Folklore 2021 - Aughton and Ormskirk

20 December 2021- No session held

15 November 2021- The Devil in British Folklore contd

In the session we continued the topic of the Devil in British Folklore in the context of the other world creatures we have been looking at.

We had previously grouped the topic, for convenience, loosely into 3 categories

Legends and tales linked to unusual landscape features, very similar to features attributed to giants.
Attacks on Christianity
The devil looking for human souls, making deals and pacts and collecting his dues for them.

This session we completed looking at the second category of attacks on Christianity including church buildings and then started the search for human souls.

1/. Attacks on Christianity

There were attacks on church buildings particularly the towers and church bells. Most of these were unsuccessful.

a/. We looked at examples of the throwing of stones/boulders.

The devil stone in Staple Fitzpaine Somerset where a huge boulder was thrown by the devil to try to destroy the church, the stone was left behind and shows the Devil’s claw marks. It was said there was treasure underneath it.
Kirby Lonsdale where the Devils’s Punchbowl is said to mark the spot where the Devil destroyed a church using a boulder,
Rudston, Bridlington, Yorkshire where there is a prehistoric 25 feet high standing stone in the church yard which was ‘thrown’ by the Devil.
Evesham, Worcestershire, the Devil twice tried to destroy the Abbey. The Bishop Egwyn, was watching and prayed.
Canterbury, the Devil tried to carry the entire town to hell. Canterbury was rich and sinful in medieval times
Mayfield, Sussex – The Devil was sent packing by St Dunstan. St Dunstan was working as a blacksmith when the Devil visited him disguised as a beautiful woman, he spotted the cloven hooves when her dress rode up and he grabbed the Devil’s nose with hot tongs.
Auchtermuchty Fife – the Devil tried to carry off people from the church as they were so pious. He came in the form of a Calvinist Minister but was betrayed by his hooves and was thwarted by an old man.

We discussed why there were these stories. They show the power of Christianity, the one true faith. Early Christianity pitted against the Devil, the Devil is relatively easily outwitted. The Devil may be big and scary but put your faith in the Church and you will win through. The Devil cannot compete against the church. The power of the sign of the cross and prayer

b/. We looked at some examples which went against the usual tales

Oxfordshire – The Devil helped two brothers to build churches at King’s Sutton, Adderbury and Bloxham. This featured a hardworking and honest mason Devil, who got no pay back .
Warwickshire – the Devil helped at man in a legal battle against a dishonest landlord. The Landlord said, ‘let the devil take me if this is a lie’ and the devil did.
Berkeley, Gloucestershire – a witch was taken by the devil when she died despite the efforts of the church to prevent it and her repenting, and her body being wrapped in chains. Do not get complacent, there are dire consequences of sin. If you put yourself in the path of the devil even the best of the church cannot save you.

In these tales we learnt about the nature of the Devil, he is powerful, resourceful, endlessly scheming against the church, will take you to hell if you let him, relatively easily outwitted by the god fearing and the alert.

2/ The Devil Goes in Search of Human Souls

This is a powerful and scary Devil

Widdecombe, Devon. Widdecombe Jack pledged his soul to the Devil and was taken from out of the church. This a may have been ball lightning and been a tale which evolved from a real event.
Shepton Mallet, Somerset – an old woman was taken by the Devil. She had been working on Sundays. She went to the priest to ask for help.
Aldbury, Herefordshire. Sir Guy de Gravada pledged himself to the Devil in exchange for the secrets of alchemy.

Next Session will look at Faust

18 October 2021 – The Devil in British Folklore

This session we continued the topic of the Devil in British Folklore in the context of the other world creatures we have been looking at.

In the previous session, for convenience, the topic was loosely grouped into 3 categories, though there was some overlapping

Legends and tales linked to unusual landscape features, very similar to features attributed to giants.
Attacks on Christianity
The devil looking for human souls, making deals and pacts and collecting his dues for them.

In folklore the devil is very different from the one in the bible. We speculated on who the devil may be, the origins and purpose of these stories.

They are good stories, often it is known these are not why a feature is there, but it is entertaining.
Provide explanations of geographical features
Memories/echoes of pagan spirits/gods. These were venerated at sacred sites and it has been suggested this is where these stories have originated. In cases they may have been changed into the devil by the Christian Church.

1/. Legends and Tales Linked to Unusual Landscape Features

We recapped and finished the legends and tales linked to unusual landscape features, very similar to features attributed to giants and were used to cover unusual things in the landscape by dropping stones, threatening to destroy certain towns etc.

Tunstall, Norfolk:- the Devil stole the church bells.
Eldon Hole, Derbyshire:- the Devil’s escape route to hell.
Cockcrow Stone, Wellington Somerset:- prehistoric standing stone under which the Devil buried treasure. If you were there at a specific time coinciding with the crowing of a cockerel you could dig up buried treasure
Callow Pit, Southwood, Norfolk:- contained an iron chest filled with gold.

There are a number of stories relating to raising the Devil

Cymbeline’s Castle, Ellesborough, Bucks.
Druid’s Stone, Bungay, Suffolk
Devil’s Arrows, North Yorks.
Longcompton, Warwickshire; North Leigh, Oxfordshire.

These had rituals involving circling the hills, stones etc for a set number of times, sometimes backwards, counter to the circling of the sun in the sky etc.

The number seven recurs in the tales

In Tarrington in Herefordshire the devil can be raised by walking backwards seven times round the preaching cross whilst reciting the Lord’s Prayer backwards.
In Stoke Edith in Herefordshire the devil was said to be able to be raised by walking seven times round the church and then looking in through the keyhole.
In Chanctonbury Ring (an Iron Age hill fort) in Sussex the Devil could be raised by walking seven times round the hill on a moonless night

We looked at an extract from ‘Folklore, Myths And Legends Of Britain’ Geoffrey Ashe et al, 1973, covering the Horseman’s Word from Scotland. This covered the initiation into a secret society, which when successful gave control over horses. This was from around 1870-1930’s. There were Celtic horse cults which may be the precursor of this. There had to be an odd number, preferably thirteen, special knocks, oaths taken, a ‘minister’ who oversaw the ritual etc.

2/. Attacks on Christianity

We started the second category covering attacks on Christianity and how Christianity developed his character.

We looked at several ones relating to churches including

Towednack Cornwall:- the Devil stole the stones from the church tower.
West Walton :- The Devil flew off with the church tower but dropped it as it was too heavy.
East Bergholt, Suffolk:- the Devil prevented the people building a stone tower attached to the Church.

These often included church bells. Bells have their own identity and personalities and in bell ringing they have names. They were believed to drive away evil spirits and protect against storms. They are also used to mark the important stages of life; birth, marriages and deaths.

20th September – No session

16 August 2021- The Devil in British Folklore

In the session we started a new topic of the Devil in British Folklore in the context of the other world creatures we have been looking at.

The devil in this context is different from the biblical one, he is not a fallen angel, nor is he Lucifer.

There are different origins and a vast collection of stories and legends.

For convenience the topic was loosely grouped into 3 categories, though there was some overlapping

Legends and tales linked to unusual landscape features, very similar to features attributed to giants.
Attacks on Christianity
The devil looking for human souls, making deals and pacts and collecting his dues for them.

We started with the first grouping

1/. Legends linking the Devil to unusual features in the landscape covering things like hills, rocks, glacial erratics, including natural and man-made features also covering prehistoric structures.

They come from all over the country and there are a huge selection of them:-

Devil’s Night Cap, Studland, Isle of Wight.

Bronescombe’s Loaf & Bronescombe’s Cheese, Okehampton, Dartmoor. Bishop Bromscombe was travelling to Widdecombe became lost and hungry was tempeted by bread and cheese offered by a stranger. The bishop’s servant spotted cloven hooves and pushed the food away which flew into the air and when they landed formed the rocks known as Bronescombe’s Loaf & Bronescombe’s Cheese

Hel Stone, Dartmoor:- used by the Devil in a game of quoits with King Arthur.

Hurdlestones, Somerset:- used by the Devil in a game of quoits with the Giant of Grabbist.

Broad Stone, Tidenham, Gloucs.:- thrown by the Devil in a contest with Jack o’Kent.

White Rocks, Garway Hill, Herefordshire:- failed attempt by the Devil & Jack o’Kent to dam the weir at Orcop Hill.

Stiperstones Ridge & the Devil’s Chair, Shropshire.

Lea Stone, Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire.

Hartforth, North Riding:- Devil’s failed attempt to destroy the town.

Devil’s Arrows (prehistoric standing stones) Boroughbridge, Yorkshire:- Devil’s failed attempt to destroy Aldborough.

Hell Gill Beck, North Riding:- the Devil building a bridge across the beck.

Devil’s Apron Strings, Casterton Fell; Apronfull Stones, Settle:- stones dropped by the Devil when he was building the bridge at Kirby Lonsdale Carl Crag, Seascale, Cumbria:- formed by the Devil when he was trying to build a bridge between Cumbria and the Isle of Man.

Holes of Scradda, Esha Ness, Shetland:- formed by the Devil.

Semer Water, N.Yorkshire:- stone-throwing contest between the Devil and a giant.

Six Hills (Iron Age burial mounds), Stevenage, Herts.:- created by the Devil when he tried to destroy Stevenage.

Devil’s Shovelful (prehistoric burial mounds), Shobdon, Herefordshire:- created when the Devil tried to destroy Shobdon.

Pyon Hill & Butthouse Knapp, Herefordshire:- formed when the Devil tried to destroy Hereford.

Devil’s Spadeful, Bewdley, Worcs.:- formed when the Devil tried to destroy Bewdley.

Cley Hill, Wiltshire:- formed when the Devil tried to destroy Devizes.

Silbury Hill, Wiltshire:- formed when the Devil tried to destroy Marlborough.

Silbury Hill:- formed by the Devil when he was digging the Wansdyke.

Devil’s Ditch, Berkshire; Devil’s Dykes Cambs. & Herts; Devil’s Dyke, Sussex:- all created by the Devil.

Devil’s Churchyard (stone circle), Minchinhampton, Gloucs:- failed attempt by the people to build a church.

Devil’s Den (prehistoric chambered tomb) Fyfield Down, Wiltshire.

This version of the devil had a lot in common with the stories about giants.

Large and very strong.
In some tales easily outwitted often by a cobbler.
Throwing things and missing the intended target leaving large hills or holes
The devil did a lot of dropping of things from his stonemason apron, apron ties breaking, this comes up all over the country.
Some amusing stories.
Earth moving civil engineering type stories
Whilst he may not be friendly with humans he is not obviously evil, cunning, nor greatly feared

There are a lot of stories around the River Severn and the boatmen may have been carrying the story as they travelled.

Next time we’ll finish this grouping, and speculate on who the devil may be, the origins and purpose of these stories.

Then we’ll move on to the second category and look at how Christianity developed his character.

18 July 2021- Giants in British Folklore and Mythology contd

In the session we discussed the role of the mythological heroes taking over from the gods in their constant battle against the giants.

Gilgamesh from Sumerian and Babylonian myths fought the giant Humbaba, the guardian of the cedar forest. Humbaba was friendly with the gods and was installed as forest guardian by Enlil (the father of the gods). Enlil cursed Gilgamesh for killing his guardian. Possibly we could put Humbaba in the same category as the co-operative giants from the early creation myths?

Fionn MacCumhaill from the Irish Celtic myths was held captive by the Giant of Lough Our on the eve of Samhain, but then later released in a weakened state. Possibly this is a version of the cycle of the season mythology, with the Giant representing winter, and Fionn as the sun god, released in time for spring?

We moved on then to see the way in which the hero versus giant myths filtered down into folklore, with stories of local folk heroes who also killed their giants- King Arthur, Jack the Giant Killer, the humble widow’s son who killed the Red Ettin and rescued the King of Scotland’s daughter.

21 June 2021- Giants in British Folklore and Mythology contd

The meeting continued looking at how giants connect to the natural world and feature in the landscape in British folklore.

The Role of the Giants in Folklore:-

1/. So far in the topic the giants we have looked at have been relatively benign and involved in engineering type projects, providing an explanation for the landscape and large buildings or structures.

We recapped Wade’s Causeway, North Yorkshire:- constructed by Wade and his wife Bel.

Churches at Putney & Fulham, London, were built by two giantess sisters who only had one hammer so threw it across the river which according to vulgar tradition was the source of the place names, they called out instructions to each other ‘put it nigh’ and heave it ‘full home’ when they wanted the hammer.

The Wrekin, Shropshire:-

(a) created by two quarrelling giants

(b) created by a Welsh giant who intended to destroy Shrewsbury but was outsmarted by a cobbler who met him on his way to do the deed. The cobbler had with him a large number of worn out shoes in need of repair and told the giant he had worn them out walking from Shrewsbury and it was too far for the giant to get to. The Wrekin is the large shovelful of earth the giant was carrying to dump on Shrewsbury and left behind when he abandoned his trip. There a lot of tales of cobblers and tailors outsmarting giants.

2/. Some tales of giants have origins in real people and the tales grew over time, they were larger than life characters

Llowes, Powys:- the castle at Hay-on-Wye was built by a giantess called Moll Walbee. Matilda/Maud de St Valery:- the real life counterpart of Moll Walbee; married to William de Braose who built Colwyn Castle and Painscastle in the time of King John. She was a very shrewd woman who successfully defended Painscastle against the Welsh. She features in Welsh folktales as a giantess and her husband a giant.

Piers Shonks:- in real life the Lord of the Manors of Brent Pelham & Barkway in Hertfordshire; according to folktales (a) he was a giant (b) he killed a dragon.

Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke:- possibly the real life counterpart of Jack o’Legs , a giant who was said to live at Weston, Hertfordshire.

3/. Some giants were not so well respected or benign

St Michael’s Mount, Cornwall:- a giant stole the people’s cattle, sheep & hogs, the giant would wade across the causeway and seize them and tie them round his waist.

Portreath & Godrevy Point, Cornwall:- a giant called Wrath captured and ate fisherman and sank ships. He lived in the sea.

Blackgang Chine, Isle of Wight:- a giant named Chale captured, roasted children over a charcoal fire and ate them. This continued until both he and the Chine were cursed by a holy man. There is no giant there now but it remains a forbidding place.

Nether Stowey & Stogursey, Somerset:- giants who lived under a huge mound of earth terrorised the local people, grabbed cows and the like and then developed a taste for human flesh. They were eventually overcome but people were always wary of the area, a dangerous place to be around. It is suggested that these sort of tales were harking back to creation mythology; chaos and destruction being overcome.

3/. Heroes and Giants

These tales go all the way back to Babylonian myths, Odysseus and the cyclops etc. It can be traced into folktales but on a more modest scale.

Jack:- killed the giant who lived on St Michael’s Mount, Cornwall by digging a pit, a stone was put over the hole. The giant stood on the stone and fell into the pit. There are a lot of stories of Jack the giant killer.

Sir Bevis of Hamtoun (Southampton):- according to a C13th romance killed a dragon and fought a giant. He spared the giant’s life and accepted him as his servant. In some accounts, Sir Bevis was a giant himself. This tale includes a horse called Arundel, which may have originally been Hirondelle which was a popular name for heroes horses.

Tom Hickathrift:- an enormous man who killed the giant who lived on the Smeeth at Tilney, Norfolk. There is an enormous stone in the church yard reputed to be his grave. He was dull and lazy at school, grew to a great height, he was 6ft tall when he was 10 years old and ate five normal children’s food. When he grew up, he took a job in a local brewery transporting barrels of beer. There was a giant in Smeeth who robbed and killed all who trespassed on the area. Tom had to take a long detour to avoid him. Being lazy he decided to take the direct route, ended up fighting and killing the giant. The giant had lots of gold and silver so Tom was rich for the rest of his life. This tale may have had its origins in the rights to land disputes.

Sir Guy of Warwick:- according to a C13th French romance, in Saxon times Sir Guy fought a giant called Colbrand who was the champion of a Danish force encamped at Winchester. Guy killed the giant and saved the people from the Danish threat. He went to the Holy Land and was so affected by his experience when he returned home he lived as a hermit and begged for food from his wife who did not recognise him. She died not long after he did and they were buried in the same grave.

Next Session. We shall complete the topic of giants and then move on to the Devil in Folktales

7 June 2021 – Giants in British Folklore and Mythology

The meeting considered how giants connect to the natural world and feature in the landscape in British mythology and folklore. We started by looking at creation myths and then how they featured in folklore.

1/. The Role of Giants in Creation Mythology:-

1.1/. Irish Book of Invasions:-

We started by looking at Irish Celtic creation myths. In Celtic myths the world has always been there but they do cover the first beings. There are a number of written sources which have survived. The book of Invasions is from 11 Century and uses earlier written and oral sources. In these myths Ireland was invaded by a succession of races from the Otherworld. Starting with the Race of Partholon, then the Nemedhians, the Fir Bholg, and then the Tuatha de Danaan. They all tamed and cultivated the land and fought the Formorii who were huge, evil deformed beings who lived in the air or under the sea. It could be argued that the Formorii is the chaos in creation so fighting these giants is something to keep the universe safe.

1.2/. Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “History of the Kings of Britain”, 1136:-

It is assumed the Welsh myths are the same but no written records remain. However the topic is covered in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “History of the Kings of Britain” which was written around 1136. He made use of earlier transcripts and oral sources.

In his account the first humans were Trojans. Britain was first settled by Brutus who was descended from Aeneas, Prince of Troy. Brutus accidently killed his father and was expelled from Italy. It had been prophesied that Brutus would settle on an island in the western sea inhabited only by giants. After a long adventure he landed in Totnes. Brutus drove out most of the giants who were living there, leaving only a few in Cornwall and divided the land between his followers.

Corineus was Brutus’ right-hand man who liked to fight giants for sport. Brutus set up a fight with the Cornish giant Gogmagog. During the fight Gogmagog broke three of Corneus’s ribs. Corneus became enraged and picked up the giant, took him to the coast and threw him into the sea. The sea was stained red with the giant’s blood and his body was broken into a thousand pieces.

This can be seen as part of the gods/heroes working against the forces of chaos so the land can be settled.

1.3/. Germanic & Scandinavian Creation Mythology:-

These myths give a slightly different picture. The universe has a definite beginning.

In the oldest myths the giants worked alongside the gods to create the universe. The universe was created by the Sky God working with the giant Nokkvi, the helmsman to the moon as it sails across the sky.

The Sky God gave chariots to the giants Night and Day and sent them into the heavens to drive around the Earth.

Ymir the Giant was the first being, made from the meeting of fire and ice in a void. He fathered the first of the Frost Giants and produced the first man and woman from the ooze under his left armpit.

Audumla the cow fed Ymir on her milk and licked Buri, the first of the gods, out of the ice.

Bor, the son of Buri, married the Frost Giantess Bestla and fathered the gods Odin, Villi & Ve with her.

Odin, Villi and Ve had no liking for Ymir and eventually attacked and killed him. His blood drowned all but two of the giants who escaped on a boat on the flow of the blood, these giants constantly looked for revenge. Ymir’s body made the world, his flesh made the soil, his bones the mountains, his blood the seas and the lakes and so on.

2/. The Role of the Giants in Folklore:-

The folklore mirrors earlier myths, some portray giants as being good and others as being bad. They were generally big and strong and neutral towards humans, sometimes friendly and destructive by accident. Figures of fun and the centre of amusing tales.

Norway, St Olaf entered into an agreement with a giant to build him a church, with the sun and the moon or St Olaf himself as payment if the giant completed the task according to the agreed terms. St Olaf found out the name of the giant and called his name out to him which so surprised the giant he fell from the roof of the church and was smashed into pieces. Knowing the name of something gives power over it.

A number of folklore tales involve giants in building projects and as explanations for things in the landscape. There are lots of tales on this topic and there are lots of them from Cornwall.

In St Levan, Cornwall the Iron Age hill fort Treryn Dinas was built either by a giant who conjured it out of the sea, or by the giant Dan Dfynas and his wife An Venna.
At Carn Galva, Zennor, Cornwall a giant set up the famous logan (rocking) stone. This was a nice giant who liked to build up a pile of rocks and then knock them down. He fought other giants to protect Zennor. He only killed a human once and that was by accident when he playfully tapped them on the head with his finger tip. The giant died within 7 years with a broken heart.
In Mounts Bay, Cornwall the giant Cormoran and his wife built a stronghold.
Lerrin, Cornwall a linear defensive ditch is called the Giant’s Hedge.
St Agnes’ Beacon, Cornwall the Bolster Bank linear earthwork was reputed to be built by a giant called Bolster.
Norden Hill & Hanging Hill, Dorset were created as the result of a stone throwing contest between two giants.
Colwall, Herefordshire a stone by the crossroads was said to have been thrown there by a giant, however it was well known that it was brought from a quarry.
Kinver Edge, Staffordshire the stone known as the Bolt Stone was thrown by a jealous giant who had a beautiful wife and saw another giant kissing his wife and threw a long thin stone at the other giant, which is still there today.
At Turton, Lancashire the Hanging Stone was thrown from Winter Hill to Turton by a giant.
Wade’s Causeway in Yorkshire is a Roman road which linked four Roman camps. It is said to have been built by a giant called Wade out of stones brought by his wife Bel in her leather apron. The apron gave way and heaps of stones were left.

There are a number of reasons for the tales. In some stories the real reason things were in the landscape was already well known and the tale told for amusement or entertainment. In some cases the knowledge may have been lost and made up by less educated local people. Others hold echoes of past mythology.

Next time we shall look at more tales of giant, some not well disposed to humans.

17 May 2021 – Otherworld Folklore Creatures Associated with Water

The session completed the topic looking at Seal People (Selkies), Sea Trows, Water Cattle and Kelpies.

1/. Seal people’s (Selkies):-

In tales from the West of Ireland and Scotland their normal environment is the sea, they can shed their skin and take on human form. This happens at dawn and dusk and on special days.

People used to claim they were descended from Selkies who bred with human men whilst in their human form.

One tale was of a young crofter/fisherman who saw a Selkie in the act of turning into a woman, he stole her skin so she could not revert and go back to the sea. He took her home to be his wife and they lived together and had children. She always wanted to return to the sea and one day found the skin the young man had left and went back to the sea and was never seen again.

There was another tale of the Selkie Bride from long ago on the coast of Scotland where a beautiful human form Selkie was left behind by her own kind when they were startled by a man. He kept her skin even though she begged for it as he had fallen in love with her. She was trapped and had no option but to agree to live with him. He kept the skin in a crook in the chimney. They were married and he truly loved her and she grew to love him too and they had 7 children. She pined for the sea and the children would sometimes see their mother on the beach. One of the children asked her why and she replied that she was born in the sea and your father has hidden my seal skin. The child knew where the skin was and moved by his mother’s distress brought the skin to her. She put the skin on and went into the sea. The fisherman’s heart broke in two and he realised how wrong he had been. They missed her for the rest of their lives, they often saw a seal close to the shore and they never went hungry as every time they went fishing, they had a net full of gleaming fish.

2/. Sea Trows from Shetland:-

These looked like human beings, they were mortal and very beautiful men and women with super natural powers. They lived in the sea down below any fish. The only way they could come up was by putting on the skin of an amphibious creature, once on shore they could take the skin off but they could not return if they lost the skin.

Samuel Hibbert in his book ‘A Description of the Shetland Isles’ says these were fallen angels who took refuge in the sea but records show these stories were there before Christianity.

They were fond of the Skerries and would revel in the moonlight protected by the turbulent water around the islands.

There are connections to Celtic Mythology, from the other world, using water as a way to cross over and shape-shifting

3/. Water Cattle:-

These are stories from the Celtic parts of Britain, Scotland, Wales and Coastal Ireland. In the Highlands of Scotland and Wales they are fairy cattle whose real homes are under the water and belong to the fairy folk. They are brown with no horns. One tale was of a fairy cow which was bred with a normal bull. When it had come to be of no further use they were about to butcher it when it was called home by a green woman, the cow sped away and took all her offspring with her.

4/. Horses/Kelpies:-

Kelpies were most often horses but they could also take on human form. Old men, young men, young women. They would go courting and could be recognised by the waterweed in their hair. They haunted fords and rivers especially at night in storms and when the rivers were full. They were dangerous and malevolent beings. They delighted in the drowning of men, distress of sailors as a ship went down.

The White Horse of Spey was ready saddled with reins dangling to lure tired travellers to ride it, then would gallop off into the water.

When the Conon River in Ross-shire was in flood it would appear as a woman or as a horse. The woman was described as being very tall and dressed in green. Her face was distorted by a malignant scowl. They would leap out from the water beside travellers and beckon them into the water. The traveller couldn’t resist and could not be saved. One tale covers a man being saved from drowning and taken to a church but later found face down in a trough. It was his fate.

Such was the belief in Kelpies that on one occasion some people were stuck on a sandbank in the Solway Firth and the people on land did not try to save them as they assumed it was kelpies and they could not be saved.

There were lots of these stories, with the majority resulting in mutilation with fingers being chopped off to loosen grip on reins in order to escape or drowning. On occasion the Kelpie could be outwitted.

These stories were a way of explain natural phenomenon.

Next time we shall start a new topic of Giants.

19 April 2021- Otherworld Folklore Creatures Associated with Water

The session looked at mermaids and church bells and then other creatures.

1/. Legends Concerning Mermaids & Church Bells:-

Examples

Llyn Cerig Bach, Anglesey:- around 140 Iron Age metal objects discovered in the lake in 1943
Llyn Fawr, Rhondda Valley:- Bronze & Iron Age metal objects found in the lake in 1911.
Bosham, Sussex:- church bell said to have been looted by the Vikings and then lost in the harbour.

These legends were common and may have had their origins in the old folklore of water spirits, goddesses. They hark back to pagan beliefs and old religions. The legends concerning church bells obviously come about with Christianity and are perhaps related to the struggles to get Christianity accepted. Metal is linked to the old beliefs and church bells may be dim memories of offerings in the past. Several the stories pick up on the theme of virtue and sin. Although it is set within a Christian context a number of the stories involve wise men and pagan like rituals which must be strictly adhered to or they will fail.

2/. Sea-Living Mermaids:-

There are a lot of these stories. They probably started as water spirits and had the mermaid label attached later, with Celtic mythology roots. Water being the portal between this world and the other world. They often had long blonde hair. The sea living mermaids had a range of supernatural powers, some could shape change shift, if they married a human they became a human. If the mermaid was treated well you would have good luck, if treated badly you would be cursed. Human husbands would live with them for all eternity. Some mermaids lived in the sea and also had farms on land.

We looked at a number of examples

Orkney Fin Folk:- human form but covered in scales instead of skin.
Lizzard Point, Cornwall:- in return for his kindness to her, a mermaid taught an old man from Cury the art of charming. She also offered to make him young again if he would go with her, but he declined.
Conwy, North Wales:- the town was cursed by a mermaid after the townspeople refused to help her.
Padstow, Cornwall:- a sandbank that blocked the harbour was the result of a mermaid’s curse.
Isle of Man:- the thick mists that often descended on the island where the result of a mermaid’s curse.
The Black Rock, Mersey Estuary:- a mermaid lured sailors to their doom.
Mermaid’s Rock, Lamorna, Cornwall:- a mermaid lured fishermen to their doom.
Zennor, Cornwall:- a mermaid lured a local man away to be her husband.

3/. Water Fairies:-

Some mermaids were called water fairies and there is a blurred line in their definition. The water fairies also have their origins in water spirits, Celtic mythology and appear a lot in Welsh folklore. These would have towns on the beds of lakes, involve magic, time passing at a different rate, aversion to iron.

We looked in detail at

The Fairies of the Mountain Lake:-

“The people who lived near to Beddgelert in Snowdonia used to watch the Fairies dancing in the moonlight on the shores of a certain mountain lake. One night a young man fell in love with one of the Fairy women and he took her off and locked her in his house. She agreed to act as his servant, and then she married him. They had two children and lived together happily for some years. Then one day, when she was helping her husband to catch a horse, an iron bit struck her on the shoulder, iron being anathema to all Fairy Folk, and in an instant she vanished. However, on the Fairies’ mountain lake there was a floating island that was blown about by the wind, and from time to time, the Fairy wife would appear in this island and she would talk to her husband while he stood on the shore.” Janet & Colin Bord, “Atlas of Magical Britain”, 1990.

and at

The Lake Island in Llyn Cwm Llwych:-

“At the foot of Corn Du in the Brecon Beacons is the tiny lake of Llyn Cwm Llwych which is reputed to be bottomless. In ancient times, it was believed that there was a door in a rock which gave access to an island in the centre of the lake, which was invisible to those who stood on the shore. People who went to the island were hospitably received by the Fairies who lived there, but one day the Fairies were angry with a guest who took away a flower. They closed the door and for hundreds of years it could not be found.

One day some local people decided to drain the lake to see if the Fairies had left any treasure behind. They dug a deep trench and just when they had got to the point where another blow with the pick would have broken the bank and let out the water, there was a flash of lighting and a peal of thunder. From the lake rose a gigantic man, who warned them that if they disturbed his peace he would drown the valley of the River Usk, starting with Brecon town.”

and

The Poet Southey on the Subject of the Fairies’ Enchanted Island:-

“Of these islands or green spots of the floods, there are some singular superstitions. They are the abode of the Tylwth Teg, or the Fair Family….They love to visit the earth, and seizing a man enquire whether he will travel above wind, mid-wind, or below wind: above wind is a giddy and terrible passage, below wind is through brush and brake, the middle is a safe course…In their better moods they come and carry the Welsh in their boats. He who visits these islands imagines on his return that he has been absent only for a few hours, when in truth whole centuries have passed away. If you take turf from St David’s churchyard and stand upon it on the sea shore, you behold these islands. A man once who thus obtained sight of them immediately put to sea to find them, but his search was in vain. He returned, looked at them again from the enchanted turf, again set sail and failed again. The third time he took the turf into his vessel and stood upon it until he reached them.” Chris Barber, “Mysterious Wales”, 2000.

and

Wirt Sykes, “Goblins”, 1880:-

“Sailors on the coasts of Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire still talk of green meadows of enchantment which are visible sometimes to the eyes of mortals, but only for a brief space of time. In former years, some sailors went ashore on the Fairy islands, not knowing they were such, until they returned to their boats and were filled with awe at seeing the islands disappear from their sight, neither sinking into the sea, nor floating away upon the waters but simply vanishing.” Chris Barber, “Mysterious Wales, 2000.

Next time we shall continue with Seal People (Selkies) could shed their seal skins and assume human form, and Water Cattle/Kelpies

29 March 2021- Supernatural and Other World Beings

The session started looking at a selection of creatures associated with the natural world covering mermaids, water spirits, seal people, kelpies, all with watery connections.

Mermaids in Inland Water:-

By late C12th in western art the mermaid had acquired all her familiar features. In western Christian imagery she was a symbol of lust & desire.

In British folklore, mermaids were associated with water, love, marriage, procreation , danger and also wisdom.

Examples looked at in the session were:-

Atargatis:- venerated in ancient Near East; associated with the River Euphrates; personified the light & aspects of love; by C2nd AD depicted as half woman/ half fish.

Aphrodite:- Greek goddess of love (Roman Venus); born from the foam of the sea: in Roman times depicted as rising from the sea holding a looking glass.

Sirens:- in Greek mythology lured sailors onto the rocks with their beguiling song; depicted as half woman/ half bird.

Child Ercall, Shropshire:- a mermaid guarded treasure at the bottom of her pool.

Rostherne Mere, Knutsford, Cheshire:- a mermaid swam from the River Mersey to the mere every Easter Sunday (by way of an underground channel) and rang a bell at the bottom of the mere.

Marden, Herefordshire:- a mermaid appropriated a church bell that fell into her river.

Black Mere, Staffordshire:- a mermaid lured unwary travellers to their deaths.

East Anglia:- mermaids haunted the fens and inland pools.

River Kinder, Derbyshire:- a mermaid with the gift of immortality appeared in a pool at dawn on Easter Day.

Loch Benachally, Tayside:- the Laird of Lornty escaped a mermaid in the loch.

Girvan Water, Strathclyde:- a mermaid cursed the Lord and Lady of Knockdolian.

Dalbeattie Burn, Galloway:- a mermaid took revenge on a Christian woman.

Monmouthshire:- Nicky Nicky Nye dragged unwary children into rivers.

Fordham, Cambridgeshire:- a mermaid dragged unwary children into her pond.

Rendlesham, Suffolk:- a mermaid dragged unwary children into her pond.

Lancashire, Cheshire, Shropshire:- Jenny Greenteeth dragged unwary children into weed-filled rivers, ponds, lakes.

Piercebridge, County Durham:- Peg Powler lurked in the River Tees.

Frig/Nerthus:- Germanic/Scandinavian Earth Mother.

Rivers Tweed, Dart, Till, Derwent, Ribble:- “demanded” a certain number of lives each year.

There was a discussion on the possible origins of Mermaids in Inland water sources

They could have been the goddesses or water spirits who guarded the pools and rivers in the pagan past when these sites were regarded as sacred places. Possibly the legends and tales may contain some dim “folk memories” of the rituals once performed at these sites.
On a more mundane level, the mermaid legends would also serve as warnings, to keep adults and children away from dangerous water.

We will have more to say about the mermaids and church bells in our next session (19th April).

15 February, 1 March and 15 March 2021 – Fairy Folk

The sessions continued and completed the subject of the Fairy Folk/Good People:

For ease of discussion we grouped the tales into 4 categories:-

1/. Stories where they benefit from human kindness and offer a reward.
2/. React to unkindness and disrespect.
3/. Changelings, fairy left in place of a human baby
4/. Adult humans wander into their Fairy Land or are abducted there.

1/. In the previous session we looked at a number of tales about the first group of The Good People. There are lots of stories about these and often involved farmers and their wives and their help would be rewarded with little loaves, pats of butter or cheeses. These stories occurred all over Britain and continental Europe.

2/. This second group had a less benign flavour to them. Great care had to be taken to show respect or there could be dire consequences. Giving way to greed, arrogance and abusing hospitality were often fatal. They may have been used as morality tales, and perhaps in later versions reflected Christian mores. They attribute supernatural causes onto natural events, for things at the time there was no obvious explanation such as wasting diseases.

The Midwife at Garth Dorwen

We looked in detail at the story of The Midwife at Garth Dorwen. Human midwives were often summoned to fairy births to help fairy mothers or assist human women who had been abducted.

An old man and his wife who lived at Garth Dorwen, near Llandwrog went to Caernarfon to hire a servant at the Fair. They hired a girl with yellow hair who was standing a little apart for the others.

The girl, Eilian, would go out into the meadow to spin by the light of the moon. Here the Tylwyth Teg (the good people) used to come to her and sing and dance. One day in Spring, she ran off with the Tylwyth Teg and no more was heard of her.

The old woman at Garth Dorwen helped women in childbed, and some time after this, a gentleman on horseback came to the door one night when the moon was full, to fetch her to his lady. The old woman rode pillion behind him and they came to Rhos-y-Cowrt. In the centre of the rhos (moor) was an old fortification. Here they entered a large cave and came to a room- and it was the finest place the old woman had seen in her life- where the wife lay in bed.

When the baby was born, the husband gave her ointment to anoint its eyes, warning her not to get it into her own, but one of her eyes happening to itch, she rubbed it with the finger she had used to anoint the baby’s eyes. At once she saw with that that the fine chamber was a cave, the bed a ring of stones lined with rushes and withered bracken, and the gentleman’s wife none other than her servant girl Eilian; yet with the other eye, she still saw the grandest place that ever she had seen.

Not long afterwards, the old woman went to Caernarfon market and there she saw the husband. “How is Eilian?”, she asked. “She is pretty well, thank you”, he said, “but which eye do you see me with?”. “Well this one”, said she. At once he took a bullrush stem and poked it out.

In this tale Eilian has unusually coloured hair which would make her attractive to the good people. They were thought to need human blood lines to strengthen theirs. The spinning, moonlight, full moon, caves, old forts, travelling at night are common themes. Grand fairy abodes were often revealed to be very modest. Again there was a great consequence for disobeying, a warning not to cause even accidental offence.

Tom Monahan and the Hurley

We also looked in detail at the tale of “Tom Monahan and the Hurley”, as recorded in Galway in 1945.

Tom Monahan from Doonlaun was one of the finest players of hurling in the district. One bright moonlight night, he was on his way home, and as he passed a field that sloped down from a wood, he was surprised to see two teams of men playing hurling in the moonlight, and as he watched the game, he realised that they must be the Good People. They played wonderfully well and after a time, Tom became so excited that he let out a yell, which alerted the Good People to his presence.

“Would you like to join in?”, they asked. “Indeed I would”, said Tom, and “Have you a hurley?” They handed Tom the finest hurley he had ever seen, and he played as he never had before, and his team won.

“I’ll tell you who we are, now”, said the Good People. “We are from the churchyard beyond, and we are in a great fix, for we have to play our old rivals from Knockmar on this night week, and they have a mortal, the red-headed Paddy Ruadh, to play for them, and he is the best hurler in County Mayo. Will you play for us, to even things up?’ “Indeed I will”, said Tom, ‘but can I have the same hurley?” And it was agreed.

So a week from that night, Tom crept out, telling no-one where he was going, and he found the two teams and his hurley waiting for him. They played and played, and in the end, Tom’s team won. “What would you like now?” said the Good People, “and we’ll give it to you.” “I’d like the hurley that I played so well with”, was the reply. “You’ve asked for the one thing we can’t do. Tis fairy property and we couldn’t give it away.” “Well I want it”, said Tom. “Well you can’t have it”, said the Good People. “Well I must”, said Tom, and with that he walked away, taking the hurley will him.

Well Tom was hardly home before he began to sicken. His mother could do nothing for him, and the doctor could do nothing for him, and all the time, he grew worse and worse. And when he knew that he was going to die, Tom asked them to bury the hurley with him in his coffin. Sure they did it, so maybe he’s still winning matches for Doonlaun now.”

The common themes let us know early in the tale that the good people are involved, moonlight, reference to red hair, the finest hurley, from a church yard, and with this Christian morality. He paid a high price for breaking the rules of hospitality.

3/. The third group, Changelings, have a very dark tone to them, especially in the early stories. The origins of these may have come from disabled babies, sudden illness, congenital disorders and defects, and infanticide. The changelings survive for a while. In the later stories, the human parents sometimes get the children back and the fairies don’t abandon their own.

There was a view that changelings were taken to strengthen the fairy stock. Boys with fair hair and rosy cheeks were prized, they were taken, treated well and in due course took a fairy bride. Something would be left behind in their place such as a magic block of wood or one of their own.

A changeling could be recognised as they were ugly and wizened, unnaturally knowing, becoming weak, grizzling, moping, and failing to thrive.

Precautions could be taken to protect a child from being taken. Iron and steel were well known to be repugnant to fairy folk, salt, rowan twigs, crucifix and rosary beads were protective. These are a mix of pagan and Christian beliefs co-opted into the stories later. In rural Ireland boys were dressed as girls to protect them from coming to the notice of the fairies until they were old enough to be safe.

These tales were from all over the country with examples from Ipstones, Staffordshire, Fermanagh, Ireland, Kington, Powys, Scotland and Llyn Ebyr, Wales. The people recounting the tale were often well-regarded members of the community and therefore viewed as reliable. A way to get the changeling to show itself was to act in an unexpected way, in the tale from Llyn Ebyr eggshell stew was served to the workers.

4/. The fourth group are those where adult humans wander into the fairy realm or are abducted. There were numerous examples of these.

These had echoes of the Celtic other world. Involved journeys near water, at night, at length, through caves, underground, through gaps in rocks, through a door, getting lost. You were safe if you did not eat or drink. The passage of time was different. Behaving oddly or bringing something from this world could be used to escape or rescue a person. Some tales left the protagonists caught between worlds where they could be heard from time to time outside cave entrances, in the wind etc..

The other world could be recognised because it was beautiful, vibrant and splendid. In Irish culture it was often the land of youth and health. It was often shown to be enchantment and not real.

The Fairy Dwelling on Selena Moor

We looked at this tale in detail, it has many of these elements.

A Farmer called Noy once took a short cut on Selena Moor in Cornwall and he became lost. After wandering for many miles over country that he could not recognise, he came upon a house, outside which hundreds of people were either dancing, or sitting drinking at tables. They were all richly dressed, but they looked to the farmer to be very small, and the tables and cups were small as well.

The farmer was astounded when he recognised a young woman who was serving drinks. She was his former sweetheart Grace, and as far as everyone was concerned, she had died three or four years before. Grace beckoned him aside, into the orchard that surrounded the house, and told him that she had also become lost on the moor, while searching for a lost sheep. What her friends found on the moor, what they thought was her body, was in fact a changeling, a stock, put there by the Fairies. In fact she had wandered around for hours until she came to an orchard where she could hear music playing. Although the music sounded near at hand, she could not get out of the orchard to find it.

At last, worn out with hunger and thirst, she plucked a golden plum from one of the trees and began to eat it. At once the fruit dissolved into bitter water in her mouth and she fell into a faint. When she revived, she found herself surrounded by a crowd of little people, who were very pleased to have acquired such a likely looking girl to bake and brew for them, and to look after their human babies.

Farmer Noy asked her about the little people, and she told him that their lives seemed unnatural and sham:- “They have little sense or feeling; what serves them in a way as such, is merely the remembrance of whatever pleased them when they lived as mortals, maybe thousands of years ago.”

Farmer Noy asked if Fairy babies were ever born, and Grace replied just occasionally, and then there was great rejoicing. Every little Fairy man, however old and wizened, was proud to be thought its father:- “For you must remember that they are not of our religion, but star-worshippers (pagans). They do not always live together like Christians and turtle doves; considering their long existence, such constancy would be tiresome for them.”

When Grace was called back to her work, she warned the farmer not to touch any fruit or flower in the orchard “for your very life”.

Farmer Noy thought that he might find a way to rescue them both; so he took his hedging gloves out of his pocket, turned them inside out and threw them in among the Fairies. Immediately everything vanished, including his lady-love, and he found himself standing alone beside a ruined cottage on the moor.

He was found some time later, dazed and bewildered, by the friends who had come out search for him. When he recovered his senses, he was much surprised to discover that he had been missing for three days.

Origins of the Fairy Folk in British Folklore:-

At the end of the topic we looked at the possible origins of the Fairy Folk. These tales stand out as being a distinctly different set of stories and there are a great many legends concerning them.

(i) they may have been used to illustrate examples of proper behaviour in stories designed to have a teaching function for children and adults. With Christian morals co-opted into them in later versions.

(ii) they may have been the existing inhabitants of Britain displaced when either the Bronze Age people or the Iron Age Celts arrived and they were pushed to the margins. The fairies didn’t like iron and the Celts had iron weapons. However, it is now thought that these peoples were blended together. There may be echoes of human origins in the long distant past.

(iii) they may have been linked to a cult of the dead, cult of the ancestors. Glastonbury Tor, Somerset:- St Collen met Gwyn ap Nudd (King of the Fairies, Lord of Annwyn) in his palace inside the Tor. Fairy Folk and the realm of the dead.

(iv) they may represent a survival of Celtic mythology: originally they may have been Celtic gods & goddesses. Aine:- wife of the Celtic sea god Manannan Mac Lir; wife of the sky horse Echdae; strong associations with the Earth Mother/ Great Goddess; in Munster venerated at Cnoc Aine as goddess of the dawn and also as Queen of the Fairies.

Next time we shall continue with supernatural in the natural world and landscape including the sea and mermaids.

1 February 2021- Black Dog in Folklore continued

The session:

Followed on the theme of Black Dogs and Boggy beasts with other similar beasts by completing the flitting with the boggart and starting with the Good Folk and the Fairy Folk.

1/. Flitting with the Boggart . Sometimes the helpful or mischievous boggart would become so troublesome a family would seek to move . We followed a detailed tale of a boggart attached to a family. This tale was designed to entertain.

We looked at the development of a story recorded in two different locations. The story we started with was from Yorkshire recorded in Literary Gazette April 1825, quoted in Katharine M Briggs British Folktale and Legends: A sampler London Paladin/Granada 1977 p122. The family were being troubled by an unseen Boggart who tormented the children. This Boggart lived in a closet which had a knot hole in the door. The children would poke things through, and they would be violently thrown out. Eventually the family resolved to move out and leave the Boggart behind. The Boggart hid himself in a large churn and spoke to them as they were travelling to the new home. The family decided to return to the house they had just left.

This tale bears a remarkable likeness to that recorded by John Roby in ‘Traditions of Lancashire’. This had some added details such as a worthy old lady recounting the tale but elements of it were almost verbatim. This was set in Lancashire and is thought to be a more recent version.

These tales often have little gems of old traditions and ancient beliefs. Knot holes were thought to be a way of seeing things you could not otherwise see, portals. Holes in stones were believed to be protection from witches.

2/. Fairy Folk/Good People

They are very much the superior elite of household beings. These are not the fairies from children’s story books and are more sinister, tricksy, and dangerous and need to be treated with respect.

They would spend most of their time in their own realm but would visit our world for their own purposes or to encounter humans.

Care had to be taken in interactions with them. Humans had to play fair with them, not be mean-spirited with them, not be disrespectful, not spy on them, not talk openly about them. They are addressed as ‘Good People’, ‘Hidden People. Using their names is disrespectful and there is power in using a name. It was a widespread and ancient belief that using a name gave you power over them. This is something which comes up in other tales such as Odysseus, Rumpelstiltskin. It also features in modern day story-telling in films such as Beetlejuice and Candyman.

If they were offended, they would take swift and nasty retribution.

Stories often like morality tales

The lifestyle of the Good Folk was similar to humans and they had a social hierarchy.

There was an aristocracy with a king and a queen. They would come to this world to hold their feasts, ride or hunt.

There were also ordinary Fairy folk who were small about the size 3-year-old children who looked human like. They too enjoyed feasting, but they also had to work as farmers and bakers etc.. As part of their work, they would visit markets in the human world. They could extract money from human farmers’ pockets without their knowledge.

Good people were masters of magic. They could give gifts which appeared to be of little or no value and turn them into gold etc. They could not fly using wings but used some magic device such as a cap, belt or spell. They could appear and disappear at will.

The best time to see them was at dawn or dusk, bright star or moon lit nights. Out of the corner of your eye between one blink and the next. Also if you held a 4 leaf clover or had a holed stone.

There are lots of tales and legends which fall into 4 categories:-

Stories where they benefit from human kindness and offer a reward.
React to unkindness and disrespect.
Changelings, fairy left in place of a human baby
Adult humans wander into their Fairy Land or are abducted there.

We looked at a number tales about the first group of The Good People and these included :-

Scottish Borders:- a poor shepherd rewarded for helping a Fairy Woman and her child
Galloway:- Sir Godfrey Mac Cullough rewarded for diverting his drains
Lochmaben, Dumfries & Galloway:- a woman prospered after obliging the Fairy Folk
Deunant, Aberdaron:- a farmer prospered after redesigning his house to accommodate the Fairy Folk
Airlie, Tayside:- cakes baking at the fire were sometimes taken by the Fairy Folk

A common theme was finding Fairy underground homes under houses, tree roots etc. This may link back to prehistoric workings which had chambers underground and may have been seen as an explanation of that. There were also memories of offerings made in the past linking back to ploughing and rites to ensure a good harvest.

We looked in detail at Paddy O’Gadhra’s Fairy Shilling Malin Glen, Donegal:- where a Fairy rewarded his help carrying a heavy basket with a shilling which kept reappearing in his pocket even after he had spent it. Eventually, he started to fear his wonderful gift so he went to the priest in Glencolumcile and told him what had happened. The priest put his stole around his neck and made the sign of the cross on the shilling, and it vanished. This tale shows rewards for a good deed and the response to Christianity.

We also looked at the Broken Fairy Peel (ref Westwood & Simpson, “The Lore of the Land”):- A peel is a wooden shovel for the removal of bread from the oven. This was set at Burlow Castle, Ardlington, in Sussex which was well known for fairies, and nobody liked to go by it after dark for fear of them. One day, a man called Charles was ploughing a field alongside the earthwork, together with a mate called Harry, when they heard a noise under the ground, which was a Fairy, calling for help because she was baking bread and had broken her peel. “Put it up and I’ll try and mend it”, said Charles, and up through a crack in the dry ground came a little peel, no bigger than a cheese knife. Charles was careful not to laugh at the tiny thing, but mended it and laid it back in the crack. Harry had his back turned during this and when Charles told him about it, he refused to believe it, saying it was nonsense and there were no fairies nowadays.

Next day they were working in the same field and stopped for their lunch, Charles heard the voice again, and saw standing close by the crack, a little bowl full of “summat that smelled a hell and all better than small beer.” He drank it up eagerly and meant to keep the bowl to show Harry, for he was elsewhere again, but it slipped out of his hands and smashed to pieces, so Harry only laughed at him. But Harry was paid out. He fell ill and could no longer work, and pined away ’til he was only skin and bone. The doctor could do nothing for him, and he died a year later, at the very same day and hour that the little voice was first heard and when he spoke against the Fairies.

This tale picks up a number of the recurring themes. A place where you did not venture after dark, located close to ancient earthworks, with the fairy living under ground. A reward for a good turn and showing respect. Dire punishment for being disrespectful.

Next time we shall continue with Fairies.

18 January 2021- Black Dog in Folklore continued

The session:

Followed on the theme of Black Dogs and Boggy beasts with other similar beasts. Completing mischievous creatures and then looking at helpful ones.

1/. We finished off the Hedley Kow. Kow being the North Country name for a Boggart/Boggle. This was known for playing tricks, could shape shift and would cause torment. It could appear at the birth of a child, mocking and taunting those involved. This was a special time where when new life is brought about and seen as a time where the boundaries between this world and the other were blurred. It took many forms not all of them animal.

The origins of this type of being go back into history and have been embellished over time. Tales of shape shifting goes back into Celtic Myths and legends.

2/. We then had a look at a large number of examples of helpful creatures, these were found all over the country and included:-

Brownie of Strathmiglo Castle, Fife, Scotland:- helped the people of the Tower of Cash with the farm work in return for food.
Puck:- helped at Old Daniel Burton’s farm at Levenshulme, Lancashire until the farmer criticised his work; left for good when the farmer called down God’s blessing on him.
Hobthrust of Manor Farm, East Halton, Lincolnshire:- left after the farmer substituted his usual reward of a linen shirt with one made of hemp
Hob Hurst at Dore, Sheffield:- made shoes for a poor shoemaker until the man became too curious and too greedy.
Abbey Lubbers:- haunted abbeys where the monks were too fond of their food and drink.
Boggart of Wolf Hall, Chipping, Lancashire:- troublesome boggart was laid by a priest under a yew tree by the farm gate.
Boggart of Hothersall Hall, Lancashire:- laid under the roots of a laurel tree at the end of the house.
Boggart of Syke Lumb Farm, Blackburn, Lancashire:- helpful if treated well, or mischievous if treated with disrespect.
Flitting with the Boggart:- boggart attached himself to the family, rather than to the house. Boggart of Boggart Hall and Boggart Hole (Hall) Clough, Blackley, Lancashire. This will be looked at further in the next session.

3/. There was a sort of common set of rules/themes when dealing with these creatures:-

They needed to be treated with respect.
Invoking God’s word would offend and cause them to leave.
They should not be exploited in what they do for humans, they were willing workers but there were always conditions attached
Sometimes they were easily offended by things like the offer of payments as they were nobody’s servant. We discussed why they may be offended by the offer of clothes. If they were poor quality this showed a lack of respect, the rules of hospitality said the best quality should be given, and it could be seen as disrespectful to their natural state, these creatures were often described as small hairy men.

4/. Origins

The origins of this folklore lie far back in time and they may have provided a consequence and a reason for things that happened that could not otherwise be explained. There could have been a teaching purpose behind them. They may have provided a moral framework as they were willing to help decent humans and this may have been developed as Christianity grew.

References to trees in the tales links back to Norse mythology, Yggdrasil was the tree which held the various worlds together and offerings of milk would be given to nourish it. Holly is regarded as protective against things evil.

Next session Flitting with the Boggarts and then moving on to The Faery Folk or The Good Folk.

4 January 2021- Black Dog in Folklore continued

The session:

Followed on the theme of Black Dogs and Boggy beasts with other similar beasts.

1/. These occur all over the country and vary from being extremely scary and dangerous, through mischievous, to being helpful. Although they have similar features to black dogs they are considered as different creatures and occur in the same areas. They tend to be more than sightings, with more of them having detailed folktales attached.

2/. We looked at a wide range of examples.

These included:-

Monstrous creatures called the Baobhan Sith:- which were vampire like, in the form of beautiful women; haunted lonely countryside in the Scottish Highlands; trapped unwary men and drank their blood.
Boggle:- amorphous glowing shape; haunted a lane at Orton, Kirkby Stephen, after dark
Buckies:- haunted lonely roads at night in Lowland Scotland
Madame Pigott:- haunted lonely lanes around Chetwynd, Hereford & Worcester, jumping up behind horsemen and strangling them with long boney fingers.
“The White Bucca and the Black” folk tale from Cornwall where a feisty old Cornish woman gets the better of someone playing tricks upon her. A good example of an entertaining story.

Common themes occurred in the tales and characteristics of the beings. Long boney fingers, shape shifting. Locations were frequently lonely, dark, late at night, near to water, abandoned castles, scary places. They often preyed on travellers.

3/. Ignis Fatuus (Foolish Fires)

Includes: – Lantern Man, Shiner, the Shiners, Jack O’ Lantern, Will o’ the Wisp, Hobby Lanthorn, Kit with the Canstick. These used false lights to tempt travellers off the paths and into marshes, bogs & other dangerous countryside. These were linked to marshy places and had a very direct link to the geography of the area so frequently occur in Dartmoor, The Somerset Levels, East Anglia. Originating as explanations for the ignition of marsh gases before these were understood.

In Northern Europe bogs were special places, seen as the boundary between this world and the other world. Beautiful Bronze and Iron Age artefacts have been found in bogs and are thought to be offerings. There is also a history of bog bodies.

We looked in detail at the folk tale of the dead moon, the story can be found in ‘British Folk Tales and Legends: A Sampler Katharine M Briggs London, Granada/Paladin, 1977 pp 21-23’. We discussed the rituals they had to perform for protection and in order to free the moon. This tale took place by boggy water a dark and scary place. The moon is personified as a beautiful woman.

4/. We started looking at an example of a mischievous being. The Hedley Kow:- a hob that appeared in various forms and pestered people in Hedley, Northumberland. This was a shape shifter frequently playing tricks on servant girls in farmhouses whilst they were away from their tasks tangling their knitting, letting the cat at the milk and similar tricks.

Next time we shall continue with more on the Hedley Kow and mischievous creatures and household creatures which are friendly to humans if treated properly.