Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

Tag: folklore

  • Gallow Howe

    Gallow Howe

    In the hallowed depths of Whitby Museum there is a grisly relic — the ‘Hand of Glory,‘ a mummified hand with a sinister past. Unearthed in the early 20th century by local historian Joseph Ford, this macabre exhibit is allegedly the preserved right hand of a criminal, amputated while still hanging from the gallows. It…

  • On the lookout for fairies in Baysdale

    On the lookout for fairies in Baysdale

    An early morning saunter around Baysdale, that remote dale in an expanse of moorland, its lush fields gleaming in the sunlight. In the distance, Ingleby Moor draped in a shroud of clouds, though it would disperse within the hour, leaving with a bright and dry morning. But this tranquil scene is soon to be disrupted,…

  • St. Bartholomew’s Day

    St. Bartholomew’s Day

    A rather dull start to St. Bartholomew’s Day, a day which has some weather lore associated with it: If the twenty-fourth of August be fair and clear, Then hope for a prosperous autumn that year. At St. Bartholomew, There comes cold dew. All the tears that St. Swithin can cry, St. Bartlemy’s mantle wipes them…

  • The Weird Mystery of the Moor — A Guisborough Legend

    The Weird Mystery of the Moor — A Guisborough Legend

    Here’s another story by Richard Blakeborough, published in the Whitby Gazette on May 5th, 1905. I’m not sure if they’re too long to share on this blog, but I’m really interested in them, especially the ones about places I know such as this one about Guisborough Moor where I can picture the landscapes. Some of…

  • Wade’s Mighty Hand in the Formation of the Bride Stones

    Wade’s Mighty Hand in the Formation of the Bride Stones

    Some say that these sturdy sandstone tors, protruding from a sea of bracken, were deposited in the ancient seas of an era when dinosaurs reigned supreme, some 150 million years ago. The ebb and flow of the Jurassic tides as they advanced and receded, left behind stratified rocks of various densities. A layer of resilient…

  • Quiraing

    Quiraing

    After a solid 20 days devoid of any drop of rain, except for a quick overnight sprinkle at Dunvegan, it looks like we’re in for a change in the weather. So, we thought we had better head for the hills, because who knows if we’ll even catch a glimpse of them tomorrow. The Trotternish Ridge…

  • Macleod’s Tables

    Macleod’s Tables

    Once the ridge of the Black Cullin is behind you, your eyes are drawn to Macleod’s Tables, Healabhal Mhor and Healabhal Bheag. These distinctive peaks stand as isolated remnants of the vast basalt plateau that once covered the isle of Skye. The name “Healabhal” is believed to originate from the Scandinavian term “helgi fjall,” meaning…

  • Shig-shags

    Shig-shags

    While cutting back the bracken in Newton Wood today, I was taken by surprise when I stumbled upon what seemed to be miniature apples. Of course, these were not genuine apples, but rather galls created by insects as excrescences. And as it dawned on me that they were attached to a small oak sapling instead…

  • St. Helen’s Day, the Rowan tree, and their connection to warding off witches

    St. Helen’s Day, the Rowan tree, and their connection to warding off witches

    Wikipedia says St Helen’s Day  — Helena, mother of Constantine I — is honoured in the Church of England on 21st May but in the Episcopal Church on 22nd May. The Rev. R.C. Atkinson, however, suggests it falls on the 2nd May. So who’s right? Yer pays yer money … It matters if you wish…

  • The Delicate Greggles of Newton Wood

    The Delicate Greggles of Newton Wood

    I make no apologies for yet another posting featuring the greggles of Newton Wood. In a mere couple of weeks, they will have surpassed their peak, and the woods will be stripped of their intoxicating hue of violet blue. Thomas Hardy employed the term “greggles” in his book, The Mayor of Casterbridge, ingeniously portraying the…