Tag: folklore
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The Capricious Curse of St. Swithin
Meanwhile, St. Swithin has gallantly come to our aid. Well, here in Cleveland at least. His day has passed with the sort of indecision one expects from saints and weather alike: cloudy skies, some sun, but not even the faintest hint of rain. Are we now condemned to forty days of this? If it does…
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The White Maid of Kilton Castle
The British Cycling Championships descended upon East Cleveland today, bringing to mind a project I embarked upon during the days of Covid: transcribing the works of Richard Blakeborough. Among his tales, “The White Maid of Kilton Castle” holds a special place, for it is set in the environs of Brotton, the very spot where I…
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Another Carlton Ghost
On my solivagant pursuit on Carlton Bank this morning, the village of Carlton-in-Cleveland lay peacefully below, conjuring memories of a promise I made. Well, a sort of promise. I said I would recount the tale of another spectre that haunts this village. You might recall my previous post, the Ghost of Madame Turner. This tale,…
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Kyle of Tongue
The Kyle of Tongue, with the granite peak of Ben Loyal, a hill which apparently distorts compass readings due to its iron ore. Tongue itself was home to a Dr. Farquhar, who gained his healing powers from a boiled white snake’s juice.
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A Byland Abbey ghost story
When Byland Abbey yielded to Henry VIII’s Suppression Commissioners in 1538, it housed 25 choir monks alongside Abbot John Ledes. A hundred years prior, a monk had settled in the scriptorium to write twelve ghost stories on a blank page appended to a commonplace manuscript of rhetorical and theological works. These tales, in Latin, predominantly…
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The Ghost of Madame Turner
Barely a glimpse of Busby Hall can be gained from the limit of the Public Bridleway which follows the old coach road leading to the estate. Remarkably, this track once served as the main entrance. Presently, entry is gained through the village of Carlton-in-Cleveland. Pevsner, the architectural historian, offers a description of the hall as…
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In Search of Magical Gate Posts
Upon the high moors near Young Ralph Cross at Rosedale Head, a commemorative stone stands in honour of Frank Elgee, a notable naturalist and archaeologist, who once curated the Dorman Memorial Museum in Middlesbrough. His wife and “assistant,” Harriet Elgee, was a knowledgeable writer and poet in her own right. I recently came across a…
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Elfi The Dwarf — The Story Told at Ye Sign of the Fox & Hounds, Urra
The notion of transcribing these ancient folk tales of Richard Blakeborough, thought to be a splendid idea at first, an idea born during the Covid lockdown, now gnaws at my conscience with growing unease. Recent reports detailing the modification of Roald Dahl’s cherished works, altering words deemed offensive and rewriting character descriptions in an attempt…
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On the Simonside hills
On the Simonside hills. South of Rothbury in Northumberland lies a fine set of hills, especially when the weather behaves. In local tales, there’s this mythical creature dwelling in these hills. They call it a ‘deaugar’ (Norse for ‘dwarf’). Supposedly, it tricks folks at night with its lantern glow, leading them straight into bogs or…
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Plough Monday
The Monday after Epiphany used to be a day off for ploughmen up North. You’d enter a village and come across these agricultural labourers, all decked out in ribbons and those pristine white smocks, dragging the Fool-plough through the streets. It was their way of saying, ‘Hey, don’t forget, your bread depends on us pushing these…