Lancashire Folk-lore Part 13

SECOND-SIGHT.

Though this faculty of seeing into the future has usually been regarded as limited to Scotland, and there chiefly possessed by natives of the Highlands, there have been individuals in Lancashire who have laid claim to the possession of this species of foresight. Amongst those in the Fylde district was a man named Cardwell, of Marton, near Blackpool, who foretold deaths and evil events from his vision of things to come. Men of superior ability were credulous enough to visit him, and to give implicit faith to his marvellous stories. The real form of second-sight is the seeing of the wraith, spirit, or ghost of one about to die; and in one notable instance Cardwell's second-sight failed him utterly. On seeing something in a vision, he concluded that his own child was about to die, and so strong was his own faith in this delusion that he carried sand to the churchyard to be ready for its grave. The death, however, did not happen: the child grew to maturity, and retaining robust health, lived for many years afterwards.

SPIRITS OF THE DYING AND THE DEAD.

1. Persons born during twilight are supposed to be able to _see_ spirits, and to know who of their acquaintance will die next.

2. Some say that this property also belongs to those who happen to be born _exactly_ at twelve o'clock at night.

3. The spirits of persons about to die, especially if the persons be in distant lands, are supposed to return to their friends, and thus predict the calamity. While the spirit is thus _away_, the person is supposed to be in a _swoon_, and unaware of what is pa.s.sing. His _desire_ to see his friends is also necessary; he must have been _thinking_ of them. I am not aware that these spirits ever _speak_.

4. If no one in a family can _see_ a spirit, most can hear them, and hence strange noises are supposed to indicate death or misfortune to distant friends.

CASTING LOTS, ETC.

This is a species of divination or consulting of fate by omen. Great faith is placed by most in casting lots. Putting numbers in a box or bag is the common practice, and then drawing them out at random. Scripture was once quoted to the writer in proof that this mode of deciding doubtful matters was of G.o.d's appointment, and therefore could not fail. "The lot is cast into the bag, but the _disposal_ thereof is the Lord's." (Prov. xvi. 33; 1. Sam. xiv. 41.) When boys do not wish to divide anything they decide "who must take all" by drawing "short-cuts."

A number of straws, pieces of twine, &c., of different lengths, are held by one not interested; each boy draws one, and he who gets the _longest_ is ent.i.tled to the whole.

FOOTNOTES:

[73] T. T. W., in _Notes and Queries_, vol. ii. p. 117.

[74] T. T. W., in _Notes and Queries_, vol. ii. p. 5.

MISCELLANEOUS FOLK-LORE.

DRUIDICAL ROCK BASINS.

Dr. Borlase, in his _Antiquities of Cornwall_, notices the existence of Druidical Rock Basins, which appear to have been scooped out of the granite rocks and boulders which lie on the tops of the hills in the county. Several such cavities in stones are found on Brimham Rocks, near Knaresborough, and they have also been found at Plumpton and Rigton, in Yorkshire,[75] and on Stanton Moor, in Derbyshire. The writer first drew attention to the fact of similar Druidical remains existing in Lancashire in a paper read before the Historical Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, in December, 1864. They are found in considerable numbers around Boulsworth, Gorple, Todmorden, and on the hills which separate Lancashire from Yorkshire between these places.

Commencing the enumeration of the groups of boulders, &c., containing rock basins, with the slopes of Boulsworth, about seven miles from Burnley, we have first the Standing Stones, mostly single blocks of millstone grit, at short distances from each other on the north-western side of the hill. One is locally termed the b.u.t.tock Stone, and near it is a block which has a circular cavity scooped out on its flat upper surface. Not far from these are the Joiner Stones, the Abbot Stone, the Weather Stones, and the Law Lad Stones [? from _llad_, British, sacrifices]. Next come the Great and Little Saucer Stones, so named from the cavities scooped out upon them. The Little Chair Stones, the Fox Stones, and the Broad Head Stones lie at no great distance, each group containing numerous like cavities. Several of these groups are locally named from resemblance to animals or other objects, as the Grey Stones and the Steeple Stones on Barn Hill, and one spur of Boulsworth is called Wycoller Ark, as resembling a farmer's chest or ark. On Warc.o.c.k Hill several groups of natural rocks and boulders are locally named Dave or Dew Stones. On the surface of one immense Dave Stone boulder is a perfect hemispherical cavity, ten inches in diameter. The surface of another contains an oblong basin of larger dimensions, with a long grooved channel leading from its curved contour towards the edge of the stone. On a third there are four circular cavities of varying dimensions, the largest in the centre, and three others surrounding it, but none of these is more than a few inches in diameter. At the Bride Stones, near Todmorden, thirteen cavities were counted on one block, and eleven on another. All the basins here and elsewhere are formed on the _flat_ surfaces of the blocks; their upper surfaces being always parallel to the lamination of the stone. Along Widdop Moor we find the Grey Stones, the Fold Hole Stones, the Clattering Stones, and the Rigging Stones; the last named from occupying the rig or ridge of the hills in this locality. Amongst the Bride Stones is an immense ma.s.s of rock which might almost be cla.s.sed among the rocking stones. It is about twenty-five feet in height, at least twelve feet across its broadest part, and rests on a base only about two feet in diameter. The Todmorden group contains the Hawk Stones, on Stansfield Moor, not far from Stiperden Cross, on the line of the Long Causeway (a Roman road); the Bride Stones, near Windy Harbour; the Chisley Stones, near Keelham; and h.o.a.r Law, not far from Ashenhurst Royd and Todmorden. The rock basins on these boulders are very numerous, and of all sizes, from a few inches in diameter and depth to upwards of two feet. The elliptical axes of some of these basins did not appear to the writer to have been caused by the action of wind or water, or to follow any regular law. Lastly, taking for a centre, Gorple,[76] about five miles south-east of Burnley is another extensive group of naked rocks and boulders. Close to the solitary farm-house there are the Gorple Stones; and at a short distance the Hanging Stones form conspicuous objects in the sombre landscape. On Thistleden Dean are the Upper, Middle, and Lower Whinberry Stones, so named from the "whinberry" shrubs, with which this moor abounds. The Higher and Lower Boggart Stones come next, and these are followed by the Wicken Clough, and other minor groups of stones. Above Gorple Bottom is another set of grey stones; and these are followed by the Upper, Middle, and Lower Hanging Stones, on Shuttleworth Moor.[77] The rock basins here are very numerous, and mostly well defined. There are forty-three cavities in these Gorple, Gorple Gate, and Hanging Stones, ranging from four to forty inches in length, from four to twenty-five in breadth, and from two to thirteen inches in depth.

Dr. Borlase confidently a.s.serts that the ancient Druids used these rock basins for baptismal and sacrificial purposes--a conjecture which the authors of the _Beauties of Derbyshire_ admit to be probable; and so does Higgins in his elaborate work on the _Celtic Druids_. The supposition is supported by the fact of their occurring in such numbers mostly _on the tops of hills_, in so many counties, and in such different materials as the granite and the millstone-grit formations.[78] Whether they have been formed by natural or artificial means is still a matter of dispute. On the whole the writer's opinion is, that the rock basins of Scilly, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and East Lancashire are partly natural, and partly artificial; the former being comparatively few, and easily distinguished by their varying depths and forms.[79] Whether wholly or partially natural or artificial, he thinks it safe to conclude that they have been appropriated by the Druids to their religious worship, as furnishing the means by which they could offer their sacrifices and perform their ablutions. They would also suffice for baptism, and preserve the rain or the dew from being polluted by touching the earth. The Tolmen on the neighbouring hills[80]

may be taken as an additional reason for a.s.sociating Druidical worship with such remains. These contain small basins on the summits, which differ in no respect from those here enumerated. They have, therefore, most probably been used for similar purposes. Those above described form a curious chapter in the oldest folk-lore of Lancashire.

ELVES AND FAIRIES.

"Like elves and fairies in a ring."--_Macbeth._

England has ever been full of the favourite haunts of those pleasantest of all the supernatural sprites of childhood and superst.i.tion--elves and fairies. Volumes might be filled with the stories of their feats and pranks in all parts of England; and our greatest poet has for ever embalmed this superst.i.tion in the richest hues of poetic imagery and fancy--especially in his _Midsummer Night's Dream_. The _Fairies_, or "Hill Folk," yet live amongst the rural people of Lancashire. Antique tobacco-pipes, "formerly belonging to the fairies," are still occasionally found in the corners of newly-ploughed fields. They themselves still gambol on the gra.s.sy meads at dewy eve, and their revels are yet believed to be witnessed at times by some privileged inhabitants of our "calm sequestered vales." It is generally stated that, in order to see one of these diminutive beings, the use of ointments, four-leaved clover, or other specific preparations, is necessary; but a near relative of the writer, not more imbued with superst.i.tion than the majority, firmly believed that he once saw a real dwarf or fairy, without the use of any incantation. He had been amusing himself one summer evening on the top of Mellor Moor, near Blackburn, close to the remains of the Roman encampment, when his attention was arrested by the appearance of a dwarf-like man, attired in full hunting costume, with top-boots and spurs, a green jacket, red hairy cap, and a thick hunting whip in his hand. He ran briskly along the moor for a considerable distance, when, leaping over a low stone wall, he darted down a steep declivity, and was lost to sight. The popular opinion of the neighbourhood is, that an underground city exists at this place; that an earthquake swallowed up the encampment, and that on certain days in the year the hill folk may be heard ringing their bells, and indulging in various festivities. Considerable quant.i.ties of stone, which still remain around the ditches of this rectangular place, may have suggested the ideas of a city and an earthquake. On other occasions the fairies are supposed to exhibit themselves in military array on the mountain sides; their evolutions conforming in every respect to the movements of modern troops. Such appearances are believed to portend the approach of civil commotions, and are said to have been more than usually common about the time of the rebellion in 1745-6. This would suggest an explanation of a more rational character. [Doubtless the mirage, Fata Morgana, or Spectral appearances of the Hartz mountains.]

One Lancashire Fairy tale runs thus:--

Two men went poaching, and having placed nets, or rather sacks, over what they supposed to be rabbit holes, but which were in reality fairies' houses, the fairies rushed into the sacks, and the poachers (believing them to be rabbits), content with their prey, marched homewards again. One fairy missing another in the sack, called out (the story was told in the broad Lancashire dialect)--"d.i.c.k" (dignified name for a fairy), "where art thou?" To which fairy d.i.c.k replied,--

"In a sack, On a back, Riding up Barley Brow."

The story has a good moral ending; for the men were so frightened that they never poached again.[81]

The Rev. William Thornber[82] characterizes the elves and fairies as kind, good-natured creatures, at times seeking the a.s.sistance of mortals, and in return, liberally rewarding them. They have a favourite spot between Hardhorn and Staining, at a cold spring of water called "Fairies' Well" to this day. Most amusing stories of fairies are told around that district. A poor woman, when filling her pitcher at the well just named, in order to bathe the weak eyes of her infant child, was mildly accosted by a handsome man, who presented her with a box of ointment, and told her it would be a specific remedy. She was grateful for the gift, but love for her child made her somewhat mistrustful; so she first applied the ointment to one of her own eyes. Shortly afterwards, she saw her benefactor at Preston, stealing corn from the mouths of the sacks open for sale, and, much to his amazement, accosted him. On his inquiry how she could recognise him, since he was invisible to all else around, she told him how she had used his ointment, and pointed to the powerful eye; when he immediately struck it out. A milkmaid, observing a jug and a sixpence placed at her side by some invisible being, filled the jug with milk, and took the money; this was repeated for weeks, till, overjoyed with her good fortune, she could not refrain from imparting it to her lover; but the jug and sixpence never appeared again. A ploughman when engaged in his daily labour, heard a plaintive cry, "I have broken my _speet_."[83] Hastily turning round, the ploughman beheld a lady, holding in her hand a broken _spittle_, a hammer, and nails, and beckoning him to repair it. He did so, and instantly received a handsome reward; and then the lady vanished, apparently sinking into the earth.

FOLK-LORE.

Under this general head we bring together a few scattered notices not naturally falling under any precise cla.s.sification, but all showing the nature and character of common and popular notions, beliefs, and superst.i.tions. Where, however, the subject will admit of it, many examples of this Folk-lore will be found in later pages, under the general head of "Superst.i.tions."

FOLK-LORE OF ECCLES AND THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.

A very curious book exhibits some of the usages of our ancestors in this part of the county, early in the reign of James I., ent.i.tled _The Way to the True Church ... directed to all that seek for Resolution; and especially to all his loving Countrymen of Lancashire, by John White, Minister of G.o.d's Word at Eccles_. [White was vicar of Eccles only a few months--from May, 1609.] The fifth edition or "impression" is a folio, printed at London, 1624, but the Preface is dated Oct. 29th, 1608. White complains of "the prodigious ignorance" which he found among his parishioners when he entered upon his ministrations, and he proceeds thus to tell his own tale:--"I will only mention what I saw and learned, dwelling among them, concerning the saying of their prayers; for what man is he whose heart trembles not to simple people so far seduced [or so ill-taught] that they know not how to p.r.o.nounce or say their daily prayers; or so to pray that all that hear them shall be filled with laughter? And while, superst.i.tiously, they refuse to pray in their own language with understanding, they speak that which their leaders [Roman Catholic priests] may blush to hear. These examples I have observed from the common people:

"'_The Creed._

"'Creezum zuum patrum onitentem Creatorum ejus anic.u.m, Dominum nostrum qui sum sops, virgini Mariae, crixus fixus, Ponchi Pilati audubitiers, morti by Sonday, father a fernes, scelerest unjudicarum, finis a mortibus. Creezum spirituum sanctum, eccli Catholi, remissurum peccaturum, communiorum obliviorum, bitam et turnam again.'

"'_The Little Creed._

"'Little creed, can I need Kneele before our Ladies' knee; Candlelight, candles burne, Our Ladie pray'd to her dear Sonne That we all to heaven might come.

Little creed. Amen.'

"This that followeth they call--

"'_The White Paternoster._

"'White Paternoster, Saint Peter's brother, What hast i' th' t' one hand? White book leaves.

What hast i' th' t' other hand? Heaven yate keys.

Open heaven yates, and steyk [shut] h.e.l.l yates: And let every crysome child creep to it own mother.

White Paternoster, Amen.'

"'_Another Prayer._

"'I bless me with G.o.d and the rood, With his sweet flesh and precious blood; With his cross and his creed, With his length and his breed, From my toe to my crown, And all my body up and down, From my back to my breast, My five wits be my rest; G.o.d let never ill come at ill, But through Jesus' own will, Sweet Jesus, Lord, Amen.'

"Many also use to wear vervain against blasts; and, when they gather it for this purpose, first they cross the herb with their hand, and then they bless it thus:--

"'Hallowed be thou, Vervain, As thou growest on the ground, For in the Mount of Calvary, There thou wast first found.

Thou healedst our Saviour Jesus Christ, And staunchedst his bleeding wound; In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I take thee from the ground.'

"And so they pluck it up and wear it. Their prayers and traditions of this sort are infinite, and the ceremonies they use in their actions are nothing inferior to the Gentiles in number and strangeness. Which any man may easily observe that converseth with them."[84]