say the dreadful apparitions when inquired about in a careful manner have
invariably proved to be very commonplace and harmless creatures or
articles. "Boggle" is a Norse word, sometimes equal to personification of
diety or saint. Natural phenomena, as _ignis fatuus_, account for some;
the mist-mirage explains others. The mist is still called "the haut" (the
haunt). Witches, too, have abounded--according to report,--and some were
drowned, or otherwise persecuted because of their evil repute. Mary
Baynes, the witch of Tebay, died in 1811, aged ninety. She has been
described as a repulsive looking woman, with a big pocket tied upon her
back, and she was blamed for witching people's churns, geese, and
goslings, so that on account of her witchcraft she became a terror to her
neighbours. Many strange things which happened were laid to her charge,
and thoroughly believed by the people. Ned Sisson, of the "Cross Keys
Inn," had a mastiff which worried old Mary's favourite cat. The owner
decided to have the grimalkin respectably buried in her garden, and a man
named Willan dug a grave for it. Old Mary handed Willan an open book, and
pointed to something he was to read. But Willan, not thinking it worth
while to read anything over a cat, took pussy by the leg, and said:
"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
Here's a hole, and in thou must."
Mary grew angry, and warned her companion that he would fare no better for
his levity. Soon afterwards Willan was ploughing in his field when the
implement suddenly bounded up, and the handle struck one of his eyes,
causing blindness. Immediately Mary Baynes was given the credit for having
bewitched the plough. The old lady seems to have tried her hand also at
prophesy. Once when the scholars of Tebay School were out playing, Mary
predicted to them that some day carriages would run over Loupsfell without
the aid of horses. The railway now goes over a portion of the land to
which she referred, which was then a large stinted pasture. The best
known other "witch" was "Lizzie o' Branton," otherwise Lizzy Batty, a
remarkable woman, who, in the early years of this century, occupied a
cottage on the roadside between Brampton and Talkin. She acted in a
peculiar manner, dressed curiously, and generally "acted the part," with
the consequence that she was credited with many supernatural powers. She
died in 1817, at the age of eighty-eight. The date of her funeral in
Brampton was for long years remembered as the stormiest day the town had
ever seen. Although it was in March, yet darkness came on so suddenly that
lanterns were lighted at the grave-side, only to be again and again
extinguished by the fury of the tempest. A tradition still lingers that
those who bore the coffin to the grave solemnly affirmed that it was empty
and the body gone.
The belief in the "barguest," now practically gone, was in comparatively
recent times common enough to excite but little notice. The term was
generally used to denote any kind of ghostly visitant, but referred more
particularly to a fearsome creation which was supposed to haunt the fells
and dales, and make a horrible noise. Mr. B. Kirkby, in his "Lakeland
Words" (1899), gives the definition as known in North Westmorland: "One
who has the power of foretelling the demise of others; or one who makes a
great din." Mr. Anthony Whitehead says, "A barguest is a spirit known only
through the sense of hearing, being a something which, during the dark
hours of night, disturbed the last generations of Westmorland with its
awful howling."
There is no lack of ghostly traditions in connection with families.
Perhaps the best known is that belonging to the ancient family of Machell,
of Crackenthorpe Hall, near Appleby. Lancelot Machell--the same who in
open court tore to pieces Cromwell's new charter for Appleby--married
Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Sleddall, of Penrith. Her portrait was found
on a panel in Penrith some years ago. She was executrix of her husband's
will, and for some alleged injury to her interest in the estate it used to
be said that she paid the Machells ghostly visitations whenever the head
of the family was about to die. The country folk used to say that she is
laid under the big stone called Peg's Stone, just below Crackenthorpe
Hall, her term of incarceration being 999 years. They also say she has
been seen driving along the Appleby road at a great pace with "amber
leets" in the carriage, and disappear suddenly in Machell Wood, near the
spot called Peg Sneddle's Trough. Indeed, there is extant a most graphic
and brilliant account of her passage of the Tollbar at Crackenthorpe,
narrated by one "Brockham Dick" (Richard Atkinson, of the "Elephant Inn"),
now many years deceased, who kept the gate in his youth, and who used to
stick to it with much detail of thrilling circumstance, how one night in
each year, when the "helm" wind was blowing, Mrs. Machell made her
appearance and passed this gate in offended state. When storms come on
upon the fell, Peg is said to be angry, and _vice versa_ in fine weather.
An old tree in the neighbourhood of Crackenthorpe called Sleddall's Oak,
is also associated with Mrs. Machell's name, and here a female figure is
supposed to be seen to sit and weep when any misfortune is about to befall
any member of the Machell family.
When farmers find disease among their cattle, whether it be tuberculosis,
pleuro-pneumonia, or other undesirable visitation, they no longer pin
their faith to the old-time observances. The progress of science has shown
better methods of dealing with the disease, and now the stock owners of
the northern counties would be the first to ridicule the means taken by
their grandfathers for stopping an outbreak. The "needfire," which has
been witnessed by many people who are not yet old, was probably the last
remnant of fire-worship in this country. "It was once," says Mr. Sullivan,
"an annual observance, and is still occasionally employed in the dales and
some other localities as a charm for the various diseases to which cattle
are liable. All the fires in the village are carefully put out--a
deputation going round to each house to see that not a spark remains. Two
pieces of wood are then ignited by friction, and within the influence of
the fire thus kindled, the cattle are brought. The scene is one of dire
bellowing and confusion: but the owner is especially anxious that his
animals should get 'plenty of the reek.' The charm being ended in one
village, may be transferred to the next, and thus propagated as far as it
is required."
Miss Martineau, in her "Guide to the Lakes," tells a story of a certain
farmer who, "When all his cattle had been passed through the fire,
subjected an ailing wife to the same potent charm." The last time the
"needfire" was used in the Keswick neighbourhood, Mr. William Wilson
says, was in 1841. In some parts of Cumberland and Westmorland there was
then an epidemic amongst the cattle. It was brought over the Raise and
transferred from farm to farm through the vales. But, at one farm a few
miles out of Keswick, the sacred fire was allowed to become extinct, the
owner, a well-known statesman, not having sufficient faith in its virtue
to take the trouble to transmit it, or even to keep it alight. He told Mr.
Wilson that he was severely rated at the time for his lack of faith. That,
however, served to kill the popular belief in needfire, and even when the
terrible ravages of the rinderpest, foot and mouth disease, and
pleuro-pneumonia, were emptying the pockets and breaking the hearts of the
farmers, not one of them thought of reviving the old "cure." The last
time, so far as the writer can find, the practice was reported in the
newspapers was this paragraph in the _Patriot_ of July 25th, 1834:--"A
sort of murrain, or pestilential fever, is at present prevalent in the
county of Westmorland, the popular remedy for which is the fumigation of
the infected animals with the smoke of needfire, accompanied by certain
mystic signs." The Rev. J. Wharton, however, well remembers the fire
being made at Long Marton about 1843-4, during a murrain. The term
"needfire" seems to be a corruption of "neatfire," neat cattle being an
old and common term.
Among the legends relating to North-Country residences, an interesting one
is concerning Corby Castle and its "Radiant Boy." This--which corresponds
to the "corpse lichten" of other countries--has been described as a
luminous apparition which made its appearance with dire results, the
tradition being that the member of the family who saw the "Radiant Boy"
would rise to great power, and afterwards die a violent death. The only
example in proof of the tradition so far made known, however, was that of
Lord Castlereagh. That statesman was given a wide margin of time after
seeing the spectre, as that was supposed to have happened when he was a
young man, and he did not commit suicide until 1822.
The superstition as to the skulls at Calgarth, Windermere, has several
parallels. Those two skulls formerly occupied a niche in Calgarth Hall,
from which they could not be kept for any long time, though they were
reputed to attend the banquets at Armboth Hall, Thirlmere, of their own
accord! Above all, "they were buried, burned, reduced to powder, dispersed
by the wind, sunk in the well, and thrown into the lake several times, all
to no purpose"--truly wonderful skulls!
The superstition concerning "first-foot" has not yet died out; but the
observance is not regarded with that seriousness which ruled half a
century ago, and to the next generation, probably, this ancient New Year's
custom and belief will have become part of the history of the bygone.
Four Lucks.
Closely associated with the legends of Cumberland and Westmorland, dealt
with in the preceding chapter, are the stories of four "Lucks." The best
known is that of Eden Hall, which has been made the theme for poems and
innumerable descriptive articles. The most popular version of the origin
of the Luck is that when a servant was going for water one night to the
Fairy Well, in front of the hall he surprised a number of fairies at their
revels, with the goblet in the centre of the ring around which they were
dancing. The servant seized the Luck, while the fairies gave the ominous
warning that
"If this cup should break or fall,
Farewell the luck of Eden Hall."
Numerous poets have woven pretty stories out of the tradition, without
attempting to seek the real origin of the treasured possession. The Luck
is an ancient glass vessel widening by an easy curve, and terminating in a
graceful lip. Its colour is green, with enamel of red, yellow, and blue;
one theory is that its origin was Saracenic, and that it was brought
from Palestine by a member of the family during the Crusades. Dr. Todd,
when Vicar of Penrith, supposed it to have "been used as a chalice, at a
time when it was unsafe to have those sacred vessels made of costlier
metals, on account of the predatory habits which prevailed on the
Borders." If absolute care can preserve it, the Luck is safe, for along
with its leathern case, adorned with vine leaves, and having the sacred
monogram "I.H.S." on the top, the Luck is rarely taken from its place of
security--said to be one of the strong rooms of the Bank of England.
Whenever the Luck is exhibited to privileged visitors at the hall, the
utmost precautions are taken to prevent even the slightest accident.
[Illustration: 1.--ANCIENT GLASS VESSEL CALLED THE LUCK OF EDEN HALL.
2.--ITS LEATHER CASE.
3.--INSCRIPTION ON THE TOP OF THE CASE.]
"The Luck of Muncaster" is reputed to have been the gift of Henry the
Sixth, who stayed for a brief space with the Penningtons, either in 1461
or 1464. The King was in sore straits, for death had robbed him of the
service of many of his most powerful adherents; howbeit he still held the
affections of large numbers of people in Cumberland and Westmorland. The
owner of Muncaster was one of those able and willing to stand by Henry in
his necessity, and kept the King in safety. The room in which the monarch
slept is still preserved with great care; he rested in a carved oak
bedstead, which bears his initials and a crown. At parting Henry gave to
Sir John Pennington a glass cup or basin, about seven inches in diameter,
ornamented with some gold and white enamelled mouldings, with--according
to tradition--the assurance that "the family shall prosper so long as they
preserve this cup unbroken." It is unnecessary to do more than mention
that this Luck has been celebrated in verse, by way of illustrating the
evil designs of a kinsman who desired to destroy both the cup and the
fortunes of the Penningtons.
That such a treasured relic should have more than normal risks of
misfortune can be well understood. Mr. Roby has mentioned[16] one of its
escapes. "The benediction attaching to its security being then uppermost
in the recollection of the family, it was considered essential to the
prosperity of the house, at the time of the usurpation, that the Luck of
Muncaster should be deposited in a safe place. It was consequently buried
till the cessation of hostilities had rendered all further care and
concealment unnecessary." The box was allowed to fall when being brought
again to the surface, which so scared the owners that they fancied that
there would be a sudden end to their prosperity. The fright must have been
of long duration, for the story is that forty years elapsed ere one daring
member of the family, having seen no ill effects from the fall, had the
box opened, and experienced the keen delight of finding the Luck
uninjured. In the castle are two paintings, one representing the King
giving the cup to Sir John Pennington, and another allowing the King with
the Luck in his hand. On an old freestone slab in Muncaster Church is the
inscription, "Holie Kynge Harrye gave Sir John a brauve workyd glass cuppe
... whyllys the famylie shold keep hit unbrecken thei shold gretelye
thrif."
"The Luck of Burrell Green," near Great Salkeld, seems to have passed into
the possession of various owners. It is an ancient brass dish of early
embossed work, sixteen and a quarter inches in diameter, and one and a
half inches deep. Mr. J. Lamb, formerly of Burrell Green, read a paper on
the subject two or three years ago to the members of the Archaeological
Society, and also exhibited the dish. It is circular in form, and at one
time appears to have borne two inscriptions, one in large old English
letters in an inner circle around its central ornament, and the other in
an outer circle, probably in the same style of lettering. Neither
inscription is now legible, although on close examination certain letters
may still be discerned, this being due, no doubt, to the amount of
cleaning and rubbing it has undergone during late years. Thirty years ago,
when greater care was taken of the Luck than has since been the case, and
the inscription on the inner circle was rather more distinct than it now
is, Mr. R. M. Bailey, a London antiquary, tried to decipher it, and was of
opinion that it was in Latin, of which the following is a rendering:
"Hail, Mary, Mother of Jesus, Saviour of Men." Like the two other Lucks in
Cumberland, the Luck of Burrell Green has its legend and couplet. This is
that it was given to the family residing there long ago by a "Nob i' th'
hurst," or by a witch, a soothsayer, to whom kindness had been shown, with
the injunction that
"If e'er this dish be sold or gi'en
Farewell the Luck of Burrell Green."
The Luck has been in the possession of the respective families residing at
Burrell Green for many generations, but its existence has not been
brought very much before the public. In 1879 the late Mr. Jacob Thompson,
of Hackthorpe, made a painting of the Luck. Mr. Lamb added:
"Apart from the value of the Luck as an example of ancient art, it may
be said to be still more valuable from the mysterious tradition
associated with it, and also as appears very probable from the
rendering of the supposed inscription in the sacred use to which in
all probability it has at some time been applied. From the style of
the inscriptions it appears to be of as early a date as the
commencement of the sixteenth century, or probably earlier. On the day
Burrell Green last changed owners the Luck fell down three times in
succession from its usual position, a circumstance which at that time
had not been known to have occurred before, it always having been kept
in a secure place."
"The Luck of Levens" is of a kind quite different from the three already
mentioned. Levens Hall has attached to it one of the oldest deer parks in
England, and within its borders are some peculiarly dark fallow deer. The
local people have come to believe that whenever a white fawn is born in
the herd the event portends some change of importance in the House of
Levens. Four such cases have occurred within living memory--when Lord
Templetown came to Levens after the Crimean War, after General Upton's
death in 1883, on the day after Captain and Mrs. Bagot's wedding in 1885,
and in February, 1896, when Mrs. Bagot bore to Levens a male heir. Mr.
Curwen, in his monograph on the house, mentions the following "to
illustrate the superstition that had gathered round the white deer so
early as Lord Templetown's residence at Levens, between 1850 and 1860":--
"A white buck which had appeared in the herd was ordered to be shot,
but the keeper was so horrified with the deed, which he thought to be
'waur ner robbin' a church,' that he actually went so far as to
remonstrate with the Crimean veteran. Persuasion being of no use, he
at last refused point blank to do the deed himself, and another man
had to do it for him. In a few months great troubles came over the
house. In quick succession it changed hands twice; the stewards,
servants, and gardeners all lost their places; and the keeper firmly
held to the belief that all was due to the shooting of this white
deer."
Some Old Trading Laws and Customs.
While some of the quaint laws connected with markets and fairs in other
parts of the country are unknown in Cumberland and Westmorland, others not
less interesting may be found in these counties. The searcher after such
old-time lore may find a good deal of it in the standard histories, but
still more in those byways of local literature which are too much
neglected. In this chapter no attempt can be made to do more than touch
the fringe of the subject.
There is in existence in the Dean and Chapter Library at Carlisle a
monition probably dated towards the end of the fourteenth century
addressed to the clergy of the diocese, requiring them to see the
constitution of Otho strictly carried out--all fairs being banished from
churchyards and suspended on Sundays and solemn feasts. Churchyard fairs
were for the emolument of the churches, and were styled by the name of the
saint whose example is inculcated by the church's name. The late Canon
Simpson, one of the most eminent antiquaries in the two counties, proved
that, in England at least, no church was ever dedicated literally to a
saint. Fairs, especially "pot fairs," still prevail in church cloisters in
Germany.
Meat selling at church doors was common in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries, and even so late as the time of Charles the Second. The only
instance of such a thing occurring in Cumberland of which there is record
now was at Wigton. In one of the old local histories appears the following
note:--"The Rev. Thomas Warcup, who erected his monument in the churchyard
long before his death, was obliged to fly from Wigton on account of his
loyalty during the Civil Wars. After the restoration of King Charles he
returned to the Vicarage, and tradition says that the butcher market was
then held upon the Sunday. The butchers hung up carcases at the church
door, to attract the notice of customers as they went in and came out of
church, and it was not unusual to see people who made their bargains
before prayer began, hang their joints of meat over the backs of the
seats, until the pious clergyman had finished the service. The zealous
priest, after having long but ineffectually endeavoured to make his
congregation sensible of the indecency of such practices, undertook a
journey to London on foot, for the purpose of petitioning the King to
have the market day established on the Tuesday, and which he had interest
enough to obtain."
Warcup became Vicar of Wigton in 1612, and possibly on the principle that
he was the best qualified to write his own epitaph because he knew himself
better than was possible for another to know him, he prepared the
following, which he had put on a headstone many years before his death:--
"Thomas Warcup prepar'd this stone,
To mind him of his best home.
Little but sin & misery here,
Till we be carried on our bier.
Out of the grave & earth's dust,
The Lord will raise me up I trust;
To live with Christ eternallie,
Who, me to save, himself did die."
There was a keen rivalry between Crosthwaite and Cockermouth at the
beginning of the fourteenth century. The townsmen sent a petition to
Parliament in 1306, stating that owing to the sale of corn, flour, beans,
flesh, fish, and other kinds of merchandise at Crosthwaite Church on
Sundays, their market was declining so fast that the persons who farmed
the tolls from the King were unable to pay the rent. An order was soon
afterwards issued stopping the Sunday trading at Crosthwaite. But the
fairs and markets in churchyards on week-days were not prohibited by
statute for two hundred and eighty years after the Cockermothians sought
protection. The orders thus issued were not long recognised, but
collectors of scraps of local history in all parts of the county have
added to the general knowledge on this point.
The announcing of sales in churchyards was in the early part of this
century a common custom. At Crosby Ravensworth the clerk hurried from his
desk immediately the service was concluded, followed by the congregation,
and mounting the steps he announced when a person's sale by auction would
take place, and read out any notice given to him, for which service he
received a fee of fourpence. The custom has long since become obsolete;
old William Richardson called the last notice in 1837. It has been
asserted, with what amount of truth need not be too closely inquired into,
that when this method of advertising public events was forbidden, the
attendance of the parishioners at public worship showed a rapid
falling-off. The custom of churchyard proclamations prevailed at Orton in
the early part of the century, and the inscriptions on certain horizontal
tombstones have been obliterated by the hob-nails in the clerk's boots.
While necessarily there must have been a great diversity in the articles
announced in the churches or churchyards as likely to be submitted for
public competition, it would be difficult to find a parallel for this
paragraph, which appeared in the _Pacquet_ for March 8th, 1791:--"A few
months ago a person in very good circumstance at no great distance from
Ravenglass buried his wife. His son, a few days since, also became a
widower, and on Sunday, 27th ult., a sale of their wearing apparel was
published at all the neighbouring parish churches! Whether motives of
economy suggested the measure, or a wish to remove whatever could remind
the disconsolate survivors of their loss, can only be guessed at."
Among the relics treasured by Lord Hothfield at Appleby Castle, is an
article reminding the visitor of the days when free trading was unknown.
This is the principal corn measure which was used in the market at Kirkby
Stephen more than two hundred years ago; its purpose and record are stated
in the raised letters which run around the copper measure a little below
the rim:--
"The measure of Thomas, Earle of Thanet Island, Lord Tufton, Lord
Clifford, Westmorland, and Vescy, for the use of his Lopps
[lordship's] market at Kirkby Stephen in Westmorland, 1685."
In the same building are two other corn measures, smaller than the Kirkby
Stephen measure just mentioned. One bears only the word "Thanet," and a
coronet. The other measure, of different design, with the monogram, "A.
P." in raised characters, indicates approximately its age, as it was
obviously the property of the Countess Anne of Pembroke. The measures,
made of bell metal, formerly in use in Sir Richard Musgrave's manor at
Kirkoswald, are still carefully preserved by Mr. John Longrigg, the last
steward.
How long the proclamation has been read at the St. Luke's Fair at Kirkby
Stephen is unknown; certainly for a couple of centuries the practice has
been observed, and possibly for a much longer period. Although some of the
terms have now no effect, nor the cautions any value, the proclamation is
still made, the following being the terms of a recent one:--