plantane

wort because every leafe hath

five strings

which

is

is

the one

is

o-rass,

The other

of his Herhall, he says

it

was

called

appears that the

it

Cyno-

'^
:

Plantago

There are two sorts of Planta-

waybread

called

is

Rybwurte

''

in

or

Rybe-

In the second part

and of some Herbaries Lanceolata."

whence

it

called in Englishe alone Plantain or

or oTeat waybread.

Rib-

William Turner,

London, 1548, thus notices

of IJerhes,
called in Greke Arnoglossus.

crinis

rendered

is

an old alias of the plantain.

Names

called

somewdiat like ribs."

In Somner's Anglo-Sa^von Lexicon Ribbe

crlossus,

is

or

the Art of

many

name had been

places rybgrasse

"
;

well established in

John Bauhin accounts for the name in saying that

his time.
the Germans called it Rosripp, from the resemblance of the leaf
and by a similar analogy the Dutch name is
to a horse-rib
;

Ilontsribbe,

have

for

it

it is

called Rupple-grass

Ettrick Forest and Galloway

Ripple-grass in
in Lanarkshire

In Donegal

Dog-rib.

i.e.

and Riplin-grass

manifest corruptions of Rib grass.

The Welsh

a superfluity of unpronounceable names.

They

call

neidr, Traeturiad y hugeilydd,

it Llyriad Llw>/nhidgdd, Lhcijn y
Ysgelynllys, Astyllerdys, Pennaitr gicyr. The last may represent

our " Curly- Doddy

"
;

the head, and gu-yr,

from peiinawr, an ornament worn on

crooked, or

gicyran, hay, reed, grass.

They

it

may

call

it

be a contraction for

and P. major, Soicdl

Crist, Christ's heel.

There are few spots

not prevail.

Harris^;

it,

Dr.

in

Great Britain where the ribwort does

noticed

it

on the shores of

small variety,

is

common

Macgillivray

as well as a

* F?'tze Essays

and Trans. Highland Soc,

in

vii. p, lOJ:.

Sliet-

381

PLANT LORE.
land.^

Mr. H. C. AVatson found

it

on the north coast

Caithness and Sutherland, and observed

Iiundred

up

to

yards

Forfarshire, t

in

of

at the height of five

range in Yorkshire

is

seven hundred yards, ascending to near the peaks of the

highest

It

hills. |

is

widely

Pallas found Plantago media

of Kertsh, near Arabat,

diffused

the Atlantic, and

descend

to

is

throughout

Europe

and P. lanceolata on the peninsula

on the Sea of Azof.

P. Azorica, Hochst., grows

it,

Its

it

in

the Azores.

variety of
It crosses

||

one of the plants in North America that

the sea-coast in the arctic zone.

The European

plantains, or species similar to them, occur also at Sitka, on the

western coast of America, in 57 north latitude, where

we

find a

vegetation corresponding with that of western Europe under the

same

parallels.

^^

* Edmonston's Flora, p, 17.

Murray's Xorthern Flora,

X Baker's

Travels,

II

North Yorkshire,
ii.

p,

p. 97.

p. 271.

271.

Bai/ Society Reports and Papers on Botaiv)/, 1849,

^ Meyen's Geography
''*

Ibid., p. 203.

of Plants,

p.

220.

p.

^89.

INDEX,
\_A^ames of ttvvns or other places,
note, are 2)lacc-namcs

Adder
Agnes

mlim not accompamvd hy a

stones, 43

(St.)

Day, 282 283

Alholdes, a class of spirits, 79

All Fool's Day, 31
All Soul's Day, 26
Allanbank, Berwickshire, apparition
at, 178
Alls, the four, popular saying, 37
Alnwick, barring out at, 31G
coban tree at, 227
games at, 351
leaping the well, 40
Alwinton, sacred well at, 156
Amber bead, worn as amulet, 83
Amulet, amber bead, 83
crooked sixpence, 72
Anderson Place, Newcastle, 61
Animal sacrifice at Christian burials.
20-21
Animals, living, applied to the mouth
to suck out the evil spirit, 293
Apparitions, 163-167
of Margaret Selby, 250253
Applety pie, rhyme, 36
Apron full of stones at Hedgley, 216

Arran

Isles, beliefs of,

Arrows,

elf,

descriptive

which occur in rhymes or proverhs.']

210

30

Arthur (King), legends of, 125-129

Arthur's Seat, near Edinburgh, 130
Arvil dinners, 39

Ash, seed of, used to cure ear ache, 294

Ash, mountain, witch wood 328
Ash-keys, preservative against witchcraft, 30
Ashleaf charms, 70-71
divination by, 282
Assize, maiden, and white gloves, 66
Asthma, amber bead worn as cure for,
83
Avon, abode of a spirit, 42

Babes in the wood, song, 27-28

Bachelors, 45
Bad-handed, 274

Baking custom, 45
Ball-beggars, a class of spirits, 78
Ball playing at Easter, 32
Ball-plaving rhyme, 351
Ballads,' 51
Balloon, alarm of peasants at, 276
Bamborough, fairy treasures at, 146
Bamborough Castle legend, 331
Banshee superstition, 79, 187

Barring

out, Q-S

at Newcastle, 344-346

Bargaining rhyme, 75
Baron, title of^ used in the north, 185
Barguests, a class of spirits, 77
Barrasford. standing stones at, 217
Basuto custom, 131
Bathing rhyme, 18
Battling stones, 69
for weaving, 246
Bay, oil de, cure for fairy, 141
Beamish, king's seat at, 130
Beans at funerals, 37
Beatmont, a measure contaming

a
quarter of a peck, 303
Beaumont River, abode of fairies, 144
Bede (St.), sacred well of, 156
Bees, witch in shape of, 299, 319
bring luck, 213
warned of owner's death, 213
Bell horses, 74
Bellasay, coach horses, in nursery
rhyme, 69
Bellister, the grev man of, 183-187
Castle, '188- 189
Bells of Brinkburn, 132-133, 134
Beltane, 92
Belts, to preserve from fairies, 140
Benton, sacred well at, 156

384

INDEX.

Berwickshire customs, B48

Herrit's dyke, 34
Betty ]Martin, proverbial saying, 17
Bingfield, sacred well at, 155

Birthday rhymes, 102

Birtley, devil's stone at, 216
sacred well at, 155, 341

sacred fire at, 342

witches of, 333
"
Black and white is my delight
rhyme. 53
Black bugs, a class of spirits, 78
Black cats, lucky for spinsters, 73
Black dogs, a class of spirits, 77
Black hair and red beard, objections
to, 24
Black man, a class of spirits. 79
Black object, gift of, to the devil, G9
Black wool used in folk medicine, 294
Blackluggie, a small vessel made of
staves. 82
Blane's,'St., seat, 131
Blankets, superstition conceraing, 48
Blenkinsop family, tradition of, 185187
Blindness, 48
Blood at the nose, sign of death, 272
Blood of witch, drawn bv pricking,
SG, 317, 319, 324, 338
Bloody bones, a class of spirits, 77
Bloody stones, 60
Blue cap, a goblin, 363
Bodach Gartin, an ancestral spirit,
188
Boggarts, a class of spirits, 78
Boggleboes, a class of spirits, 79
Boggles, a class of spirit, 77
place names derived from,
77
Boggy-boes, a class of spirits, 77
Bogies, a class of spirits, 79, SC^
Bogle-houses, Lowick Forest. 278
Boguests, a class of spirits, 78
Bollets, a class of spirits, 79
Bolls, a class of spirits, 78
Bomen, a class of spirits, 78
Bone of giant cow at Mulgrave
Castle, 29
Bonelesses, a class of spirits, 78
Bonfires, midsummer, 342
" Bonny lass, canny lass, will ta be
mine," rhyme, 53
Books, notes of possession in, 339
rhymes, 18
Border warfare, 238-239
Borewell, near Bingfield, 155
Borran, cry of the Irish fairies, 84
"

Bosworth man, name for

"

knave " in

cards, 38

Bowes, Yorkshire, arvel dinner

at,

40

corpse usages at, 73

need fire at, 50

arrows, 46
Boy-bishop, 7
Brag, a sprite, 78, 159, 161
Brandy ball, game of, 351
Bread-making custom. 45
Breaknecks, a class of spirits, 77
Brechan (Dudley), ghost of, 165
Brehou, stone chair of the, 131
" Brenky my nutty cock," game rhyme,
53
Bride-cake, divination by, 281
Bridle, enchanted, used by witches,
301, 304, 307
Brimstone pan, 49
Brinkburn, bells of, 132. 133
fairies at, 143
legend of, 121-124, 257265
British camp, road to, attributed to the
fairies, 149
earthwork near Gunnaston, 203
BromleyLake. Northumberland, buried
treasure in, 254
Brown man of the moor, ghost story,
79
Brownies, a class of spirits, 77
place names derived from,
77
Brown-men, a class of spirits, 79
Buckics, a class of spirits, 78
Bugbears, a class of spirits, 77
Buggaboes, a class of spirits, 78
Bugs, a class of spirits, 78
Building legend. 243-244, 353
Bulmer stone, Darlington, 18
Burial, beans used at, 37
virgin garlands at, 33
on north side of churches,
38
at cross roads, 63-64
customs, 20-21
Butchers as jurymen, objected to,
66
Bute, dreaming tree in, 286
Butter, fairy, 30, 111, 138
Butterfly, red, killing of, 325
Button rhyme, 46
Bygorns, a class of spirits, 78
Buzz, a saving indicating witchcraft,
85-86

Bows and

Caddies, a class of spirits, 78

INDEX.
Church dancing

in, at Christmas, 95
north side, burials on, 38 west
side, antipathy to, 38

Cairn-a-vain, a pile of stones, 210

Cakes, fairy, 30, 113
Calcars, a class of spirits, 77
Cal^arth skull, 19
Callaley, camp on Castle Hill, 242
rhymes, 352-355
legend of, 243
Callan mountains, 211
Cambuskenneth Abbey, bells of, 133
Candle bark, domestic utensil, 32

Churching of women after childbirth,

23
Churchyard, visit to, for divination,
278
Churning, witchcraft in, 326
Clabbernappers, a cla^s of spirits, 79
Cleveland, local rhyme. 14
County,
Mulloe, Queen's
Clonfert

Capon trees, 226-234

Carling Sunday, 282

stone chair at, 131

Clothes changed inside out to avoid the
fairies, 88
Clothes, home spun, 69
Clover, four- necked, preventive against
fairies, 142
Cluricauns, a class of spirits, 79
Coach, apparition of, a sign of death,

Cat, shut up at shipwrecks, 365

Cats and corpses, 74

Cats, black, rhymes, 73
Cattle, cure for bewitched, 68
charm for, 50
Cattle disease, 66
;

Cauldron, fairy, 30, 112

Cavern legends, 217-220
Celts, stone implements,
holystones, 44

known

Coban

109
Cheese, digestive powers of, 215
Cheese, baby's, divination by, 281
Cheese, eating of, by witch, 301, 302
Cheese-well at Minchmuir, 152
Chertsey, devil's stone near, 202
Cheshire, customs of, 7
Chests, oak, for keeping flour, etc.,
97
Children, future life betoken by first
month, 75
Child's first visit, customs at, 25
Chill ingham, Hurlstone at, 217
Chirton, near North Shields, haunted
by an apparition in silk, 177
Chittafaces. a class of spirits, 79
Chollerton, sacred wells at, 155
Christening custom, 42
Christmas observances, 25-26
rhymes, 37, 90-96
Day, ghosts not seen on, 76,
77, 91

chancel,
forth in, 40

funeral

feasts

clock, custom, 50; omen, 51

cold never taken at, 72

marriage custom, 41
porch, divination in, 284

VOL.

II.

270

as

Centaurs, a class of spirits, 77

Changeling, fairy, 78, 137, 133
Chapbook legend, 45
Chappie, a family apparition, 177
Charm pravers, 11-13
Charms, 70-71, 291
written, 103-106
Chase, rhymes and proverbs on. 1C7-

Church,

385

set

trees, 226-234,

Cock, crowing

286

night, prognostication of death, 271

Cockles, harbingers of bad weather, 21
Cocklety bread, rhyme, 36
of, at

Cock's stride, 99
stone, at Newminster, legend
connected with, 247
CoMingham Abbey, IjcUs of, 133
Collup ]\Iondav, 304
Colpixy heads^30. 111, 113
Colt-pixies, a class of spirits, 78
Conane's tomb. Callan Mountain, 210
Coniscliffe (High), near Darlington,
burials at, 38
maiTiaofe custom, 41
Contempt, to bito the glove or nail, a
sign of, 66
Contract, ancient rhyme to accompany,
76
Cor. the giant, 29
Corbie's stone, 224
Corbridge, tradition concerning. 62
Cork, Earl of, name for " ate of
diamonds," 38
Cornwall, holed stones in, 26.5-266
Corpse, exposure of, at the funeral
feast, 39
usages, 73
Corpse lights, a class of spirits, 79
Coupland Castle, white lady at, 167
Covin trees, 226-234, 287
Cow-milking superstition, 83
Cowies, a class of spirits, 79
Cows, holy stone used to protect, 43
Cradle Knowes, the abode of fairies,
148
Coffin,

2 C

386

INDEX.

Cradle, not sold under distraint, 40

Cradle rocking superstition, 49

Cross roads, burial at, 63-64
Cuckoo, first hearing of, 6
Cuddle's cove, 163
Cummer, a gossip, 82
Cumberland, customs of, 7, 8, 14, 91
divination practices in,
291
Cups, fairy, 30,112
Curing stones, 223-225
Curie doddy, the ribwort, 374-376
Curse of Scotland, name for " nine of
diamonds," 38
Cursingwell at Ffynnon Elian, 153

Curwen's card, name for " knave of

clubs," 38
Cushions, midsummer, 1
Cuthbert (St.), tradition of, 163
Cutties, a class of spirits, 80
Cuttv soams, 362

Dancing in churches at Christmas,

95
Darlington, Buhner stone at, 18
Days, rhymes on the, 102
Death customs and beliefs, 59
Death-hearses, a class of spirits, 78
Dead, excessive grief for, 58
touching the, 59
Denton Hall, haunted by an apparition
in silk, 177
Denwick, games at, 351
Derwentwater family, 193-195
Devonshire fairies, saying of, 85
Devil, invocation of the, 275-278
selling oneself to, 67-68
passing bell, 93
Devil's cauldron, in Bute, 286
Devil's stone, 216-217
Dewsburv, Yorkshire, bell ringing at,
92
Dick-a-Tuesdays, a class of spirits, 77
Dill, a protection from witchcraft. 81
Dirt not swept out of the house on
"New Year's Day, 340
Disease known as farye, 140-141
transference of, to animal, 322
Dish, breaking of, prognostication
from, 272
Ditchant, sacred well at, 167
Divinations, 278-288
Dobbies, a class of spirits, 77
Docken, or nettle rhymes, 71
Dodd in place names, 375
Dog, appearance of a si)irit as, 253

Dog, burial of, with owner, 21

Dogs howling a death omen,

55, 270,

271

Domestic

utensils,

" Battling

see

Stones," " Candle-bark," " Chests,"

"
" Quern. "
" Sleek
Stones,
" Trenchers "

Domestic sprite, 172

Dopple-gangers, a class of

79

spirits,

Dorsetshire, divination in, 279

Doubles, a class of spirits, 79
Drake-stone, Harbottle, 256-257
Draw bucket of water, game, 36
Dreams, as warning of death, 269
Dress, male and female, interchange
of, 3
witches', 320

Koundbead rhyme at. 76

Drophandkerchief, game of, 351
Dropsy, amber-bead worn as cure
Driffield.

for,'83

Druid's lapful, a stone at Ycvering,

216
Dudmen, a class of spirits, 79
Dannies, a class of spirits, 79, 157
Dunstanborough Castle legend, 123

Durham

customs,

2,

3,

4,

14,

7,

21,

43
divination practices in, 289,
291

witchcraft

in, 332,

" Gainford,"
see
head "
Dust caused by fairies, 88
Dwafs, a class of spirits, 7^
Dykes, 34

Earache, cure

of,

333
*'

Gates-

294

bowing to the, 41
Easter Sunday superstition, 24
East,

Eating, divination after, 280

Edeedsbrig, black devil of, 277
Edlingham, witchcraft at, 334
Eelin's hole, a fairy cavern, 145, 219
Egir presentation to child on first visit,
48
Egg-setting formulre, 274
Eggs, eating of, to excess, 215
Eggshells, witches riding on, 299, 301
Eglingham, witchcraft at, 324
petting stone at, 213
Elder tree, used to prevent witchcraft,
325
Elf, place names derived from, 78
Elf-arrowhead boiled to cure madness,
224

38:

INDEX.
Elf hills, U3
Elf shots, 30, 112, 113
Elf-fires, a class of spirits, 78
Elf locks, 30
Elsdon feast, 356
Elves, a class of spirits, 78
Elwiu, river, abode of fairies, lii

Eston Knab, local rhyme, li

Ethel's (King) chair, a stone, 130
Evil eye, 274
Eye twitching, sign of life, 275
Eye -well, near Longwitton, 150
Eyebrows, meeting, sign of witches,
'325
Eyes, fairy ointment for the, 138

Eace, rhymes connected with, 36

Fairies, 30, 7i>, 110-115
buried at Brinkburn, 13-1
cry of the, SI
cups, 43
legends, 136-151
place names derived from, 79
Fairings, rhyming formula used at, 9
Fairy, as a disease, 140-141
rhymes relating to, 81, 84, 85, 86
Family apparitions, 183-188
Family descent, traced to river god,
42
Family legends, 44, 85
Fantasms, a class of spirits, 77
Farmin (St.), well dedicated to, 33
Fates, a class of spirits, 79
I'auns, a class of spirits, 77
Faws, a race of gipsies, 86
Fays, a class of spirits, 78
Feasts of dedication, 3-4
Feet first, persons born, 274
Fenton, witchcraft at, 325
Festivals at sacred wells, 155-157
Fetches, a class of spirits, 77
Fiends, a class of spirits, 78
Fig sue, a customaiy Good Friday

female unlucky, 24,

26 male lucky, 26
Fish and ring, story of, 44
Flackett, a flask or wood bottle, 303
Flax, fairy, 113
Flayboggarts, a class of spirits, 78
Flint implements attributed to the
fairies, 112, 113
Flodden, king's seat at, 130
Flowers, wells dressed with, 155
Folkmoots, 130, 131; inauguration
stones, 150
Food left for fairies, 143
Food, magical, produced by Avitches,
302
Food, eating of, power by, in witchcraft, 301
Food peculiar to certain seasons, 28
Footstep, fairy, on stone, 150
Forefinger of right hand considered to
be venomous, 24
First-foot, 340

on the borders,
239
Fortune telling, 298
Fox, rhymes on the, 107
Foxglove, a fairy flower, 30, 113, 149
Freiths, a class of spirits, 78
Fortification of towns

Friar's lanthorn, a class of spirits, 78

Friday, unluck of, 343-344
witches' attitude to, 84
Frog, living, used to cure thrush, 293
Fruit tree not to be topped with a
saw, 29
Fugoe Hole, Land's End, 220
Funeral cakes, 54
customs, 58
feast, 39
hymn, 52
prognostication
procession,
from first person met by, 49 honour
to, by passers by, 39
"
see " Burial
Furrows of the plough twisted to avoid
the fairies, 146
;

dish. 9

Finger nail superstition, 24

Finger superstitions, 24
Fingers, fairy, 30, 113
Fire, circle of, to prevent withcraft,
327
Fire. elf. 30,113
Fire for cattle disease, 365-366
Fire, not put out on New Year's Day,
340
Fire euperstitions at Christmas, 25
Fire-drakes, a class of spirits, 77

Gabriel hounds, a class of spirits, 79

Gainford, co. Durham, riding the stang
at, 4-5

Gall bladder, superstitious belief concerning, 72

Gallybeggars, a class of spirits, 78
Gallytrots, a class of spirits, 78
Games, children's, 36, 52, 351
with the ribwort plantain, 368
Gant, a village fair or wake, 3

INDEX.

388

Garlands, virgin, 33
rush bearer's, 33
Garter, divination by, 279-280
used in charms. 29i-29o
red, charm for rheumatics, 48
Gateshead, pit villages near, riding
the stang at, o-6

Gaudy Day

at, 6
witchcraft'at, 338
Gaudy day, P.
Gelt, local rhyme, l-t

Gholes, a class of spirits. 78

Ghosts, 165
laying of, by ribwort, 373
Giant traditions. 29, 78
Gilsland wells, 156
Gipsies at Wooler, 349
sayings connected with, 84, 86
Gipsy story, 168-169
Glanton, sacred well at, 352
Glove, to bite the, a token of contempt,

Glowworm,

Goblin, a class of spirits, 78

place names derived from, 78
Gold objects discovered, 209
Good Friday customs, 9
rhyme, 18
supersntions, 24
Goodman, the head of the house, 31
Gordon (Jean), death of, 168-169
Grace card, name for " six of hearts,"
38
Grants, a class of spirits, 79
Gray-man of Bellister, 183-187
Greata, river, superstitions practice at,
29
of,

299

Gringes. a class of spirits, 78

Groats, fairy, 111, 114
Guests, a class of spirits, 78
Guisarding rhymes, 214, 347-348
Guisers, harvest, 3
Gun- firing superstition, 72
Gunnarton, money hill near, 203
Guy Fawkes rhymes, 15-16

Guy

of

Warwick, dragon

slain

156

Hagberry, the bird cherry, 329

Hagmena, rhyme, 95
Hags, a class of spirits. 77
place

name

derived from, 77

294, 297

matted, fairy locks, 112, 113

used by witches, 314
colour of, superstition as

bv,

to,

24

HalliwelFs Nurst^ry Rhymes, 27

Hallowe'en, witches seen on, 82
Haltwhistle, stone near, 204
Hamilton, local rhyma, 14
Handsel Monday, 90
Hanging stone, tradition, 120
Harbottle.

Northumberland,

drake-

stone, 256-257
Harden
river,

Bum

abode of fairies,
144
Hare, appai-ition in the form of, 164
witch in shape of, 299, 301, 328
proverbs on the, 108
Harehope Hill, fairies on, 143
Harry, Old, name for the devil, 276
Hartburn, witchcraft at, 337

Harvest home, 2-3

Hawking, rbvmes

fairy lanthorn. 88, 114

Gnomes, a class of spirits, 79

Goats, good luck from, 75

Greyhound, witch in shape

Hair cut from the neck for charms,

Hair not cut on Friday, 343

and proverbs on,

107-108
Hay harvest rhyme, 20
Hazelrigg Dunnie, a sprite, 157-159,
162-163
Hazelrigg Dunny, a ghost story, 79
Heart stuck with pins, cure for witchcraft, 6S, 327
Heather chieftain, 357
Heckley Fence, proverbial saying connected with, 65
Hedgehogs, urchins, 57
Hedley Ko;v, a ghost story, 78
Hellhounds, a class of spirits, 79
Hellwains, a class of spirits, 77
Hempseed divination, 278
Hen, white, apparition of, 193
Herb-pudding, eating of, in Passion
Week, 32
Herrit"s dyke, 34
Hexham, plague stone at. 212
Heytherrie Hole, 219
Hide, used for burying treasure, 255
burial in, 256
Hills, fairy, 30, 112
Hob-and-lanthorns, a class of spirits,
78
Hob Collingwood, name for "four of
hearts," 38
Hobbits, a class of spirits, 79
Hobby-lanthorns, a class of spirits, 77
Hobcross, place names derived from, 78
Hobgoblins, a class of spirits, 77, 79
Hobhoulards, a class of spirits, 77

389

INDEX.
adder

Hob's Flow, 356

Irish, objections of

Hob-thrushes, a class of spirits, 78

Hob-thrust, place name derived from,
77
a class of spirits, 77
Hob Thrush's Mill, 355
Hodge-pochers, a class of spirits, 78
Hogmanay, rhyme, 95, 96
Holed stones, 265-266
charm to prevent witchcraft, 325
Hollv, he and she, divination by,
284-286
Holy water used in charming, 293
Holy stones, 41, 43
Hoodhill, local rhyme, 14

Irish stone, a charm, 40

Hoppings, village, 3
Horuie holes, game of, 351
Horns, fairy, 114
Horse, offering of, to the church at
death of owner, 21
hair from the tail becomes an
eel. 29
holy stone used to protect, 43
witch in shape of, 301
power of seeing spirits by, 171
Horse-shoes, 62, 212
cure of distemper by burning,
338
Hounam church bell, falling of, 134
Houndwood, Berwickshire, a family
apparition at, 177

House charm, 41
Housesteads, fairies

at,

144

city of, Aran Islands,

Hudskins, a class of spirits, 78

Hud. the

210

Hume-byres penny, charm, 222

Hunter and hounds, legend, 121-124,
143,

217

Hutton Church, treasure hidden

Hy

Brasail, Irish

belief

210
Hydrophobia, remedies

at, 135
concerning,

for,

220

Ice before Christmas, 90

" If I had gold in goupins," rhyme, 54
Ignis fatuus, 77, 113
" I'll

Jack-in-the-Wads, a class of
Jacobite toast, 359
Jarrow rhyme, 360
well at, 156

away yhame," rhyme, 53

spirits, 77, 78
Incubusses, a class of spirits, 77
Ireland, buried treasure in, 254
belief as to elf arrows, 224
dust
Ireland, fairies, cry of the, 84
caused by, 88

Imps, a class of

275

spirits,

78

Javelins, fairy, 30,

Jedburgh Abbey,

13

bells of, 133

Jemmy-burties, a class of spirits, 77

Jesmond, sacred well at, 156
Jinny-burnt-tails, a class of spirits, 79
Journey, signs of unluck on starting,
338
Judges, meeting of, at Brampton,
Cumberland, 227
Jury, butchers objected to serve on, 6Q

Kail wedding, 356

Katie Neevie's hoard, 255
Kelpies, a class of spirits, 77
Kelso Bridge, legend connected with,
201
Kemps, game of, 369
divination by, 371
Kendal, divination practices near, 283
Kening, half a bushel, 303
Kent customs, 20
Keppen Well, at Eglanton, 352
Keppy ball, game of, 227, 286-288
Kerns, fairy, 144
rhymes, 349
Keswick, legend of the Giant Cor, 29
Kettles, fairy, 30, 113
Northumberland, sacred
Keyheugh,
well at, 154
Keys, enchanted, 209-211
Kidnappers, a class of spirits, 78
Kidneys, fjury, 113
Kilcat'tan Bay, stone chair at, 131
King's dyke at Newcastle-on-Tyne, 34
King's evil cured by seventh son. 39,
274
King's seat, stones so called, 130
Kirk, fairy, 114
Kirkbv Stephen, new years' gifts at,
33
Guy Fawkes at, 15
Kissing bush at Christmas, 67
Kit-a-can-sticks, a class of spirits, 77
Kittie-cat and buck- stick, game of,
351
Kitty-witches, a class of spirits, 77
*

258-261
Hurle-stane, near Chillingham,

to,

390

INDEX.

Knipe-scar, loccal rhyme, 14

Kuockers, a class of spirits, 78, 206-7
Knots, divination by, 279
elf,

Knowes,

80

fairy, 143, 148, 150, 151

Kobolds, a class of spirits, 79

Korigans, a class of spirits, 79
Korrids, a class of spirits, 79
Ivors, a class of spirits, 79
Kous, a class of spirits, 78

Low Sunday,

119
Lubberkins, a class of spirits, 79
Luck of Eden Hall, 112
Luck, wishing of, 326
Lutterworth, superstition at, 46
Lyke wake, 58

MacCulloch (Sir Godfrey), tradition

concerning, 61

Maclears

of

Loch

187
Madcaps, a class of

Buy,

ancestral

spirit,

Lancashire customs, 14, 19, 20

Land measures, 34
Land's End, Fugoe hole, 220
Larrs, a class of spirits, 77
Leap Year rhymes, 101
Lease, life, to witch from the devil,
307
Left leg stocking, divination by, 281
Left shoe, divination by, 282
"
Leicestershire, see "Lutterworth
Leprechauns, a class of spirits, 79
Leys, stone circle of, 209
Lian-hanshees, a class of spirits, 79
Lifting, custom of, Westmoreland, 31
Light from the house, not to be taken
on New Year's Day, 24, 340
Lilburn, store near, 201
Lindisfarne, petting stone at, 67
Lint, fairies, 149
Loaves, fairy, 30, 113
Lob's pound, allusion to, 87
Local rhymes, 14
Lockerley well, cure for hydrophobia,
221
London, legend connected Avith, Bridge,
201
customs, 40
-r
field of the Forty Footsteps,
23
May kitten beliefs at, 55
Benton,
Long
Long Lonkiu, ballad of, 191
Longwillon, sacred well at, 156
Looking glass, covering of, where
corpse
.

lies,

73
divination

by,

on

spirits,

78

^Lad stones, 223, 224

Lambton, sacred well at, 153

Lammer bead, an amber bead, 82
Lammermoors, king's seat in, 130
Lammikiu, ballad of, 191

St.

Agnes' Eve, 283

superstition, 48
Lord's Prayer backwards in witchcraft,
307
Lots, divination by, 292

Madron, sacred well at, 153

Magpie rhymes, 19, 20
Mahounds, a class of spirits, 79
Maiden assize and white gloves, 66
Maiden in place-names, 152
Mally, a Northumbrian song, 213
Mamsforth, Durham, buried treasure
in, 254
Mannikins, a class of

spirits,

79

Manx

fairy saying, 87
Marble playing, witches invoked in, 89
Mares, a class of spirits, 79
Alarkets, 29
Mark's (St.) eve, customs, 284

Marriage, omen

from church clock

striking, 51
celebrations, 94
customs, 356 ; at Coniscliffe,

41

Dtn-ham, 43

dream

of,

a sign of death,

269
petting stone, 67, 213

rhymes, 93, 94, 102

shoe-throwing at, 33
Martinmas rhyme, 96
Maug Molach, an ancestral spirit, 188
Mawkins, a class of spirits, 79
May, eggs not set in, 275
dew, gathering of, 153
kittens, 55

roan tree gathered on the second

83
Mayor, ceremonial, choosing of, 6
Meg-with-the-w:ids, a class of spirits,
78
Meg of Meldon, 244-256
Melch-dicks, a class of spirits, 77
Meldon, stone near, 200
Mell day. 2, 3
Men-in-the-oak, a class of spirits, 77
Men not allowed at women's funerals,
40
Mermaid's stone, 150
of,

NDEX.

391

Nails.ffinger and toe, superstitions, 24

finger, to bite the, a sign of con-

Alerrvmen, 98
Middleton, British townlet near, 207
]Nridsummer bonfires, 34:2

Miffies, a class of spirits, 78

Milk, susceptibility of, to witchcraft,
326
Milkinj? superstition, 83
Mills, fairy, 113

tempt, 66
not pared on Friday, 337
Names, superstition concerning, 49
Nanny Bowler, spirit of the Skerne, 78
Nathan's Keeve, Cornwall, buried
treasure in, 255
Neatherd, town's, at Wooler, 167
Neat's fire, for cattle disease, 365, 366
Ned Stokes, name for " four of spades,"

Mince pies, 91
Minchmuir, cheese well

Need

cnshions,

eve, customs,

Midwife,

284

fairy, 139
_

152

at,

Mistletoe used in the kissing bush at

Christmas, 67
^Moaning, a warning of death, 267
Mockbeggar, place-name derived from,

77
!Mockbeggars, a class of spirits, 77
Money digging, 62
fairy, 30, 112
finding of, 85
jSIoney Hill, near Gunnarton, 203
Montferraud, near Beverley, 26
IMonths and days, rhymes. 100-102
Moon changing on Saturday, 10
first, divination by, 281
man in the, 55
new, superstition, 21
ISIorden carrs, local rhyme, 14
]\Iormos, a class of spirits, 78
Morpeth, divination practices in, 289,

290

Mortham Dobby, a Teesdale

goblin,

77

Morven church,

bells of, 133

Mosstrooper's grave, 67

Mountain

ash, a preservative against

silky. 171
JNIouse,

witch in shape

Mulgrave

Castle,

of,

301

bone of giant cow

at

29

^Mummers' harvest, 3
Mampokers, a class of spirits, 77
Murce (8t.), tradition of, 134

Murder causes earth

to be barren, 23
corpse bleeding superstition,

38
fire, 50, 342
Nelly the knocker, spirit of a stone,
205
Neolithic implements found at Stenton, 151
Nettle rhym.es, 71
Newcastle, All Saints, burials at, 38
barring out at, 344, 346

charms

in,

Newcastle, folklore objects

41

Mushrooms,

fairy, 30, 113

Music, fairy, 148

Myddvai, physicians

Nacks, a class of

of,

294

spirits, 78
Nafferton, legends of, 190

at,

34

trials for witchcraft, 300-302,

322, 332, 336

Newminster, stone

New

Year's

coflftn at,

247

Dav

customs, 24, 31
gifts, 33
observances, 340, 341

rhvmes and sayings, 9

tide, 98-99
Nickers, a class of spirits, 78
Nickies, a class of spirits, 78
Nicknevins, a class of spirits, 79
Nightbats, a class of spirits, 77
Nightmare, a class of spirits, 87
Nightmare, holystone used to prevent,

43, 325
Nips, fairy, 114
Nipsey springs, forecast of weather
from, 48
Nisses, a class of spirits. 80
Nixies, a class of spirits, 79
Norfolk, customs, 11
Northamptonshire, divinations in, 371
Isorthumberland, customs of, 3, 8, 20,
21, 29,41,44, 348,349
trials

at

40

King's Dyke

49

Museum

at,

divination practices in, 290

kissing bush at, 67

for witchcraft, 314,

327, 336
Nursery rhymes, 53, 69
Nursery song, 27-28
Nutty-cock, an old term of endearment,

53

Oak Day,

54

Ointment, fairy, for the eyes, 138

392

INDEX.

Old, prefix to place-names, 44

Old maids, 45
Old shocks, a class of spirits, 78
Ouphs, a class of spirits. 78
Ouse, river, tradition concerning, 51
Oven, fairies', 149
Oxenham family, ancestral spirit, 188

Padfooits, a class of spirits, 78

Palm Sunday customs, 57
Pancakes, 17, 19, 31
Pans, a class of spirits, 77
Paralysis, fairy struck, 87, 115
Pasclie eggs, 95
Passion week customs, 32
Patches, a class of spirits, 78
Patience Dock, a herb, 32
Pearlin' Jean, an apparition, 178
Pease, divination by, 282
Pech pipes, 111

Place-names from spirits, 77-80

Plague stones, 212
Playing-cards, popular names for, 38
Ploughing, fairy at the, 137
fairies objecting to, 146
incantation, 88
Pools, fairy, 114
" Poor Johnny's deed " rhyme, 52
Portunes, a class of spirits, 79
Prayer, secret, said over corpse, 73
witches', 86

Pregnancy

beliefs,

30

Priest's hole, 194

Pedlar murder, tradition, 196

the Tees, 42, 78
Pele towers, 238, 243
Pelton Brag, a sprite, 161
Penny, Hume-byres, charm, 223
Peony, cure for falling sickness, 141
Petticoats, superstition concerning, 48
at
Petting stone at Lindisfarne, 67
Eglingham Church, 213

Proudlock's poems, 59
Proverbs, 57, 65, 75, 363-365
Puck, Irish allusion to, 87
Puck fists, 30, 113
Puck needle, 114
Puckles, a class of spirits, 79
Pucks, a class of spirits, 78
Puddening infants, 25
Pudding Gyve, 220

Peg Powler, goddess of

Queen Bess, name

for " queen of clubs,"

38

Quern

mill, 32

Phooka, blackberries spoiled by, 88

Phynodderee, a Manx fairy, 87
Pickering, origin of the town, 44
Picktree Brag, a spirit, 159
Picktree Bragg, a ghost story, 78
Picktree, place-names derived from, 78
Pictrees, a class of spirits, 78
Piddle Hinton, Dorsetshire, poors' gift
at, 91
Piercebridge, battling stones at, 69
Pig, unlucky to kill, at moon waning,
365
Piggiviggan, a severe fall, 87
Pigmies, a class of spirits, 79
Pins, divination by, 283
offerings of, at sacred wells, 153,
154, 156
vomited bv bewitched people,
322, 323
Piper, legends concerning, 220
of Hexham, 363
Pipes, fairy, 30, 111
Piper's Coe o' Cowend, 220
Pixies, a class of spirits, 78
Pixyled, 87

Place-names connected with

142, 143

fairies,

Babbit, white, apparition of, 193

Radiant boy apparition, 163
Rags offered at wells, 156
Rain rhymes and sayings, 22, 47
Rainbow custom, 58^
Rawheads, a class of spirits, 78
Ray, a cloth woven parti-coloured. 98
Red-men, a class of spirits. 79
Red thread used as charm to keep away
witches, 83, 329
Redcaps, a class of spirits, 78
Rhyme, burial, 37
nursery, 36, 46
Rhyming charms, 70, 71
formulae used in customs. 2, 5,
8. 9, 15, 20
Ribwort plantain, 367-381
Richmond, 61, 62
bell-horses used at, 74
Riddle, divination by, 280, 288-291
Riggin, the backbone, 65
Rimside black sow, a stone, 360
Ring found in fish, story of, 44
'
wedding, divination by, 281
Ringing in Christmas, 92, 93
Rings, fairy, 30, 112, 139
River gods, 42
descent of family
from, 42
;

INDEX.
River
.

spirits,

78

Scrats, a class of spirits, 79

Scruffell, local rhyme, 14

superstitions, 29, 4G
traditions, 51

Sea, superstition connected with, 72

144
Riving-pike, local rhyme, 14
Rivers, abode of

Road,

Selby (Margaret), legend

Seventh son, 39, 273

I'aiiie?,

fairies', at

Roads

attributed

Oldcambus, 149
to Michael Scott,

Sewingshields,
129

of,

King Arthur

244-256
at,

125-

Sex rhvmes, 70

117

Robin believed to cover dead bodies, 28

Robin Goodfellows, a class of spirits,

ttiboos, 40
Shadows, a class of

Shag

77, 8o

Rocks, names

Roman

of,

157

burials, Go

remains attributed to

fairies,

144, 145

wall built by Michael Scott,

117; well-offerings on the, 157
Roseberry Topping, local rhyme, 14
'
Rosemary green and lavender blue "
rhyme, 54
Roslin, tradition concerning, 124
Rothiemurcus family, ancestral spirit
of, 188
Rothley :\lill, fairies of, 145
Roundhead rhyme, 76
Rowan tree, a protection from witchcraft, 30, 81-83, 328-330, 335
Rowhope wedding, 356
Running and leaping ihymes, 09
Rush-bearer"s garland, 33

17,

54

Scotland, banks of the

Tvne

called.

361

marble playing, 89
regalia of. 111
Scott (Michael), the wizard, 116-119
Scrags, a class of spirits, 77

II,

79
78

spirits,

Shellycoats, a class of spirits, 77

necessary for discovery

treasure, 248, 249
Silk, a spirit raiment, 1 76-179

of

use of. for dresses, 180-182

Silky, a sprite, 78, 169-174, 182

place-names derived from, 78

Silver stones, 212
Sirens, a class of spirits, 77
Sixpence, crooked, worn as amulet,
72
Skeely man, 826
Skerne, river, spirit

Sacrifice;,

Schoolboy rhymes,
School customs, 7

spirits,

a class of

Shoe takcii as pledge of payment, 31

throwing at marriages, 33
Shoes, divination hy the, 278, 279
Shrove-tide rhyme, 17, 19
Tuesday custom, 31, 32
Silence, divination performed in, 285

Sackworth, local rhyme, 14

cow, to cure witchcraft, 327
Saddles, fairy, 30, 113
St. Boswell, sacred well at, 157
St. Nicholas' day custom, 6-8
St. Stephen's day, 26
Saints, as guardians of wells, 155
Salt placed on dead bodies, 73
as charm against witchcraft, 335
as preventive of evil, 365
Sand, ropes of, devil set to spin, 116
Saturday, Christmas day falling on, 99
moon changing on^ 10
Satyrs, a class of spirits, 77
Scar-bugs, a class of spirits, 78
Scarecrows, a class of spirits, 77

foals,

Sheaf of corn, appearance of, a warning

of death, 267
Sheep's bone used as amulet, 58
Sheffield Christmas rhyme, 37
pancake custom at, 31

Robinets, a class of spirits, 78

VOL.

393

of,

78

Skiddaw, local rhyme, 14

Skull superstition, 19
Sleek or calendering stones, 74
Sloep-walking, cure for, 274
Slippers, fairy, 30
Snake stones, 43
Snapdragons, a class of spirits, 78
Somersetshire customs, 4
Songs, 358, 359
Northumbrian, 213
Soul mass cake, 26
South-runnincr water, cure for witchcraft, 326
Sowerby, witchcraft at, 327
vSpinning, powerover, by witchcraft, 3U8
Spirit, evil, expelled by suction, 293
Spirits, local names of. 77-80
of the dead, 58, 59
Spoorns, a class of spirits, 77
Sprets, a class of spirits, 78
Springs, forecast of weather from, 48
Sprites, a clas:< of spirits, 79

INDKX.

394

spirits, 7S
Spurns, a class of spirits, 78
Stang:, riding the. 4-<i
Standing, lifting custom, 31
Stealing, a waniing of evil, 272
Stenton. near Duubar, tumulus at, l.')]
Steven (St.), day. 9.")
Stewart Hall (R Jthesav). curing stones

Spunks, a class of

nosticates death, 271

a; tides, used as charm, 48
Stcme chairs as seats, 180
coffin, restored to its place by
means of apparition,

Stolen

KU

221-223
Stones, ascurefor hydrophobia.
'
bloody, 60
customs or superstitions concerning. 18
fairies dancing I'ound, 143
fairv, 30. 143-145
holed, charm to prevent v;itchcraft.

325
huly, 43

inauguration. 150
legends concerning, 129, 107211,

21(;,

217

thunder, 45

Storms, fairies and spirits connected

with, 17G
caused by witches, 337
charms against. 295
Strath church, bell legend. 134
Straws, 337
Stye, cured by gold ring, 298
Subterraneous passages, belief in, 30, (10
Succubusses, a class of spirits, 79
Suicides, burial of, G3-fi4

Sunday, lucky to start on voyage, 343

Sunderland fitter, name for knave of
"

38
Swaithes, a class of spirits, 78
Swallow, witch in shape of, 300, 31
Swarths, a class of spirits, 78
Swedish fairy legend, 135
clubs,'*

Swift, river, superstition as to

flowing of, 4t;
Swinging witches, 3(t2. 303
Sybils, a class of spirits, 79
Sylphs, a class of spirits, 78
Sylvans, a class of si)irits, 79

over-

Tailors, 51

Tamleuchar Cross, treasure hidden

135

Tansy

2(59

Tees, river, spirit of the, 42, 78

Teeth superstitions, 24, 75

burning of, 48
and toes, prognostication from, 48
Tempest familv, legend connected with,
41

at. 22.-)

Stirlingshire, witchcraft in, o2()

Stocking put on wrong side out, prog-

Tantarrabfibs, a class of spirits, 78

Taps, three, warning of death, 2<)7-

at.

Thames, abode of

a spirit, 42
Thirteen at table unluckv. 25
Th mias' (St ) dav, 92. 93
Thomas the Rhyiiier. 119. 120
Thrashing, warning of misfortune
during, 2<i7
Threeston Burn, 207-209
Through-the-needle. kc, game of, 351
Thrummj-, place-name derived from, 79
Thrummycaps, a class of spirits, 79
Thrush (disease), cure of, 293
Thumbs, doubling of, to prevent witchcraft, ^25
'I'hunderstone, 45
Thurses, a class of spirits, 78
Tints, a class of spirits, 78
Toad, daughter tiu'ned into, bv witch,
331
Toast, Northumbrian, 214
Todlowries, a class of spirits, 78
Toe-nail superstition, 24
Tompokers, a class of spirits, 78
Tom-thumbs, a class of spirits, 78
Tom-tumblers, a class of spirits, 77
Tooth, dream of, sign of death, 272
extracted, put into fire, 298. 299
Toothache, amber bead worn as cure
for, 83
charm, 9, 10
Topsham, family legend. 85
Towers, used for protection, 238
Treasure attributed to silkv sprite, 173
hidden, U'5, 200', 202, 203,
247-250, 254
Treasures, fairy, at Bamborough, 146
Tree (dreaming), at Bute. 286"
Trees, stretching across streams, haunt
of sprites. 174
hawthorn, fairies dance near,
136
Trenchers, wooden, in servants* hall, 33
Tritons, a class of spirits, 77
Trolls, a class of spirits, 78
Trows, a class of spirits, 79
Tumuli, attributed to the fairies, 151
Turf placed on dead bodies, 73

charm
jiudding. 44

for cattle's diseased foot,

INDEX.
Tutgots, a class of spirits. 7S
Tweed, river, spirit of the, 42
Twiiilaw, stone chair on, i;JO
Twins, boy and yirl, 30
Twiemouth, wizards cave at. \2o

'95

Westmoreland, customs

of, 7, 8. 11, 14.

20, 31, 33, 38, 46, 47,

AA'halton. sacred tire at.
AVhicken tre, charm for
AA'hirlpools. attributed

54, 91

342
witchcraft. 329
to the fairies,

146

Urchins, a class of

name

\Vh;te animal, apparition of 193

ducks or drakes, used

77

spirits,

for hedu-ehoi-s. 07

White
Valentine rhrmes,

Veal

.S4S.

840

pie, at funeral feast,

40

ladies apparition. 166. 167

women, a class of spirits, 79

hittingham place-rhymes,

81
Viri:in uarhinds, 33

vale, 234-244

AA'ife,

rhymes on, 37
rhyming, 16

AA^ill,

AAMlls, custon.s
AA'illy

Wal)1)y (Willy), ghost of, IGG

Watt's, a class of sjiirits, 78
Wnghorn, a false man, 83
Waiths, a class of spirits, 78
Wake at funerals, 58

in,

AVark Castle, 01
341
77
Warnings to relatives of death or misfortune, 266-273
Warts, cure for, by the seventh son, 274
Wassail bowl at Christmas, 8. 92
Water, south-running, as a curative,
at, 15.>,

spirits,

indicia
Cove, 220
AA'irrikows, a class of spirits, 79
AA'isemeu. practices of, 295-297
AA^itch formulae, 12, 13
AA^itchcraft. cases of, 160, 161,

attributed

of

beliefs.

AAltches.

W^easel, white, apparition of, 193

AVeather forecasts, 357, 360, 361
lore of New Year's day, 99

proverbs, 21-23
AA^eaving on a battling stone, 246
AVednesday, the fairies' holiday, 86, 115
AA^eise, used by milkmaids. 142
AA'ell buried treasure in, 248, 249
near AA'hittingham, white ladies
at,

167

Alnwick. 40

AYells, fairv, 30, 112

sacred. 33, 151-157,

352

Welsh

of Auldearn. 287
rhvmes relating

on

AVater witch, 314

rites at

299-324

charms to keep away, 83

invoked in marble playing,

ill-

Watling Street, called Michael Scott's

Causeway, 117
Wear, river, tradition concerning. 118

appear

324-339

Margaret

30

trials for.

luck. 338

placed beneath the bed

which corpse lies, 73
Water falls, abode of fairies, 175

to

!45

140
person carrying, sign

254

Wind, devil's connection with the, 30

rhvmes and savings, 23, 29

river, tradition concernino-,

sacred well

noted from. 39

Howe, near Bridlington, buried

treasure in, 25-J

AA^imbell pond, Sussex, buried treasure

118

Warlocks, a class of

35!

sacied well at, 167

Vervain, a protection from witchcraft.

AVausbeck

for

charming, 293

to,

81-84,

86
AVitches* Cairn, 334
AA^ooden dishes, witches
299, 301
AA^ooler, gipsies at, 349

guisarding

at,

riding

on,

215

sacred well at, 151

stone chair at, 130
superstitions, 287, 288. 293, 298
witchcraft at, 325, 337
AA^oman cause of death to hero, 118
AA'omen, not alloM'ed at men's funerals,

40
AA'ord charms, 295

AA'orm well at Lambton, 153

AVraith, as warning of death, 268, 270,

272
221, 341,

AA'raithes, a class of sj'irits, 78

AA^ritten charms, 10, 11

AVycliffe (John), superstition connected

fairies. S4.

175

with brmes

of.

46

396

INDEX.

Yeavering Bell, ancient remains near,

208
Yethhounds, a class of spirits, 78
Yetholm, the fairies at, 147
Yevering, stone legend at, 216
Yew trees, planting of, 4G
York, divination practices in, 289

Yorkshire customs,

2, 7, 11, 14, 25, 26,

33, 40, 44, 4b, 91
trials for witchcraft, 315
Yowe, a female sheep, 5
2[),

Yule cake, 25
candle, 25, 26
cheese, 25
day, 90

kissing bush at, 07

log, 25, 26, 90, 91

PEINTED HY XICHOLS AND SOXS,

25,

PARLIAMENT STREET,

S.W.

!^

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i.

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