THE LIBRARY 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 f
 
 Legends & Superstitions 
 
 OF THE 
 
 COUNTY OF DURHAM, 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM BROCKIE, 
 
 Author of "-The Confessioiad, and oilier Poems;" 
 "A History of Shields;" etc., etc. 
 
 SUNDERLAND : 
 C. Williams, 129, Iliou Street, and i & 2, William STiiEiir. 
 
 1886.
 
 G-R 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 WITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT. 
 
 A belief in Avitchcraft has prevailed more or less in all 
 ages, in civilised as well as in savage countries ; and 
 even yet it is far from being extinct, or seeming to 
 border on extinction, in the most enlightened Christian 
 countries. It is held, indeed, to rest on orthodox Scrip- 
 tural authority, God himself having given this positive 
 command to his chosen people — "Thou shalt not suffer 
 a witch to live." — a command as little fettered 1)y con- 
 ditions or exceptions as that other better known but too 
 loosely observed one — " Thou shalt not kill." An 
 intelligent old lady of my acquaintance once told me 
 flatly, that if she were forced to give up her belief in 
 the existence of witches, she would consider that one of 
 the sure foundations of her faith was taken away. She 
 was a consistent Hyper-Calvinist of the Rev. Samuel 
 Turner's flock. But, as in the present little work I 
 mean to confine myself to the region l)etween the Tyne 
 and the Tees, formerly known as the Patrimony of St. 
 Cuthljert, and also as the County Palatine of Durham, 
 with perhaps an occasional random " start and ower- 
 lowp," as the Scotch lawyers sa}-, into the neighbour- 
 ing counties, I shall not enter at all into any polemical, 
 ontological, psychological, or other discussion on the 
 suliject, nor trench on the rich province of comparative
 
 2 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 mythology, but keep within my prescribed narrow 
 bounds. With a mere passing allusion, therefore, to the 
 Witch of Endor, the Sorcerer Elymas, Simon Magus, 
 Joan of Arc, the Swedish Witches on Mount Blockula, 
 the New England Witches, the Scottish Witches, the 
 Witches of Birtley, and the Newcastle Witches (the two 
 latter being in Northuml)erland, and so beyond my 
 strict limit) I proceed, without more preamble, to deal 
 Avitli the witches belonging to this particular district ; 
 anil as it cannot matter much which of the redoubtable 
 ^Id dames we take first, I shall commence with : — 
 
 THE WITCH OF EASINGTOX. 
 
 Mrs. Mary Shaw, who died aljout three years ago, at 
 the age of eighty -five, and Avho went to live at Easington 
 Avhen she Avas forty years old, was told by the elderly 
 people of that old village that, in their young days, 
 whenever the neighbouring gentry went out with the 
 harriers to hunt over any of the farms round about 
 Easington or Castle Eden, it alwaj's occurred that a hare 
 started up and carried the dogs off the right scent, 
 straight towards the former })lace, and somehow or other, 
 without any of the usual doublings and windings, always 
 managed to throw them out and get clear away. This 
 ha})pened so often that it was plain to be seen that there 
 was something uncanny about this crafty member of the 
 leporine genus. Somebody at length suggested that it 
 nuist certainly be a witch, for Avitches, according to 
 common credence, often take out-door exercise, in the form
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 
 
 .of such fleet creatures ; and it was noticed that a certaiu 
 cottage in the place used to he shut up on tlie days 
 when the sports were held, as if its solitary inmate, an 
 ill-natured wrinkled old hag, a regular Ettercop— had 
 gone ahroad somewhere. She usually worked, indeed, 
 in the fields, so that this need not have been wondered 
 at ] but her sour temper and ill habits had rendered her 
 hateful to all her neighbours, so it was noways unnatural 
 that suspicion should fall upon her to the purport that she 
 was a witch, and consequently the identical mysterious 
 hare. In order to test the truth of this, the master of the 
 hounds was advised to get a black bloodhound, which 
 must have been suckled at a Avoman's breast, and set it on 
 the uncanny creature's track next time it appeared, Avhen 
 he was assured that its capture would be certain. A 
 hound answering this description was accordingly got, 
 and next field day it led the hunt. The hare had never 
 been so closely followed up before. It made, as usual, 
 direct for Easington ; but instead of the hound being- 
 thrown off the scent, it kept up the pursuit until the old 
 Avoman's cottage door was reached. A little hole had 
 been cut in that door, for the hens to go in and out at. 
 The hare rushed forward to get through the hole, but 
 the black hound was too close behind to let it get in 
 unscathed. Just as it Avas darting through, he caught it 
 on the haunch, and tore away a bit of the flesh. The 
 huntsmen hurried up, and, finding the door fast l)arred, 
 they burst it open. On entering they saw one of the 
 strangest sights that ever human eye Avas set on. No
 
 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 hare was to be seen, nor any other living hrutc beast, 
 but tliere sat the witch, liathed in sweat and shivering 
 in agony, Avith the Itlood streaming from her on to the 
 lioor. The poor creature, we are told, confessed her 
 guilt, which indeed, she could not easily have denied 
 under the circumstances ; and she earnestly l)egged 
 pardon and asked to be forgiven. Her charm had been 
 ])roken by the draAving of the blood, and her power was 
 lienceforth gone, even if she had wished to exercise it. 
 The gentlemen charitably took pity on her, and left her 
 there alone, to staunch her Avound as she best kneAv hoAv. 
 NeA'er after that Avere the Easington and Castle Eden 
 harriers throAvn off the legitimate scent by any sucli 
 diabolic means ; and never again Avcre the gentlemen of 
 the hvuit ])rivilcged — if I may use the phrase — to folloAV 
 their game in througli a miseraldc Avidow Avoman's- 
 ])olted cottage door. Up to this time, Avhen the crops 
 of any of the neighl^ouring farmers failed, or Avhen any 
 mishap befel their cattle, the misfortune had ahvays been 
 set doA\'n to the Avitch-Avoman's discredit, although it was- 
 inipossil)lc to bring the charge home to her, as had been 
 done in the hare case. It Avas l)y field labour she earned 
 her poor daily pittance, but she had generally to Avork 
 quite alone, for none of the other field Avorkers Avould gO' 
 near her if they could help it. In seed time^ turnip time, 
 weeding time, hay time, harvest time, and all through 
 the year, she Avas generally left to n^ork in a place by 
 herself ; yet scarcely a day elapsed in Avhich she did not 
 give somebody ofience Avith her vile randy tongue, Avliile
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAJI. 
 
 ;anyone who was rash enough to offend her — and not 
 many did so willingly — were certain before long to 
 repent what they had done. In short, like Nanny in 
 Burns's Tarn 0' Shanter, she was a woman . who Avas 
 admirably endowed with all those unamiable qualities of 
 the virago that are best calculated to "keep a country 
 side in fear." She Avas a tall, lank, ])ony Avonian, Avitha 
 masculine cast of features. She li\-ed in the A^llage for a 
 fcAY years after the great mishap befel her, shunned and 
 detested more than CA'er. She ncA'er Avent to church or 
 chapel, or performed any religious duty ; yet Avheu she 
 died she was laid in consecrated ground in Easington 
 churchyard, Avithin the shadoAV of the lofty parish church, 
 Avhich, being situated on an eminence, serves as a sea- 
 mark for passing mariners. But, strange to tell, after 
 it Avas fondly hoped that she had thus Ijecn laid at rest, 
 her " poAver of Avitchery," to use my informant's phrase, 
 Avas still sometimes seen, in the shape of Avliite sheei), 
 rolling over and over on the top of the churchyard Avail. 
 This sight Avas actually Avitnessed by Mrs. ShaAv herself, 
 one night when she was going doAvn past the miller's 
 house to her OAvn home at the Hall Walks. The cottage 
 Avhere the Avitch lived was situated in the Square, on the 
 right hand side in going doAvn from the church toAvards 
 the sea, Avhich is aljout tAvo miles off. The door through 
 Avhich she darted to escape from the black hound Avas a 
 great clumsy old-fashioned one. 
 
 A WITCH-HARE AT SEDGEFTELD. 
 
 A similar incident is said to have happened at the
 
 6 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 small market town of Sedgefield, about seventy years 
 ago. A party out coursing hares raised one in a field 
 near that place, towards whicii they were astonished to 
 .see that it ran direct. It made for a certain house, in the 
 bottom of the door of which there Avas, as in tlie last 
 case, a small cut, so as to admit the cat, or prol)abl}- 
 liens. Before it could reach it, however, one of the 
 dogs caught it by tlie leg, but could not keep its grip, 
 so that Bawtie got through. The hunters came up as 
 fast as they could, tried the door and finding that 
 it was fastened inside, burst it open, by shoving the 
 wooden bolt off. And when the}' had thus got in, there 
 was the old wife, the occupant of the cottage, all in a 
 broth of sweat, and puffing hard, with a broken leg. 
 
 LEDDY LISTER. 
 
 A retired farmer s Avife at Hcdworth, who went by 
 the name of Leddy Lister, was commonly held by the 
 people round about to l)e a witch. Nobody cared to 
 offend her ; neither did they care to be too kind with 
 her ; and if anything vrent wrong in the place it was 
 always put down to her hellish craft. It was said she 
 used to come out at niglit in different shapes, generally 
 as a very tall woman. Sometimes, too, she appeared as 
 a large sheet lying on the hedge, and when the folks 
 went forward to lift it, it would rise up and walk awa)- 
 before them, in the form of a white lad3\ Then it 
 would suddenly disappear. A young farmer was coming- 
 home one night, when the cry was raised "Leddy
 
 OP THE COUNTY OF DURHA:M. 
 
 Lister's out !" He and some other youngsters, lads and 
 lasses, set off in pursuit at once. They traced her 
 through one or two fields, until they came to a stile, 
 where the two foremost stopped. Those behind im- 
 mediately cried out, " She is on the stile, standing close 
 behind you ! " The lads of course jumped off, turned 
 I'ound, and seeing her still in front, a little way off, led 
 the chase further on, till at last they were brought 
 almost close to Leddy Lister's house door. There the 
 apparition vanished. They knocked at the door, till 
 her " Leddyship '' herself came out. She was terribly 
 excited, and panting with rage, and swore she would 
 have them punished, for fastening such vile implications 
 upon her. The mob saw nothing for it but to disperse 
 for that night, but as not one of them believed a word 
 she had said, in denial of its having been her the}' had 
 seen, they determined they would continue to watch 
 her, which they accordingly did ; and she was afterwards 
 seen and followed rej^eatedly, but was ever, as before, lost 
 sight of at or near her own door. At length her husband, 
 it seems, got her persuaded not to walk any more after 
 nightfall. He had been too much annoyed by the mobs 
 coming to the door, and kicking up such horrid rows, to 
 be at all pleased with his wife's nocturnal perambulations. 
 One night only, she ventured out again, when the mob 
 traced her down to a neighbouring burn, and swore that 
 they would drown her. They actually caught hold of 
 her, shook her violently, dragged her home, and laid her 
 on the steps at the door, nearly killing her. That, says
 
 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 my informant, was her last "expert " from home. She 
 afterwards settled down quietly, because she could not 
 helj) herself, having l)een lamed through the ill treatment 
 she had got; and slic died a year or two afterwards, " to 
 the great comfort," I was tohl, " of all the good people 
 round about." My simple honest informant, I should 
 add, when out one evening, going from the house where 
 she lived to her mistress's mother's, met Leddy Lister 
 walking silently past, arrayed in her usual white garb. 
 She saluted her with " it's a fine night, Leddy Lister." 
 But the witch, as she Avas supposed to be, Avas not even so 
 polite as one Avould have expected of a vulgar ghost, 
 Avhich most assuredly Avould haA^e said something in 
 reply, after being civilly sj)oken to. The A'oung Avoman 
 chanced to meet Leddy Lister the next day, in broad 
 daylight, Avhen she said to her, " I met you last night 
 as I Avas crossing the Green, going to Grandmother's' 
 (that being the title her mistress's mother Avent by). "I 
 spoke to you, but you never ansAvered me, Avhich I 
 thought A^ery strange." " See me, no," replied her 
 Leddyship ; " You must not believe all you see, if you 
 think you saw me, for I Avas ncA'er out." I suspect, for 
 my part, that the poor Avoman must have been a sleep 
 Avalker, not a Avitch at all. 
 
 A AVITCII CAT, 
 
 Mr. John Bonner, farmer at Beggar-Bush, betAveen 
 Easington and Castle Eden, and close beside the re- 
 UGAvned Dene, was coming home one night in his cart,
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 9 
 
 -when something rushed suddenly out of the hedge, leai)t 
 on to the cart behind him, and said, " Johnny Bonner, 
 Johnny ! when tliou gets hj'em, tell your cat Catherine 
 Curley's deed." Turning round to see who it was that 
 spoke, and seeing that it was a great big cat, he was 
 terrified out of his wits. The cat leapt off the cart and 
 he drove away furiously. When he reached home and 
 got into the house and had thrown himself down on a 
 seat, his wife saw he was in such a state, that she 
 ■exclaimed in mortal fear "Johnny, what's the matter." 
 As soon as he could speak, her huslmnd gasped out " 
 Lass, sit down ! there's something awful happened te neet. 
 As I was coming h}'eni a cat lea])t on te me cart, and 
 says "Johnny Bonner, Johnny, when thou gans hyem, 
 tell your cat Catherine Curley's deed." No sooner had 
 the good man uttered these Avords, and his wife had not 
 had time to speak, when their own cat, a great favourite, 
 Avhich had been lying asleep on the ledge behind the 
 old-fashioned kitchen chinniey-piece, jumped up and ex- 
 claimed " Aw mun awa." She instantly ran out of the 
 house, and was seen no more. Mr. Bonner was suc- 
 ceeded in the farm by Mr. George Dobinson, the father 
 of the woman who told me the tale, Avhich she had often 
 lieai'd him tell. 
 
 ANOTHER WITCH CAT. 
 
 Mr. Hylton LongstafTe relates that a farmer of 
 Staindrop was one night crossing a bridge near that 
 place, when a cat jumped out, stood before him, and
 
 10 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 looking him full in the face, said — 
 
 Johnny Recti, Johnny Reed ! 
 
 Tell Madame Momfoot 
 
 That Mally Dixon's deed ! 
 The farmer returned home, and in mickle wonder recited 
 this awful stanza, when up started their black cat, saying, 
 "Is she?" rushed out at the door, and disappeared for 
 ever. It was supposed she was a fairy in disguise, and 
 that she had run off to attend a sister's funeral ; 
 for in this part of the world, if not in all countries, fairies 
 do die, and green shady spots used to be pointed out by 
 the countr}'' folks as the cemeteries of the tiny people. 
 Halliwell, in his " Rhymes and Popular Stories," points 
 out tliat an analogous story is found in the popular 
 literature of Denmark. " Near a town called Lyng is 
 the hill of Brondhoe, inhabited by the trold-folk or imps. 
 Among those trolds was an old sickly devil, peevish, and 
 ill-tempered, because he was married to a young wife. 
 This unhappy trold often set the rest by the ears, sa 
 they nick-named him Knurre-Murre, or Rumble Grumble. 
 Now it came to pass that Knurre-Murre discovered that 
 his young wife Avas inclined to honour him with a supple- 
 mental pair of horns ; and the object of his jealousy, to 
 avoid his A'engeance, was compelled to Uy for his life 
 from the cavern, and take refuge, in shape of a tortoise- 
 shell cat, in the house of goodman Piatt, who harboured 
 him with much hospitality, let him lie on the great 
 wicker chair, and fed him twice a day with bread and 
 milk out of a red earthenware pipkin. One evening the
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 11 
 
 goodman came home, at a late hour, full of Avonder- 
 laent : — ' Good}- ,' exclaimed he to his Avife, ' as I was 
 passing by Brondhoe, there came out a trold, who spake 
 to me, saying, 
 
 Hor du, Plat, 
 
 Sag til din cat 
 
 At Knurre-Murrc er dod. 
 
 Hear thou, Piatt, 
 
 Say to th}- cat 
 
 That Knurre-Murre is dead.' 
 
 The tortoise-shell cat was lying on the great wicker chair^ 
 and eating his supjier of bread and milk out of a red 
 earthenware pi})kin, when the goodman came in; but as 
 soon as the message had been dehvered, he jumped 1:)olt 
 upright upon his two hind legs, for all the world like a 
 Christian, and kicking the red earthenware pipkin and 
 the rest of the bread and milk before him, he whisked 
 through the cottage door, mewing, " What ! is Knurre- 
 Murre dead 1 then I may go home again ! " 
 
 TO COUNTERACT WITCHCRAFT. 
 
 A case occurred in old Dundas Street, Monkwear- 
 mouth, tAventy-four years ago, of a child believed to be 
 witched, so that it Avas shrivelled uj) to an " atomy." 
 The afflicted mother procured a black hen's heart, stuck 
 it full of pins and roasted it in the prescribed mode, and 
 Avhile the roasting Avas going on, the Avoman Avhom she 
 blamed came in and asked for the loan of a "Bit o'Tea,""
 
 12 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 to make herself a cup, as she felt so bad. The loan was 
 granted, the spell Avas l)roken, and the child recovered. 
 
 THE witch's cradle. 
 
 Xo one ever saAv the AVitch's Cradle in Durham 
 Cathedral, l)ut many have heard it rocked. AVe have it 
 at second hand from one William Maughau, a native of 
 "NVolsingham, Avho, at the time when he told his ex- 
 perience was eighty years of age, but in full possession 
 oi his faculties and able to read without spectacles, that 
 *'■ he had heard it rock mony a time hissel. Mon}' a 
 time and mony a time agyen ! His fey ther, too, believed 
 it — never dooted it." William said the cathedral Avas 
 positively set down all in one night, like the Holy 
 House of Loretto. "Div a^v belicve't," he Avould say 
 when questioned on the point. " Yes sartainl}' ! " He 
 had travelled in his jjrime between Stanhope and 
 •" AVissenham," as he called it, with monej^ bags from 
 the bank containing thousands of pounds. " Neebody 
 ivver meddl't 'im," he answered, "they knaw'd better. 
 They saw he wur a l)rave lish man— a bad unto tackle." 
 
 BEWITCHED CHILDREN. 
 
 It is far from uncommon, in Sunderland, Shields, 
 Durham, Hartlepool, and other towns and villages, for 
 mothers whose children are not thriving to think them 
 bewitched. They then get a sheep or bullock's heart- 
 fi'om the butcher, stick it fidl of pins, and roast it before 
 • the fire. This breaks the charm, and the child afterwards
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAil. 1.5 
 
 thrives. A servant girl, Elizabeth Bell, told me her 
 grandfather once assisted at this ceremony, and while 
 
 the heart was being slowly consumed, the woman whom 
 the mother suspected of having bewitched her child 
 came in and asked them to give her a drink of water 
 for God's sake, as she felt as if her heart was on fire. 
 The child got rapidly better. 
 
 Ct. W., an old farmer, emigrated from Sedgefield to 
 Sunderland, and took up his residence in Dunning-street. 
 His daughter Hannah married a foreign sailor, to whom 
 she had a child. This child took ill and fell into a 
 " decline." One day an old woman who lived in the 
 neighbourhood came in, as an act of kindness, to assist 
 them in house-cleaning. The child happened to be very 
 restless that day, and kept crying without intennission. 
 The woman said she believed it was bewitched. Now 
 the old farmer, his wife Peggy, his daughter, and her 
 husband (a Portuguese), were all alike full of witchcraft. 
 So they at once concluded this Avas the case. And when 
 the old woman went out, after finishing her job of clean- 
 ing, and mending her gown which she had happened to 
 tear, they began eagerly to speculate who the witch 
 could be. A little patch of stuff, which their next door 
 neighbour had cut off when repairing her upper garment, 
 was found lying in the cradle. The conclusion instantlj- 
 liashed upon them that this was the fatal charm. So 
 the rag was burnt with certain mysterious ceremonies, 
 which my informant, an eye-witness, then a boy, cannot 
 now specify. But he remembers that they wished the}-
 
 14 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 -could have got a black hen's heart to hurn along with 
 the stuff, which Avould infallibly have broken the spell. 
 Tlic supposed witch Avas never allowed to enter the 
 house, froju that day forward, 
 
 A young married woman at AVearmouth Colliery, 
 whose initials were A. J., had a child that had 
 been pining away till it Avas reduced to a skeleton. A 
 ncigh1)ovu' came in one day and advised her to consult 
 ,a gj'psy woman then in the neighl)ourhood. The gyiisy 
 said the child had been bewitched l)y a female relative 
 to whom the mother had given some sort of offence ; and 
 Mrs. J. was advised to get a black hen, cut it open alive, 
 pull out its heart, stick it full of pins, and burn it in the 
 fire, at twelve o'clock at night precisely. " Then," said 
 the sybil, " the witch Avill not be able to rest, liut will 
 come in, and ask for the loan of something, and your 
 husband must be ready with a stick wherewith to fell her, 
 that is, knock her down, Avhich if he does, the spell Avill 
 be broken and your child will recover." Meanwhile the 
 mischief-making neighbour Avent away and told the 
 supposed Avitch, AA'^hose name Avas D.K., Avhat fate Avas 
 impending OA'er her if she Avent to visit her relatives 
 across the way. She therefore took care not to go. 
 .She had had a quarrel with the mother sometime before, 
 and though nearly related, they Avere not on speaking- 
 terms, Mr. and Mrs. J. sat up tliat night, till long past 
 the witching hour, the husband holding the rolling pin 
 in his hand ; but no Avitch made her appearance. The
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 15 
 
 spell was not broken, therefore, and the child died. 
 This took place about ten years ago, say 1875. 
 
 A poor woman, the Avife of a pitman, was brought 
 some years ago (say fifteen) before tlie city of Durham 
 bench of magistrates on the charge of stealing a fowl. 
 She made no attempt to deny the fact ; indeed, she had 
 previously admitted it to the policeman who ap})rehended 
 her, saying that she had committed the theft for the 
 purpose of working out a charm which was to restore 
 her sick child to health. The child, it appeared, had 
 long been ailing, and was now fiist pining away, when 
 its mother, full of uneasiness about it, consulted a witch 
 Avho lived near. The witch solemnly charged her to 
 steal a hen, take out the heart, stick it full of pins, and 
 roast it at midnight over a slow fire, first closing up every 
 communication with the open air. If this Avere only done, 
 the hag promised that as the heart was gradually con- 
 sumed, health would return to the suflPering child. The 
 magistrates, considering the delusion under Avhich she 
 had acted, dismissed the case. 
 
 THE BEWITCHED FARMER'S WIFE OF EDMUNDBYERS. 
 
 The following marvellous stor}', illustrative of the 
 prevalent belief in Avitchcraft in this part of the country 
 tAvo hundred years ago, is told in a curious pamphlet 
 printed in 1641, under the folio Aving title : — 
 
 " Most fearefull and strange neAves from the Bishopp- 
 ricke of Durham; being a true relation of one ]\Iargaret 
 Hooper, of Edenbyers, neere the Kivcr DarAvent in the
 
 16 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 said Bishoppricke, &c., &c. London : Printed for John- 
 Thomas. 
 
 Upon the 15 day of Xovcniber now last past, 1641, 
 there is a yeo-man of good and honest reputation, 
 dwelling in the Towne fif Edenliyres, upon Darwent 
 AVater in the Bishopjiricke of Durhiini, avIiosc name is 
 (Stephen Hooper, a man of good wealth and also wcl- 
 Ijcloved of his neighl)onrs, who l)eing sicke, and lying in 
 a weake estate, sent his wife, whose name was Margaret 
 Hooper, to a farm which hee had in a village called Hans- 
 tonueth [Hunstonworth], some 3 miles, oft', at whose 
 comming thither, it seemed all things were not according 
 to her mindc. Thus continuing there one day and some- 
 thing more shee returned home to her husband, partly 
 agreeved at such things as she thought her husband might 
 refonne ; if Ood lent him life. Now when she was come 
 home to Edenbyres she found her husband recoA'cred to an 
 indifferent health, to whom slice began to use very much 
 idle talke, as weel concerning the same farm, as also 
 concerning an old groat, Avhich her sonne, l)eing a little 
 boy, had found about a week before. Thus she continued 
 as she had been one bewitched, or haunted with an 
 evil spirit, until the Wednesday at night foUoAving, 
 Avhich night she tooke her rest, some Indifferently until 
 the morning, at which time she began Avith much vaine 
 speech to disquiet her husl)and, and to use much idle 
 talkc, but her husband seeing her in such a mind, and 
 finding that she Avas, as it were desperate, he persAA'^aded 
 her to cal upon God, and that being the creature of God,
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 
 
 she should not forget to cal upon her Creator in the day 
 of truble, wherefore he councelled her to pray Avith him, 
 and to say the Lord's Prayer after him, which shee partly 
 did, but the devil, who always doth build the Chapell, 
 so much as he may to vex God's Church, began to with- 
 draw her from prayer, and to put her in minde to cal in a 
 most fearful kind for the groat, which her soniie had 
 lately found, as also for her weding-ring, desiring to see 
 them with all speed. Her husband made no great haste 
 thereunto, but continued in prayer that it would please 
 God to send her a more quiet spirit, and to strengthen 
 her that faith might speedily vanquish such vanitie in 
 her, but the more he prayed and perswaded her to prayer, 
 the more shee seemed to be as it were troubled with 
 some evil spirit, calling for the old groat, which her hus- 
 band neglected to show her, whereat she began Avith a ver}' 
 Sterne and staring countenance to looke on her husband 
 in most Avonderfull sort, that he Avas sore affrighted. 
 Then he called for her sister, for that he Avas not able 
 to keepe her in the 1 >ed, Avhich Avhen her sister and others 
 Avere come into the cliamlier the}' kept her doAvn violently 
 in her bed, and forth Avitli shee Avas so sore tormented 
 that shee foamed at the mouth, and Avas shaken Avith 
 such forse that the bed and the chamber did shake and 
 move in most strange sort, her husband continued pray- 
 ing for her deliverance, so that Avithin one halfe houre 
 after her shaking Avas jjast, shee began to tell them shee 
 had beene in the ToAverne to beat away the bcare Avhich 
 f olloAved her into the yard, Avhen she came from Hunsten- 
 B
 
 18 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 worth, which to her thinking had no head. Then her 
 husband and frinds wished her to leave those vaine 
 imaginations, perswading her that it was verya Idle for 
 want of rest ; wherefore her husband and fi-inds 
 exhorted her to say the Lord's Praj'er with them, 
 which shee did, and after tooke some rest, and thus 
 she continued until the Satterday following, in which 
 time she continued raging, as it Avere distract of her 
 memory, which came by fits, to the great grief of her 
 husband, frinds, and neighbours, yet upon the Satter- 
 <lay there was some hopes of her recovery, for that 
 she took some reasonable rest, to the comfort of her 
 husband and frinds, and upon the Sunday she seemed to 
 be very patient and comfortable until midnight, at which 
 time the candle set Ijurning in the same chamber, 
 was l)urned. She then suddenly awaking called to 
 her husband, and crying out, saying, that she did 
 see a strange thing like unto a snale carrying fire in a 
 most wonderfull sort, whereat her husband was amazed, 
 and seeing the candle was cleene burnt out, called to his 
 Brothers and Sisters that Avere in the house, with other 
 of their frinds, Avatching and sitting up to comfort her, 
 if her extreme fit should any way molest her, who hear- 
 ing him call, come in, and brought a candle lighted, and 
 set it ui)on the table, which stood necre Avhere the Avonian 
 lay. She began to Avax very fearfull, saying to her 
 husband and the rest — Doe you not see the Devill 1 
 "Whereat they desired her to remember God, and to call 
 for grace that her faith might onely be fixed upon him,
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 19 
 
 to the vanquishing the Devil and his assauhs. Hell ! 
 (quoth she) if you see nothing now you shall see some- 
 thing by and by, and forthwith they heard a great noise 
 in the streets, as if it had been the comming of f oure or 
 live carts, and presently they in the chamber cried out 
 saying — Lord helpe us ! what manner of thing is this that 
 Cometh here ? Then her husliand looking up in his 
 bed espied a thing comming to the bed, much like a 
 beare, but it had no head nor taile, halfe a yard in 
 height, and halfe a yard in length ; her husband seeing 
 it come to the bed rose up, and tookc a joynt stoole, and 
 strooke at the same thing. The stroke sounded as 
 though he had strucken upon a feather bed ; then it 
 came to the woman, and strooke her three times upon the 
 feet, and tooke her out of the bed, and so rouled her to 
 and fro in the chamber, and under the bed. The people 
 then present, to the number of seaven persons were so 
 greatly amazed at this horrible sight that they knew not 
 Avhat to doe, yet they called still upon God for his assis- 
 tance, but the candle was so dimmed that they could 
 scarcely see one another. At the last this Monster, which 
 wee suppose to be the Devill, so rouled her in a round 
 compasse, like an hoope, through the other chambers, 
 downe an high pair of staires into the hall, where he kept 
 her the space of a quarter of an houre. Her husband and 
 they in the chamber above durst not come downe to her, 
 but remained in prayer, weeping at the top of the stairs 
 head, greivously lamenting to see her so carried away. 
 There was such an horrible stinke into the Hall, and
 
 20 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 sucli fiery flames, that they Avere glad to stop their noses 
 with cloathes and naplcines. Then the Avoman cried out 
 calling to her hushand, — Now he is gone ! Then quoth 
 he, in tlie Name of Ood come up to mc ; and so even upon 
 the suddaine she was come up so quickly, that they greath 
 marvcilled at it. Then they brought her to l)ed, 
 and continued in prayer about her. Tlie candle could 
 not burn clear, but Avas very dimmc, and suddenly the 
 woman was got out of the bed, and the Avindow at the- 
 l)ed's head opened. Whether the AA'oman unpin'd the- 
 AvindoAV, or hoAV it come to passe, they kneAV not, but it 
 Avas opened; and the Avoman's leggs after a miraculous 
 manner thrust out of the AvindoAv. The people of the 
 chaml)er heard a thing knock at her feet as if had becne 
 upon a tul)li, and they saAV a great fire, as it seemed ta 
 them at her feet, the stinke thereof Avas horrible !" — 
 After describing the solemn manner in Avhich by 
 prayer they invoked the aid of the Almighty, the ac- 
 count concludes by saying : — " At last they espied a 
 thing like unto a little child, AA'ith a very bright 
 shining countenance, casting a great light in the 
 chamber, and the candle l)urned \'ery brightly, so that 
 they might see one another. Then they fell flat to the 
 ground, and prayed the Lord tliat he had so Avonderfully 
 assisted them, and so the child vanished aAvay. Then 
 the woman being in better feeling of her self e, Avas laid in 
 lier bed and asked f orgivenesse at God's hands, and of all 
 .shee had offended, acknoAvledging that it AA'as for her 
 sinnes that she Avas so sore tormented of the evill spirit,.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 21 
 
 .and God be thanked she hath beene ever since in some 
 I'easonable order, for there hath beene with her many 
 ^odly learned men, from divers places of the countery. 
 These are the names of the witnesses that it is most 
 true : — Steven Hooper, lohn Hooper, lohn I ley, Alex- 
 jinder Eagleston, Anthony ^Yestgarth, Alis Eagleston." 
 
 It is said that the names of five of these six are to be 
 met with in registers and other writings in connection 
 with one or other of the above parishes about the period 
 when the tract was printed. 
 
 THE WISE MAN OF STOKESLEY. 
 
 The name of this personage, who was long the oracle 
 of South Durham, as well as of Cleveland, was Wright- 
 son. He flourished about eighty years ago ; and such 
 ascendancy did he obtain in the neighbourhood that he 
 was at "once resorted to in cases of sickness, distress, or 
 loss of projjerty, and this not b}^ the lower orders alone. 
 His private character is said to have been very bad ; 
 still his influence in Stokesley was so great that he was 
 constantl}' in request as godfather to the people's chil- 
 dren ; and on these occasions he used to attend church 
 in a scarlet coat, a long white waist-coat, a full-starched 
 shirt-frill, crimson knee-breeches, and white stockings. 
 He used always to say that he had no power or knowledge 
 beyond other men except when fasting, that he owed his 
 powers to his being the seventh son of a seventh daughter, 
 and that he Avas quite unable to transmit them to his 
 .own son. The following stories, if true, go towards
 
 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 proving the man to have been a natural clairvoyant. On 
 one occasion, when an old man at Dan])y, Avho used to- 
 tell the story, Avas 3'oung, a relation of his had a cow, 
 which fell ill of a disease which haffled the skill of every 
 cow-leech in the neighbourhood. The lad was therefore 
 mounted on a horse, and despatched to Stokesley to 
 consult the wise man. On opening the door — before he 
 had time to explain his message — the Avizard said, " I 
 knoAv what has brought you here ; You have come about 
 a cow ; and if I cannot tell you as much about the 
 creature as you (;an tell me, it is not likely that I can 
 help you." He then i)roceeded to describe the coav, her 
 color and appearance, her symptoms, — constant restless- 
 ness, and uneasy movements, and a peculiar sound she 
 uttered ; also her position in the cow house. " The 
 door opened," he said, " right upon her rump." The 
 wise man went on to specify the disease, and added 
 that nothing could save her. She died accordingl}', 
 and a post-mortem examination verified all that "And 
 Wrightson " had said. Another time, some pitmen were 
 working together at the Try-up Trough Pits, and left 
 clothes above, as usual, on descending to their work. 
 In the afternoon, when work was over, one of them 
 missed his shirt and could 7iot find it anywhere. 
 Borrowing one from a friend, the man started straight 
 from the pits to Stokesley to consult " Aud "Wrightson," 
 taking with him a comrade whose christian name was 
 Elijah. They passed a place called AVest House, and 
 there Elijah deposited his overcoat, A\'hich was hot and
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 23 
 
 heavy, observing to his friend that they should be able to 
 trust the wise man in the mattei' of the shirt by seeing 
 "whether he knew where the coat was. Here, too, he fore- 
 stalled all enquiries by announcing to the men what they 
 had come about ; and turning to the comrade, addressed 
 him thus by his Christian name, " What hast 'ee deean wi 
 thy coat Ehjah ? I think thee'st lossit a' AVest House. 
 Think'st 'ee t' Avise man knaws aught about t' shart' ?" 
 As these were the very Avords the man had used, he was 
 struck dumb with astonishment. The Avizard then 
 described the shirt, saying it had been made by a left- 
 handed person, Avhich Avas true, and finally said its 
 OAvner Avould find it at home on his return. He added 
 a Avarning as to giving salt out of the house, a most 
 dangerous thing, and one Avhich the pitman's mother had 
 done that day. Eeturning home, they found the shirt 
 had been left there by a fellow Avorkman, Avho had 
 carried it away in mistake, and the house-mother had 
 been guilty of the "dangerous act" of giving salt aAvay. 
 The next Stokesley story is as folloAvs :— A miller named 
 
 W , lost a set of ncAv Aveights very mysteriously, and 
 
 all his searchings and enquiries ended in disappointment ; 
 he could make out nothing about them. So he applied 
 to the AAnse man. The Avizard, after consulting his books 
 announced that the Aveights should be restored ; at 
 present they were concealed in an " ass-midden." 
 Accordingly, in the course of a night or tAvo, the Aveights 
 appeared as mysteriously as they had vanished, being 
 placed at the miller's door, and "all clammed Avi' ass,"
 
 24 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 which of course was satisfactory. Again, a young bull, 
 belonging to an inhabitant of the district, was attacked 
 by sickness, and in spite of all remedies was soon at what 
 appeared the point of death — too weak to stand, and 
 slung up by ropes to keep it from falling. The wise 
 man was sent for and in due time arrived at the house, 
 but declined to speak of tlie animal, saying, in his usual 
 way, that unless he could tell them all they could tell 
 him and a little more it was not likely he could be of 
 much use. At last he condescended to light his pipe, 
 and stroll out to the " beast house." After a little time 
 curiosity prompted one or two men who were standing 
 about to follow liim, and ai)proaching the byre, they 
 were surprised to see the bull apparently as well as ever, 
 standing without any aid from slings, and eating his 
 provender with a hearty appetite. The mode of cure 
 remained a secret. The last stor}- Ave have concerning 
 him suggests a notion that, consciously or unconsciously, 
 this worthy practised something like electro-biology. 
 Two men, one of them bearing the name of Bob Ben- 
 nison, and brother to a person living not long ago (perhaps 
 still) at Danby, Avere on their Avay to Stokeslcy fair, 
 Avhen one of them proposed to turn aside in order to 
 " see aud AVrightson an' hev a bit o' sport Avi' him." On 
 reaching thcAvise man's house he gave them an apparently 
 cordial welcome, seated them in front of the fire and 
 proceeded to mend it by heaping on fuel. Fiercer and 
 fiercer it blazed up, and AVrightson's guests, feehng 
 somcAvhat too Avarm, tried to edge their chairs backwards
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHA3r. 25 
 
 but their efforts were vain. They found themselre? 
 immoveably fixed in their seats, and the seats immove- 
 ably fixed in front of the fire, which all the time was 
 burning hotter and hotter. After giving the men such 
 a roasting as he deemed sufficient, the wizard at length 
 set them free, scornfully l)idding them go to the fair, 
 and there tell their friends " the sport they had had wi' 
 aud Wrightsou." 
 
 WILLIE DAWSON. 
 
 When the Wise Man of Stoke sley shuffled off this 
 mortal coil, one William Dawson, who rented a farm at 
 Quaker's Grove, near the same place, and who inherited 
 some of the wizard's books, took up the trade of sooth- 
 saying. Like his predecessor, he soon got in great repute 
 and was even consulted by persons of a respectable 
 jjosition in life. But his powers, such as they were, 
 failed to help him to fortune, or even to sustain him in 
 his original independence. For he gradually sank into 
 poverty, and ended his daj's in South Durham in very 
 reduced circumstances. Mr. Henderson, in his excellent 
 ''Folk Lore of the Northern Counties" gives the following- 
 instances of his mode of treatment : — " A substantial 
 Yorkshire farmer, having sustained heavy and continued 
 losses among the stock, consulted this William Dawson, 
 and was instructed hy him how to find out whether 
 witchcraft was really the cause of the mischief. The 
 farmer was to take six knots of bottree (bore-tree or 
 elder) wood, and placing them in orderly arrangement
 
 26 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 ])eneath a new ashen l)owl or platter, was so to leave 
 tliem. If, on looking at them some little time after- 
 wards, they were found all in confusion, " all squandered 
 about," as he phrased it, there coidd be no doubt the 
 lieasts were perishing from the effects of -witchcraft. 
 This was done, and on inspection the knots were found 
 in utter confusion. So the farmer was directed to take 
 the heart of one of the dead beasts, and stick in it nine 
 new nails, nine new pins, and as many new needles. 
 The heart thus prepared was to be burnt on a fire made 
 and fed with witch-wood (rowan tree), a little before 
 midnight, at which hour a certain verse of the Bible was 
 to be read over the flames and the spell would be broken. 
 All was made ready and the doors of the farm-house 
 secured with bolts and bars, to say nothing of chairs and 
 tables heaped against them for additional security. The 
 lieart lay on the mystic fire ; as midnight approached, 
 the operator touched it with the poker, and it burst 
 asunder into many pieces. Gathering them together 
 uj)on the hot embers, that they might be thoroughly 
 consumed, he read the appointed verse, and at the same 
 moment a rushing and clattering was heard dovm the 
 paved causey which led from the house to the turnpike 
 Cthe high-road) in front, as if a carriage and pair came 
 driven down it furiousl}'. Next began a terrible knock- 
 ing and hammering, first at the front door, then at the 
 back ; liut as the embers of the heart Avasted in the fire, 
 as the last spark disapj)eared, the noise ceased ; and from 
 that time no further harm befel the stock." On another
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 27 
 
 occasion the object AA^as " to restore to health a young^ 
 man said to be beAvitched. A fire Avas made at midnight 
 as before, and the doors and AvindoAvs closed. Clippings 
 from eA'ery finger and toe nail of the patient, Avith hair 
 from each temple, and the croAvn of his head, AA^ere stuffed 
 into the throat of a pigeon AA'hich had preA'iously been 
 placed between the patient's feet, and there had died at 
 once, thus attesting the Avitchery from Avhich he Avas 
 sufiFering. The bird's bill Avas riA-etted Avith three pins, 
 and then the A\'ise man thrust a pin into its breast, to 
 reach the heart, CA^erybody else in the room in turn 
 foUoAving his example. An opening Avas then made in 
 the fire, and the pigeon dropped into it. The AAase man 
 began to read aloud Psalms from the Prayer Book, and 
 a loud scratching and Avhining began outside. All in 
 the house, said Mr. H.'s informant, AA'ere satisfied 
 that the young man's enemy had appeared outside, 
 perhaps in the form of a dog ; he alone attributed the 
 sounds to the Avizard's OAvn dog, AA'hich had not been 
 alloAved to enter the house. His scepticism, hoAvever, 
 annoyed the Avizard and his dupes so much that the lad 
 was fain to keep it to himself. 
 
 BLACK AVILLIE OF HARTLEPOOL. 
 
 The Rev. H. B. Tristram communicated to Mr 
 Henderson the folloAving case from the neighbourhood 
 of Greatham : — "In November of this year (1861) I 
 was sent for by a parishioner, the Avife of a small farmer, 
 who complained that she had been scandalised by her
 
 28 LEGENDS AND SUrERSTITIONS 
 
 neighbours opposite, Avho accused her of witchcraft. 
 These neighbours had lost two horses during the 
 last year and therefore consulted ' Black Willie ' at 
 Hartlei)ool, who assured them that they had been be- 
 witched. Acting on his advice, they adopted the follow- 
 ing means for discovering the witch. Having procured 
 a pigeon and tied its wings, every aperture in the house 
 even to the key holes, was carefully stopped, and i)ins 
 were run into the pigeon whilst alive ])y each member 
 of the family, so as to pierce the poor bird's heart. The 
 pigeon was then roasted, and a watch kept at the window 
 during the operation, for the first ])erson who passed the 
 door would of course be the guilty party. The good 
 woman who appealed to me (Mr. Tristram), had the 
 misfortune to be the first passer-by and the family were 
 firmly convinced she had exercised ' the evil eye ' upon 
 the dead horses, though she was a comely matron, not 
 yet fifty years of age." 
 
 NANNIE SCOTT, THE SUNDERLAND WITCH, 
 
 In a communication to Mr. Henderson, the late Mr, 
 F. H. Johnson, of Fawcett Street, Sunderland, wrote as 
 follows respecting an old witch who flourished in Sun- 
 derland some half-century ago : — " We find in this 
 locality many relics of the Scandinavian superstitions, 
 varied and mixed up with modern customs and phrase- 
 ology. The old keelmen (once numbering some hun- 
 dreds) on the Wear were Ijrimful of superstitious stories 
 and legends, and their nightly rambles on shoi'e and
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 29 
 
 river, to seek their vessels and bring them in with the 
 tide, are very amusing, I remember, when a boy, a 
 witch who resided in a little hovel near us, in Sunder- 
 land, and with whom I Avas on most friendly terms, 
 much to the disgust of my nurse. She told fortunes by 
 the stars, practised the black art, and sold a compountl 
 of treacle, &c., called by us ' claggum.' Her hatred was 
 considered certain death ; and children once under her 
 protection were sure to be lucky in life. She had a 
 black cat and a black dog, both unmitigated savages and 
 thieA'es (the poor animals, being deemed familiars, were 
 pelted and })rosecuted into ferocit}), and few Avomen 
 Avere more coaxed and toadied than Avas Nannie Scott. 
 She prayed for fair Avinds for sailors' Avives ; she sold 
 loA-e-charms to bring together sulking SAveethearts ; and 
 she did all AA'ith an air of solemn strong-mindedness that 
 bore doAvn any approach to discredit. She lived to a 
 very great age, and died about twenty years ago.' 
 
 A AVITCH IN A GALE OF WIND. 
 
 An old Avitch named Mall}', Avho lived at Hylton^ 
 wished particularl}' to come doAvn to Sunderland one 
 A'ery stormy da}', and asked a keelman named Jock to 
 take her doAvn in his keel. Jock replied that it Avas 
 impossible ; he durst not for his life ; did she not see all 
 the keels lying fast moored 1 Not a man would venture 
 to go down. "Don't be afraid," said she ; " There's no 
 danger, I tell you. Not a hair of your head Avill be 
 hurt. You miist take me doAvn. And run along full
 
 30 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 sail. Don't take in a reef. Never fear ; you'll make 
 your passage." By dint of strong persuasion, Jock, 
 who was a lirave hardy fellow, consented to go. The 
 old woman got into the huddock at the stern of the keel, 
 and la}' there snug. The keel went on as if it flew, 
 .sometimes in the Avater, and sometimes out of it, the 
 wind blowing great guns. Jock swore afterwards that 
 he saw a black cat sitting on the top of the mast. He 
 had put on full sail, and not taken in a reef. They got 
 <lown safely, 
 
 A CHURN BEWITCHED. 
 
 A farmer's wife at Hylton, who had done something 
 to displease a neighbour who had the evil eye, one day 
 churned, and churned, and Ijetter churned, but could get 
 no butter. At length, about midnight, the malignant 
 hag rapi)ed at her door, came in, and asked what was the 
 matter. "We can get no butter," was the reply. Wh}-, 
 woman," rejoined the witch, " you have the churn too 
 far from the fire." The churn was shifted, and the 
 butter came in a " jiflFy." 
 
 MEETING WOMEN OR HARES. 
 
 If a pitman of the old school meets a woman on his 
 way to work, he will turn and go home for the day, 
 lieing sure that something would happen to him in the 
 ])it if he were to go down the shaft. He would lie dis- 
 posed to do the same thing if he met a hare, which is, 
 however, now a very unlikely occurrence. We never 
 heard any reason given why the hare should be an un-
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 31 
 
 lucky beast, except that, in the mythical good old times 
 before the first Reform Bill was passed, witches used to 
 make a vile practice of taking this innocent-looking 
 shape, when abroad at nights on their mysterious 
 errands. If shot at, as they sometimes were, the lead 
 drops would glance off their hides without ever ruffling 
 the fur. There was no way of crippling them but In- 
 firing a piece of silver at them. One witch, in a village 
 I know, not far from St. Boswell's, frisking about in the 
 moonlight in an honest man's cabbage garden, was shot 
 at by him with a silver button, oif his right shirt sleeve, 
 and next morning blood drops were traced all the way 
 to her cottage door, and old Xanny was found inside 
 with her " chafts " tied up, she having, it seems, been 
 hit on the cheek. Had the case occurred two centuries 
 instead of fifty years ago, the alleged Avitch would un- 
 doubtedly have ended her days on a pile formed of tar 
 barrels. 
 
 WITCHES IN GATESHEAD. 
 
 Gateshead was a comparatively small place in the days 
 of the Great Rebellion and the Commonwealth, and 
 therefore the number of reputed witches in it could not 
 then be very great. But the local magistrates neverthe- 
 less found something to do, as well as their brethren 
 across the water, when these worthy men were l^urning 
 witches by the score, on the information of a noted 
 witch-finder from Scotland. For, under date, 1G49, the 
 following entry appears in Gateshead parish books : —
 
 32 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 "Paid at Mrs. Watson's -when the justices sate to 
 examine the witches, 3s. 4(1.; for a grave for a witch, 
 6(1; for hurA-ing the witches, £1 .^)s," 
 
 THE ADDER-STONE. 
 
 Tlie adder-stone, holy -stone, or holed-stone, is a stone 
 with a perforation in it, imagined to have been made 
 1iy the sting of an adder. Stones of this kind are hung 
 up in stables, over the horses' heads, to secure them 
 from being hag-ridden, or made use of during the night 
 by witches. Such beasts as sweat in their stalls are 
 supposed to 1)6 cured hy the application to them of such 
 a stone. Brockctt says he has also seen them suspended 
 from the tester of a bed, as well as placed behind the 
 door of a dwelling-house, attached to a key — to prevent 
 injury from the midnight hags of "air and broom.' 
 Hung up at the bed's head, they prevent the night- 
 mare, which is caused by some Avitch turning the 
 unlucky slee})er into a horse or mare, and scampering 
 along the sky on his or her back, to the appointed place 
 of infernal rendezvous. They must be self-bored stones, 
 that is, naturally holed ; otherwise they are thought to 
 have no efficacy. The mode of their formation is well 
 known to naturalists. They are formed in the bed of 
 a running stream, through one stone getting embedded 
 in another and grinding a hole through it. 
 
 THE VIRTUE OF THE MOUNTAIN ASH. 
 
 I may conclude this chapter with a short account of 
 a case which my friend ]\Ir. Henry Kerr, of Bacup,
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 33 
 
 Lancashire, says fell under his own observation in 
 Sunderland, more than twenty years ago. The first 
 child of a young couple of my acquaintance, which had 
 been puny and ailing from birth, was supposed by its 
 mother to be bewitched. The child became worse, and 
 the credulous mother, despite every remonstrance, 
 insisted that the child had actually been bewitched by 
 her sister-in-law, between whom and the mother there 
 was bad blood at the time. In order to have the spell 
 removed, she consulted a certain "wise woman," re- 
 siding in the classic region of the Low sti-eet. The hag, 
 as it suited her purpose and brought grist to her mill, 
 encouraged the mother in the l^elief that her child was 
 bewitched. As a counter charm, she was told to pro- 
 cure a sprig of mountain ash, and stitch it inside the 
 clothing of the afflicted child. The mother followed the 
 directions of the sybil. A piece of mountain ash was 
 procured and placed according to directions. The 
 child, however, died, and was buried in tSunderland 
 churchyard. The credulous mother has long since gone 
 over to the majority, and to Mr. Kerr's certain knoAv- 
 ledge she died in the ineradicable belief that her child 
 had been bewitched to death by the arts of her sister- 
 in-law. Old superstitions, like old and cherished 
 customs, die hard, despite the much vaunted " march 
 of intellect,"
 
 34 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 NORTH COUNTRY BOGGLES. 
 
 Fetch the boggle bo ! — North Country Song. 
 
 There was a boggart in't. — Tennyson's Parmer. 
 
 Swith beggar boggle, haste thee away — Sir David Lindsay. 
 
 In Akenside's "Pleasures of Imagination," we read 
 how — 
 
 The Village matron, round the blazing hearth, by night, 
 Suspends the infant audience with her tales, 
 Breathing astonishment. 
 This old custom, "more honoured in tlic breach than 
 the observance," has been gradually wearing away for 
 the last four or five generations. Still, there are many 
 old crones, in all parts of the country, who are standard 
 authorities in ghost-lore ; and thougii the local sprites 
 by which most lonely places were haunted in the olden 
 time have all fled away before the light of science, there 
 are yet thousands of gallant fellows who are not superior 
 to panic terrors, such as these airy phantoms were wont 
 to inspire, and who would rather go a mile round about, 
 when they chance to be belated, than walk past an old 
 deserted churchyard, through a haunted Avood, or along 
 a bridge that has a Imd reputation, and where, though 
 their common sense tells them they will meet with no- 
 thing "uncanny," or "worse than themselves," an
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 35 
 
 irresistible feeling of " eeriness " makes them painfully- 
 sensitive, so that a black dog crossing their path looks 
 like a foul fiend, and an owl hooting in the wood calls 
 up the idea of some murder. The whole surface of the 
 terraqueous globe, so far as it has been inhal)ited and 
 ■explored by man, is infested more or less by super- 
 natural beings, mostly confined to and identified witli 
 particular spots. The territory so long known as tlie 
 Patrimony of St. Cuthbert abounds as much as any 
 known region with these creatures of the imagination, 
 and I mean to collect in this chapter some of the best 
 authenticated accounts of the boggles, boggarts, or 
 bogeys that are either peculiar to the district or are local 
 representstives of that class of supernatural beings Avhich 
 is confined to no particular country, but found wherevei- 
 man exists; and as I am not aware they stand on any 
 " order of going," to use a Shakesperian phrase, I shall 
 take them just as they occur to me. First then 
 
 THE HEDLEY KOW. 
 
 The people in the neighbourhood of Hedley, on the 
 skirts of Blackburn Fell, west of Eavensworth, on the 
 road to Tanfield, were frequently annoyed, during the 
 last century, by the pranks of a boggle of this name. 
 He belonged to a class of goblins rather mischievous 
 than malignant. He did nobody any serious injurv, 
 but took delight in frightening them. To whomsoever 
 he appeared, he usually ended his frolics with a hoarse 
 laugh at their fear or astonishment after he had pla3-ed
 
 36 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 them some sorry trick. To an old woman, for instance, 
 gathering sticks, like Goody Blake, by the hedgeside, 
 if not actually out of the hedge, he Avould sometimes ap- 
 pear as a fad or truss of straw, lying on the road. If, 
 as was natural, the beldame was tempted to take 
 possession of this fcul, in carrying it home her load 
 would become so heavy that she would be obliged to lay 
 it down. The straw would then appear as if quick, the 
 truss would rise ui)right, like the j)atriarch Joseph's 
 sheaf, and away it would shuffle before her along the 
 road, swinging first to one side and then to another. 
 Every now and then it would set up a hiugli, or give a 
 shout, in the manner of a rustic dancer when he kicks 
 his heels and snaps his fingers at the turn of the tune ; 
 and at last, with a sound like a rushing wind, it Avould 
 Avholly vanish from her sight. Two young men belong- 
 ing to Newlands, near Ebchester, a place now rendered 
 famous in connection Avith the self-styled Countess of 
 I)erwcntwater, went out one night about tlie beginning 
 of the present century, to meet their sweethearts. On 
 arriving at the apj)ointed place, they saw, as they sup- 
 posed, the tAvo girls Avalking at a short distance before 
 them. The girls continued to Avalk ouAvard for tAVO or 
 three miles, and the young men to folloAv, Avithout being 
 able to overtake them. They quickened their pace, but 
 ^till the girls kept before them ; and at length, Avhen the 
 pair found themselves up to their knees in a mire, the 
 girls suddenly disappeared, Avith a most unfemininc 
 Ha, ha ! The young men now perceived that they had
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHASr. 37 
 
 been beguiletl l)y the Hedley Kow ; and after getting 
 clear of tlie bog, thcj ran homeward as fast as their legs 
 would carry them, while the boggle followed close at 
 their heels, hooting and laughing. In crossing the 
 Derwent, between Ebchester and Hamsterley Hall, the 
 one who took the lead fell down in the v/ater, and h\ti 
 companion^ who Avas not far behind, tumbled over him. 
 In their panic, one mistook the other for the Kow, and 
 loud were their cries of terror as they rolled over each 
 other in the stream. They, however, managed to get 
 out separately, and on reaching home, each told a pain- 
 ful tale of having been chased by the Hedley Kow, and 
 nearly drowned by him in the Derwent. A farmer of 
 the name of Forster, who lived near Hedley, went out 
 into the field very earl}' one morning, as he intended 
 driving into Newcastle, so as to l^e there as soon as the 
 shops were opened. In the dim twilight, he caught, 
 as he believed, his own grey horse, and brought it 
 home, and harnessed it with his own hands. But after 
 yoking the beast to the cart and getting up on the 
 shaft to drive away, the horse (which was not ti 
 horse at all, but the Kow), slipped away from the limmer.s 
 like a knotless thread, leaving the farmer dumlifounded, 
 und set up a great " nicker '"' as he Hung up his heels, and 
 scoured away "like mad" out of the farm yard. The 
 Kow was a perfect plague to the servant girls at fann 
 houses all roiuid the Fell. Sometimes he would call 
 them out of their beds by imitating the voice of their 
 lovers at the Avindow. At other times during their
 
 38 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 absence he Avoukl overturn the kail-pot, open the milk- 
 house door, and invite the cat to lap the cream, let down 
 " steeks " in the stockings they had been knitting, or 
 put their spinning wheel out of order. Many a time, 
 taking the shape of a favourite cow, he would lead the- 
 milk maid a long chase round the field before he would 
 ullow himself to be caught, and after kicking and 
 " rowting " during the Avhole milking time, "as if the 
 deil was in Hawkie," he Avould at last upset the pail, 
 and, slipping clear of the tie, give a loud bellow and bolt 
 off tail on end, thus letting the girl know she had been 
 the sj)ort of the Kow. This trick of his Avas so common 
 that he seems to have got his name from it, though, for 
 distinction's sake, the C was hardened into K, It is 
 related that he very seldom visited the house of mourn- 
 ing — a clear evidence that, demon as he was, he was not 
 quite destitute of tender sympathetic feeling. But on 
 the occasion of a birth he was rarely absent, either to the 
 eye or to the ear. Indeed, his appearance at those times 
 was so common as scarcely to cause alarm. The man 
 who rode for the midwife was, however, often sadly 
 teased by him. He would appear, for instance, to the 
 horse, in a lonely place, and make him take the " reist,"^ 
 or stand stock-still. Neither whip nor spur would then 
 force the animal past, though the rider saw nothing. 
 Horses see ghosts at times when men cannot see them — 
 a fact known to the learned world from a very early 
 date, and one of the commonest things in the times we 
 now write of was for a belated traveller to have to give
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 39 
 
 his beast its own way, it being impossible to get it to 
 ride over an invisible ghost, probably standing in the 
 middle of the road, at a narrow pass, with a drawn sword 
 in its hand, and a circumbendibus became therefore im- 
 perative. It frequently happened that the messenger 
 was allowed to make his way without let or hindrance 
 to the house where the midwife lived, to get her safely 
 mounted behind him on a well-girt pillion or "sodds," 
 and to return so far with her unmolested. But as they 
 were crossing some stank, or fording some stream, the 
 " ill-willy " kow Avould come up and begin to play his 
 cantrips, causing the horse to kick and plunge in such a 
 way as to dismount his double load of messenger and 
 " howdy." Sometimes, when the farmer's wife, impatient 
 for the arrival of the latter, was groaning in great pain, 
 the Kow would come close to the door or window and 
 begin to mock her. The farmer would rush out with a 
 stick to drive the vile creature away, when the weapon 
 would be clicked out of his hand before he was aware, 
 and lustily applied to his own shoulders. At other times, 
 after chasing the boggle round the farmyard, he would 
 tumble over one of his own calves, and the Kow Avould 
 be off before he could regain his feet. One of the most 
 ridiculous tales connected with this mischievous sprite is 
 told by Mr Oliver in his " Kambles in Northumberland." 
 
 "A farmer riding homeward late one night observed 
 as he approached a lonely part of the road where the 
 Kow iised to play many of his tricks, a person also on 
 horseback a short distance before him. Wishing to have 
 company in a part of the road where he did not like to
 
 40 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 be alone at night, he quickened the pace of his horse. 
 The person whom he wished to overtake, hearing the 
 tramp of tlie horse rapidly advancing and fearing that he 
 was followed by someone with an evil intention, put spurs 
 to his steed and set oif at gallop, an example which was 
 immediately followed l)}' the horseman behind. At this 
 rate they continued whipping and spurring as if they rode 
 for life or death, for nearly two miles, the man who was 
 behind calling out with all his might ' Stop ! Stop ' The 
 person -wiio tied, finding that his pursuer was gaining 
 upon him and hearing the continued cry the Avords of 
 which he could not make out, began to think that he was 
 pursued by something unearthlj-, as no one who had a 
 design to rob him would he likidy to make such a noise. 
 Determined no longer to tiy from his pursuer, he pulled 
 up his horse and thus adjured the supposed evil spirit, 
 'In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Ghost, who art thou ? ' Instead of an evil spirit, a 
 terrified neighbour at once answered the question and 
 repeated it, ' I'se Jemmy Brown o' the High Field. 
 Whe's thou ? ' " 
 
 It is almost needless to say that, since the introduction 
 of total abstinence societies into the regions watered by 
 the Team and Uerwent, the appearances of the Hedley 
 Kow have been much fewer and further between. 
 
 THE PICKLED PARSON. 
 
 The Rev. John Garnage, A.M., rector of Sedgefield, 
 died in the second week of December 1747, about a week 
 before the tithes Ijecame due ; and it is said that his 
 widow, who was a woman with all her wits about lier, 
 resorted to the l)old expedient of laying his body in salt, 
 and keei)ing it in a private room, till after the 20th of 
 the month, the day on which the tithe-farmers came to
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 41 
 
 pay their rents. Her scheme succeeded. She receive*! 
 the emohiments of the liA'ing for that year, which -woukl 
 otherwise have gone into tlie Bishop of Durham's hands, 
 as patron. And after she had got tlie money safe, she 
 made pubhc the fact of her husband's decease. This 
 clever piece of trickery does not seem to have been 
 pleasing, however, to the ghost of the departed, who 
 was doubtless an honourable as well as a reverend man, 
 and therefore, the parsonage for many years became a 
 haunted house. "The Pickled Parson," as he was ir- 
 reverently termed, infested the neighbourhood for the 
 better part of half a century, " making night hideous." 
 At length on the morning of the year 1792, a fire broke 
 out in one of the lodging-rooms of the rectory-house, 
 and before it could be extinguished the greater part of 
 the building was destroyed. From that day and hour 
 the apparition was never more seen, 
 
 THE GHOSTLY BRIDAL OF FEATHERSTONHALGH. 
 
 Featherston Castle, long the seat of the ancient family 
 of the Featherstonhalirhs or Featherstonhaughs, stands 
 about two and a half miles south-west from Haltwhistle, 
 in a little sequestered haugh on the south side of the 
 Tyne, fronting the narrow vale of Hartley Burn, through 
 Avhich are seen the high and heathy summits of Tindale 
 and Byers Fells. Hodgson tells us it has its name from 
 the stone in the bed of the river at Hartley Burn Foot, 
 being stratified featherwise. It belongs to the car- 
 boniferous limestone. Probabl}^ all our readers have
 
 42 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 heard of the deceptions practised hy Surtees, the 
 historian, on the too credulous antiquarian enthusiasm 
 of Sir Walter Scott, with his wholly factitious " Raid of 
 Featherstonhaugh ". But there is a legend of a different 
 sort connected Avith the old Northumbrian peel It is 
 that of a ghostly bridal. Abigail Featherstonhalgh, [it 
 seems, was a great beauty, who had bestowed her heart 
 on a youth of slender fortune. The old baron set his 
 face against such a mean match for his only daughter, 
 and sought out for her to be her husband, a man of high 
 degree and competent wealth, but of no great personal 
 or other attractions. Her true love being "banished 
 from castle and hall," as the ballad runs, the wedding 
 took place at the baron's behest, and as soon as the 
 ceremony was over, the marriage party, including 
 
 The bride and bride's ladies, and bridegroom all gay, 
 With numerous lords, — 
 
 sallied forth on horseback from the castle, to peram- 
 bulate its "far- spreading lands" by the Brooms, and the 
 Eamshaws, and over Conewood Row, till the banqueting 
 hour should summon them home. Evening and night 
 came, but the party had not come back. The minstrels 
 were Avaiting the signal to strike up ; and the menials 
 were vexed to think the viands Avould be spoiled ; and 
 the baron himself, pacing the hall with undefinable mis- 
 givings, despatched one messenger after another to see 
 what had become of the truants and hasten them in to 
 dinner. The castle's deep bell " tolled out midnight's 
 slow tone," but the dreary sound did not bring home
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 45 
 
 the perambulators. The morning breeze at length arose^ 
 and " here they are at last ! " The trampling of horses- 
 was heard. It grew nearer and more near. The party 
 came in sight. They entered the avenue. They crossed 
 the moat. They passed through the gateway. They 
 moved into the hall through the wide door at its nether 
 end. 
 
 First came the bridegroom, and then came the bride, 
 Then followed the rest, taking seats on each side. 
 
 !But never a word broke the silence ; and when the 
 baron, the menials, and the minstrels looked into the 
 faces of the wedded pair and the Avedding guests, they 
 saw that the fresh ruddy gore streamed on the cheeks of 
 all of them. The baron fainted, as well he might. The 
 eyes of the minstrels seemed changed into stone. The 
 servants shrunk back in horror. A strong rushing wind 
 swept the hall, and when Sir Albany and his people 
 came to their senses the company had departed. Search 
 was of course made on the skirts of Conewood Row, and 
 the dead bodies of bride and bridegroom, bridesmen and 
 bridesmaids, lords and ladies and all, Avere found in a 
 secluded dell called Penkyn Cleugli, lying just as they 
 had been slaughtered. Who were the murderers was- 
 never known, but Avho Avas the leader of them Avas- 
 shrewdly guessed. What became of the banished lover 
 we cannot tell, but some say he committed suicide. At 
 all events, the legend has it that — 
 
 Still from the rocks at Penkvn Cleugh 
 The blood of the murdered flows anew ;
 
 4i LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 And that of the murderer drops aloue 
 Into the pool 'neath the Raven's Stoue 
 Every year, as the time comes round, the bridal 
 throng may still be seen, by those who have eyes to 
 see such visions, wending their way to the old tower of 
 Featherstonhalgh. 
 
 THE DOBIE OF MORTHAM, 
 
 The romantic glen, or rather ravine, through which 
 the Greta finds a passage betAveen Rokeby and Mortham, 
 is supposed to have been haunted by a female spectre, 
 called the Dobie of Mortham. The cause assigned for 
 her appearance is a lady's having been whilom murdered 
 in the wood, in evidence of which her l^lood used to be 
 shown upon the stairs of the old tower at Mortham. 
 But whether she was slain by a jealous husband, or b}'' 
 savage banditti, or by an uncle who coveted her estate, 
 or by a rejected lover, are points ripon which the tradi- 
 tions of Rokeby do not enable us to decide. Other 
 Dol)ies there are, located in sundry places ; Mr. Henderson 
 believes them to have l)ecn what a poor woman called 
 her husband's ghost, " mortal heavy spirits.'' Hence 
 the common Border phrases, " O ye stupid Dobie ! " or 
 " Hout, he's just a Dobie!" Sir Walter Scott speaks 
 of some families of the name, who carried in their ar- 
 morial l)earings a phantom or spectre passant. Brockett 
 holds that there were diflerent kinds of Do1)ies. " Some," 
 says he, " attached to particular houses or farms, are 
 represented as good humoured in disposition, and (though 
 naturally lazy), in cases of trouble and difficulty are said
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 45 
 
 to make incredible exertions for the advantage of tlie 
 family, such as stacking all the hay, or housing the 
 whole crop of hay in one night." These, it is plain, are 
 of the same species with the Scottish Brownie. " Others," 
 he goes on to say, " residing in low granges or barns, or 
 near antiquated towers or bridges, have a very different 
 character imputed to them. Among other pranks, the}^ 
 Avill sometimes jump behind a horseman, and compress- 
 him so tightly that he either perishes before he can 
 reach his homo, or falls into some lingering and direful 
 calamity." These, it is equalh" plain, correspond to the 
 Brags and Kom's. The Dobic is, we are inclined to think 
 the Celtic Povach, the l)lack, mournful, or sorrowful 
 one. 
 
 THE rOWFvTE OR DUNTER. 
 
 The Powries, or Dunters, are sj^rites who inhabit forts,. 
 old castles, peel-towers, or dungeons ; and they constantly 
 make a noise there as of Ijeating flax, or bruising barley 
 in the hollow of a stone. If this sound is longer or 
 louder than usual, it portends a death or misfortune. 
 Popular tradition reports that the foundations of these 
 old Border Castles were bathed in human blood by their 
 builders the Picts ; no Avonder, then, that they were 
 haunted in some Avay or other. The bloody superstition, 
 that, in order to have a place of strength watched by a 
 guardian spirit, and so rendered inpregnable, the founda- 
 tion-stone, if not also the cope-stone, must be sanctified 
 by a human sacrifice, seems to have l)een a widely-spread 
 one. Thus, when Hiel the Bethelite re-built Jericho, in
 
 4G LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 the (lays of Ahab, king of Israel, " he laid the foundations 
 thereof in Abirani, his first-born, and set up the gates 
 thereof in his youngest son Segub." 
 
 THE BIG HUNTSMAN. 
 
 During the episcopate of Sir Anthony Beck, bishop, 
 'Count palatine, patriarch, and king, who held the see of 
 Durham from 1283 to 1310, and was " the maist prowd 
 :and masterfull busshop in all England," one of the " lewd 
 persons " entertained at the prelate's court was one 
 Hugh de Pontchardon, who, for his many evil deeds an«l 
 manifold robberies, had been driven out of the court of 
 the King of England and had come to the North to seek 
 a little bread and to live by stealing. To this Hugh, 
 whom the lord-bishop employed to good purpose in the 
 war in Scotland, the lands of Thickley, since from him 
 ■called Thickley Punchardon, al)0ut three and a half miles 
 south-east of Bishop Auckland, were granted on cornage 
 tenure. His ecclesiastico-military patron likewise made 
 him his chief huntsman. " Black Hugh," as he was 
 nicknamed, died before the bishop ; and some time after 
 his decease, when his eminence was chasing the wild 
 •deer in Galtres Forest, near the hill of Craike, in Bulmere 
 AVapentake, in North Yorkshire, granted to St. Cuthbert 
 with the surrounding territory for three miles, by Egfrid 
 King of Northumberland, suddenly Pontchardon galloped 
 past him, on a white horse, and looking on him, the 
 bishop asked him, " Hugh, what makest thou here ? " 
 Hugh answered never a \rord, but lifted up his cloak,
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 47 
 
 and showed Sir Anthony his ribs " set iu bone, and 
 nothing more." None of the varlets, we are told, saw 
 Sir Hugh, but the bishop only, " And the said Hugh," 
 adds the legend, "went his way, and Sir Anthony took 
 courage, and cheered the dogs ;" and shortly afterwards 
 he was made Patriarch of Jerusalem, and " he saw 
 nothing more." This Hugh is he, concludes our authorit}', 
 '* that the silly people of Claltres call the Big Huntsman 
 (le gros veneur). He was twice seen after that, by 
 simple folk, before the forest was felled, in the time of 
 Henry VH." 
 
 THE SHOTTON DOBBY AND CLOGGY OF STAIXDROP. 
 
 In the Ncuxasth Magaz'me for June, 1872, an account 
 was given of two local sprites, the Shotton "Dobby" 
 and " Old Cloggy" of Staindrop. The Avriter states that 
 he was indebted for his information to a ]\Irs. Brook, 
 then (and perhaps still) living at Oakland, a place nob 
 far from Darlington, Avhere she carried on the business 
 of dressmaking. Mrs. B. used to employ, it seems, 
 several young persons as apprentices and assistants ; and 
 on the 23rd of January, 18G8, she had occasion to send 
 one of them upstairs. The young lady had barely had 
 time to ascend the stairs when she was heard to shriek 
 aloud, and she presently returned to the workroom, 
 greatly agitated. She explained that when she had 
 reached the first landing she noticed a figure dressed in 
 white standing in the doorway of one of the rooms, and 
 which beckoned to her with its finger, Whetlier it were
 
 48 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 the figure of a man or woman she could not say, "as it 
 had no cap on;" hut (inconsistently enough with her 
 terror of it) its face " was the most pleasing one she had 
 ever seen." 
 
 As there was certainly no person at the time in the 
 place who could have caused the girl's fright, it Avas 
 settled by them all to ha^-e Ijeen a wraith ; and the in- 
 terpretation of its appearance was anxiously looked for- 
 Avard too. This Avas afforded in a fcAV Aveeks afterwards, 
 Avhen neAvs arrived that one of Mrs. Brook's nephcAA's, a 
 very handsome young man, had died out in India on the 
 very day the apparition had appeared. 
 
 A short time aftevAvards, in the spring of the same 
 year, a brother of Mrs. Brook, Avho also had a son in 
 India, Avas at Avork upon tlie " night shift" of the colliery 
 to Avhich he Avas engineer, Avhen he suddenly beheld the 
 figure of his son standing quietl}^ at his side. He Avould 
 have addressed it, but his voice stuck to his jaAvs ; and 
 he could not speak for horror. And it sloAvly disap- 
 peared, partly vanishing, and partly sinking into the 
 rtoor. He afterAvards heard that his son, too, Avas dead. 
 
 A strange thing happened during the last illness of 
 another brother of Mrs. Brook, to Avhom it Avas related 
 by his Avifc, a good earnest Avoman Avhose stor}' could 
 be relied upon. It had been his custom to sit and smoke 
 his pipe at the l)oiler side of the kitchen fire. A door 
 opened opposite to this boiler from the kitchen into a 
 passage leading to the pantry. One day Avheu lie was
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 49 
 
 quite bedfast, upstairs, his wife, on coming along the 
 passage from the pantry, saw, on reaching this door, 
 that her husband was sitting in his accustomed place 
 smoking his pipe. She uttered an exclamation and ap- 
 pears to have looked round in her astonishment or in- 
 dignation at his imprudence, a gesture natural enough 
 to a woman under such a feeling ; and, on turning her 
 eyes again to the fireplace, she saw that there was no 
 one in the room. On coming back to the kitchen door 
 again shortly afterwards, the same thing occurred afresh 
 in precisely the same way. The ghost explanation of 
 such phenomena current among the people occurred to 
 her, and she rushed upstairs with a feeling that he must 
 be dying ; but she found him as well, at least, as he 
 had usually been just then. A few minutes afterwards, 
 on her again coming to the kitchen door, she saw her 
 husband a third time sitting as before. He died two 
 days afterwards. 
 
 Mrs. Brook herself appears to have been introduced 
 to the spirit world at an early age. Her father lived on 
 Cockfield Fell, near Shotton and Cockfield, the one a 
 hamlet and the other a village situate a few miles from 
 Staindrop. He was a man of A^ery social habits, and 
 when he had stayed too long with his cronies at the 
 village, he liked, for sufficient reasons, to have his children 
 come and bring him safely home across the fell, which 
 was a bit of moorland rendered dangerous by uncovered 
 peat holes and quarries. One night, when Mrs. Brook 
 
 D
 
 50 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 was accompanying him home at a very late hour, a large 
 bird, "like a goose," ran along the moor lane before 
 them for a little while, and then flew awaj^, uttering 
 loud screams. Her father, no doubt by that time of the 
 night a very competent autliority on such matters, said 
 this Avas the " Shotton Dobby." 
 
 This was a local ghost wliich always appeared in the 
 form of some animal, running up and down a sort of 
 known gamut of metempsj'chosis of which the chief notes 
 were the figures of a bird, a cow, an ass, or a large dog. 
 
 Tlie circumstances under which tliis Protean dobby 
 formed a predilection for Cockfield are said to have l)een 
 the following. There had formerly lived a married 
 couple on the Cockfield Fell, near a froggy marsh whicli 
 tlie neighl:)0urs called in our north country tongue, the 
 *' Paddick Mire." The woman being on the point of 
 giving birth to a child, sent the husband along to Cock- 
 field for the customary assistance ; but, loitering at the 
 village inn, he put off the execution of his errand and 
 soon got obliviously drunk ; and, in the meantime, his 
 travailing wife, for want of aid, died. Since that time, 
 and on account, it is considered, of that sad occurrence, 
 this place has been constantly haunted by the " Shotton 
 Dobby," or, as the imme<liate neighbours also call it, 
 from the vicinity of the " Paddick Mire," the "Paddick 
 Ghaist." Appropriately enough, it is most often seen 
 when there is a death or a Ijirth in the village ; and 
 when a midwife of that place goes to a lying-in at mid-
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 51 
 
 night, a " something " invariably accompanies her. A 
 Mrs. Gough, a midwife who long lived at Cockfield, told 
 Mrs. Brook that she had many and many a time walked 
 to and from the scene of her labours accomjianied by 
 this obstetric apparition, and that she " thowt noAvt o 't," 
 .and that he was good company. 
 
 AVhen quite a young woman, Mrs. Brook had on one 
 occasion to go and work at a public-house at Staindrop, 
 and, whilst sitting sewing in the parlour, the landlady 
 .asked her to go up to the long room and bring down 
 some onions she would find there. As Mrs. Brook tles- 
 ■cended the stairs on her return with the onions, she was 
 first astonished and then horrified to hear an invisible 
 foot follow her from the room, step for step, as she hur- 
 ried before it, with the noise of a person wearing clogs 
 treading heavily on each stair. On reaching the room 
 below she nearly swooned ; but the landlady only replied 
 to her story of what had alarmed her with a contemp- 
 tuous and incredulous " howts ! " But, on entering an- 
 other house in the place that morning, some time after- 
 wards, she was asked Avhat made her look so white and 
 ill, and she gave in explanation an account of Iier 
 morning's fright. The person she Avas speaking to 
 instantly explained that she had heard " Old Cloggy." 
 
 The correspondent adds, as also interesting to psycho- 
 logists, that Mrs Brook, Avho told her stories with such 
 circumstantiality, and as he believes, in perfect good 
 faith, was a Avoman of tallish figure, of a sallow com-
 
 52 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 plexion, and had large dark eyes, long straight hair, and! 
 an aquiline nose. 
 
 It appeared that some one formerly living in the house- 
 had had a son of unsound mind who had hanged himself 
 in the long room, and the unhappy man's ghost had ever 
 since haunted the place, being very frequently heard,. 
 and, after dusk, very often seen. When Mrs Brook, on 
 returning to the inn, recounted to the landlady what 
 had been told her concerning the noise on the stairs 
 that habitual dealer in spirits laughingly admitted it was- 
 true, but declared she had not wished to alarm Mrs. 
 Brook by telling her of it ; while, for her own part, she- 
 had heard " Old Cloggy " so often that she cared nothing 
 about it. 
 
 THE PICKTREE BRAG. 
 
 The Picktrec Brag was a mischievous goblin, the- 
 cxistence of which was once firmly believed in by many 
 of the inhabitants of the parish of Chester-le-Street. 
 Sir Cuthbert Sharp, in his " Bishopric Garland," gives a 
 long account of this singular being, verbatim from the 
 deposition of an old woman (M.A.) of respectable appear- 
 ance, of about ninety years of age, living near the spot, 
 and who, he says, Avas universally referred to as knowing 
 most about it. The worthy old dame said : — I never 
 .saw the " brag " very distinctly, but I frequently heard 
 it. It sometimes appeared like a calf with a white 
 handkerchief about its neck, and a bushy tail. It came 
 also like a galloway, but more often like a coach horse,.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 53 
 
 :and went trotting along the " lonin, afore folks, settiu 
 up a great nicker and a whinney every now and then ;" 
 and it came frequently like a " dickass," and it always 
 .stopped at the pond at the four "lonin ends and 
 nickered and whinnied." My brother once saw it like four 
 men holding up a white sheet. I was then sure that 
 .some near relation was going to die ; Avhich Avas true. 
 My husband once saw it in the image of a naked man 
 without a head. I knew a man of the name of Bewick, 
 that was so frightened, that he hanged himself " for fear 
 on't.'' Whenever the midwife was sent for, it always 
 •came up with her, in the shape of a " galloway." 
 It is now many years since the brag was last seen. 
 
 THE HUMBLEKNOWE BRAG. 
 
 Old Mrs. Ann Avery, who died about forty-five 
 years since, at the age of 75, used to tell Mr. William 
 Hurrell, my informant, that when she lived at " Hummel- 
 knowe," near Sedgefield, — a young married woman, — 
 she frequently, when sitting up waiting for her husband 
 coming home, heard strange noises outside the house at 
 midnight, as if all the horses and cattle about the place had 
 broken loose, and were running a-muck at each other. The 
 first time she heard this noise, she called up the servant 
 man and made him go out to see what all the stir was 
 About. But the lad soon came in to say there was 
 nothing either to hear or see. After a while Mrs. A 
 got quite accustomed to it, and expected to hear it every 
 night when she had to sit up ; but she never altogether
 
 54 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 got over lier fears. Indeed, she said she was frightened 
 " most awful," It was sometimes as if the ver}' doors 
 and windows of the honse were being driven in. Mrs. A, 
 heheved in this strange stor}' as firmly as she did in any 
 incident of her life. No explanation of it, I need scarcely 
 say, could she give. The Brag, it may be worth Avhile to 
 add, is the Pan, Silenus, or Satyr of our aboriginal 
 British ancestors, in whose Celtic speech " brag " signifies 
 "a lie, a falsehood, an untruth," and "breugach" "a 
 deceitful female," the appropriateness of the name in the 
 case of the goblin being its ability to assume all sorts of 
 shapes and disguises, so as terrify and mock those who 
 encontered it. 
 
 THE HYLTON LANE BRAG. 
 
 In the palmy days of keeldom, when the road leading 
 from Sunderland to Hylton was commonl}' called th& 
 Keelmen's Lonnin, the men used, on their customary 
 walks at night u]) or down, to be encountered by a 
 supernatual being which sometimes took the form of a 
 dog, at other times that of a calf, at other times, again, 
 that of a galloway and occasionally that of a woman ; 
 and was Avont to accompany them all the Avay from 
 Lawson's farm, or High Ford, to a place called Glower- 
 owre'im, where they first came in sight of Sunderland. 
 It there disappeared. Many of the old stagers, whose 
 memory went Ijack as far as sixty or seventy years ago, 
 would affirm this to l)e a positive undeniable truth. 
 When a galloway, the Brag "nickered." Mr. Hurrell
 
 or THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 55 
 
 tells me he knew an old man, named Tommy Rowntree, 
 who said he had heard it '' mony a time." 
 
 THE NICKY-NACK BRIDGE GOBLIN. 
 
 Many years ago, when there was no public-house either 
 in the village of Tudhoe or nearer that place than at 
 Sunderland bridge, a company of reapers had assembled 
 at a farmer's house to enjoy a " Mell supper." A good 
 supply of spirits and ale had been laid in, but either the 
 party was larger than had been expected, or they drank 
 more freely, for the supply was exhausted 1)efore the 
 reapers were satisfied ; so they agreed to contribute each 
 a small sum, and send one of the company for more. 
 The mission Avas entrusted to a poor fellow who was 
 defective in intellect, and when he had been absent 
 nearly three iiours, the distance being only about a mile 
 and a half, several began to be impatient for his return. 
 At length one of them swore, with a deep oath, he 
 would wrap a sheet round him and would meet him in 
 "Nicky-nack field," and frighten him. Accordingly he 
 procured a white sheet, drew it round him, and stalked 
 out to meet the poor man. His companions waited long 
 — hour followed hour, and yet neither the reaper nor 
 the messenger appeared ; at last when their patience was 
 exhausted, and morning began slowly to break, the latter 
 rushed in among them, pale and trembling. When they 
 asked him if he had seen anything, he said "yes, I saw 
 a white ghost which came and frightened me mucli, 
 but I saw a black one l)ehind it, so I cried, ' black ghost
 
 56 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 catch white ghost,' and the white one looked about, and 
 perceiving the black one, screamed out amain, and 
 attempted to run away ; but blackey was too swift for 
 him, and after much struggling, he flew away with 
 whitey altogether !" When day dawned and the 
 peasants ventured forth to seek their companion, they 
 discovered in the "field of Nick3^-nack," a few fragments 
 of the sheet in which he had been wrajjped, but he 
 himself was neither then nor ever afterwards found. 
 
 THE CAU'D lad O' HYLTON. 
 
 Every ancient castle, tower, or manor-house has its 
 visionary inhabitants. " The cau'd lad of Hylton" seems 
 to belong to the class of " Brownie " or domestic spirit ; 
 and does not appear to have possessed any very distinc- 
 tive attributes. He was seldom seen, but Avas heard 
 nightly by the servants who slept in the great hall. If 
 the kitchen had been left in perfect order, the}' heard 
 him amusing himself by hurling the pewter in all 
 directions, and throwing everything into confusion. If, 
 on the contrary, the apartment had been left in disarray 
 (a practice which the servants found it both prudent and 
 convenient to adopt) the indefatigable go])lin arranged 
 everything with the nicest precision — and what was 
 " confusion worse confounded " the night before, was 
 "order" on the following morning. This poor esjrrit 
 follct, whose pranks appear to have been at all times 
 perfectly harmless, became wearisome to the servants, 
 and they determined to banish him from the castle. The
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 57 
 
 ''cau'd lad" had an "inkling" of their intentions, and 
 
 was frequently heard to exclaim in the dead of the 
 
 night, in a melancholy strain, the following consolatory 
 
 stanzas : — 
 
 Wae's me, Wae'.s me, 
 The Acorn is not yet 
 Fallen from the Tree 
 That's to grow the wood 
 That's to make the cradle 
 That's to rock the bairn 
 That's to grow a man 
 That's to lay me ! 
 
 However, the goblin reckoned without his host — for 
 the servants provided the usual means of banishment, 
 viz., a green cloak and a hood, which were laid before 
 the kitchen fire, and the domestics sat up watching wist- 
 fully the event, at a prudent distance. At the dead 
 hour of midnight the sprite glided gently in, stood by 
 the smouldering embers and surveyed the garments pro- 
 vided for him very attentively — then tried them on, and 
 appeared delighted with his appearance, frisking about 
 the room, and cutting sundry sumersets and gambadoes, 
 until at length, on hearing the first crow of the cock, 
 twitching his green mantle tightly around him, he dis- 
 appeared with the appropriate valediction of 
 
 Here's a cloak, and here's a hood. 
 
 The cau'd lad o'Hilton -will do no more good. 
 
 But long after this— although he never returned to 
 disarrange the pewter and set the house in order, yet 
 his voice was heard at the dead hour of midnight singing 
 in melancholy melody
 
 58 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 Here's a cloak, and here's a hood, 
 
 The cau'd lad o' Hilton will do no more good. 
 
 The genuine brownie is supposed to be an unembodiecl 
 spirit, but the " cau'd lad " has, with an admixture of 
 English superstition, been identified with the apparition 
 of an unfortunate domestic who was slain by one of the 
 barons of Hilton in a moment of passion or intemperance. 
 
 Certain it is that there Avas a room in the castle lony; 
 distinguished hy the name of the " cau'd lad's room," 
 which was never occupied except the castle was over- 
 flowing with company, and within the last century, 
 many persons Avorthy of credence had heard at mid- 
 night the unearthly Availings of the " cau'd lad of 
 Hilton." 
 
 The ballad of " The Cau'd Lad of Hilton "—a quite 
 modern production — tells how the murdered lad, Roger 
 ►Skelton, used to pace o' nights round the castle hall, 
 with his head literally in his hand, singing " soft and 
 low," the following prophetic words of dread : 
 
 Hilton's line dishonoured fall ; 
 
 Lay with the dust proud Hilton's walls. 
 
 Murder blots the household sword ; 
 
 Strip the lands from Hilton's lord, &c., &c. 
 
 THRUMMY CAP. 
 
 There is a sort of North-country Silenus called 
 Thrumniy-Cap, from the bonnet which he is said to Avear, 
 knitted Avith thrums or Aveaver's ends, of difterent 
 colours. He is described as "a queer-looking, little aAvd
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 59 
 
 man," and the scene of his exploits is commonly in the 
 vaults and cellars of old castles. Often when the hutler 
 or other domestic has gone down in the dead hour of 
 night, to fetch another bottle of wine, he or she has seen 
 Thrummy-Cap sitting astride of a cask, Avith a face as 
 radiant and as red as the north-Avest moon. At a place 
 called Redcleuch, on the south skirt of the Lammermuirs, 
 this bibulous old gentleman used to be known by the 
 name of Euindie, owing to his being clad from top to toe 
 in patchwork garments, made up of the ruinds, runds, 
 lists, or selvages, of the woollen cloth used by tailors. 
 He got the blame, Avhether deservedly or not, of emptying 
 the hospitable farmer's ale or Avhiskey casks much 
 sooner than they ought to have been emptied. 
 
 OLD HARROW-TOOTH. 
 
 This is a mysterious being, Avitch or hag, Avhich carries 
 off naughty children. She has long sharp iron teeth, 
 whence her name. "When a child is A^ery cross and 
 peevish, and nothing the mother or nurse can do, say or 
 sing, Avill prevent it from squalling, Old HarroAv-Tooth 
 will be heard saying from behind the door, or out of a 
 dark corner, " Oh, bring 'em to me, and I'll feed 'em 
 with sour milk and cinders ! " 
 
 THE BARGUEST OR BOGUEST. 
 
 The barguest is represented as a local spirit or demon, 
 haunting populous places, and Avont to hoAvl dreadfully at 
 midnight before any dii'e calamity. It has perhaps got 
 its name from the Danish baare, a bier, the carriage or
 
 60 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 frame of wood used for carrying corpses to the grave, 
 and if so, it is the spirit of the bier. Glassensikes, near 
 Darlington, is haunted by a barguest, which assumes at 
 will the form of a headless man (who disappears in tlame), 
 a headless lady, a white cat, rabbit, or dog, or a black 
 dog. There is a barguest too, it is said, in a most un- 
 cannie-looking glen between Darlington and Houghton, 
 near Throstlenest. 
 
 HOB HEADLESS. 
 
 A sprite of a very malevolent disposition, named Hob 
 Headless, used formerly to infest the roads between 
 Hurworth and Neasham ; but had it not in his power to 
 cross the Kent, a little stream flowing into the Tees at 
 the latter place, being subject, we may suppose, to the 
 same law which once prevailed in the supernatural world 
 in Scotland, whereby, under some mysterious penalty, 
 even the witches durst not, in their nocturnal raids, 
 cross a running stream. Hob used to go as far as the 
 Millstone Bridge, on the Darlington road, l)ut never Avas 
 seen past that place. A man named Robert Bone, 
 usually called Bobby Byens, was the last person who 
 saw Hob Headless, who was exorcised many years ago, 
 and laid under a large stone, formerly on the road side. 
 There he was to remain for ninety-nine years and a day ; 
 and should any luckless person happen to sit down on 
 that stone, it was verily believed that he Avould be un- 
 al)le to quit it for ever. But when Mr. Anthony Moss, 
 of West Middleton, built his garden house near that
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 61 
 
 place, the stone was smashed up by the mason's labourer, 
 and part of it was used as a foundation stone. There is, 
 or was, another Hob at Coniscliffe, on the other side of 
 Darlington ; but no particulars regarding him have Ijeeii 
 learned. 
 
 HOBHOLE HOB. 
 
 A sprite of a rather benign character, who likewise 
 bears the homely name of Hoi), resides in Hobhole, a 
 natural cavern in Eunswick Bay, on the coast of Cleve- 
 land. His dAvelHng-place is not within our district, but 
 his reputation has reached South Durham. He is sup- 
 posed to cure the whooping-cough, so parents have long 
 been in the habit of taking their children, when suffer- 
 ing from that complaint, into the goblin's cave, even 
 from great distances. When there they invoke him in 
 a low voice : — 
 
 Hobhole Hob ! 
 
 Ma bairn's gettin' kink-cough, 
 
 Tyek't off ! tyek't off ! 
 
 PEG POWLER. 
 
 The river Tees has its sprite, called Peg Powler, whose 
 delight it is to lure too venturesome bathers into her 
 subaqueous haunts, and then drag them to the bottom 
 and drown them. Children are still warned from plaj-- 
 ing on the banks of the river, especially on Sundays, by 
 threats that Peg Powler will catch hold of them and 
 carry them ofl'. Peg has long green tresses, hanging 
 doAvn over her shoulders, but what her costume is we
 
 C2 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 are not told. The foam or froth, whicli is often seen 
 floating in hxrge masses, on the surface of deep eddjang 
 pools in the higher portion of the river, is called " Peg 
 Powler's suds "; the finer less sponge-like froth is called 
 4(pgg. Povvler's cream." A goblin or sprite of the same 
 •evil character is said to haunt the river Skerne. 
 
 OOBLIN COACHES. 
 
 Mr. Cleorge Gamshy, a native of Sunderland, and a 
 most intelligent old man, tells me that in his grand- 
 mother's time a tremendous fearful noise was one nit^ht 
 lieard in Silver-street, then a more fashionable place 
 than it now is. Some described it as made by a horse 
 with a lame foot and a chain attached to it, but exagger- 
 ated twenty times, for the Avhole street was shaken, as 
 it might have been by an earthquake, Others, who got 
 up and looked out, thought it was like a stage-coach, 
 drawn by six horses. Tliere was " a lot of men " on the 
 top. The coach, the horses, and the men were all black. 
 ♦Strange to say, however, it could not be settled whether 
 they were going up or down the street. The old lady 
 who told the tale to her j^oung grandson said there was 
 a great deal of wickedness in the place at that time — 
 a vast of smuggling from foreign. Besides most of the 
 wives were always quarrelling Avith their goodmcn, and 
 •one of them went so far that she had a knife laid under 
 her pillow at night to cut her husband's throat. " But 
 now," the good honest Avoman went on to say, " ye 
 •dinnet see or hear these things se offen now, because 
 the scriptures is mair lyeukit into."
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 63 
 
 It is recorded in Rees's Diaiy, quoted by ]\Ir, Hender- 
 son, that the death of one John Borrow, of Durham, 
 was presaged by a vision of a coach drawn b}^ six bhick 
 swine, and driven by a black driver. "Night after night, 
 too," says Mr. H., "when it is suificiently dark, the head- 
 less coach whirls along the rough approach to Langley 
 Hall, near Durham, drawn by black and fiery steeds." 
 The vehicle has its name from both driver and team 
 being without their heads. Its pace is rapid but noise- 
 less. I have often heard old crones speak of hearses 
 and mourning coaches having been seen, drawn by 
 headless horses, and driven by headless drivers, towards 
 some country churchj-ard, rapidly, 1)ut Avithout noise. 
 After every such fearful vision, the death of some dis- 
 tinguished person is sure to happen. I knew one young 
 gentleman farmer, by no means poor in intellect or low 
 in intelligence, who maintained to me that he once met 
 a procession of this kind at a lonely part of a little fre- 
 quented road, and had great difficulty in getting past it, 
 as his horse was fully more frightened than himself, and 
 required a deal of whipping and spurring to make it go 
 forward. He almost grazed his right leg on the wheel 
 of the hearse (for such it seemed to be) the road being 
 very narrow, and he saw to his amazement that the 
 horses and drivers were without heads, and that more- 
 over the horses were yoked to the wrong end of the 
 vehicle.
 
 G4: LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 GHOSTS. 
 
 ANNE walker's GHOST. 
 
 In the Rev. John Webster's "Display of "Witchcraft," 
 which Dr. Henry More calls " a weak and impertinent 
 piece," displaying only " the marvellous Aveakness and 
 gullibilitie" of its author, who would not believe either 
 the inspired word of God nor the testimony of in- 
 numerable life witnesses, as to the existence and power 
 of witches and wizards, but denied that there Avere any 
 such, a story is told of a strange occurrence at Ghester- 
 le-Street, in the County Palatine, about the year of our 
 Lord 1632, It relates to a young woman named Anne 
 Walker, who was seduced by her master, and afterAvards 
 on his instigation murdered by a pitman, named Mark 
 Sharp. Shortly afterwards her ghost appeared to a 
 miller named James Graham, when he was one night 
 alone in the mill, and told him he must 1)e the man to 
 reveal the secret, which if he refused to do, she would 
 continually pursue and haunt him. In the morning he 
 Avent to a magistrate and made the matter knoAvn ; and 
 diligent search being made, the body Avas found in a 
 coal pit, Avith five Avounds in the head, and the pick, 
 and shoes and stockings yet Ijloody, in every circum-
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 65 
 
 stance as the apparition had related to the miller; 
 ■whereupon Walker and Mark Sharp Avere both appre- 
 hended, but would confess nothing. At the Assizes 
 following, they were arraigned, found guilty, condemned 
 and executed, but I could never learn they confessed 
 the fact. 
 
 SOUTH SHIELDS GHOSTS. 
 
 All the old houses in Soutli Shields used to be 
 haunted — at least man}- of its denizens firmly believed 
 that they were. Thus, the Old Hall, in West Holborn, 
 formerly the residence of a wealthy shipowner, but now let 
 out in tenements, and partly occupied as a public-house, 
 used to be a noted rendezvous of evil spirits. A lady, 
 whom I knew intimately, lived in it for some time, and 
 she and all her family used to see and hear strange 
 things in it. Dreadful deeds must have been perpe- 
 trated, some time or other, in its spacious and once 
 splendid but now ghostly rooms. On one of the grand 
 mantelpieces, she used to tell me, were the marks of two 
 bloody fingers and a thuml», which no chemical art 
 known to her mother, Avho was a notable housewife, and 
 up to all points of domestic economy, could efface. 
 Scrubbing and scouring had no effect, and even through 
 successive coats of paint the marks reappeared. The 
 linger marks were doubtless those of some female victim 
 of lawless depravity, for the shade of her who impressed 
 them was sometimes seen. One night, Mrs. Cassills
 
 6Q LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 could not sleep, so she sat u}) in l»cd reading. About 
 midnight, she saw, to her astonishment, a tall handsome 
 lady, dressed in Avhite, with a scarlet waistljand, glide 
 across the room, from the door of an apartment which 
 was always shut up, towards one of the windows on the 
 opposite side, whereat slic disaitpcared. She made no 
 sign whatever, nor intimated any wish to disclose her 
 secret. Moreover, my informant once saw what she 
 fancied to he tlie apparition of a soldier, standing on the 
 landing-i)lace at the head of the stairs, and others of the 
 family at different times saw him likewise. There was 
 one apartment in the house, whicli no soul ever entered, 
 barring, of course, disembodied souls, for of such it was 
 ileemed the favourite haunt. Xo earthly tenant would 
 have it for nothing, let alone pay rent for it ; so it remained 
 shut up from year's end to yeai-'s end. "What was in it 
 beside the ghosts nol)0(ly knew or dared to investigate, 
 for even to peep into it througli the key-hole would have 
 needed moi-e courage than most })eo])le possess, even if the 
 spiders had not stretched their webs across it. Strange 
 no'ses were heard in the room occasionally, as if the 
 ghosts were kicking uj) a racket amongst themselves. 
 This usuall}' liappened when the wind was in a certain 
 point. Tlie elements had free entrance, for not a pane 
 of glass was left in the window : l»ut the door was nailed 
 up fast and tlie window so situated that it would have 
 been ditlicult to get a glimpse tlu'ougli into the interior — ■ 
 indeed impossible Avithout a ladder. Perhaps a hidden
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 07 
 
 treasure lay under the floor, with the mouldering bones 
 •of murdered men. Another house, in Thrift Street, 
 South Shields, also occupied as an Inn, had a reputation 
 aio whit better. A servant girl, going one evening down 
 to the cellar in the dark, was surprised to see an '• ancient 
 ladye " there, who spoke to her, contrar}^ to the 
 •established etiquette in such cases (Imt there are 
 differences, doubtless among ghosts, as among spirits 
 incarnate, as regards stifthess), and made her promise, to 
 come back without a candle at the same hour next nii^ht, 
 when she would " hear of something to her advantage," 
 xis Joseph Ady used to write. She went accordingly, 
 but took a candle with her, although the courtesy she 
 Iiad met Avitli from the ghost might have taught her 
 l)etter. The old lady again appeared, and informed her 
 that if she had not brought a light she would have told 
 her "such a tale." As it was, she would give her 
 something for keeping her appointment. So she bade 
 her put her hand into a certain crevice, which she did, 
 and there she found the title-deeds of the house and a 
 purse of money. AVhat liecame of the title-deeds my 
 informant did not know, but the girl wisely kept the 
 purse to herself, and immediately leaving oft' service was 
 " a grand lady " ever afterwards. 
 
 THE CRADLE WELL GHOST. 
 
 On St. Thomas's Eve (20th December), the ghost of a 
 •murdered woman long used to alarm the carriers and 
 wagoners, and their fare of country folks, leaving the
 
 C8 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 City of Durham, in tlie lane between the Cradle Well' 
 and Neville's Cross, on the road to Brancepeth. With 
 licr cliild dangling at her side, she used to join particular 
 parties, enter the vcliicles, and there seat herself. The 
 other passengers never had the courage to address her, 
 which, if they had done, tlie spell would have heen 
 l)roken. She always disappeared at a certain part of 
 the road, which must have been the limit of her hapless^ 
 pilgrimage. 
 
 THE FLASS WELL GHOST. 
 
 In the same neighbourhood there was another goblin, 
 if, indeed, it was not the same. It was the ghost of 
 Jane EamshaAV, an unfortunate Avoman of the City of 
 Durham, Avho was decoyed from her house at night and 
 murdered, about the year 1789. This horrid deed caused 
 a great sensation, and several persons Avere examined 
 before the magistrates, but the perpetrator of it was never 
 brought to justice. There was a rumour, Sykes says, that 
 a soldier, on his death-bed on the Continent, confessed 
 that he was the murderer ; l)ut if he really was so, his 
 confession did not cause the poor unavenged ghost to 
 cease to Avalk, for it continued to do so down to a com- 
 paratively recent period. The place where "Jeannie" 
 used to make her a})pearance was at the Flass Well, on 
 the North Road, not far from where Durham Infirmary 
 )iow stands ; and she would frequently tlit about the 
 neighbouring fields, or along the road leading to 
 r>rancc})eth, called the Pcth, at the foot of the Red Hills,,
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM, G9 
 
 not far from where tlie Brawn a])pearc<l. In her time, 
 that is to saj", before railways became rife, this road was 
 very much frequented, particularly on market niglits, and 
 there were few of the pitmen indeed who had not seen 
 "Jeannie." The Flass Well, it may be incidentally stated, 
 furnished very fine water. The old women preferred 
 ^oing to it long after the Durham Water Works had been 
 constructed ; for they could not bear the idea of using 
 the Avater of the river Wear for cooking purposes, far 
 less for drinking, though it was professed to be purified. 
 The well is now, I believe, enclosed in the grounds 
 attached to one of the villas on the North Road. There 
 are a good many " Flasses " in South and North Britain, 
 the word " fiass " signifying a shallow marshy pond, as 
 "flat" or " Hatt " does in some districts. At the Flass, 
 in Berwickshire, the ghost of a poor seduced and forsaken 
 girl, Avhose "death was doubtful," like that of Hamlet's 
 Ophelia, was said in our younger days to be in the 
 habit of walking o'nights, but " never did any harm to 
 anyone." She was commonly known as Fanny o' the 
 Flass, and somebody made a ballad about her, com- 
 mencing thus : — 
 
 In <a' the skirts o' the Laiiiuiermuirs, 
 
 There wasua a bonnier lass, 
 A brawer, a brisker, or a blyther, 
 
 Thau Fanny o' the Flass. 
 
 THE CROOK HALL GHOST. 
 
 Crook Hall, near the north end of Frarawellgate- 
 street, Durham, has its ghost, called the White Lady,
 
 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 possibly one of the Billingham family, who once livctl: 
 in the place, afterwards the domicile of tAvo famous 
 local antiquaries, Christopher Mickleton and James 
 Ivaine, and now, I helieAC, of Mr. John S. Fowler, ale, 
 porter and sj)irit mercliant, and seedsman, 
 
 MADAME LAMBTON'S GHOST. 
 
 South Biddick Hall, on the north bank of the "Wear, 
 not far from Lambton Castle, has also had its ideal 
 tenant, one Madame Lambton, believed to have been 
 of the Delaval family, and tinctured with the clever 
 eccentricitj- of that race. 
 
 THE LAVEPJCK HALL GHOST. 
 
 There is a tradition that an old farmer was miu'dered, 
 many years ago, at Laverick Hall, near Scots House, on 
 the road from Sunderland to Newcastle, and that he 
 " came back," that is to say, used to haunt the place, 
 apparent!}' in the costume he wore when in this world. 
 An old Avoman, Avho was long a servant in the place, 
 told ni}' informant that she has often seen him, and so, 
 indeed, had evcryl)ody Avho lived there. She once saAv 
 him most distinctly pass in at one door and out at 
 another, in the apartment Avhere she happened to be all 
 
 alone. " AVas it not Mr. S ? " (her master) was the 
 
 natural question put to her. "No, no,'' replied she, " it 
 vas the apparition."' 
 
 THE MILK WHITE DOVE OF CORNEORTH. 
 
 A few fields to the south of Stol)-cross farm, near 
 Cornforth, stands a ruined dovecot, shaded b}" a fcAv
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 
 
 straggling trees, and haunted by a brood of wood 
 pigeons. Among these Hies a milk-white dove, with 
 three spots of crimson on its breast, being the spirit of 
 a poor girl who here " put herself down for love " — here, 
 the very spot of her appointment with her traitor lover, 
 — and who still hovers round the devoted spot, the scene 
 of her earthly joys and sorrows. The cruel deceiver 
 drowned himself some }cars afterwards in the Floatljeck, 
 the small stream on which stands the bishop's manor 
 mill, converted into a paper mill ; and being Iniried 
 where four roads meet, with a stake or stolj driven 
 through his body, he left the memory of the transaction 
 in the name of Stob Cross. The old custom of burj-ing 
 the bodies of suicides in such places originated in the 
 idea that they were next in point of sanctity to conse- 
 crated ground, and that of driving a stake through the 
 corpse Avas to prevent the foul fiends from running awa}' 
 with it and turning it into a vampyre. An old farmer 
 assured Mr. Surtees that he had seen the ghost of the 
 injured fair one in the shape of a dove twenty times ; 
 and he added that her appearance Avas considered as a 
 harbinger of serene weathei' and a fruitful harvest. 
 
 LADY BARNARD'S GHOST. 
 
 In a letter to Sir Cuthbert Sliarpe, Mv. Surtees tells 
 the following story : — " Christopher, first Lord Barnard 
 (son of Sir Henry Yane), was persuaded by his wife into 
 ii most unreasonable jealousy and dislike of his eldest 
 .son, and intending to pull down Kaby, actually proceeded
 
 72 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 to take the Iciul ott", when liis son stopped him l)y an 
 injunction in Chanceiy. (The case is in Vernon's 
 Reports). This old jade after her death used to drive 
 about in tlie air, in a l>lack coacli and six ; sometimes 
 she takes ground and drives slowly up the lawn t<» 
 Alice's well, and still more frequently walks the l)attle- 
 ments of Rab}-, with a pair of brass knitting needles, 
 and is called Old Hell Cat." Lady Barnard, whose 
 Christian name was Elizabeth, was the eldest daughter 
 of Gilbert Hollis, Earl of Clare, and sister and co-heir of 
 John, Duke of Newcastle. She died on the 27 th of 
 March, 1742. 
 
 A SUNDERLAND BUTCHER'S GHOST. 
 
 Between thirt}^ and forty j^ears ago, a drunken 
 
 butcher named B , whose shop Avas in Sunderland 
 
 High Street, in a house since rebuilt, died and was 
 buried. It was soon rumoured all over the town that his 
 ghost had been several times seen, in the upper part of his 
 domicile, making strange manoeuvres, and flinging its 
 arms about wild)}-, as had been the deceased's custom 
 when alive and figliting with some imaginary enemy in 
 his cups or labouring under delirium tremens. Thousands 
 of people gathered nightly in the streets, in front of the 
 house, to see the marvellous sight ; and there, of a truth, 
 
 what seemed to be B was plainly visible, figurini^ 
 
 away like a Peter Waggy inside the bedroom window, 
 as shown by a dim gas light from ])eliind. Whether it 
 was a veritalde aj)i)arition or only some wicked wag
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 
 
 personating tlie poor man's sore troubled and restless 
 spirit, local wiseacres seem never to have fully deter- 
 mined, but many l^elievcd to the day of their death that 
 it was B 's ghost. 
 
 A LAMBTOX STREET LADY's GHOST. 
 
 The wife of a solicitor residing in Lambton-street, 
 Bishopwearmouth, man}- years ago, suddenly disappeared, 
 and it was whispered all over the town that she had 
 been murdered. She is said to have been a woman of 
 rather intemperate habits, and lier murderer is thought 
 to have been her own husband. With a view to dis- 
 cover what had become of her, bloodhounds Avere sent 
 for from some gentleman's place in the neighbourhood ; 
 but it was found that the scent had been lost, owing to 
 a cask of wine having been spilt on the floor, it was sup- 
 posed on purpose. Some one Avas said to have been 
 
 seen on the night Mrs. disappeared, carrying a 
 
 sack on his back, and going in the direction of Fenwick's 
 limekilns. Shortly afterwards, a sudden blaze of light 
 was observed rising from the kiln, into which something 
 had been pitched. Of course, it was understood to be 
 the poor Avoman's botly. Many years afterAvards, u 
 skeleton Avas found near tlie place, but it turned out to 
 
 be that of a male. Mrs. , as in duty liound, 
 
 " came ])ack," and Avas often seen by the servants. She 
 made the house so hot for its inmates that they could 
 not live in it. No servant, at least, Avould stay Avith 
 them. And so they Avere forced to shift to another house.
 
 74 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 THE ELYET BRIDGE PIPER. 
 
 On the north side of Elvet Bridge, in the cit}- of 
 Durham, is a building, erected in 1632, and formerly 
 used as a house of correction, but which, after the erec- 
 tion of the new jail, was sold to Stephen Kcm1>le, the 
 famous comedian, and was subsequently the printing 
 and publishing office of the Durham Chronicle. This 
 building is said to have been haunted hy the restless 
 spirit of an old piper, who, as the story goes, was 1)rought 
 down by the river during a flood, and, on being recovered 
 from the water alive, became an inmate of the house of 
 correction, where lie died a few years after. The bag- 
 })ipes long continued to be heard at midnight, l>j' persons 
 crossing the bridge to or from Sadler-street. Mr. 
 Henderson tells us that the season for the api)earance of 
 ghosts is from St. Thomas' eve and daj' till Christmas 
 eve, when the approaching festival, of course, puts them 
 to flight. On one of these unluckj- dajs, which 
 happened to be also a Friday, one of the waits disap- 
 peared at the foot of Elvet Bridge, not to be seen again, 
 since which event the waits have never again played in 
 that city on Friday nights. 
 
 THE GLOWROWRAM GHOST. 
 
 In a green lane, called Petty Lane, at Cllowrowram 
 near Chester-le-Street, there used to be seen the ghost 
 of a Avoman. "When approached the figure would fall 
 clown and spread out like a sheet, or rather like a great 
 pack of white avooI. And when they Avent forAvard to
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 
 
 pick it up it would suddenly disappear. Both men and 
 horses used to l)e startled by it. The farmer at (llowr- 
 owram's horse once took fright when he Avas coming 
 home late, and when he got to the stal)le door, it was all 
 in a tremble, yet the farmer himself had seen nothing. 
 She often used to appear to the girls who went out at 
 night to milk the cows, when they would get terribl}' 
 frightened and spill the milk. But there was never a 
 <lrop to be seen on the ground the next morning. "When 
 the carters drove up the lane with coals, the carts Avould 
 be upset. At last while digging up the ground tc> 
 improve the road they came upon the skeleton of a 
 woman. The chost never walked after that.
 
 76 LECEXDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE BEYLDON HILL (4H0ST. 
 
 The Rev. John Weslc}', in his journal, gives a very 
 "Curious account of a series of apparitions, alleged to 
 have been seen by a young woman in .Sunderland, 
 named Elizabeth Hobson, from whom he got the whole 
 particulars. It would be doing injustice to the story 
 were I to give it in an}' other than the venerable man's 
 ■own words, and as tlie narrative is a very long one and 
 has been so often rei)rinted, and that in a cheap form, 
 so as to have been read, I daresay, bj^ the bulk of my 
 readers, I shall here pretermit it, only observiug that 
 Miss Hobson had been a sight-seer from her youth up, 
 and that the particular visitation which she had from the 
 other world, and which took place at Beyldon or Building 
 Hill, near Sun<lerlatid, now included in the People's 
 Park, had for its ol>jcct to put the lady in possession of 
 ii certain piece of property, which had been wrongfully 
 withlield fi'om her. 
 
 Although the ghost was supposed to have been 
 effectually laid, Ijy means of fervent united prayer, after 
 the young vroman had got her rights, many of the 
 inhabitants of Sunderland and Bishopwearmouth con- 
 tinued to believe that it still walked ; and so an
 
 OF THE f!OUNTY OF DURHAM. 
 
 intelligent middle-aged lady tells me that she remembers- 
 qiiite well how, when she Avas a young girl, the people 
 used to go out to the hill at midnight to see the ghost. 
 A gentleman named Haswell, the grandfather of Mr. 
 J. H. Brown, Borough Accountant, Avas one of the twelve- 
 who volunteered to accompany Elizabeth Hobson to the 
 solitary spot where her deceased relation was wont to 
 meet her, a curious hollow near the Xorth-west foot of 
 the hill, called the Punch Bowl, Avhere the children used, 
 within living memory, to go on an Easter Monday with 
 their pasch eggs and oranges and bottles with strings tied 
 round their necks, and amuse themselves l)y rolling them 
 down the slope and getting them back again. Mr. 
 Haswell, however, did not go the whole length, but 
 stopped at Mr. Davison's to pray, along with five others. 
 >Some of the Hol)Son family still reside in Sunderland. 
 Vulgar tradition has it tliat Mr. AVesle}' went out him- 
 self to Beyldon Hill, and laid the Ghost ; but this, it is 
 clear, was not the case. The venerable man Avas, 
 howcA'er, a firm believer in the reality of supernatural 
 apparitions. These are his own words : — 
 
 " Let us consider Avhat may be the employment of 
 unholy spirits from death to the resurrection. We can- 
 not doul)t but the moment they leave the body, they 
 find themselves surrounded by spirits of their own kind, 
 probably human as Avell as diabolical. "What poAver 
 (lod may permit these to exercise 0A"er them Ave do not 
 distinctly know. But it is not improbable he may
 
 78 I.HCKNDS AM) SUrEKSTITIONS 
 
 suffer Satan to employ them as he does his own angels 
 in inflicting death or evils of various kinds on the men 
 that know not God. For this end they may raise storms 
 l)y sea or by land, they may shoot meteors through the 
 tiir, they may occasion earthquakes, and in numherlcss 
 Avajs afflict those wlioni they are suffered to destroy. 
 ^^'llero they are not permitted to take away life, they 
 may inflict Aarious diseases, and many of which we may 
 ju<lge tohc natural, are undoubtedly diabolical. I believe 
 this is frc<|Uouth- tlie case with lunatics."
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 79 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 FAIRIES. 
 
 A gooil sized library would be required to contain all 
 tlie rich fair}" literature that the fertile human imagina- 
 tion has given birth to, since the da}' Avhen a certain 
 Pharaonic scril)e wrote on papyrus the first fairy tale, 
 for the edification of the 3'oung Egyptian crown prince, 
 .Scti i\Iamephta, tlie son of Pharaoh Rameses ^li-Amuu, 
 who ruled in Thel»es fourteen hundred years before 
 Christ, and at whose court Moses was educated. This 
 curious papyrus Avas unfolden by a learned German in 
 1863, and a literal translation of its contents was read 
 by him to a Bei'lin Audience, in the winter of that year — 
 thirty two centuries after it had been written. Fickle 
 fancy has no more pleasant region tlian Fairyland to 
 revel in, but I must not allow her to roam to a distance 
 in this volume. We must stay at home, and speak only 
 of our own County Palatine fairies. 
 
 FAIRY HILLS AND COVES, 
 
 There are several round green hills in this country, 
 which were formerly supposed to be inhabited under- 
 ground by the fairies. I have met with people Avho knew 
 this to be a fact, because sometimes on a fine still summer
 
 80 LEGENDS AND Sft'ERSTITIONS 
 
 night, they have themselves lain doAvn on these green hills 
 with their ears close to the ground, and have heard piping, 
 fiddling, singing, and dancing going on, far down in the 
 interior. When questioned us to whether the sounds 
 might not rather come from some neighbouring village 
 or gipsy encampment, they would reply that that was 
 quite impossible. " No, it was the fairies ; everybody 
 knew it was ; hundreds had heard them ; there could be 
 no doubt it was the fairies." Indeed, almost every 
 circular mound nuist once have been thus inluil)ited, if 
 all tales be true. One such place is a remarkable tumulus 
 between Eppleton and Hetton, consisting entirely of field 
 stones gathered together. At the top of this mound is 
 a little hollow, called the fairies' cradle ; and there the 
 fairies formerly used to dance, to the music made on a 
 peculiarly sweet-toned pipe by a supernatural minstrel. 
 Eitson speaks of some fairy hills at Billingham, and 
 J\Ir. "NV. H. D. Longstafie tells us of a very famous one 
 at Middleton in-Teesdalo, called the Tower Hill, close to 
 Pountey's Lane (vulgo County Lane, originally Pont 
 Tees Lane.) A person informed Mr. Longstafte that his 
 grandmother frecpiently asserted that she had seen the 
 faiiies go from that hill to the Tees to wash themselves 
 and to wash their clothes also. Moreover she once found 
 a fairy, like unto a miniature girl, dressed in green, and 
 with brilliant red eyes, comi)Osedl3- sitting on a cheese- 
 like stone near her house. She took this strange creature 
 into her kitchen, and set it by the fire, and gave it some
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM, 81 
 
 bread and butter, with sugar on it, which it ate, but it 
 cried so bitterly that she was obliged to carry it back to 
 where she found it. She however kept the elfish stone, 
 and it may be in existence unto this day. The old 
 woman preserved it most religiously, not suffering it to 
 be touched, and always had it under the table in the 
 pantry, for what purpose is not stated. Ritson deduces 
 " Ferry Hill " from " Fairy Hill." At Hartlepool, there 
 are fairy coves. Near Marsden, in one of the limestone 
 caves with which that neighbourhood abounds, is " the 
 Fairies' Kettle," a circular hole in the rock about four 
 feet deei), filled Avith pellucid salt water, the sea covering 
 the place at spring tides, and occasionally having a few 
 little fishes in it, to swim about in a fairy-like fashion, 
 as in a large aquarium of Nature's own forming. One 
 of the prettiest sights I ever saw Avas a lithe young 
 mackerel, most elegantly mottled with green, blue, and 
 other colours, disporting itself in this secluded basin, 
 the bottom of which consists of clean Avhite sand, and 
 near it, at a few feet higher level, is a smaller basin 
 shaped like a baptismal font, and filled with delicious 
 fresh water from a spring that gushes from the rock, so 
 that it might very aptly be christened the Fairies' Font. 
 
 FAIRY BUTTER. 
 
 The fairies used to he heard patting their l)uttcr on 
 the slope of Pcnsher Hill, Avhen people Avere passing in 
 the dark. A man once heard one of them sa}', "Mend 
 that peel !" Next day, going past again, he found a broken
 
 82 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 peel lying on the ground. So he took it up and mended 
 it. The day after that, Avhen going along the road with 
 a cart, he saw a \ncco of bread lying on a stone at the 
 root of the hedge, at the identical place, with nice-look- 
 ing fresh l)uttcr spread u})on it ; but he durst neither 
 eat it himself, nor give it to his horses. The conse- 
 quence Avas that before he got to the top of the " lonnin," 
 both his horses fell doAvn dead. I may observe that 
 what is commonly known as fairy butter is a certain 
 fungous excrescence, sometimes found about the roots of 
 old trees. After great rains, and in a certain degree of 
 j)utrefaction, it is reduced to a consistency which, to- 
 gether with its colour, makes it not uidike l>utter, and 
 hence its name. AVhen met with in houses it is reckoned 
 lucky. 1 should consider it very much the o})posite, 
 
 CHANGELINGS. 
 
 The fairies were formerly mucli addicted to stealing 
 the most beautiful and witty children they came across, 
 and leaving in their places such brats of their own as 
 were either }n-odigiously ugly and stupid, mischievously 
 inclined, or of a peevish and fretful temper. These 
 elfish imps were termed changelings. Some will have it 
 that " the good peoi)le " could only exchange their 
 weakly, starveling, ill-conditioned elves for the more 
 robust otlspring of Christian parents before baptism, 
 and that they could not do so even then, if a candle was 
 always kept burning at night in the room Avhere the 
 infant lay.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHA5I. 83 
 
 BLSHOPTON FAIRY HILL. 
 
 Bishoptou is a pleasant village situated on an eminence 
 a few miles West North "West of Stockton. A little to the 
 •east of it are the foundations of a circular fortification 
 which was raised hy Koger Conyers, who made a power- 
 ful resistance there against the troops of William 
 Cumin, the Chancellor of the King of the Scots, when, 
 .supported by that monarch and the empress Matilda, he 
 usurped the See of Durham, in the middle of the twelfth 
 ■century. A conical mound, sixty feet high, stands in 
 the centre of the fort and is surroimded by deep trenches. 
 It is known in the locality as the Fairy Hill. The story 
 goes, that the people were once carting away this hill, 
 .and had got it partly removed, when a mysterious voice 
 was heard which said " Is all well ? " " Yes" was the reply, 
 " then keep well when you are well," rejoined the voice, 
 " and leave the Fairy Hill alone." The admonition Avas 
 not attended to, however, and the work went on again. 
 In a short time the \vorkmen came upon a large black 
 oak chest ; it was so heaA'y that it took several men to 
 carry it to the nearest blacksmith's shop. Hoping to 
 find it full of gold and silver, they immediately got it 
 broken open, when, alas, it turned out to be full of nails. 
 The chest long remained, perhaps still remains, in the 
 blacksmith's shop, where the aunt of my informant, a 
 trustworthy woman, has often seen it.
 
 84 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 FAIRY RINGS. 
 
 Wc arc most of us familiar witli those beautiful green 
 circles calleel fairy rings, fre(|uent]y visible in meado'ws^ 
 and pastures. Some attribute them to the growth and 
 decay of a species of fungus, agaric, or mushroom, 
 spreading from a common centre, others think they are 
 caused by lightning ; but the vulgar opinion is, that they 
 are spots where the fairies have been dancing in a ring 
 by moonlight, and have trodden doAvn the grass with 
 their tiny feet, for they are diminutive creatures, about 
 the size of human children three or four j-ears old, or not 
 much larger than Lilii)utiuns. Sliakespearc calls them 
 " green sour riniilets," and intimates that tlie fairies 
 have formed them b}'' making " midnight mushrooms " 
 probably to form seats for the dancers after they haA^e 
 had their turn, and sit down to rest. There must be 
 something inscrutal)le about these rings, if it be true, 
 as I have heard affirmed, that a certain gentleman some- 
 where in West Durham, or Hexhamshire, one year dug 
 a trench six inches deep round a consj^icuous ring in 
 <me of his old grass fields, to pre^-ent the spread of the 
 fungus, nevertheless it re-api)eared next year, outside the 
 trench, as if no such severance had been made. 
 
 FAIRIES IN THE KITCHEN. 
 
 In the olden time it Avas not uncommon for the 
 kitchen Avench in a farm house to discover, Avlien she rose 
 Avith the sun or before it, that the floor had been clean
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAISI. 85 
 
 swept, and every article of furniture put into its proper 
 place, by some kind sleight-of-hand fairy, during the 
 night. These were the days when a great part of this 
 country-side was still in a state of nature — hogs 
 undrained, fields unfenced, leys unfilled — and the 
 inhabitants were almost as rude and untutored, in the 
 schoolmaster's sense, as Zulus or ]\Iaoris, Avhile the 
 servants as a rule were shamefullj^ hard worked. But 
 now the girls get no such supernatural nocturnal help, 
 but must do the needful Avork themselves, for — 
 
 Where the scythe cuts and the sock rives. 
 There are no more fairies or l:)uni-bee likes. 
 
 FAIRY MONEY. 
 
 Found treasure is supposed to have been laid up by 
 the fairies, and he who is so lucky as to light upon it, 
 will, if he is a wise man, say nothing about it ; because 
 the good people do not like their gifts to be made known, 
 any more than truly benevolent mortals do. 
 
 FAIRY PIPES. 
 
 Small tobacco pipes of an ancient and clumsy form, 
 frequently found in ploughed fields, are supposed to 
 have been manufactured and used l)y the fairies. 
 
 ELF SHOTS. 
 
 This is the name vulgarly given to the Hint arrow- 
 heads, made use of in war Ijy the ancient Britons. The 
 -common people imagine them to have loeen maliciously
 
 86 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 shot at cattle by the fairies or elves. The approved 
 cure of the cramp or other disorder, thereby caused, 
 used to be to chafe the parts affected with a piece of 
 thick woollen cloth, or with an old stocking. 
 
 FAIRY CONCERTS. 
 
 The fairies usually took up their abode during the day 
 underground in the bosom of isolated round green hills, 
 I have met with people who knew this to be a fact,. 
 ])ecausc sometimes on a fine still summer evening, when 
 they had lain down on these liills with their ear close to- 
 the ground, thej' were astonished to hear piping, fiddling, 
 singing, and dancing going on far down in the interior. 
 When questioned as to whether the sounds might not 
 rather come from some neighbouring village or gipsy 
 encampment, they \vould reply that that was quite im- 
 possible. " Xo " they replied, " it certainly Avas the 
 fairies ; everybody knew it was ; hundreds had heard 
 them ; there could he no doubt it was the fairies." In- 
 <Ieed almost every circular mound in the North must 
 once have been thus used, if all tales be true. 
 
 A LEGEND OF CLINT's CRAG. 
 
 The royal residence of the Queen of the Fairies in 
 Weardale Avas a Avild, romantic, little frequented place- 
 called Clint's Crags, on the south bank of Ireshope Burn, 
 al)out tAvo miles south Avest of the village of Ireshope. 
 The burn washes the foot of these rugged and pictur- 
 esque rocks which are crested on the highest battlements
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 87 
 
 with tufts of purple heath and bilberry shrubs, contrasting 
 with the grey-faced cliffs over which falls a mossy rill ; 
 and a few solitary and shapeless bushes dangle from the 
 crevices which are adorned by the common, the green 
 and the wall rue spleenworts and various species of fern. 
 At the foot of the limestone rocks there is a gloomy 
 cavern, in which the fairy cpieen and her elfin courtiers 
 resided ; and according to Mr. W. M. Egglestone, whose 
 description we take the liberty to borrow, " the royal 
 palace was decorated with stalactitical ornaments of 
 indescribable grandeur ; marble chandeliers of intricate 
 forms were pendent from the roof ; the furniture and 
 crockery ware were of stalagmitical formation ; and on 
 ever}' side of the fairies' abode were myriads of sparkling 
 gems of every hue." The Weardale fairies, we may feel 
 assured, were as capricious and tricksy as their green- 
 coated brethren and sisters everywhere else. Their 
 habit it was to borrow the goodwife's domestic utensils, 
 sometimes when she could very ill spare them ; and if 
 refused the loan of anything, they never failed to take 
 their revenge. Unless it was their ])leasurc to make 
 themselves visible, to serve their own private ends, 
 they Avere never seen, though often heard. There Avas 
 a singular virtue, however, in a four-leaved clover, to 
 give the possessor of it the power of seeing the fairies 
 at all times.
 
 88 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 FOLK LOEE 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HOLIDAYS AND HOLIDAY CUSTOMS. 
 
 HALLO\VEEN. 
 
 On All Hallow Even, the vigil of All Saints' Da}*, it 
 is customarjMvith young people to dip for apples floating 
 in water, or to catch at them when stuck on one end of 
 a hanging beam, at the other extremity of which is fixed 
 a lighted candle, and that with their mouths only, their 
 hands tied behind their liacks. I have often seen this 
 ludicrous sport indulged in, and moreover the burning 
 of nuts, which is an almost equally exciting game, though 
 not so trying to the jaws. The nuts are placed, two and 
 two, upon the topmost bar of the grate, — formerly on 
 the hearth, — and named respectively after a lad and a 
 lass. If they lie still and burn together, it prognosticates 
 a hopeful love and a happy marriage; but if, on the
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 89 
 
 •contrary, one or other, or both, bounce and fly asun- 
 <Ier, the sign is unpropitious. If both start off, it is a 
 case of mutual aversion ; if one lies still, it is a case of 
 love forsaken. "When nuts are not come-at-al)le peas will 
 •do. 
 
 ST. AGNES' FAST. 
 
 St. Agnes's Fast is thus observed throughout the 
 County of Durham. Two young girls, each desirous to 
 dream about their future husbands, must abstain through 
 the whole of St. Agnes's Eve (20th January) from eating' 
 drinking, or speaking, and must even avoid touching 
 their lips Avith their fingers. At night they are to make 
 together their " dumb cake," the ingredients of Aviiich 
 (flour, salt, water, &c.) must be supplied in equal propor- 
 tions by their friends. They must also take equal shares 
 in the baking and turning of the cake, and in drawing it 
 ■out of the oven ; and after it has been divided into 
 two equal portions, each girl, taking her share, carries it 
 up stairs, walking backwards all the time, and finally 
 -eats it and jumps into lied. A damsel avIio duly fulfils 
 all these conditions, and has also kept her thoughts all 
 the day fixed on her ideal of a husband, may confidently 
 ■expect to see her future partner in her dreams. There 
 is one way besides speaking in whicli the charm may be 
 broken, and that is by a kiss. And therefore when it is 
 known that a brace of girls are keeping St, Agnes's Fast, 
 it is not uncommon for a couple of young sparks to come 
 upon them unawares, and Ijreak their fast by a salute.
 
 90 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 i^T. SWITHIN S DAY. 
 
 This day, the 15th of July, is ahnost universally 
 believed by country people to give a certain indication of 
 the state of the weather for the next forty days. For 
 thus runs the old rhyme — 
 
 " St. Swithin's daj'. if thou does rain, 
 For forty days it will remain ; 
 St. Swithin's Day, if thou be fair, 
 For forty days 'twill rain ne niair." 
 
 A NEW DRESS ON NEW YEAR'S DAY. 
 
 Every bodj^ should wear a new dress on New Year's 
 Day, and he should take care to have some " brass," 
 including copper, silver, and gold money, in his pockets, 
 in order to be certain that they will never be quite empty 
 of cash throughout the year. 
 
 GOOD FRIDAY. 
 
 No Blacksmith with the least pretence to decency will 
 drive a nail on Good Friday ; a remembrance of the 
 awful purpose for Avhich hammer and nails were used on 
 the first Good Frida}' natural!}' holds them back. 
 
 chili)Er:\iass day. 
 
 On this day, the feast of the Hoi}- Innocents, which 
 keeps up the memory of the wicked Herod's murder of 
 the children at Bethlehem, it is very unlucky to begin 
 any work, whatsoever day of the week it falls on.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 91 
 
 OXEN ON CHRISTMAS DAY. 
 
 On Christmas Eve the oxen kneel in their stalls, and 
 utter low sounds resembling moans. In boyhood many a 
 one has been induced, as Brockett tells us he himself 
 more than once was, to attend on the occasion and 
 witness this curious and most suggestive phenomenon. 
 But I have never j-et met with any one who could 
 sincerely say he had seen and heard it. The oxen, of 
 course, do kneel when they lie down ; but they do not 
 moan at the same time. 
 
 FRIDAY. 
 
 A Sunderland lady was lately heard to say : " I am 
 not superstitious ; but I would not for the world begin 
 any business on that day ; it is ur.luckj\" This is a 
 very wide spread notion — Friday, the day on which Christ 
 was crucified, being regarded all over Christendom as a 
 day of ill omen. No unsophisticated people would choose 
 to be married on Friday, for, if they were, they could 
 not hope to enjoy much domestic peace. 
 
 FRUMETY ON C'TIRISTMAS EVE. 
 
 The orthodox old fashioned supper on Christmas Eve 
 consists of frunient}', fruniety, or furmetj', a })reparation 
 of wheat well soaked and 1)oiled in milk, with currants, 
 cinnamon, and other spices, and sugar. It is the Latin 
 fruiii,entum, corn.
 
 92 LEGENDS AND SUrERSTITIONS 
 
 THE SUN DANCING. 
 
 At its rising on Easter morning-, the sun dances foi- 
 joy, in honour of the resurrection of Christ. Those who 
 wish to see him do so, rise early tluit da}', and go into 
 tlie open fiehls, or on to a height overlooking the sea, 
 where they can Avitness the phenomenon best. 
 
 EASTER MONDAY AND TUESDAY FROLICS. 
 
 On Easter JMonday the boys have a right to loy hold 
 of the girls, and pull off their shoes ; and on Easter 
 Tuesday, the girls ma}- take their revenge, by jjulling 
 off the boy's caps. In the City of Durham, says Brand, 
 " on the one day the men take off the women's shoes, or 
 rather buckles, which are only to be redeemed by a 
 present ; on another day the women make reprisals, 
 taking off the men's in like manner." A j'oung lady 
 tells me she has seen men taken to the police station 
 in Sunderland on Easter Sunday, for using their pre- 
 sumed privilege on that sacred day, and pulling off the 
 women's boots. Fishwomen and others have been known 
 to go about the street the whole day, waylaying Avell- 
 known characters, and levying contributions upon them. 
 One gentleman in Sunderland has been forced to pay as 
 mueli as nine shillings in one day. The late Peggy 
 Potts used to be famous at this game. 
 
 SANTA CRUZ. 
 
 On Christmas Eve, each child hangs up one of its 
 stockings in a place where it can be easily reached, in
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 93 
 
 order that Santa Cruz, the Holy Cross, may come into 
 the bedroom during the night, and deposit some httle 
 present in it. And when the chikl wakens in the morn- 
 ing, sure as fate, in the stocking is a Christmas pie, — a 
 yule doiigh, which is a l)it of rich j^aste rolled out, cut, 
 and baked in the shape of a nice little baby, with currants 
 for eyes, — a packet of figs, raisins, bullets, — an orange, 
 a ball, a top, or some other article, brought by the 
 mysterious nocturnal visitor, Vvdio has come with light 
 and gentle step, when the children were fast asleep. 
 
 PALMS. 
 
 It was quite customary, fifty or sixty 3'ears ago, for 
 children to make ]jalm crosses for Palm Sunday. The 
 substitute for palm was sauyh, sallow, or great round- 
 leaved or goat willow, with its soft downy saffron col- 
 oured catkins in flower. The branclies were tied together 
 so as to form a St. Andrew's cross, with a tuft of catkins 
 at each point, and bound with knots and bows of ribbon, 
 generally blue or pink. In the old Catholic times, the 
 branches were carried in procession, and strown on the 
 road the Sunday next before Easter, in imitation of the 
 palm leaves that Averc strown before Jesus on his entry 
 into Jerusalem. The palm crosses made hy the children 
 are sometimes still seen stuck up or sus2)ended in old 
 fashioned people's houses. 
 
 EASTER EGGS. 
 
 Easter eggs, Pash or Passover eggs, or Paste Eggs, as 
 they are vulgarly called, form a staple article of manu-
 
 94 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 facture every year among the children in town and 
 country. They are lioiled as hard as possil)le, and stained 
 various colours, with whin blossoms, lichen off stone 
 walls, the juice of herl)s, arnatto, logwood chips, and old 
 rags ilycd with a pattern which will cast. They can be 
 bought in the shops by such as do not care to take the 
 trouble to boil and dye them for themselves, and the 
 dealers in them often have them covered with goldleaf. 
 The egg, in heathendom, was an emblem of the life lying 
 hid, dormant, and seemingly extinct in Nature during 
 the reign of winter, and rising again in due time with 
 the advent of spring. To Christians it prefigures 
 the resurrection of the body from the regions of death 
 and the grave. Easter Sunday is commonly known as 
 Paste-egg day. 
 
 THE VIRGIN AND CHILD ON CHRISTMAS EVE. 
 
 On Christmas Eve, in this county as well as elscAvhere, 
 it is customary for old women to go about with penny 
 waxen dolls, dressed up to represent the Virgin and 
 Child, carried under their cloak, from house to house, 
 and as a matter of course, expecting alms. They sing a 
 carol, the purport of which is to wish master and 
 mistress, 
 
 "And all their little children, that round the table go, 
 And all their kith and kindred that travel fai" and near, 
 A merry Christmas and a happy New Year."
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 95 
 
 BALL PLAYING. 
 
 This game commences on Pancake Tuesday and 
 continues without interruption till Easter. 
 
 SHROYE TUESDAY. 
 
 Shrive or Shrove Tuesday is still upheld, so far as 
 being a half-holiday, which the apprentices of Durham 
 claim as a privilege and an indisputalde right. The 
 custom of ringing the great hell of the Cathedral at 
 eleven o'clock, after morning service, is still observed, 
 receiving the usual designation of the " Pancake Bell ;" 
 but in pre-Reformation times it conveyed a more signifi- 
 cant intimation — that the inhabitants must repair to 
 their parish priests and get "shriven." The ancient 
 glories of Shrove Tuesday have disappeared, and there 
 are now few persons either 
 
 " man or maid who take their turn 
 And toss their pancakes lest they burn." 
 
 At Sedgefield and other places, the old fashioned 
 people still dine on ^lancakes ; and the afternoon is 
 devoted to playing at football. 
 
 COLLOP MONDAY. 
 
 It is usual to have eggs and collops, or pieces of bacon, 
 for dinner, on the day before Shrove Tuesday. The 
 origin of this custom was that, it being the last day of 
 ilesh-eating Ijefore Lent, our ancestors cut what fresh 
 meat they had left in their houses on that day, into 
 collops or steaks, for salting or hanging up to dry till
 
 9G LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 Lent was over. In many of the older villages the 
 inhabitants were once in the lialjit, on the morning of 
 Collop i\Ionday, of visiting tlie farm houses, and de- 
 manding a collop or steak, as well as a quantum of flour 
 for use tlie next day. 
 
 CLEANING UP ON NEW YEAR'S EVE. 
 
 Before the New Year comes in, it is proper that the 
 house should be thoroughly cleansed and purified. All 
 the ashes should ho carried out, all the slops emptied, 
 every drop of dirty water removed. Misunderstandings, 
 animosities and quarrels of every kind should likewise 
 1)0 made up before the advent of the New Year, and he 
 or she who makes the first advance towards reconciliation 
 has the greatest honour. 
 
 FIRST-FOOT. 
 
 It is considered very important that the first person 
 who crosses the threshold and enters the house after mid- 
 night on New Year's morning sliould be a true friend, and 
 therefore many make arrangements beforehand with 
 some one in whom they have perfect confidence, to get 
 him to 1)6 their " first foot." It would be counted very 
 unlucky indeed if the first entrant were a female, or if 
 the person who first came in did not bring 1)read or 
 spirits Avith him. In order to prevent the possibility of 
 mischief being done, through the influence of the evil 
 eye, some people prefer being their own first-foot, going 
 themselves to the door the moment it strikes twelve,.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 97 
 
 and immediately coming in again. Sailors' wives, when 
 their husbands are away at sea, usually get some canny 
 little lad whom they know to be their first-foot. Among 
 old friends and neighbours, when our town society was 
 less mixed than it is now, the first-foot used to come in 
 bearing a tray, with a bottle and glass, and recite the 
 following rhyme : — 
 
 " Happy New Year t' ye ! God send ye plenty ! 
 Whei'B ye have one pound note I wish ye may have twenty ! " 
 
 THE YULE CANDLE AND THE YULE CLOG. 
 
 A large mould-candle is lighted and set on the supper 
 table in many old-fashioned houses on Christmas Eve ; 
 and it is considered unlucky to snuft' it until the con- 
 clusion of the repast. Another " betterly " candle is got 
 to serve the same purpose on New Year's Eve. And 
 both ought to be left to burn till daybreak next morning. 
 A common candle Avill not do. The grocers formerly 
 used to give a proper one away every year to their 
 customers. The Yule Clog is a large block or log of 
 wood, sometimes the root of a tree, laid on the fire on 
 Christmas Eve, and kept burning all the following day, 
 or longer, if possible. A portion of it is very often kept 
 to light up the new block at the next Christmas, and to 
 preserve the family from harm in the meantime. The 
 Yule-Dough is a Christmas Cake, or rather a little image 
 of paste studded with currants, and baked for children 
 at that season of the year.
 
 98 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 THE WICKED SUNDAY. 
 
 In many places, in pre-Reformation times, the village 
 wake was held on a Sunday afternoon, after canonical 
 hours. That day used to be called the Wicked Sunday, 
 since the Sabbath was at no other time so generally 
 profaned. All the good wives and their servants stayed 
 at home in the morning to dress dinner; and in the 
 afternoon all the men who were not playing at football 
 or quarter-staff, sat drinking beer, either in their own 
 houses or in the village alehouse, till " all was blue." 
 
 THE YEULWAITING, 
 
 According to the Boldon Buke, there were two cottagers 
 in Heighington, each holding fifteen acres of land of the 
 lord bishop, for which they wrought two days in every 
 week throughout the year, and joined with the sixteen 
 "villains" in the place in several other services, and in 
 yeulwaitincj. This latter was the easy and agreeable 
 service of serenading the good prelate, of whom they 
 held their lands, on Christmas Eve. Each of the twelve 
 "villains" in the township of Killerb}^ was bound to 
 pay four shillings a year to the bishop, in lieu of 
 yeulwaiting. We have here, not the origin, it is true, 
 l)ut an old established form, of the Christmas Waits, 
 who still go their rounds in many parts of the country. 
 
 GOOD FRIDAY BREAD. 
 
 Bread baked on Good Friday, and laid by in a drawer, 
 will keep fresh till the same festival comes round next
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 99 
 
 year. A little bit of it grated, and taken in a wine glass 
 of water, is useful in cases of diarrhoea, 
 
 CERTAIN DISHES FOR CERTAIN TIMES. 
 
 A turkey and mince pie at Christmas ; a gammon 
 ■of bacon on Easter Day ; a goose on Michaelmas 
 Day ; oysters on St. James's Day ; a roast pig on 
 St. Bartholomew's Day ; a fat hen at Shrovetide ; pan- 
 cakes on Shrove Tuesday ; a male pullet and bacon on 
 Fastin's Day ; hot cross buns on Good Friday ; lamb at 
 Whitsuntide ; bull beef at Candlemas ; eggs on the 
 Saturday before Shrove Sunday; a sweet cake on All- 
 Soul's Day ; salmon and all other kinds of fish in Lent. 
 We subscribe to all these, but the oysters on the 25th 
 July, holding, as we do, to what Ave consider the more 
 orthodox doctrine which associates oysters in season with 
 months in the names of which K. occurs. Pullets are in 
 season during the whole of January ; hence the 
 proverb : — 
 
 If you but knew how good it were, 
 
 To eat a pullet in Januar', 
 
 If you had twenty in your flock, 
 
 You'd leave but one to go with the cock. 
 
 YULE CAKES. 
 
 The Yule Cake, otherwise known as the Yule Dough, 
 was formerly baked at Christmas, and presented by 
 bakers to their customers. It was a little image of paste, 
 in the form of a baby, and represented the infant Jesus.
 
 100 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 Sometimes His Mother, the Virgin Mary, was added, 
 holding the babe in her arms. 
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL ON CANDLEMAS DAY. 
 
 Brand cites a curious anecdote concerning John Cosin, 
 bishop of Durham, on Candlemas Day, from a rare tract, 
 intituled "The Vanity and Downfall of superstitious 
 Popish ceremonies, preached in the Cathedral Church of 
 Durham, by one Peter Smart, a prebend there, July 27th, 
 1626." Edinburgh, 4to, 1628. The story is that "on 
 Candlemas Day last past, Mr. Cozens, in renewing that 
 Popish Ceremony of burning candles to the honour of 
 Our Lady, busied himself from two of the clock in the 
 afternoon till four, in climbing long ladders to stick up 
 wax candles in the said Cathedral Chiu'ch. The number 
 of all the candles liurnt that evening was two hundred 
 and twenty, Ijesides sixteen torches, — sixty of those 
 burning tapers and torches standing upon, and near, the 
 high altar (as he called it), where no man came nigh." 
 
 TANSY PUDDING. 
 
 Eating tansy pudding at Easter is a custom derived 
 from the Komish Church, Tansy (Athanasia) is one of the 
 emblems of immortality, and consequently of the 
 resurrection. The pudding is made of flour and eggs, 
 seasoned with the expressed juice of the herb. 
 
 MAUNDY THURSDAY AT DURHAM. 
 
 At the South-West Entrance of the Cloisters at Durham,, 
 on Maundy Thursday yearly, were placed, in the Eoman
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 101 
 
 Catholic times, as many poor children as there were 
 monks in the convent ; and each of the good fathers 
 Avashed, dried, and kissed the feet of one of the children, 
 and then gave him twenty silver pennies, seven dried 
 herrings, three loaves of Ijread, and a wafer cake. 
 
 TID, MID, MISERAY. 
 
 The first Sunday in Lent has no name ; hut the other 
 six are designated by the following couplet : — 
 
 " Tid, Mid, Miseray, 
 Carling, Palm, and Paste Egg Day." 
 
 The three latter have been already spoken of ; the three 
 former have been named from the beginning of Psalms 
 and Hymns, viz , Te Deiim, Mi Veus, and Misereri mei. 
 
 CRYING ON NEW YEAR'S DAY. 
 
 If a child cries on New Year's Day, it will cry every 
 day that year. 
 
 THE STOT PLOUGH. 
 
 In Sir Cuthbert Sharp's " History of Hartlepool," we 
 are informed that " the first Monday after Twelfth Day, 
 the Stot Plough, a small anchor drawn by young men 
 and boys, is paraded through the town. The}' stop at 
 every door and beg a small donation ; if successful, they 
 salute the donor with three cheers ; l^ut if the request 
 is refused, they plough up the front of the house, to the 
 great annoyance of the inhabitants." This was seventy 
 years ago.
 
 102 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 CANDLEMAS. 
 
 It is a common notion that the crows lay the first 
 stick of their nests on Old Candlemas Day. The ravens, 
 like the Eussians, do not recognise the New Style. 
 
 PERAMBULATING THE BOUNDS. 
 
 It was a general custom formerly, says Bourne, and is 
 still observed in some country parishes, to go round the 
 bounds and limits of the parish on one of the three days 
 before Holy Thursday, or the Feast of Our Lord's 
 Ascension, when the minister, accompanied by his 
 churchwardens and parishioners, were wont to deprecate 
 the vengeance of God, beg a blessing on the fruits of the 
 earth, and preserve the rights and properties of the 
 parish. This custom is still kept up in Sunderland, 
 and as the boundary line between it and Bishopwearmouth 
 parish passes in one place at least through the middle of 
 a house, some amusement is naturally caused by the 
 perambulators making their way from the street in at a 
 certain upstairs window and out again by the back. 
 
 VALENTINE DAY. 
 
 Brand says : " It is a ceremony, never omitted among 
 the vulgar, to draw lots, which they term valentines, on 
 the eve before Valentine Day. The names of a select 
 number of one sex are by an equal number of the other 
 put into some vessel ; and, after that, every one draws 
 a name, which for the present is called their valentine,.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM, 105 
 
 and is also looked upon as a good omen of their being 
 man and wife afterwards. There is a rural tradition, 
 that on this day every bird chooses his mate. From 
 this perhaps the youthful part of the world hath first 
 practised this custom, so common at this season." The 
 sending of valentines in envelopes through the post is a 
 practice Avhich Sir Eowland Hill's reform has given an 
 immense impetus to. It would be interesting to get the 
 statistics, if they could be had, of the number of hun- 
 dred weights of additional letters posted at this season 
 in the United Kingdom, each year since the penny post 
 came in. 
 
 ROYAL OAK DAY. 
 
 It was once customary on Eoyal Oak Day (the 29th 
 of May), for people to wear in their hats the leaves of 
 the oak ; and those who neglected to do so, were liable 
 to be hooted at by the boys in the streets. Carters still 
 ornament their horse's heads with a sprig of oak on 
 this great Caroline anniversary. 
 
 DRESSING STOOLS ON MIDSUMMER DAY, 
 
 A once prevalent custom in the city of Durham, as 
 well as throughout the county, in towns and villages, 
 was to dress out stools on Midsummer Day with a cushion 
 of fioAvers. A layer of clay was placed on the stool, and 
 therein was stuck, with great regularity, a great number 
 of all kinds of flowers, so closely arranged as to
 
 104 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 form a beautiful cushion. These were exhil)ited at 
 the doors of houses in the villages, and at the ends of 
 streets and cross-lanes in the larger towns : and the 
 attendants levied donations from the passers-by, to 
 enable them to have an evening feast and dancing. 
 
 grocers' gifts. 
 
 On Christmas Eve, grocers who understand how to 
 push their business send each of their customers a pound 
 or half a pound of currants or raisins to make a Christ- 
 mas pudding. Sometimes the present is only a good 
 sized twopenny candle ; at other times, a nutmeg, when 
 the purchase is perhaps only " a penn'orth of tea." 
 
 THE TANCAKE BELL. 
 
 The Pancake Bell used to ring in Sunderland at eleven 
 o'clock every Shrove Tuesdaj^, until within the last nine 
 or ten years. Originally it was rung to call the 
 people together for the purpose of confessing their sins, 
 but latterly it was only meant as a signal for them to 
 begin frying their pancakes. All apprentices used to 
 consider themselves free for the afternoon from the 
 moment this bell began to ring. 
 
 mothering SUNDAY. 
 
 On Mid-Lent Sunday, young people out at service 
 used to make it a practice to go home and see their 
 parents, carrying little presents to them, and getting in 
 return a hearty meal, formerly of furmety, latterly of
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 105 
 
 tea and cake, called Simnel Cake or Mothering Cake. 
 On their way back at night, a good deal of courting went 
 on. 
 
 HOT CROSS BUNS. 
 
 On Good Friday Morning, hot cross buns are in 
 universal request, among those who like to keep up 
 harmless old customs. People send to the confectioner's 
 about half-past seven, and get seven for sixpence. If 
 one of these cakes is preserved, it may be used, sage old 
 women say, in cases of diarrhoea or other bowel complaints 
 with great advantage. 
 
 CHRISTMAS BOXES. 
 
 Christmas boxes, as they are called, are now generally 
 given only to postmen, newsboys, milk-lads, and others 
 who are in the habit of calling regularly at the house or 
 shop, on errands or such like. 
 
 GOWK DAY. 
 
 A Gowk is literally a cuckoo, but metaphorically a 
 fool, and the first of April, All-Fool's Day, is in this 
 part of the country termed Gowk Day. The observ- 
 ances on it are the same here as elsewhere, and therefore 
 do not need to be related at length. 
 
 BLOODY THURSDAY. 
 
 Besides Collop Mondaj^, Pancake Tuesday and Ash 
 Wednesday, we have Bloody Thursday, so called because 
 it was on that day that Jesus Christ was betrayed,
 
 106 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 apprehended, and brought before the high priest of the 
 Jews, to be delivered up next day to the Komans for 
 crucifixion. 
 
 MIDSUMMER EVE. 
 
 There are still old women in Sunderland who were, in 
 their girlhood, in the habit of dancing Avith their com- 
 panions through fires made in the street on Midsummer 
 Eve, the vigil of St. John the Baptist's Day, It was 
 reckoned good fun to push or pull each other into the 
 fire, which was commonly made with dry straw. The more 
 nimble and adroit leaped over. 
 
 FEASTS AND HOPPINGS. 
 
 In many villages in the county annual wakes or fairs 
 are still kept uj), under the name of Hoppings, devoted 
 entirely to pleasure. There the young men and women 
 consort in great numbers — 
 
 To happe and sing and maken miche disport. 
 They were usually observed in Catholic times on the 
 Sunday next after the saint's day to whom the parish 
 church was dedicated. The parishioners " made them- 
 selves bowers about their churches, and refreshed 
 themselves and feasted together after a good religious 
 sort, killing their oxen to the praise of God and 
 increase of charity." These festivals were called Wakes, 
 because on the vigils or eves of them " the people were 
 wont to awake from sleep and go to prayers."
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 107 
 
 Subsequently a fair was held in the churchyard on 
 such occasions, accompanied by feasting and all sorts 
 of rural sports and exercises, which sometimes con- 
 tinued two or three days, or the entire week. In this 
 county, the most famous of these hoppings is Houghton 
 Feast, said to have been instituted by the celebrated 
 Bernard Gilpin. Swalwell Hopping is also famed in 
 song. Stockton Cherry Fair is another great gathering 
 of the kind. 
 
 SUGAR AND WATER SUNDAY, 
 
 In many villages in the North it was once the custom 
 for the lads and lasses to collect together at springs or 
 river sides, on the third Sunday in May, to drink sugar 
 and water, or Spanish juice (sugar-aloe) and water, the 
 lasses giving the treat. They afterwards adjourned to 
 the nearest public-house, where the lads returned the 
 compliment in cakes and ale, punch, &c. This custom 
 gave rise to many scandals, and is now, we believe, 
 quite obsolete. 
 
 SATURDAY AFTERNOON HOLIDAY. 
 
 The following curious extract is from a manuscript 
 volume of sermons for all the Saints' Days and remark- 
 able Sundays in the year, in the Episcopal Library at 
 Durham, communicated to Mr Brand by Mr Kobert 
 Harrison : — " It is writen in ye lifFe of Seynt xxxxx 
 that he was bisi on Ester Eve before None that he
 
 108 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 made One to abase him or ye sunne wente doune. And 
 the fiend aspicd that, and gadirid up liis heris ; and 
 when this holi man sawc it, he conjured him and badde 
 him tell him Avhi he did so. Thane said he, bycause yu 
 didist no riverence to the Sundaie, and therefore thise 
 heris wolle I kepe unto ye day of dome in reproffe of 
 ye. Thane he left of all his sharying and toke the 
 heris of the fiend and made to bren hem in his oune 
 haund for pennance, which him thought he was worthe 
 to sufTrc ; and bode unshaven unto Monday. This is 
 saide in reproffe of hem that worcken at afternone on 
 Saturdayes." 
 
 ASH-RIDDLING. 
 
 On the eve of St. Mark (April 24th), it used to be 
 customary to riddle or sift the ashes on the hearth- 
 .stone, in the belief that, if any of the family were 
 destined to die within the year, the mark of the 
 individual's shoe would be impressed on the ashes. 
 
 CARLING, CARR, OR SATISFACTION SUNDAY. 
 
 Brand, in his " Popular Antiipiities," says : — " At 
 Newcastle, Sunderland, Shields, and many other places 
 in the North of England, grey peas, after being steeped 
 a night in water, are fried Avith butter, given away, and 
 eaten on the Sunday preceding Palm Sunday." These 
 peas are called Carlings. In Roxburghshire, a particular 
 kind of cake is used, called carr cake. It is made of
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 109 
 
 fine or " bootit " flour, with SAveet milk, eggs, and a 
 teaspoonful or two of whiskey, made into a thin paste 
 and put with a spoon into a frying pan, which has 
 been previously lubricated with a pat of fresh butter, 
 newly churned. Occasionally some hog's blood is 
 added during the mixing. The German word Kair 
 signifies the satisfaction of a penalty imposed, and hence 
 it may be taken to refer either to the redemption of 
 man by the Passion of Christ or to the fasts and 
 penances endured by Christians at this solemn season of 
 Lent to obtain thereby remission of their sins. 
 
 THE BORROWED DAYS. 
 
 The Borrowed Days, or Borrowing Days, are the 
 last three days of March, which, according to old 
 almanac-makers, are generally stormy. They have got 
 their name from the idea that March borrowed them 
 from Api-il, in order that he might extend his power so 
 much longer. And so the popular rhyme runs — 
 
 March said to Aperil 
 
 There lie three hopgs upon yon hill, 
 
 If ye will leud me days three, 
 
 I'll find a way to gar them dee. 
 
 The first day shall be wind and weet, 
 
 The second day shall be snaw and sleet, 
 
 The third day shall be sic a freeze 
 
 As to freeze the birds' nests to the trees ; 
 
 And ere that day be past and gane, 
 
 The three silly hoggs will gan hirplan hame. 
 
 Superstitious people Avill neither l)orrow or lend 
 
 anything on any of these days, lest the article should 
 
 be used for evil purposes. In some parts, they call 
 
 them the Barren Days.
 
 110 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 CHILDERISIASS DAY. 
 
 On this (lay, the feast of the Holy Innocents, which 
 keeps up the memory of wicked Herod's murder of the 
 ■children at Bethlehem, it is very unlucky to begin any 
 work, whatsoever day of the week it falls on. 
 
 DOING BUSINESS ON NEW YEAR's DAY. 
 
 Buy nothing, liorrow nothing, on New Year's Day ; 
 nnd do not mend a single rag upon it ; else you will be 
 in rags all the year after. 
 
 UNI-UCKY. 
 
 It is unlucky to lend anything whatever on New 
 Year's Day, and, as it is kept a close holiday in Shields, 
 prudent housewives take care to have everything laid 
 in for it beforehand. It is unlucky to meet a female 
 first on New Year's Day, or indeed on any day in the 
 year. Specially unlucky is it ■when a woman is your 
 " first foot," that is, when she is the first to enter your 
 house after the New Year has come in. 
 
 THE schoolmaster's COCK-PENNY. 
 
 In the good or bad old times, when Shrovetide was 
 the season for throwing at cocks, a yearly cock-fight was 
 a part of the annual routine of several of our northern 
 free schools. The plaj'ground of the scholars Avas the 
 place of diversion, and the master was umpire 1)y virtue 
 of his ofiicc. He was moreover entitled to a perquisite 
 or fee of a penny for each cock set down to the main ;
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. Ill 
 
 and every fugie or craven that showed himself chicken- 
 hearted, or either decHned to fight or fled before his 
 adversary, was confiscated for his benefit. 
 
 THE MELL-DOLL OR KERN-DOLL. 
 
 The last cut of corn of the season, gathered by a 
 maid, is plaited into the form of a child's doll, orna- 
 mented Avith ribbons, and hung up in a conspicuous 
 place till next harvest. There is a contest among the 
 maidens in the boon or gang of reapers to decide Avho is 
 to have it, as she who gets it is supposed to have the 
 best chance of being married during the year. As soon 
 as the last cut has been made, the shearers gather into a 
 ring, and throAving their hooks up into the air, make the 
 welkin ring with their shouts. The master, steAvard, or 
 grieve, if not young and frolicsome, takes care to be 
 out of the Avay when the Kern is Avon, or otherAvise the 
 women give him " up in the air," much in the fashion 
 in Avhich Sancho Panza Avas treated at the inn, only 
 barring the blanket, and he must afterwards kiss them 
 all round, old and young. Sometimes Avhen their 
 employer or overseer is not a favourite Avith them, the}' 
 have been knoAvn to let him fall to the ground instead 
 of " kepping " him in their arms, and cases have been 
 knoAvn of persons getting severely hurt in this Avay. It 
 is not usual to " cr}' the kern " after sunset, nor after 
 Old Michaelmas Day (October 9th), it being considered 
 that to constitute a " maiden kern," the harvest must be 
 concluded previously to that day, and in broad daylight.
 
 112 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 LADY JARRATT. 
 
 The old manor-house at Darlington was long haunted 
 by the ghost of the lady of Charles Gerrard, Esq., Avho 
 is said to have been a daughter of Dr. John Cosin, 
 Bishop of Durham. This lady, according to the popular 
 tradition, was murdered by some of the Parliamentary 
 soldiers during the great civil war, when she left on the 
 wall of the room where the murder took place a ghastly 
 impression of the thuml) and fingerS of her left hand in 
 blood that no scouring could ever eradicate. Down to- 
 a comparatively late time the poor lady continued to 
 walk, and was frequently seen sitting on the boundary 
 wall of the churchyard, although why she chose that 
 place it would be difficult to explain. It was observed 
 that she had but one arm, for the other was cut and 
 carried oflf by the ruthless ravagers, in order that they 
 might secure the valuable ring which she wore on her 
 finger. She was believed to traverse nightly a supposed 
 subterranean passage leading from the Manor-house to 
 the church, wliicli nobody, however, dared to explore, 
 and the existence of which many denied. There was 
 one house near the factory which she liked to frequent, 
 making it in fact perfectly untenantable. She used to 
 jingle the pans of the establishment, and keep rattling
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 113 
 
 the old pump handle when she found it locked. She 
 would likewise pull the bedclothes off the servants' 
 beds, and sometimes pull them out on to the floor. 
 When the Manor-house was converted into the parish 
 Workhouse she did not cease her nocturnal visits, but 
 occasionally, instead of doing the inmates any mischief, 
 she would even make coffee for the sick, a proof that 
 her ideas were not altogether of a malevolent nature, 
 but that benevolence entered into them by fits. In all 
 her various appearances and offices within doors, she 
 invariably made a rustle-me-tustle Avith her stiff silk 
 dress, like the Silky that long used to haunt a lane near 
 North Shields. But, strange to say, she sometimes 
 took the form of a white rabbit, scampering about the 
 Market place. Her ladyship, moreover, is not tlie only 
 Darlington sprite associated with coffee. Many years 
 ago a house in Tubwell Eow was said to be sorely 
 infested by the ghost of a grocer's apprentice, who kept 
 grinding aAvay continually at a coffee mill. But in this 
 case the supernatural coffee grinder was resolved at 
 length, like Mi^s Radcliffe's romantic goblins in the 
 Mysteries of Udolpho, into a simple natural cause, 
 having been nothing more or less than the noise made 
 by an ill-fitted door, the slightest opening of which 
 hushed the noise.
 
 lU LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 CHAPTER VII [. 
 
 BELIEF REGARDING TREES AND PLANTS. 
 THE BUR TREE. 
 
 A Ijranch of the common elder, bur tree, or l)ore 
 tree, is supposed to possess great virtue in guarding the 
 ■wearer against the malevolence of witches, fairies, and 
 other " uncanny" people. Brockett says he remembers, 
 when a boj', during a school vacation in the country, at 
 the suggestion of his young companions, carrj-ing it in 
 his button-hole, with doubled thumb, when under the 
 necessity of passing the residence of a poor decrepit old 
 woman, who, though the most harmless creature alive, 
 was strongly suspected of holding occasional converse 
 with an evil spirit. Under this impression, the 
 country people were always very reluctant to meet 
 her. Some say the cross was made from the wood 
 of the bore tree ; others, equally worthy to be 
 believed, that Judas hanged himself on it; but all 
 " knowledgable persons " are agreed that the tree is 
 obnoxious to witches, because their enemies use the 
 green juice of its inner bark for anointing their eyes ; 
 and any baptised person whose C3'cs are touched Avith it 
 can see what the witches are about, in any part of the 
 world. Furthermore, if a man take an elder stick, and
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAil. 115 
 
 cut it on both sides so as to preserve the joint, and put 
 it in his pocket when he rides a journey, it will prevent 
 his fretting or galhng, let his horse go never so hard. 
 Moreover, if you gently strike a horse that cannot 
 stale, with a stick of this elder, and hind some of the 
 leaves to his helh', it will make him stale presently. 
 Sheep which have the I'ot Avill soon cure themselves if 
 they can get at the bark and young shoots of the elder; 
 and any tree or plant which is whipped with green 
 elder branches will not be attacked by insects. In some 
 districts the tree is known as the Bown-tree, which 
 means the Sacred Tree. 
 
 BUMBLE-KITES. 
 
 The fruit of the blackljerry bramble (Ruhus timbroms 
 or f rut Icosus) is vulgarly known in this district by the 
 name of bumble kyte, from its being supposed to cause 
 flatulency when eaten in too great a quantity. No 
 knowledgeable boy will eat these berries after Michael- 
 mas Day, iDecause the arch-fiend is believed to ride 
 along the hedges on the eve of that great festival and 
 pollute everything that grows in them, except the sloes, 
 by touching them with his club foot. The same notion 
 prevails further north, where the bramble-berries are 
 called lady's garter berries. 
 
 FERN SEED. 
 
 It Avas formerly supposed tliat "fern seed" was 
 obtainable only at the exact hour of midnight, on the
 
 116 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 eve of the day on Avhich Saint John the Baptist was 
 horn ; and people heheved tliat if they gathered it at 
 that particuLar time, it wouhl endow them Avith the 
 power of walking invisible. The right way to obtain it 
 was to hold a plate under the plant, and let the seed 
 fall into it of its own accord, for if was shaken off by 
 the hand it lost its virtue. This belief was founded on 
 the doctrine of signatures, according to which certain 
 herbs were held to be specific remedies for particular 
 diseases, because they bore upon them some impress of 
 the morbose symjjtoms accompanying them. Thus the 
 liver wort was supposed to be a sovereign remedy 
 against the heat and inflammation of the liver, because 
 it was shaped like that organ ; the lungwort, from its 
 spotted leaves, was a popular remedy for diseased lungs ; 
 the pilewort, on account of the small knobs on the 
 roots, was administered in cases of hemorrhoids ; the 
 figwort, for a similar reason, in the disease called jicus. 
 The seed of the fern, being on the back of the plant, 
 and so small as to escape the sight of ordinary 
 observers, was assumed to have the property of 
 rendering those who tasteil it, or carried it about their 
 persons, invisible for the time. 
 
 THE DOCKEN. 
 
 There is a charm connected with the medicinal ai)pli- 
 cation of this plant, the common l)lunt-leaved dock. If 
 a person be severely stung with a nettle, it is 
 customary to collect a few dock leaves, to sjjit on them,
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 117 
 
 .and then to rub the part affected, repeating the 
 incantation, " In docken, out nettle," till the violent 
 smarting and inflammation subside. This saying is at 
 least as old as Chaucer's time, as he uses it proverbially 
 — " nettle in, dock out," in his " Troilus and 
 Cresseide." 
 
 HOUSE-LEEK OR SEN-GREEN, 
 
 Country people plant the house-leek or sen-green, 
 locally termed " full " or " fullen," on the thatched 
 roofs of their cottages, in order to preserve them from 
 thunder and lightning, which, it is said, will never 
 strike this evergreen herb. 
 
 COW GRASS. 
 
 The common purple clover {Trifolium pratense) is 
 very good for cattle, but very noisome to witches. In 
 the days when there was at least one noted witch in 
 every hamlet, the leaf was commonly worn as a potent 
 charm, being regarded as an obvious emblem of the 
 Blessed Trinity. The belief in its magic virtue is not 
 ■<^uitc extinct even yet. 
 
 THE ROWAN TREE. 
 
 One saying is — 
 
 If your whipstick's made of rowan 
 You may ride your iiag through any town. 
 Another — 
 
 Woe to the lad 
 
 Without a rowan tree gad. 
 
 The latter has fallen into disuse since tlie old 
 fashioned twelve-oxen plough was laid aside. When
 
 118 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 that cumbersome affair was at work, making those 
 enormous S-shaped ridges of which are still seen the 
 traces left in some outlying old grass fields, a gadman 
 to take charge of the team was as necessary as a plough- 
 man to take hold of the stilts, and his iron pointed 
 instrument was made of a young mountain ash or 
 rowan tree, which kept the witches away from making 
 the cattle " camsteery." The following anti-witch 
 rhyme was used in Teesdale some seventy or eighty 
 years ago : — 
 
 Black luggie, lammer bead, 
 
 Rowan tree, and raid threed, 
 
 Put the witches to their speed. 
 
 The hlack luggie was a small wooden dish, Avith only 
 one handle, out of which children used to sup their 
 porridge. It was made of bog oak — that is, oak dug 
 out of a peat moss — and dyed through and through as 
 black as ebony. Lammer beads were properly amber 
 beads, the initial ' I l)eing merely the French article I ' — 
 the. They were worn as a preservative against a 
 variety of diseases, particularly asthma, dropsy, and 
 toothache. The rowan tree, so called from its berries 
 closely resembling the " rowan " or roe of a fish, Avas 
 also called witch-wood, witch-bane, quick-bane, quicken, 
 wicken, wiggan, Avitchen, Aviggy, &c. The right day to 
 gather it on Avas the second of May, the day sacred to 
 St. Athanasius, Avhose creed, still read in the Church, 
 shoAvs him to have been one of the boldest and most 
 expert exorcists that ever drove a demon out of a place
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 119 
 
 where he had no right to be. If the twig was wanted 
 to keep witches and boggleboes away from a house, it 
 was customary to wind some dozens of yards of red 
 thread round it, and place it visibly in the window. 
 Sometimes householders preferred to stick it into the 
 thatch, right above the door, so that it might disenchant 
 everybody and everything that crossed the threshold. 
 In Lancashire, wick means quick, alive, clearly pointing 
 to the old superstition that the mountain ash was the 
 ti'ee with which our ancestors "quickened" their cattle 
 to ensure them against the powers of witchcraft, the 
 evil eye, and other occult influences. In other parts of 
 England, the mountain ash is called the care tree, 
 possibly on account of its supposed redemptional 
 virtues ; and it is said to be, or more probably once 
 was, a favourite with rustics for cutting walking sticks 
 from, through its reputed anti-witch properties. 
 Turner, the father of English botany, derives the word 
 Eowan from runcl, incantation, because of the use made 
 of the word in magical arts. Rudbeck mentions its 
 sacred character among the northern Gothic tribes. 
 They inscribed their laws upon its wood, an honour 
 which it shared with the beech. In the olden time, in 
 this part of the country, almost every mansion and 
 outhouse was guarded with it in some shape. Usually, 
 the dwelling house was secured with a rowan ti'ce pin, 
 that the evil thing might not cross the threshold. In 
 addition to a piece in his pocket, the ploughman yoked
 
 120 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 his oxen to a rowan tree bow, and with a whip attached 
 to a rowan tree shaft, drove the incorrigible steer along 
 the ridge. Moreover, the ox not unlikely had his horns 
 decorated with red thread, amidst which i)ieces of 
 rowan tree were inserted, or a portion of the Avood 
 hicroglyphed Avith quaint devices, and similarly 
 garnished with threads, might peradventure be dangled 
 at the tail. Thus fenced in person, home, and stall, 
 with " rowan tree and red thread," the agricultural 
 Ia])ourer bade defiance to sorcery and fiendish malice. 
 But it was equally requisite to a prosperous voj'age on 
 the deep, and sailors to ensure no other hazards than 
 those incidental to their profession, had over and above 
 their cargo a store of this harm-expelling preservative 
 on board their vessel. It is l^y no means a remote 
 period since a withered successor of " Noma, the Rcim- 
 kennar," tenanting a hut overlooking the steeps "where 
 Orcas howls his Avolfish mountains rounding," in plain 
 prose, in the Orkneys, obtained a miseraljle livelihood, 
 by vending winds and consecrated mountain-ash to 
 credulous mariners ! 
 
 CROPPING TREES. 
 
 If a fruit tree is cropped with a saAv, it Avill die, and 
 not spring afresh, as intended.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 121 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CONCERNING BEASTS. 
 PIGS AND PRIESTS. 
 
 When the men of Holy Island are going out to fish, 
 they do not suffer any one to mention a pig or a priest. 
 Our informant saith, he was threatened to he thrown 
 overboard, as Jonah was of old, if he dared to go on 
 with a story he had begun about a pig being able to see 
 the wind. The men believed they would catch no fish 
 if he did not hold his tongue, or that the boat would be 
 swamped. 
 
 CATS. 
 
 It is a very unlucky thing to let a cat die in the 
 house. Many a poor pet pussy has been carried out 
 into the back yard, by a kind housewife in cann}' 
 Sunderland, and deposited tenderly on a mat, or a piece 
 of old blanket, to die. 
 
 MAY KITTENS. 
 
 It is unlucky to keep May kittens ; they ought to ])e 
 <lrowned. 
 
 TO MAKE A GAT STAY IN A HOUSE. 
 
 Grease its feet, or dip them in cream. 
 
 THE BRAWN OF BRANCEPATH. 
 
 " The Brawn of Brancepath," says Surtees, " was a 
 formidable animal, which made its lair on Brandon
 
 122 LECxENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 Hill, and walked the forest in ancient undisputed 
 sovereignty from the Wear to the Gaunless. The 
 marshy, and then woody vale, extending from Croxdale 
 to Ferry-wood, was one of the l^rawn's favourite haunts, 
 affording roots and mast, and the luxurious pleasure of 
 volutation. Near Cleves-cross, Hodge of Ferry, after 
 carefully marking the boar's track, dug a pit-fall, 
 slightly covered with boughs and turf, and then tolling 
 on his victim by some bait to the treacherous spot, 
 stood armed with his good sword across the pit-fall. 
 " At once with hope and fear his heart rebounds ! " 
 " At length the gallant brute came trotting on his 
 onward path, and, seeing the passage barred, rushed 
 headlong on the pit-fall. The story has nothing very 
 improbable, and something like real evidence still 
 exists. According to all tradition, the rustic champion 
 of Cleves sleejis beneath a coffin-shaped stone in 
 Merrington church-yard, rudely sculptured with the 
 instruments of his victory, a sword and spade on each 
 side of the cross." 
 
 RATS FORSEEING SHIPWRECK. 
 
 When the rats take it into their heads to leave an old 
 ship, the likelihood is that she will founder next voyage, 
 and drown all hands. 
 
 THE DUN cow. 
 
 The precise spot designed for the permanent residence 
 of the mortal remains of the blessed St. Cuthbert was 
 indicated to the monks of Lindisfarne on their return
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 12^ 
 
 from their flight to Ripon, in the manner following : — • 
 " Four months after their arrival at Eipon," says^ 
 Patrick Sanderson, in his History of the Abbey and 
 Cathedral Church of Durham, " the Danish "War ceased, 
 and they intended to bring him (St. Cuthbert) again to 
 Chester-le-Street ; and coming with him on the east 
 side of Durham, to a place called AVarden-law, they 
 could not with all their force remove his body further, 
 for it seemed fastened to the ground ; which strange 
 and unforseen accident produced great astonishment in 
 the hearts of the bishops, the monks, and their 
 associates ; whereupon they Jasted and prayed three 
 days with great devotion, to know, by invitation from 
 God, what to do with the said body ; which was soon 
 granted to them, it being revealed to Eadmer, a virtuous 
 man, that he should be carried to Dunholme, where he 
 was to be received to a place of rest. They were again 
 in great distress, in not knowing where Dunholme lay ; 
 but as they proceeded, a woman wanting her cow, 
 called aloud to her companion, to know if she had seen 
 her Who 1 answered, she was in Dunholme. This 
 was an happy and heavenly sound to the distressed 
 monks, who thereby had intelligence that their 
 journey's end was at hand, and the saint's body near its 
 resting-place ; therefore with great joy they arrived 
 with his body at Dunholme, in the year 997." Hence 
 the effigies of the dun cow in the west corner tower of 
 the east transept of the cathedral. This legend, how-
 
 124 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 ever, is not mentioned l)y Simeon of Durham or any 
 other old historian, and rests wholly on the scul^jture. 
 Of the other innumerable legends relating to St. 
 Cuthbert we need take no notice here. We do not 
 remember that any of them now circulate generally 
 among the people, all being confined to books and book- 
 men. In the same category we may place the legends 
 about St. Godric, the Anchorite, who made Finchale 
 famous. 
 
 WHY ASSES HWE LONG EARS. 
 
 Considering how intimately the County Palatine has 
 been connected Avith the Church, for upwards of a 
 thousand years, it is remarkable that so few of our 
 local superstitions have a direct and immediate 
 Scriptural origin. Here is one instance, however. On 
 the evening of the day on which Noah had got all the 
 other animals safe into the ark, the ass, even then the 
 most stupid beast in creation, still remained outside, 
 and by no coaxing or beating, threat or blandishment, 
 could the patriarch get old Jack and his mate Jenny to 
 walk the plank into his caravan. So he laid hold of 
 them by the ears, and pulled them in by main force. 
 Ever since then the ass has had long ears. 
 
 THE CROSS ON THE ASS'S BACK. 
 
 The ass has the mark of a cross made hy a black list 
 down its back, and another at right anglps from its 
 shoulders. Some say this was given to the poor
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 125 
 
 drudge to commemorate its having had the honour to 
 hear the Saviour on its back, on his triumjjhal entry 
 into Jerusalem. Others account for the transverse 
 mark by saying it is that which Balaam made when he 
 struck it in anger because it would not jjass the angel, 
 and jammed his foot against the Avail. 
 
 CURE FOR THE MURRAIN. 
 
 During the last century, at a time when the murrain 
 was prevalent amongst cattle, the people in several 
 places assembled and worked for need-fire, wherewitli 
 to kindle Ijonfires, into the smoke of Avhich the beasts 
 were driven, as a certain preventative, if not cure. The 
 mystic fire was produced by the violent and continuous 
 friction of two pieces of wood, say a wooden axle in the 
 nave of a waggon wheel ; and when it was to be got, 
 all the fires in the houses near had to be previously 
 put out ; otherwise it had no virtue. The swine were 
 driven through first, and lastly the horses, or vice versa. 
 
 HOW TO GET CALVES REARED. 
 
 A few years ago, Mr G. W , a gentleman of the 
 
 city of Durham, during an excursion of a few miles into 
 the country, observed a sort of rigging attached to the 
 chimney of a farm house well known to him, and asked 
 what it meant. The good wife told him that they had 
 experienced great difficulty that year in rearing their 
 calves, for the poor little creatures all died off ; so thej' 
 had taken the leg and thigh of one of the dead cah-es.
 
 126 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 and hung it np in a chimney by a rope ; and since that 
 <lay the}'' had not lost anotlier calf. 
 
 SALAJIANDKRS, 
 
 A wide-spread popular belief attributes to long- 
 •coutinued tlame the power of generating a dragon-Hke 
 monster, the Salamander. The name, which comes to 
 us from the primeval seat of the Aryan race in Central 
 Asia, and which is found in Sanskrit in the form of 
 Salamandala, has been adopted by all the European 
 nations of Greek, Latin, and Teutonic origin, but not 
 by the Celts. It was long a habit with glass-workers to 
 •extinguish their furnaces once in seven years, to avoid, 
 a.s they believed, the generation of a salamander. "We 
 used to be told terrible stories, in our childhood, as to 
 what calamities would be sure to happen if such a 
 pestiferous creature was allowed to be bred anywhere. 
 
 THE POLLARD BRAWN. 
 
 Pollard's Lands is a small township on the east side 
 of the Gaunless, the greater portion of which now forms 
 a part of the town of Bishop Auckland. According to 
 the most trustworthy tradition. Pollard, of Pollard 
 Hall, a champion knight, for slaying a wild boar there, 
 had as much land granted to him by one of the bishops, 
 as he could ride round while the grantor dined, and he 
 made such good use of whip ajid spur as to encompass 
 a considerable tract of fertile ground. The Avild boar 
 or brawn has been transmogrified in the course of time
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 127 
 
 into a venomous serpent, like that of Sockburn ; and the 
 estate is held b}^ a tenure similar to that of the latter 
 estate. 
 
 HOWLING DOGS. 
 
 "When any person is Ij'ing ill in a house, and a dog 
 sits down on its haunches before the window, in the 
 dead of night, and lifts up its head and howls, it is a 
 sure presage of that person's speedy death. 
 
 COWS MILKED BY HEDGEHOGS. 
 
 Brockett says, " ignorant persons who attend to the 
 keeping of cattle still l^elieve in that very ancient 
 prejudice of the hedgehog's drawing milk from the 
 udders of resting cows during the night, thus dis- 
 appointing the milkmaid of the exj^ected repletion of 
 her morning pail." " The sraallness of its mouth," he 
 adds, "renders such an accusation thoroughly absurd ; 
 but to reason with such people is like talking of the 
 blessing of light to those who have the misfortune to be 
 born blind." 
 
 THE SHREW MOUSE. 
 
 It is supposed that the shrew mouse, which in reality 
 is perfectly harmless, is of so baneful and deleterious a 
 nature, that wherever it creeps over a beast, be it cow, 
 horse, or sheep, the suffering animal is afflicted with 
 cruel anguish, and threatened with the loss of the use 
 of the limb. Against this accident, to Avhich they were 
 continually liable, our provident ancestors always kept
 
 128 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 a shrew-ash at hand, Avhich, when once medicated, 
 would maintain its virtue for ever. Into the body of 
 the tree a deep hole was bored with an auger, and one 
 of the pestilent little vermin was thrust into it alive, 
 and plugged in securely, there to die of hunger. A 
 twig or branch of the tree was then drawn several 
 times across the afflicted l)east's back, in order to expel 
 the venom ; and as soon as the poor devoted mouse had 
 yielded its life up to famine, the beast Avould most 
 certainly recover. If an ash tree was not ready at 
 hand, a witch-elm, or witch-hazel, would do.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM, 129 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 CONCERNING BIRDS. 
 THE YELLOW HAMMER. 
 
 The yellow hammer, j^ellow teeclring, or yellow 
 bunting (Northumbrian, yellow yowley ; Scotch, yellow 
 yorling ; Emheriza citrinella) is looked upon by the 
 juvenile population of North Durham, as well as on 
 the further side of the Tweed, as a confederate with 
 old Nick. It is commonly called by them " the devil's 
 bird," and a superstitious dislike of it extends as far 
 south as the Tyne, and perhaps the Tees. Every time 
 the boys see the poor bird they shout : — 
 
 Half a paddock, half a tuad, 
 
 Horrid yellow yorling ! 
 Drinks a drop of the de'il's blood 
 
 Every Monday morning ! 
 
 This legend of its taste for blood, drawn from the 
 veins of the Evil One, has most likely risen from the 
 fact of the bird's breast being mottled with red, as if 
 blood-sprinkled. 
 
 MAGPIES. 
 
 The magpie is deemed to be a very unlucky bird. 
 One's joy, twee's grief ; 
 Three's a marriage, fowcr's deeth. 
 I
 
 130 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 Or, as others recite the rhyme : — 
 One is sorrow, two mirth, 
 Three a wedding, four a birth. 
 Five heaven, six hell, 
 Seven, the de'il's ain sell. 
 
 To make a cross in the air, or take off the hat, is 
 said to be not an uncommon practice on seeing a 
 magpie ; this is done to avert ill luck. A north- 
 country servant thus accounted for the unluckiness of 
 the "pyet" to her master, the Eev. H. Humble. "It 
 was," the girl said, " the only l:)ird which did not go 
 into the ark with Noah • it liked better to sit outside, 
 jabbering over the drowned world," 
 
 WHEN A SNOW STORM COMES ON. 
 
 The folk i' the east are plottin' their geese, 
 An' sendiu' all their feathers tiv us ! 
 
 At Shields, before the days of the police, the boys 
 
 used to make a procession through the streets, on the 
 
 occasion of the first fall of snow in the season, 
 
 shouting ; — 
 
 Jenny Cnt-throater, plot ver geese ! 
 Caud day.s an' winter neets ! 
 
 THE snipe's SONG. 
 
 Bidcake Bleary, bidcake bleary ! 
 Gie the lads what ye like, I sit easy. 
 
 PIGEONS' FEATHERS. 
 
 It is a common superstition in the North of England 
 that pigeons' feathers, put in a bed, bolster or pillow, 
 prevent a dying person from giving up the ghost.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURH^iM. 131 
 
 Cooks, therefore, always burn them, and never mix 
 them with other feathers. It has frequently been 
 known, Avhen a poor d3'ing creature continued a long 
 time in mortal agony, that the attendants adopted the 
 expedient of emptying the bed of its feathers, so as to 
 get rid of any pigeon ones, and substitute others. 
 
 ROOKS. 
 
 When rooks desert a rookery it portends the down- 
 fall of the family on whose property it is. On the 
 other hand, when rooks haunt a town or village, it 
 indicates that the death-rate either is or shortlj'^ will be 
 inordinatel}^ high ; and if they feed in the streets, it 
 shews that a storm is near at hand. Both the latter 
 auguries, at least, seem to be founded on a real basis. 
 In the one case, the birds come to act as scavengers ; 
 in the other, premonition of hard weather drives them 
 so near human dwellings, v.'here there is generally some 
 off-fall to pick up. 
 
 SWALLOWS. 
 
 It is a very good omen for swallows to take possession 
 of a place, and build their nests around it, while it is 
 uupropitious for them to forsake a place which they 
 have once tenanted. To pull down a swallow's nest is 
 almost as sacrilegious an act as to break into a church 
 or chapel. AYe have known farmers who would as soon 
 have set fire to their steadings as do or sanction such an 
 act. We knew one case where there were half-a-dozen
 
 132 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 nests Ijuilt outside each window, in the upper story of a 
 large farm house, besides a great number stuck under 
 the eaves of the roof ; and there they remained j'ear 
 after year, during a lease of twenty-one years, to be 
 occupied each summer by their old tenants, on their 
 return from Africa, not one of them being allowed to 
 be pulled down by the maids, though they protested 
 that the swallows were "dirty beasts," who even had 
 bugs among their featliers, and that they could not get 
 the windows cleaned for them. The only exception 
 was Avhen a pair of impudent sparrows thought fit to 
 take possession of a nest— a fact which was soon made 
 known l)y the long straws sticking untidily out of it. 
 In case of such usurpation, the prong of a hay fork, the 
 handle of a rake, or a besom shank, was unscrupulously 
 used to effect a clearance. But the nests were never 
 touched otherwise, and they were built in tiers of five 
 or six, attached to each other, like the " lands " in old 
 houses in Edinburgh. 
 
 ROBIN REDBREAST AND KITTY WREN. 
 
 The robin and the wren 
 Are Qod Almighty's cock and hen ; 
 Him that harries their nest, 
 Never shall his soul have rest. 
 
 This rhyme is current among our honest kindlj^ 
 country people, who regard both these birds with 
 particular favour. Sympathy with the redbreast is 
 expressed in the following stanza : —
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 133 
 
 The north wind will blow, 
 And we shall have snow, 
 
 And what will the robin do then, poor thing ? 
 He'll fly to the barn 
 And keep himself warm, 
 
 And hide his head under his wing, poor thing. 
 
 COCK FIGHTING. 
 
 Cock fighting was once a favourite amusement all 
 over the country, and particularly in the pit districts. 
 In some places, the cockpit was the village school room, 
 and the master was the comptroller and director of the 
 sport. The "fugies," that is to say, such cowardly 
 cocks as tried to run and avoid fighting, were deemed 
 his perquisite. In Bishopwearmouth, there was a 
 cockpit in Low-row, behind some old cottages next the 
 burn. What is done in this way now is only in out- 
 of-the-way places, in public-house yards, and such like 
 clandestine haunts, as much as possible impervious to 
 the police. The barl^arous custom of throwing at a 
 cock, fully described by Brand and Hone, as practised 
 all over Britain, has long since fallen out of use. 
 
 PJDING AT THE GOOSE. 
 
 It was once no unusual diversion in country toAvns, 
 to suspend a live goose, whose neck had been well 
 greased, by the legs, to the middle of a cord fastened to 
 two trees or high posts, so as to let the poor bird swing 
 at the distance of between three and four yards from 
 the ground ; and then for a number of men on horse- 
 back riding full speed to attempt to pull off the head,
 
 134 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 which if one of tliem managed to do, he won the goose 
 for his dexterit}'. Thanks to the march of intellect, 
 this custom has fallen into disuetude. It was kept up, 
 however, by the Honourable Society of Whipmen, in 
 Kelso, in Eoxburghshirc, till al)out half a century since. 
 
 CROWING HENS. 
 
 AYhistling women and crowing hens are proverbially 
 "not canny." An acquaintance of ours tells us he once 
 knew a woman who would instantly draw the neck of 
 one of her hens, if she heard poor Partlet crow. 
 
 robin's NESTS. 
 
 A correspondent, Avhen walking out to Silksworth, 
 the other day, fell in with a little boy, with whom he 
 entered into conversation, *' Have you seen any bird's 
 nests yet this year 1 " he asked, " No," was the reply, 
 "I haven't." And then, after a pause, "But I don't 
 like to rob a bird's nest, I like better to hear them 
 sing." "I am glad to hear you say that," answered the 
 gentleman. " It's cruel thing to deprive the poor birds 
 of their young." " Aye," returned the boy, " and it's 
 dangerous, particularly if it's a robin. If one robs one 
 of their nests, one's sure to get either killed or lamed. 
 There is a lad I know that Avorks down the pit ; he 
 robbed a robin's nest on the Sunday, and the very first 
 thing on the Tuesday morning a sad accident happened 
 him. He had not been long at work before he got his 
 thi'di broken. Now, I had worked in the same place 
 for six months, and never happened a thing."
 
 or THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 135 
 
 A PULLET'S FIRST EGG. 
 
 Take a pullet's first egg, break it up into a tumbler 
 glass, and examine it carefully. The young woman who 
 does so will see in it her future husband, working at 
 his trade ; for instance, if a mason, she will see him 
 using the ladder, trowel, hammer, &c. ; if a sailor, 
 climbing up the masts of a ship ; and so on. 
 
 UNTIMELY COCK-CROWING. 
 
 If the cock crow in the afternoon, it is considered a 
 very bad sign. " My stepmother's mother," says a 
 correspondent, "was a canny old body. One Saturday 
 afternoon, Avhen I was a lad, and alone with her in the 
 house, we heard the cock crow about four o'clock. ' I 
 don't like that,' she said. ' Don't you, granny ? Why 
 so ? ' said I. ' It's a hundred to one,' was the answer, 
 * but some of us will be gone before next week.' On 
 the Monday following, while she was binding a shoe, 
 her daughter's husband being a shoemaker, she suddenly 
 became as it were blind and stupid, and began groping 
 about for something she thought she had lost. ' "What 
 are you seeking ? ' she was asked, ' The shoe,' said 
 she. 'Why, dear me, granny, you have it in your 
 hands.' She had been struck with her mortal illness, 
 went off to bed, and before the end of the week she was 
 dead." 
 
 THE PROUD PEACOCK. 
 
 The peacock has a very clumsy foot for such a grand 
 bird. Everybody knows he is as proud as his tail is
 
 136 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 gorgeous. The old women say he looks at his feet only 
 once a year, and having done so, and seeing they are so 
 ugly, he never struts so proudly again that season. So 
 they call out to him — " Look at your feet and your 
 feathers will fall." 
 
 RAIN BIRDS. 
 
 The wood-pecker is commonly known as the rain- 
 bird, because it prognosticates rain, by its loud and 
 familiar cry, frequentl}^ repeated. The plover is another 
 rain-bird, and derives its name from the htitm pluvia, 
 rain. The peacock gives the same indications of an 
 approaching change of weather. Several species of 
 small birds are confounded under the not over-com- 
 plimentary title of "dirt birds," because they sing on 
 the approach of rain.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 137 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 CONCERNING FISHES, INSECTS, &C. 
 THE SPANKER EEL. 
 
 The spanker-eel, called in parts further to the North 
 the lamper-eel, and sometimes the I'amper-eel, is the 
 common lamprey, so mnch esteemed in the South. It 
 is held in great abhorrence in this part of the country, 
 by boys at least. The seven roundish gill-orifices on 
 each side are mistaken for eyes, as is also the case in 
 other countries. Thus the German, Swedish, Danish, 
 and Dutch names of the creature all imply that it has 
 nine eyes (Neunauge, Nejenoegon, Negenoegen, 
 Negenoogen.) If it is supposed that there is a spanker 
 or ramper-eel in any pool in a Border river, he would 
 be a bold lad that would venture in to it to bathe. For 
 the monster, as it is deemed, lays hold of bathers and 
 sucks the blood out of them. It is true that it lives by 
 sucking the blood of fishes, the skins of Avhich the hard 
 teeth, or tooth-like tubercles, readily pierce, and which 
 are unable to shake it off. 
 
 THE HADDOCK. 
 
 The large black spot on each side of the haddock 
 behind the gills, is the impression St. Peter left with 
 his finger and thumb when he took, by Christ's orders,
 
 138 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 the tribute money out of the mouth of a fish of this 
 species. As there are now no haddocks in the Sea of 
 Galilee, captious critics doubt this statement. 
 
 EATING A RED HERRING WHOLE. 
 
 When a young woman wishes to know what trade or 
 occupation her future husband is to be of, she takes a 
 red herring, and eats it whole, head, tail, fins, and all ; 
 and then she goes off to bed in the dark, without speak- 
 ing a word. If she utter a single sound by the way, the 
 spell is broken. So it is -common to lay all sorts of 
 impediments in her road, so as to provoke her to speak, 
 or utter some sudden exclamation. If she passes the 
 ordeal successfully, as soon as she falls asleep she dreams 
 of the sweetheart whom she is to make a happy man of. 
 
 BURNING FISH BONES. 
 
 No knowledgeable person in Holy Island will burn a 
 fish-bone, for they have a legend of a fish that jumped 
 out of the water and said, " Boil my flesh ! Koast my 
 tiesh ! But do not burn my bones ! " So they bury 
 them, or otherwise get rid of them, but never burn 
 them. 
 
 HORSE-HAIRS TURNING INTO EELS. 
 
 It is a common notion all over the North Country, 
 from the Yorkshire AYolds to the Lammermoors at 
 least, that a horse-hair kept in water will in time turn 
 into an eel. Many a time have I tried the experiment, 
 in a burn which ran past the home of my youth. It is
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 139 
 
 certain that the horse-hairs, after they had been a week 
 or ten days in the water, seemed to possess a sort of 
 sensient life, curling up at the ends when lifted out, 
 very much after the manner of eels, and being besides 
 visibly thickened throughout their whole length. There 
 was never any further approach, however, to the 
 anguilliform shape or nature. The fact is, the idea has 
 arisen from the sudden appearance, after rain, of long 
 hair-like worms in the deep holes left in clayey ground 
 by horses-hoofs. There having been no trace of such 
 creatures before they were filled with rain-water, 
 observant youths have not unnaturall}- fancied them to 
 be hairs, dropped from the horses' mane and tail, in 
 course of transition into eels. Indeed, young eels, at a 
 certain stage of their existence, so closely resemble 
 these worms, that it is not astonishing that the two 
 sorts of creatures, though generically different, have 
 been confounded by the vulgar. 
 
 SPIDERS. 
 
 It is very unlucky to kill a spider. On the other 
 hand, if a spider happens to get upon your clothes, it is 
 lucky to let it crawl all oxev you and get away safe. 
 Even to shake it off is a mistake. 
 
 THE FLYING ADDER, 
 
 There is no living creature which children iu the 
 country dread more than the large dragon fly, which is 
 chiefly seen about ugly moss haggs, pools, and "stanks."
 
 140 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 It is suj^posed to carry a sting, Avhich, if not deadly, is 
 exceedingly painful. It is accordingly called the flying 
 adder, or " stangin ether," and I have known hoys, not 
 otherwise at all cowardly, take to their heels and run off 
 as fast as they could, on seeing one of these gorgeously 
 tinted insects. 
 
 HAIRY HUBERT. 
 
 If you throw a hairy worm, in the North called 
 Hair}^ Hubert, over j'our head, and take care not to 
 look to see where it alights, you are sure to get some- 
 thing new before long. 
 
 A MONSTROUS SERPENT. 
 
 In St. Nicholas' Register, Durham, is the following : — 
 " 1568, Mdm. that a certain Italian brought into the 
 cittie of Durham, the 11th day of June, in the y care 
 above sayd, a very great strange and monstrous serpent, 
 in length sixteen feet, in quantitie and dimensions 
 greater than a great horse ; which was taken and killed 
 by speciall pollicie in ^i-Ethiopia, within the Turkes 
 dominions. But before it was killed, it had devoured 
 (as is credibly thought) more than 1000 persons, and 
 destroyed a whole countrey." 
 
 A PERTINACIOUS SERPENT. 
 
 During the episcopate of Egelwin, which lasted from 
 1056 to 1071, there was a certain ill-conducted 
 individual lived near Durham, Avhose name Avas Osulf. 
 One day, on awaking from a sleep which he had been
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAil. 141 
 
 enjoying in the fields, he discovered that a serpent had 
 twisted itself roimd his neck. He seized it with his 
 hand, and dashed it to the ground ; but it leaped up 
 and wound itself round his neck a second time. Once 
 more did he throw it to the earth, but he was 
 instantaneously attacked by it exactly in the same 
 manner as before. It mattered not Avhether he threw 
 the snake into the lire or on the ground, it always 
 regained its hold round his neck ; how he knew not. 
 Sometimes he took a sword and cut it into pieces, but 
 forthwith the self-same serpent was twisting round his 
 neck once more. At first it had been a very little one, 
 but it gradually grew larger and larger. He experienced 
 no harm from its venom, however. And whenever he 
 entered that church, which was rendered illustrious 1)}' 
 the presence of St. Cuthbert's body, the serpent left him 
 at the very moment when he crossed the threshold, nor 
 did it presume to return so long as he remained Avithin 
 the sacred fabric. But whenever he went out it twisted 
 itself once more closely round his neck. After he had 
 endured this annoyance for some considerable period, he at 
 last fell upon a plan for releasing himself. For three 
 successive days and nights he remained within the 
 church at prayer, and when he came out he was 
 thenceforth unmolested. 
 
 TOAD-BIT. 
 
 When cattle exhibit certain symptoms of illness, they 
 are vulgarly supposed to have been smitten by a toad —
 
 142 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 that harmless and really useful creature, which suffers 
 so dreadfully in common estimation, on account of its 
 dirty-looking, rough, warty-skin, and slovenly crawling 
 gait, and in spite of its bright and beautiful eyes. The 
 idea may be said to be luiiversal that the toad is very 
 " smittle," in plain English, venomous. The beast that 
 a toad is falsel}^ accused of having bitten or smitten, 
 must be passed in due form through the need-fire, in 
 order to expel the poison. 
 
 SPANGHEWING THE TOAD. 
 
 The toad as well as the ask, eft, or newt, is an object 
 of abhorrence to boys in general. Even to touch it with 
 the naked hand is supposed to venom the part, if not to 
 endanger life. The toad is, moreover, thought to be a 
 witch, having the power of the evil eye. And so it is 
 a common practice to spanglieio it, which is done by 
 lifting it with a pair of tongs, or between two sticks, 
 and laying it on one end of a plank or bar, resting on a 
 large stone, a cart tram, or any convenient fulcrum, and 
 then, with a club, striking the unsupported end with 
 the utmost force. This throws the poor creature high 
 up into the air, and when it falls to the ground with a 
 " soss," it is smashed to a jelly. 
 
 TELLING THE BEES. 
 
 If there is anything particular going on in the house, 
 the bees ought to l)e told. They will be very much 
 offended if they are not informed in time, particularly
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DUEHAM. 143 
 
 when there is sickness, or a death. Bees never thrive 
 in a family where there is quarrelHng ; and no bargain 
 regarding bees will turn out lucky when there are any 
 cross words about it. 
 
 TREVTING THE BEES. 
 
 When the master or mistress of the house dies, the 
 bees ought to get a bit of the best of everything that is 
 at the funeral feast — cakes, sugar, spirits, Avine, &c. 
 The hives shoiild likewise be shifted to a new place, or 
 at least turned round, to prevent all the bees dying, as 
 they otherwise would. 
 
 THE BEES HOLDING A COUNCIL. 
 
 The bees are said to take council together before they 
 swarm. Country people will tell you they have often 
 heard them talking to one another. One party will 
 say, " Out ! out ! " while another says, '• Wait ! wait ! "' 
 and the matter is supposed to be settled by a majority 
 of votes. AVhen the swarm is in the air, it is supposed 
 they can be made to alight by making a tinkling noise 
 Avith an iron spoon on the l)ottom of a kettle or frying- 
 pan. 
 
 BEES THAT KNEW THIER RIGHT OWNER. 
 
 Some time back, we cannot tell how far, at Sherburn, 
 " hard by Durham," a swarm of bees from a hive 
 Ijelonging to a poor man settled in the garden of a rich 
 neighbour, who challenged it as his own. The poor 
 man, appealing to the justice of Heaven, prayed that it
 
 144 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 might immediately be made to appear to whom the 
 swarm of right belonged. His prayer was answered. 
 The swarm rose from the place where they had settled 
 down, followed the poor man, hung upon his beard, and 
 in this position suffered themselves to be carried back 
 to the hive which he had prepared for them. 
 
 COCKROACHES. 
 
 Cockroaches are fancied to bring good luck to a house. 
 Mrs Marshall, of AVestoe, got a breed on purpose, and 
 in a short time her house was over-run by them. 
 Many houses in Shields are full of cockroaches, 
 especially in cupboards near ovens. Some say they 
 were originally brought to this part of the country 
 amongst ballast. 
 
 CUCKOO SPIT. 
 
 A white frothy matter, very like spittle, seen on 
 certain plants in the spring, about the time when the 
 cuckoo makes its appearance, is supposed to be the 
 spittle of that bird. Eeally, however, it is deposited by 
 the female grasshopper as a place in Avhich to lay her 
 eggs. 
 
 THE DEATH WATCH. 
 
 The poor little worm, maggot, or beetle, called the 
 death watch, on account of its ticking having been 
 thought to forebode death in a family, is likely long to 
 keep its evil reputation, in spite of tiie spread of 
 knowledge. I confess to having been several times 
 startled out of a pleasant reverie by its eerie tick.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 145 
 
 LICE ON CLEANLY PEOPLE. 
 
 The late Barbara Neil, of Church Street, Sunderland, 
 told me in March, 1865, that she knew her brother had 
 been drowned, because she had found two lice on her 
 baby linen. She had got them off nobody, she said, 
 because she never washed her lodgers' clothes along 
 with her own. She had always had lice on her before 
 any of her relations died. Her mother SAvarmed with 
 lice before her demise. Lice denote sickness or death, 
 when they come upon cleanly people.
 
 146 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 CHAPTER Xn. 
 
 LOCAL TRAGEDIES. 
 THE STRICKEN TRAVELLER. 
 
 In the Legendary Division of Eicliardson's Table 
 Book, Mr William Pattison tells the story of a traveller, 
 who had been collecting accounts at Alston, Nenthead, 
 and Allendale, and who, on his way over the moors into 
 Teesdale, in charge of a large sum of money, disappeared 
 at a lone place called Park-house pasture, and never was 
 heard of more. Suspicion of having murdered him 
 rested iipon two or three parties, one of whom is stated 
 to have been seen to force a horse down an old pit 
 which had long lain unworked. These men, we are 
 told, l)ecame suddenly rich, which was generally 
 attributed to the plunder of the luckless stranger. 
 Searching inquiries were made bj^ the friends of the 
 deceased without the slightest success. But not manj^ 
 years ago, when the roads were altered, in cutting 
 through a certain field, the skeleton of a man was found 
 buried in an upright position. Straightway the story 
 of the Stricken Traveller was revi^'ed. " Such is the 
 substance of a tale long a fireside talk of the peasantry 
 of this secluded vale ; and at the dead of night a 
 phantom horse with a bleeding rider, careering over the
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 147 
 
 field and disappearing at the old quarry where the 
 headless rider was found, is sufficient to deter the timid 
 from using the road after nightfall, and enough to chill 
 the blood of the listeners who encircle the blazing 
 hearth." 
 
 THE DEAD MAN'S HAND. 
 
 The hand of a man who has been hanged on a gibbet, 
 — prepared in a manner which need not be here 
 particularised, but which those who would like to know 
 it will find in Ellis's Notes to Brand's Antiquities, under 
 the head of " Physical Charms," — is said to possess the 
 property of depriving those to whom it is presented of 
 all power of motion. It has been used by midnight 
 thieves and robbers on that account, in the idea that it 
 would enable them to rifle a dwelling house with 
 impunity. A story is told of its having been once thus 
 employed at the Old Spital Inn, in High Spital, on 
 Bowes Moor, the place where the mail coach used to 
 change horses, in crossing Stainmorc from Barnard 
 Castle to Brough. Mr Henderson tells the story at 
 some length. He says it was related to his informant, 
 Mr Charles Wastell, in the spring of 1861, by an old 
 woman named Bella Parkin. 
 
 THE STAINDROP, BARNARD CASTLE, AND BEDLINGTON 
 TRAGEDIES. 
 
 Three melancholy tales have been enshrined in verse, 
 by anonymous, and, it must be confessed, wretched
 
 148 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 hallaJ-makers, connected with Staindrop, Barnard 
 Castle, and Bedlington respectively. The first relates 
 to a mnrder committed by a man named Yert, upon a 
 young Avoman who was pregnant by him. The villain 
 laid her dead body under some bushes, in a lonely place 
 where there seemed little or no chance of its being 
 discovered ; 1)ut a dog scenting out the hideous mass of 
 corruption, led the neighbours to the spot. The 
 murderer, horror-struck, confessed his guilt, was tried, 
 executed, and hung in chains. The " Barnard Castle 
 Tragedy " relates to the miller's sister at Barnard 
 Castle Bridge-end, a girl named Betty Howson, who 
 was courted by one John Atkinson, of Morton, near 
 Appleby, and was caught fast by him " in Cupid's 
 snare," he having a most "deluding tongue." Atkinson 
 was particularly fond of his glass, and, according to all 
 accounts, " of everything nice," like that notorious 
 AVelshman, David Price, immortalised in the " Milk- 
 maid's Story " in the " Ingoldsby Legends." And so, 
 one night, while carousing with his boon companion, 
 Tom Skelton, ostler at the King's Arms, to whom he 
 was in the habit of telling all his secrets, he revealed to 
 him that he had got a " new love," who had plenty of 
 money, and would stand treat, or, as he expressed it, 
 keep tlie pot full. Her name was Bett Hardy, and she 
 verified Atkinson's words, by pawning her Sunday 
 smock to defray their reckoning, when drinking about 
 at different pul)lic houses, where she went and joined
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 149 
 
 them. Skelton fortlnvith married tlie couple, that is, 
 declared them man and wife, to save his friend the 
 priest's fee, which, as he observed, was large. The 
 false swain next day acquainted j^oor Betty Avith the 
 fact that he Av^as a married man ; but she, of course, did 
 not believe him. Then the ballad goes on to tell how 
 .she pined away, and died through the cruelty of her 
 false swain. In the Bedlington Tragedy, a fair young 
 woman, "with ruby lips and auburn hair," and " heir 
 to store of wealth," is said to have been courted by a 
 "famous youth, for generous acts and constant truth," 
 but, alas, penniless. The girl's parents, of course, 
 objected to their being joined in Avedlock, and sent their 
 daughter off to an uncle's at Stokesley, in Cleveland. 
 The young man thereupon sickened sore and died 
 heart-broken, " which pleased her parents' greedy 
 pride." The father resolved to go off to Stokesley the 
 day after the funeral, to bring his daughter home, 
 meaning now to marry her to a richer suitor. But the 
 dead lover was beforehand with him. James (it appears 
 that was his name) rose incontinently out of his grave^ 
 mounted the old gentleman's horse which stood ready 
 saddled, galloped off to Staindrop, and brought home 
 his beloved one behind him on a pillion, greatly to the 
 astonishment, doubtless, of the old people. AAliat the 
 finale of the story is, nobody knows, for the ballad 
 narrating it is a fras;ment.
 
 150 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 THE HARTLEPOOL TRAGEDY. 
 
 The Maiden Bower at Hartlepool, a yawning space 
 between a detached rock and the main land, is associated 
 in popiilar tradition with the murder, in 1727, of Mary 
 Fawding, who was thrown over the precipice by "William 
 Stephenson, a merchant of Northallerton (afterwards 
 executed), bj' Avhom she was pregnant. Hence arose a 
 ballad, " The Hartlepool Tragedy," reprinted by Mr. 
 Ord, of Hartlepool, twenty or thirty years ago. 
 
 ANDREW MILLS' STOB. 
 
 In the month of January, 1782-3, John Brass, Jane 
 Brass, and Elizabeth Brass, the son and daughters of 
 John Brass, of Fcrryhill, were all murdered in their 
 father's house 1)}^ his servant, a weak-minded young 
 man of 18 or 19 years of age, named Andrew Mills. 
 The wretched murderer was tried and found gxiilty, 
 and his body, after the execution, was hung in chains 
 on a common by the road-side, in full view of the scene 
 of his horrid and seemingly tmprovoked crime. The 
 universal tradition is, that he Avas gibbeted alive, with a 
 penny loaf suspended on a string, close to his face, so as 
 cruelly to tantalise him in vaiidy trying to Ijite it, till he 
 at length died of hunger and thirst. A portion of the 
 gibbet, or, as it was called, Andrew Mills' Stob, remained 
 till about fifty years ago, but the spot was then enclosed 
 and ploughed, and the last vestige removed. Like 
 other murderers' gibbets, the wood Avas supposed to 
 possess peculiar properties, in removing ague, toothache, 
 headache, &c.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 151 
 
 SPIRITUALISM IN WILLIAM II. 'S TIME. 
 
 Under the episcopate of William de Carelipho, the 
 friend of Robert Earl of Normandy, there was one of 
 the bishop's knights, named Boso, who, having been 
 attacked Avith sickness, appeared to be at his last gasp. 
 For there was only the slightest possible breathing from 
 his mouth and nostrils during three days in which he 
 lay senseless, and like a dead man removed from the 
 world. But, to the surprise of all, he '• returned to 
 himself" upon the third day, when he confessed to 
 Prior Turgot that he had been carried away in vision to 
 various places, of which some were terrible and some 
 were pleasant, and there he saw all the monks of 
 Durham who had been unfaithful to their vows punished 
 most severely, and also a number of women — the wives 
 of priests — who were having smart chastisement 
 administered to them by horrible fiends, and awaiting 
 the eternal sentence of condemnation in hell. 
 
 THE GRAVE OF A SUICIDE. 
 
 In Mile End Road, South ShieMs, at the corner of a 
 garden wall, on the left hand side going northward, 
 just adjoining Fairless's old ballast way, lies the body of 
 a suicide, with a stake driven through it. It is, I 
 believe, that of a poor baker, who put an end to his 
 existence seventy or eighty years ago, and who was 
 buried in this frightful manner, at midnight, in 
 unconsecrated ground. The top of the stake used to
 
 152 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 rise a foot or two above the ground within the last thirty 
 years, and boys used to amuse themselves by standing 
 with one foot upon it. The practice of driving a stake 
 through the body of a suicide originated in the days 
 when a belief in vampires prevailed. It was done to 
 prevent the fiend from entering into the dead carcase, 
 and reanimating it. 
 
 THE NORTH SIDE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 The north side of the church-garth is supposed to be 
 not quite so holy as the Ynore sunny sides ; and, for 
 that reason, is usually reserved for the place of inter- 
 ment of such as come to some untimely end, including 
 persons excommunicated, executed, suicides, and still- 
 born infants. On entering some country churchyard, 
 you will see a number of little tin}', undistinguished 
 wholly neglected mounds on the north side of the 
 church, and on inquiring who they are Avhose dust 
 reposes beneath, you will be told they are unbaptised 
 children. The south and east sides of the sacred 
 edifice are most preferred l)y the vulgar to bury their 
 dead in. The west side is in less repute ; and the 
 iiorth avoided. Old graveyards are consequently 
 crowded on the right side, but very seldom on the 
 wrong one. 
 
 THE SUNDERLAND USURER PUNISHED, 
 
 In the first volume of Richardson's excellent work is 
 a reprint from a curious tract, without date, intituled
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 153 
 
 ^' The Wretched Miser, or God's revenge against the 
 OiDpressor ; remarquable in a most miraculous punish- 
 ment inflicted on the person of a notorious usurer, in 
 Sunderland, near Newcastle, Avho, having unjustly 
 taken away two kine from a poor widow, put them 
 among twenty of his own, which Avere all struck by the 
 hand of heaven, and found dead the next morning, the 
 widow's kine only escaping ; which sad judgment when 
 the miser had seen, he fell a-cursing, blaspheming, and 
 deriding C4od's justice in such words as are not fit to be 
 named amongst Christians. "Thereupon he immediately 
 sunk into the ground above the waist, and there 
 continually barketh and howleth like a dog day and 
 night, still beckoning with his hand for assistance, to 
 the great terrour and amazement of all that see or hear 
 him."
 
 154 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 CHA.PTER XIII. 
 
 CONCERNING ST. CUTHBERT. 
 HOW ST. CUTHBERT GOT HIS PATRIMONY. 
 
 During the time that the uncorrupted body of the 
 most blessed father Cuthbert lay at Chester-le-Street, 
 then called Cuncaestre, the Saint appeared in a A'ision 
 to Bishop Eai'dulf, and spoke to him thns : " Tell the 
 king that he must give to me, and to those who 
 minister in my church, the whole of the district lying 
 between the Wear and the Tyne, to be held in perpetuity, 
 that it may be the means of providing them with the 
 necessaries of life, and secure them against want. 
 Moreover, command the king to appoint that my church 
 shall become a safe place of refuge for fugitives, so that 
 any one who flees to my body, for what cause soever, 
 shall have protection there for thirty-seven days ; and 
 that the asylum shall not l)e violated upon any pretence 
 whatever." Not only did the king of Northumbria, 
 whose name was Guthred, son of Hardacnut the J'lane, 
 who had been raised from the condition of a slave and 
 invested with the ensign of royalty, in implicit obedience 
 to another nocturnal vision, and who, grateful to his 
 sainted patron, constantly and faithfully served him all
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 155 
 
 his days, — not only, we say, did he give heed to the 
 special direction given him by " that trustworthy 
 messenger the abbot," to make over all that land to the 
 church, but moreover he contributed to it liberally in 
 other ways, bestowing honour and giving presents. 
 Besides this, Alfred, king of the AVest Saxons, better 
 known as Alfred the Great, having regained the posses- 
 sion of his kingdom " through the assistance of the 
 merits of St. Cuthbert," solemnly sanctioned this transfer 
 of land, publishing the fact to all the people, and decree- 
 ing that the settlement should be observed for ever. 
 Still further, " The whole army, not only of the English 
 but of the Danes also, agreed thereto, and approved of 
 the same." " It was determined," says the Church 
 historian, " that persons presuming in any manner to 
 violate the protection which the Saint had thus establish- 
 ed, should be fined by a payment of money. Moreover^ 
 as the land which he had demanded, situate between 
 the two rivers, was immediately conveyed to him, — it 
 was resolved by the assent of the whole people, that if 
 any one gave land to St. Cuthbert, or if any land was 
 purchased Avith his m.oney, from that time no one should 
 presume to exercise over it an}- right or custom ; but 
 that the church alone should possess in perpetuity un- 
 broken quiet and liberty therein, together with all the 
 customs ; and (to use the common terms), with sac and 
 socne, and infangentheof. The universal suffrage 
 condemned by a sentence of anathema those persons.
 
 156 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 whoever they might Ijc, who presumed in any manner 
 to attempt to set aside those laws and statutes, and 
 consign them to the perpetual punishment of tlie flames 
 of hell, unless the}^ made satisfaction. 
 
 HOW A SACRILEGEOUS VARLET WAS PUNISHED. 
 
 During the episcopate of Egelwin, a man, who came 
 with his master to the solemn feast of St. Cuthbert at 
 Durham, noticed the mass of coin that had accumulated 
 upon the holy confessor's sepulchre, by the offerings of 
 his visitors, and determined to plunder it. So, says 
 Simeon of Durham, he drew near, and for the purpose 
 of deceiving the people who were standing round, he 
 l^retended to kiss the sacred mai-ble ; but in doing this 
 he at the same time carried off four or five pennies in 
 his mouth. Each penny being twenty-four grains troy 
 of silver, would have bought perhaps fifty times as much 
 market stuff as a penny does now. And so, if he could 
 have carried his booty quietly off, he would have been 
 a comparatively rich churl. But immediately the inside 
 of his mouth began to feel as if on fire. He would 
 gladly have spat out the pieces of money, but he could 
 not do so much as even open his lips. Tortured with in- 
 tolerable agonies, he ran through the church hither and 
 thither like a dumb man ; terrifying all the people ; for 
 they thought he had gone mad. At last he broke out 
 of the church, rushing through the crowd, and dashed 
 from one spot to another without stopping, giving all to
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 157 
 
 understand by painful signs and gestures the extremity 
 of his sufferings. At length, however, he became more 
 tranquil, and hastilj^ returned to the sepulchre, and 
 kneeling down, from the depth of his heart he asked for 
 pardon from the saint, and offered all that he possessed. 
 Having made this offering he placed it upon the altar, and 
 kissed it ; and as he kissed the altar, the pieces of money 
 fell out of his mouth upon the sepulchre. 
 
 A MIRACULOUS EBB AND FLOW OF THE TIDE. 
 
 The miracle vouchsafed to Moses and the Israelites in 
 their passage through the Serljonian Bog, mistranslated 
 the Ked Sea, was repeated, according to Simeon of Dur- 
 ham, in the year of our Lord 1068, when Agelwin, Bishop 
 of Durham, and the cliief of the people, — fearing lest, on 
 account of tlie slaughter of Earl Eobert Cumin and other 
 Normans at York, the sword of William the Conqueror 
 should include equally the innocent and the guilty in 
 indiscriminate slaughter — with one consent betook them- 
 selves to flight, on Friday the third of the ides of 
 December, carrying with them the un corrupted body of 
 the holy father Cuthbert. They made their first stay 
 at Jarrow, their second at Bedlington, the third at 
 Tugall, and the fourth at Holy Island. " But about 
 evening," says Simeon, " when the full tide would prevent 
 travellers from crossing over, behold by its sudden recess 
 it left the approach clear for them ; so that neither when 
 they hurried did the waves of the sea linger behind them,.
 
 158 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 nor when the}^ delayed did they press upon them. But 
 "when they reached the h\nd, lo ! the sea coming uj) 
 covered the whole sands as before." 
 
 AN ENTIRE ARMY SWALLOWED UP. 
 
 Some time towards the close of the ninth century 
 wdiile King Guthred, the Anglo-Dane, wielded the sceptre 
 of Northumberland, the Scots collected a numerous army 
 and invaded his dominions. Among their other deeds 
 of cruelty, says Simeon, they plundered the monastery 
 of Lindisfarne. Guthred marched against them, waving 
 the banner of St. Cuthbert, and when he was just on 
 the point of engaging in battle with them, "immediately 
 the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up alive, 
 herein repeating the ancient miracle in the matter of 
 Dathan and Abiram." 
 
 AN INCOMBUSTIBLE HUMAN HAIR. 
 
 JSlfrid, the priest, who was honoured to be the man 
 to whom Durham was indebted for the possession of the 
 fiacred relics of Balfer and Bilfrid, the anchorites — Acca 
 and Alchmund, bishops of Hexham — Oswin, King of 
 Northumberland — the venerable abbesses Eblja and 
 -^thelgitha — St. Boisil, the master of St. Cuthbert 
 -^the doctor Bedc (now known as " the Veneral^le"), and 
 other illustrious North country saints, had in his 
 repository one of St. Cuthbert's Hairs, which he frequent- 
 ly exhibited to those friends who visited him. When 
 the holy father's sanctity was the subject of conversation,
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 159 
 
 as it very often was, Alfred made his guests wonder 
 still more at it than they would otherwise have done 
 by means of this hair. For he used to fill a censer with 
 glowing coals, and lay that hair upon them, and although 
 it continued thereon for a long time, it could not be con- 
 sumed thereby, but it grew white and glittered like gold 
 in the fire ; and after it had remained there for a con- 
 siderable period, on its removal it recovered, little by 
 little, its former appearance. 
 
 A MAN FIXED TO THE GROUND. 
 
 In the " History of the Translations and Miracles of 
 St. Cuthbert," printed by Mabillon in his "Acts of the 
 Holy Order of St. Benedict," there is an account of a 
 certain Pagan named Onlafbald, who laid violent hands 
 upon the farms Avhich of right belonged to the bishop of 
 Durham, being part of St. Cuthbert's patrimony, and 
 inflicted many grievous injuries on the Christian people 
 of the diocese, showing himself more savage and more 
 cruel than the bulk of the heathen Danes his country- 
 men. " Puffed up with the spirit of the Evil One," he 
 swore eternal enmity to St. Cuthbert and his successors, 
 and proceeded to enter the sanctuary where his remains 
 rested, meaning to pollute and scatter them. The bishop 
 (Cutheard) and all the brethren thereupon fell upon the 
 ground, and prayed that God and St. Cuthbert would 
 render nugatory his proud threats. The Pagan had by 
 this time reached the door ; one foot was even Avithin 
 the threshold, and one liad crossed over it ; and there he
 
 160 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 stood fixed as if a nail had been driven througli each 
 foot, — unable to move in any direction. After having 
 undergone many tortures, he was compelled to make 
 public confession of the sanctity of St. Cuthbert, and 
 then, says the historian, " he gave up his wicked spirit 
 in that same place." Terrified by this example, as well 
 they might be, none of the other sacrilegeous wretches 
 from the other side of the sea dared, from that time 
 forward, to seize any of the lands or other property 
 which belonged to the Church. 
 
 INCORRUPTIBILITY OF ST. CUTHBERT'S REMAINS. 
 
 The miraculous incorruptil^ility of the body of St. 
 Cuthbert was one of the fundamental articles of faith in 
 Catholic times. After he had been eleven years in his 
 sepulchre, " Divine Providence," says Bede, " put it into 
 the minds of the brethren to take up his dry bones, 
 expecting, as is usual with dead bodies, to find all the 
 rest of the body consumed and reduced to dust, and 
 intending to put the same into a n(3w coffin, and to lay 
 them in the same place, l)ut above the pavement, with 
 the honour due to them. They acquainted Bishop Ead- 
 berct Avith their design, and he consented to it, and 
 ordered that they should remember to do this on the 
 anniversary of his deposition. They did so, and on 
 opening the grave, found all the body whole, as if he 
 had been alive, and the joints pliable, much more like 
 one asleep than a dead person ; besides, all his vestments
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 161 
 
 in which he was clothed Avere not only found incormpted, 
 but wonderful for their original freshness and beauty. 
 The brethren, on seeing this, with much fear hastened 
 to tell the bishop what they had found ; he being then 
 in solitude in a place remote from the church, and en- 
 compassed by the sea. They brought him also some 
 part of the garments that had covered his (Cuthbert's) 
 holy body ; which presents he thankfully accepted. 
 And when they had dressed the body in new gamients, 
 and laid it in a new coffin, they placed it on the pave- 
 ment of the sanctuary." 
 
 MIRACULOUS CURES AT ST. CUTHBERT'S SHRINE. 
 
 Miraculous cures are said to have been performed at 
 St. Cuthbert's Shrine, in the Feretory Chapel, in Durham 
 Cathedral. In the latter end of the twelfth century, 
 Thomas, the Norman Archbishop of York, came to Dur- 
 ham. For two years he had laboured under a grievous 
 indisposition, and his case had been pronounced desper- 
 ate by his physicians. In consequence of an admonition 
 in a dream, he passed a night at the tomb of St. Cuthbert, 
 and during the night saw the saint approach him, and felt 
 him pass his hands over his limbs. He was immediately 
 restored to health. 
 
 ST. cuthbert's beads. 
 St, Cuthbert's Beads are found in great abundance on 
 the rocks at Holy Island, now reckoned in Northumber- 
 land, but formerly a part of North Durham. They are 
 L
 
 162 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 sold to strangers as the workmanship of the Saint, who, 
 according to tradition, often visits the shore of Lindisfarnc 
 in the night, and, sitting upon one rock, uses another as 
 his anvil, on which he forges and fashions these singular 
 beads. Science has revealed the fact that these so-called 
 beads, which were once commonly used in rosaries, are 
 neither more nor less than the joints of the fossil encrin- 
 itis, or sea-lily, a radiate animal, somewhat resembling a 
 star-fish inverted, and attached to the rock by a pedicel.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 163 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ST. GODRIC AND OTHER SAINTS. 
 HOW THE DEVIL STOLE ST. GODRIC'S CLOTHES. 
 
 One cold winter night, when St. Godric of Old Finch- 
 ale was standing praying in the river Wear up to his 
 neck, the devil was so provoked to see him, that he stole 
 away his clothes, which he had left lying on the bank 
 .side. Godric detected the petty larceny, and being 
 well aware who the foul thief was, he set about saying 
 Aves and Paternosters with might and main. This 
 forced the devil to restore the clothes, much against his 
 will ; "for though," as Hegg says, " his apparel was so 
 coarse, that the devil would scarce have worn them," it 
 pained him exceedingly to have to be just, even for once. 
 Godric's jerkin, it seems, was of iron, of which he had 
 Avorn out three in the time of his hermitage, — " a strange 
 coat," says the same quaint writer, " whose stuff had the 
 ironmonger for the draper, and a smith for the tailor." 
 His shirt was of coarse sackcloth, and was never changed 
 till it wore out, and fell off piecemeal, half or wholly 
 rotten. 
 
 HOW THE DEVIL GAVE ST. GODRIC A BOX ON THE EAR. 
 
 The devil, Proteus-like, used to transform himself into
 
 164 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 sundiy strange shapes before the saint, GoJric saw- 
 through all his flimsy disguises, and merely laughed and 
 made sport, instead of being afraid, when he saw Satan 
 come in like a ravening wolf, or a fierce wild boar, or a 
 hungry hound, or a sneaking fox. This so provoked the 
 devil, that one night as the saint sat by the fire, he gave 
 him such a box on the ear as would have felled him 
 down, had he not promptly saved himself by making the 
 sign of the cross, which deadened the blow, and at which 
 the fiend fled. 
 
 ST. GODRIC AND THE GOBLIN. 
 
 St. Godric Avas one day informed by a friend where he 
 might find a hoard of gold. The pious man knew full 
 Avell that he was dealing Avith the Evil One, and for his 
 own private use he had no need of either silver or gold, 
 and therefore he felt it to be no temptation ; but he also 
 knew that if he had the money he could utilise it by hand- 
 ing it over to the church. So he quite forgot that it was 
 once said by his Divine Master that the devil is a liar and 
 the father of lies, and he Avent to Avork Avith pickaxe and 
 shovel, pleasing himself with the idea that he Avas about 
 to get hold of a grand Avindfall for the use of Holy 
 Mother Church. But Avhen he had dug some depth, and 
 Avas literally dropping Avith sAveat, he was alarmed to find 
 that he had broken into a dark hole, in which, instead of 
 treasure, there Avere a number of small black imps, 
 huddled together, like adders in a moss hag. They
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 165 
 
 issued from the hole in which they had been confined, 
 and Avith screams of laughter pelted the saint, their 
 unconscious deliverer, right lustily with fire-balls. The 
 saint never again attempted to search for unconsecrated 
 gold. His chief employment when not engaged in 
 prayer, or standing stock-still in the river Wear up to 
 the neck, to mortify the flesh, was digging in his garden. 
 One day, Aveary with digging, he had stopped to rest 
 himself, when a strange man suddenly appeared, and 
 after staring for some time at the saint, spoke and 
 accused the good man with idleness, telling him he did 
 not work half so hard as the saints of former times used 
 to work. Godric, Avho at first thought it had been a 
 messenger of God sent to instruct him in his duty, 
 answered, " do you then first set me an example." And 
 he gave him the spade and left him ; but he promised 
 soon to return and see how much work the man had done. 
 The stranger took the spade and worked most vigorously ; 
 and when the saint came back he was astonished to find 
 that in the space of an hour his new labourer had dug as 
 much ground as he himself could dig in eight days. 
 " There" said the fellow, " that is the way to work ! " 
 Godric was now seized with ghastly fear, for he was sure 
 it could not be a real man he was speaking to. Indeed, 
 appearances were much against the stranger, for he was 
 very dark and hairy, and somewhat too tall, and what 
 seemed exceedingly odd, though he worked so hard, yet 
 he showed no signs of weariness, and did not even
 
 166 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 sweat. Then Godric went back to his cell, and concealed 
 a little book in his bosom, after which he returned and 
 said, " Now tell me who thou art, and why thou hast 
 come here 1" "Do you not see I am a man like yourself ?" 
 was the evasive answer. "Then," said Godric, " if you are 
 a man, tell me if you believe in the Father, the Son, and 
 the Holy Ghost, and join with me in adoring the Mother 
 of our Lord." But the hairy gentleman only said, "Be 
 not solicitous about what I believe, for it is no concern of 
 yours." Godric of course became more suspicious than 
 ever. He took the book out of his bosom, and laid it 
 suddenly against the stranger's mouth, telling him, if he 
 believed in God, to kiss it devoutly. It contained the 
 pictures of our Lord, of the Virgin, and of St. John, and 
 contact Avith it was too much for the graceless goblin, 
 for such the stranger was. So with what the old story- 
 books call an eldritch laugh, and a strong perfume any- 
 thing but pleasant, he vanished. But, like a pious man 
 as he Avas, Godric lost no time in Avatering Avith holy 
 Avater the ground Avhich had been thus fiendishly dug, 
 and let it lie uncultured for seven years. 
 
 PRIOR MELSONBY, 
 
 Thomas Melsonby, Avho Avas appointed Prior of Durham 
 in 1233 and Bishop of Durham four years afterAvards, 
 but had his election negatived by the king, resigned his 
 office of Prior in 1244, and retired to the Fame Islands
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 167 
 
 to prepare for death. It had been asserted by his 
 enemies, that he was an improper person to hold any 
 ecclesiastical dignity, being the son of the rector of 
 Melsonby by his maid-servant ; and that he had been 
 guilty of homicide, in having instigated a roiDe-dancer to 
 exhibit his feats upon a cord suspended from two towers 
 of the church, from which dizzy height the mountebank 
 fell, and, as might have been expected, broke his neck. 
 However this might have been, he did sore penance for 
 his sins. He died, after all, in the odour of sanctity, and 
 the lay brother who was deputed to minister to him dur- 
 ing his illness, a man named Heming,saw a choir of angels, 
 in white apparel, Avaiting upon the roof of the hermitage 
 to receive his soul ; while a brother hermit, whose name 
 was Bartholomew, espied, in the corner of the cell, the 
 archfiend himself, in the shape of a grizzly bear, bitterly 
 lamenting that the dying man had escaped his snares, 
 and was going to his eternal reward. Bartholomew 
 more than once sprinkled a few drops of holy water on 
 the ugly beast, to make him Avithdraw ; but against these, 
 strange to say, he was proof ; till at last the patience of 
 the hermit was exhausted, and he boldlj^ dashed the 
 sacred vessel, with the whole of its contents, in the face 
 of the fiend, and thus, to his great delight, effected his 
 purpose. 
 
 SACRED RELICS AT DURHAM. 
 In a list compiled in 1383, and first printed by
 
 168 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 Dr. Smith in his edition of Bede, there are mentioned, as 
 contained within the shrine of St. Cuthbert, a pyx of 
 crystal containing the milk of St. Mary the Virgin ; 
 manna, from the grave of St. Mary ; a portion of the 
 very identical Ijread blessed by Our Lord ; a piece of the 
 tree (the oak of Mamre) under which the three angels 
 sate with Abraham ; some bones of the Innocents slain 
 by Herod ; a piece of the Desert (the dust of it, I presume) 
 in which Our Lord fasted forty days ; one of stones aimed 
 at St. Stephen the proto-martyr ; a piece of the throne on 
 which Christ is to sit with his twelve disciples judging 
 the tribes of Israel in the New Jerusalem, together with 
 portions of the apostles' thrones ; three griffins' eggs, &c, 
 " In an old manuscript of a monk of Durham," says Hegg, 
 " I find in a catalogue of the reliques of this abbey, which 
 were so many that it seemed a charnel-house of saint's 
 bones — For from hence, at the resurrection, St. Stephen 
 will fetch his tooth, Zachary a leg, Simon an arm, 
 St. Christopher an elbow, St. Lawrence a finger, 
 St. Ambrose some of his hair, and St. Ebbe her foot."
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 169 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE LAMBTON WORM. 
 
 The wicked heir of Lambton was fishing one Sunday 
 in the Wear, and, after toiling in vain for some time, 
 vented his dissatisfaction in curses loud and deep. At 
 length he felt an extraordinary tugging at his line, and, 
 in the hope of catching a large fish, he drew it up with 
 the utmost care. It took all his strength to bring the 
 expected salmon to land, but it proved to be only a 
 worm, of most unseemly appearance, so that he hastily 
 tore it from the hook, and threw it in a passion into a 
 well hard bj^ When he had again thrown in his line, 
 a venerable-looking stranger came past, and asked him 
 what sport he had had. He replied testily — "Why, 
 in truth, I think I have caught the devil," and bade the 
 man look into the well, which he did. The stranger 
 remarked that he had never seen the like of it before ; 
 it resembled an eft, indeed, but then it had nine holes 
 on each side of its mouth, and he felt certain that it 
 boded no good. Whatever it might be, it was left to live 
 or die in the well, for the heir of Lambton did not believe 
 in omens. But, strange to say, it grew, and grew, and 
 better grew, till it had become so large that it had to 
 seek for itself some new abode. So it crept out of the
 
 170 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 well and returned to the river, in the middle of which 
 it usually lay during the day time, coiled round a rock ; 
 and at night it l)etook itself to a neighbouring hill, now 
 called the Worm Hill, near Fatfield, around the base of 
 which it tAvined itself, increasing in size till it could com- 
 pass the hill nine times (Sir Cuthbert Sharpe says three, 
 but he was probably mistaken). As this hill is between 
 three and four hundred yards in circumference, lessening 
 gradually towards the apex, it may be taken for granted 
 that the worm, Avhen it had reached its full growth, Avas 
 about tAvo miles long. No Avonder it AA^as noAV the terror 
 of the neighbourhood ; for it had an appetite propor- 
 tioned to its size. It soon Avasted cA^erything on the 
 north side of the river, and then crossed the stream 
 toAvards Lambton Hall, Avhere the old lord was living in 
 grief and sorroAv. The young sinner Avho had done the 
 mischief, and Avhose name Avas John Lambton, had long 
 ere this repented of his horrid profanity, duly confessed 
 his manifold sins to a priest, l)athed in a bath of holy 
 Avater, assumed the l)adge of a crusader, been dubl^ed a 
 knight of Ehodes, and set out for the Holy Land to Avin 
 it l)ack from the infidels. The terrified household 
 assembled, Avhen the Avorm appeared, and it Avas proposed 
 by the steAvard, a man far advanced in years and of great 
 experience, that the large trough which stood in the court 
 yard should be filled with milk for the creature to drink, 
 as otherAvise it might droAvn them all. The monster 
 approached, eagerly drank the milk, and returned, Avith-
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 171 
 
 out further ravage, to repose round its favourite hill. 
 But it came again the next morning at the same hour, 
 and the same quantity of milk had to be provided for it. 
 It was soon found that it could not he satisfied with less 
 than the milk of nine cows. If the quantity Avas dimin- 
 ished ever so little, it would lash its tail round the trees 
 in the park, and tear them up by the roots in its rage. 
 "The worm was a terrible hugeous cretur," said an old 
 woman at Lambton to William Howitt ; " it drank every 
 day nine cows' milk ; and even if the family took a little 
 sup out for their tea C?) it Avor fain to rive a' doon." 
 Many a gallant Knight essayed in vain to sla}^ this terror 
 of the country side, but they always suffered loss of life 
 or limb, and never did the creature any real hurt, for 
 though it had been frequently cut asunder, yet the sev- 
 ered parts had immediately re-united, and so it reigned 
 triumjDhantly on its hill. At length, after seven long- 
 years, the Knight of Ehodes returned, and found the 
 broad lands of his ancestors desolate. He heard the 
 wailing of the people, and hastened to his father's hall, to 
 receive the embrace of the old man, avIio was worn out 
 with sorrow for the Knight's supposed death, and the 
 dreadful waste caused by the Worm. We are beholden to 
 Surtees for the briefest account of what follows : — " John 
 Lambton was extremely shocked at witnessing the effects 
 of his youthful imprudences, and immediately undertook 
 the adventure in which so many knights had failed. 
 After several fierce combats, in which the crusader was
 
 172 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 foiled by his enemy's power of self-union, he found it 
 expedient to add policy to courage, and, perhaps not 
 possessing much of the former qualitj^, he went to con- 
 sult a witch or wise woman. By her advice he covered 
 himself in a coat of mail studded with razor blades, and 
 placed himself on a crag in the river and awaited the 
 monster's arrival. At the usual time the Worm came to 
 the rock, and wound himself with great fur}^ round the 
 armed knight, who had the satisfaction to see his enemy 
 cut to pieces by his own efforts, whilst the stream, wash- 
 ing away the several parts, prevented the possibility of 
 re-union. The Avitch had promised Lambton success 
 only on one condition, that he should slay the first living 
 thing which met his sight after his victory. To avoid 
 the possibility of human slaughter, Lambton directed his 
 father that as soon as he heard him sound three blasts of 
 his bugle horn, in token of the achievement being per- 
 formed, he should release his favourite greyhound, which 
 would immediately fly to the sound of his horn, and thus 
 become the sacrifice. On hearing his son's bugle, however, 
 the old chief was so overjoyed that he forgot the injunc- 
 tion, and ran himself -with open arms to meet his son. 
 Instead of committing a parricide, the conqueror again 
 repaired to his adviser, who pronounced, as the alter- 
 native of disobeying the original instructions, that no 
 chief of the Lambtons should die in bed for seven (or, as 
 some accounts say, for nine) generations," a prophecy 
 believed to have been literally fulfilled.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM, 173 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 DIABOLIC. 
 THE DEVIL IN SOUTH DURHAM. 
 
 About ninety years ago, an old farmer at or near 
 Bishopton — a Roman Catholic, but married to a Protes- 
 tant, — died after making his will, by which he left a 
 considerable sum to the church he belonged to. The 
 pair had agreed that if they had any children the boys 
 should be brought up Catholics and the girls Protestants. 
 They had two boys. After the priest had performed 
 his preliminary duties, the corpse was placed in an upper 
 room, and the lads, with a few of their friends, proceeded 
 to hold the wake in another apartment. The widow, 
 who did not believe in the efficacy of crucifixes, holy 
 water, and moulded candles, refused to give the priest 
 any money to pray the deceased out of purgatory, saying 
 he had given the church a great deal too much already. 
 The holy father warmly expostulated with her, and as 
 she still declined, told her he should not be surprised if the 
 devil were to come at midnight and carry off the corpse, 
 but even this did not frighten the good woman into 
 drawing her purse strings, and the priest went away 
 very ill-satisfied. Just as the clock struck twelve, the 
 lads, who were whiling away the dull hours with playing
 
 174 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 at cards, heard a terrible noise upon the stairs as if some 
 monstrous thing Avere coming up, loaded with clanking 
 chains. Looking out, they say a huge black man, with 
 horns, and a cloven foot, who was about to enter the 
 room in which the corpse lay. " Go back, or I'll shoot 
 you ! " cried the eldest lad, laying hold of a horse pistol. 
 The apparition, however, took no notice of the threat, 
 and was proceeding to lay hold of his prize, when the lad 
 fired and the devil fell, severely wounded in his nether 
 extremities. It was the grave-digger, whom the priest 
 had bribed — So runs the tale. 
 
 THE devil's apron. 
 
 A legend connected with a large stone in Castle Eden 
 Dene, reveals the fact that the devil is not above wearing 
 aprons. His Satanic Majesty Avas, it seems, on one 
 occasion flying over the Dene with this immense stone 
 in his apron, when, sad to relate, the apron string broke, 
 and the weighty burden was precipitated to the place 
 where it now lies. 
 
 In days now long past, when Newcastle upon-Tyne was 
 privileged with the presence of such bold, earnest, and 
 powerful preachers of the gospel as John Knox, and there 
 seemed a near prospect of the bulk of the inhabitants 
 becoming truly religious, and, therefore, honest and fair 
 in all their dealings, the Devil, we arc told, determined 
 that he would ruin the place, and, therefore, set about 
 blocking up the entrance into the Tyne by flinging great
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAJNI. 175 
 
 apronfuls of stones, brought from Whitley quary, into 
 the channel. One morning, however, when he was com- 
 ing along the bank top, as usual, heavily laden, he met 
 a woman, whereupon, poltroon as he is, he dropped his 
 burden in a great fright, fled, and never returned. The 
 stones he had managed before that to throw in are now 
 known as the Black Middens. 
 
 PER CONTRA : MICHAEL SCOTT AT CAMBOIS. 
 
 The Wansbeck runs into the sea at Cambois, in North 
 Durham, and the tide flows about four miles up the river, 
 towards Morpeth. Tradition reports that Michael Scott, 
 whose fame as a wizard is not confined to Scotland, 
 would have brought the tide up to the respectable old 
 market town, as a particular favour for some kindness 
 shown to him, and that he gave instructions to one of 
 the town's people to run up all the way from Sheepwash 
 to Morpeth, as fast as he could, without looking behind, 
 Avhen the tide would follow him. After running some 
 distance the man became afraid by the roar of waters 
 behind him, and forgetfully gave a glance over his 
 shoulder to see if the danger was imminent. Immediately 
 the advancing tide was still. Michael also intended to 
 confer a similar favour on Durham's reverend city, but 
 his good intentions were defeated in like manner by the 
 cowardice of the ])erson who had to "guide the tide." 
 
 RAISING THE WIND. 
 
 It was quite common, forty or fifty years ago, to hear
 
 176 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 a South Durham man or woman observe, during a hurri- 
 cane of wind, " There's somebody been at t' wise man 
 this mornin', and he's raised t' wind." A storm of Avind 
 and rain, thunder and hghtning, when extremely violent, 
 and especially during the night, was once generally 
 regarded as indicating that the foul friend was very busy, 
 carrying away a witch to the realms below, "There hasn't 
 been sic a neet as last neet sin' Kate Steele, the witch o' 
 Katiefield, deed," is an expression we have often heard. 
 " As busy as the devil in a gale of wind " is still a com- 
 mon saying, 
 
 BATTLE ECHOES AT NEVILLE'S CROSS. 
 
 A lady was once teaching in a Sunday School in the 
 City of Durham, when the chapter read in class happened 
 to be one in the First Book of Samuel. After it had 
 been duly gone through, one of the pupils observed that 
 he did not like that chapter so well as last Sunday's, 
 because there were no battles in it. On this the teacher 
 thought fit to dilate on the horrors of war and the bless- 
 ings of peace, to all which, like a truculent young 
 Northern as he was, the boy turned a deaf ear, only 
 observing that there had been a great battle at Durham 
 once. " And where was it fought ? " asked she. " At 
 Neville's Cross," answered the lad, promptly. " I go 
 there very often of an evening to see the place ; and if 
 you Avalk nine times round the Cross, and then lay your 
 head to the turf, you'll hear the noise of the battle and
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHMl. 177 
 
 the clash of the armour." These were the young fellow's 
 exact words to his Sunday School teacher. 
 
 KING DAVID BRUCE UNDER ALDIN GRANGE BRIDGE. 
 
 There is a tradition in the neighbourhood of Broom, a 
 couple of miles or so West of Durham, that David Bruce, 
 King of Scots, concealed himself under the old narrow 
 stone bridge over the Browney at Aldin Grange, after 
 the battle of Neville's Cross, and that he was discovered 
 by his pursuers by his shadow in the water. This is 
 perhaps as true as many other traditions. 
 
 PHANTOM ARMIES. 
 
 A folio of "Apparitions and Wonders," jireserved in 
 the British Museum, records that at Durham, on the 
 27th of September, 1705, when the evening sky was 
 serene and full of stars, a strange and prodigious light 
 spread over its North- Western quarter, as if the sun it- 
 self was shining ; then, came streamers, which turned to 
 armed men, ranked on horseback. This may be accounted 
 for on the supposition that it was an extraordinary dis- 
 play of the Aurora Borealis, or "merry dancers." That 
 beautiful phenomenon is still known in the "North 
 Country'' as "the Derwentwater lights," in consequence 
 of their having been particularly red and vivid at the 
 time of the unfortunate last Earl's execution. Myriads 
 of fighting men were seen in the sky, night after night 
 throughout the county of Durham, before the French 
 Revolution. 
 
 M
 
 178 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 THE DRAGON, WORM, OR FLYING SERPENT, OF SOCKBURN. 
 
 The legendary tale concerning this monster is simply 
 this, as set down in the Bowes Manuscripts : — " In an 
 ould manuscript which I have sene of the descent of 
 Connyers, there is writ as followth : Sir John Connyers, 
 knight, slew that monstrous and poysonous vermine or 
 wyverne, and aske or werme, which overthrew and 
 devoured many people in fight, for that the sent of that 
 poison was so strong that no person might abyde it, and 
 by the providence of Almighty God this John Connyers, 
 knight, overthrew the saide monster and slew it. But, 
 before he made this enterprise, having but one sonne, he 
 went to the church of Sockbourne in complete armour, 
 and offered that his only sonne to the Holy Ghost. That 
 place where this great serpent laye was called Graystane. 
 And as it is written in the same manuscript, this John lieth 
 buried in Sockburne Church, in complete armour, before 
 the Conquest." The grey stone is duly pointed out in 
 a field near the church, as well as a trough, where the 
 worm was in the habit of drinking so much milk daily, 
 and basking itself before returning to the river Tees. 
 Mrs. Anne Wilson, in her very wretched poem Teisa, 
 published in quarto, in 1778, says the Sockl^urn worm 
 was supposed to have fallen from the lunar circle, and 
 states that the knight slew it by stabbing it in its only 
 vulnerable part, under the wing. Its body was then 
 drawn into a pit and a heap of massive stones raised 
 over it. The manors of Sockburn and Dinsdale were 
 given to Conj-ers as a reward for his bravery, and when 
 he died a monument was raised over his remains.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 179 
 
 THE GABRIEL HOUNDS. 
 
 The strange unearthly cries, so hke the 3-elping of 
 dogs, uttered by wild fowl on their passage southAvards 
 on the approach of winter, from Scotland and countries 
 further north, have engendered a wide-spread belief in 
 the existence of a pack of spectral hounds. In Durham 
 and the neighbouring counties they are called the Gabriel 
 Hounds, and under that name they are mentioned by 
 Wordsworth in one of his sonnets. They are monstrous 
 human-headed dogs, who traverse the air, generally dur- 
 ing dark nights, or high up out of sight. Sometimes 
 they appear to hover over a house, and then death or 
 calamity is sure to visit it. Some call them the Sky 
 Yelpers.
 
 180 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 CHAPTER XVIL 
 
 CONCERNING CHILDREN AND CHILDREN'S GAMES. 
 ROCKING AN EMPTY CRADLE. 
 
 It is very unlucky to rock an empty cradle, and any 
 inadvertent person, who happens to do so, for want of 
 better employment, when sitting waiting for somebody 
 or something in the room where a cradle stands, Avill be 
 sharply rebuked for his imprudence. The reason assigned 
 is that it gives the child a headache or other ailment, 
 and, if persisted in, may even cause its death. Eocking 
 the empty cradle is often deprecated, likewise, on the 
 ground that it is ominous of another claimant for that 
 place of rest coming before it is wanted. 
 
 BAPTISM AND CHRISTENING. 
 
 There is a clear distinction in the minds of good old 
 Tees, "Wear, and Tyneside people, between baptism and 
 christening. Baptism, a venerable gossip tells us, is 
 simply sprinkling with Avater in the name of the Father, 
 the Son, and the Holy Ghost. This may be done by a 
 layman, or, in case of necessity, even bj^ the midwife, 
 when the life of the infant seems in danger. "Drop it ! 
 drop it ! " was the exclamation of an old woman at the 
 Felling, meaning, sprinkle its face with water— when an 
 infant, that moment born into the world, seemed ready
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAJM. 181 
 
 to give up the ghost, and might be dead before a priest 
 could be got at. Christening is a more solemn ordinance, 
 in which the priest dips his finger into the font, and Avith 
 it makes the sign of the cross on the baby's face, and 
 godfathers and godmothers take obligations on them. 
 One intelligent lady of my acquaintance, resident in 
 Shields, was baptised Mary and christened Elizabeth. 
 At the request of her mother, she received, on l^eing 
 sprinkled in the name of the Blessed Trinity by the 
 parish priest, the name of Mary. And when her father 
 came home from sea she was carried to church and 
 christened Elizabeth. 
 
 GROANING CHEESE. 
 
 A large cheese, procured in expectation of the l:>irth of 
 a child, is called the Groaning Cheese, or the Sick Wife's 
 Cheese. A slice of the first cut, laid under the pillow, is 
 said to enable young damsels to dream of their lovers. 
 But in order to be of any use, it must be pierced with three 
 pins, taken from the infant's pincushion. In Sunderland, 
 it was once common for cheese-mongers to lend a cheese 
 on such occasions, to poor but honest customers, who 
 could not afford to buy one, but who had it to cut and 
 come again, that is, to be used ad libitum and the remain- 
 der returned. By this plan, the child has the honour of 
 a, whole cheese at its birth, and the parents pay for no 
 more than they need. The cake provided to be eaten 
 with the cheese is called the Groaning Cake, and persons 
 have been known to preserve bits of it for years, as a sort
 
 182 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 of amulet, "unmould}^ and immouse-eaten," to promote 
 fniitfulness. In the days when all people of moderate 
 means breAved their own ale, it was the universal custom 
 to provide a boll, a bushel, or a peck of "groaning 
 malt," according to the prospective demand and supply. 
 Brockett says there was once a time, his old nurse 
 informed him, when children were drawn through a hole 
 cut in the groaning cheese, on the day they were 
 christened. 
 
 CARRYING A BABE UPWARDS FIRST. 
 
 It is very important for an infant to go up in the world 
 before it goes down. Accordingly, if a child happens to 
 be born in the top storey of a house, one of the gossips 
 will take it up in her arms, and, for want of a flight of 
 stairs leading to the roof, mount with it upon a table, 
 chair, or chest of drawers ; after which it may safely be 
 taken down stairs. 
 
 SUNDAY AND WEEK-DAY CHILDREN. 
 
 The following verses are still current in North and 
 South Durham, as well as in many other parts of the 
 kingdom ; — 
 
 Monday's child is fair of face, 
 Tuesday's child is full of grace, 
 Wednesday's child is full of woe, 
 And Thursday's child has far to go. 
 Friday's child is loving and giving, 
 And Saturday's child works hard for its living. 
 But the child that is born on the Sabbath day 
 Is blythe and bonny, good and gay.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 183 
 
 ALMS TO A NEW BORN BABE. 
 
 The first time that you call at a house where there is 
 a new born babe, and the first time an infant is brought 
 to your own house (at least after it has been christened) 
 you must present it with what is called alms. In the 
 former case, it should be in the shape of a piece of silver, 
 and in the latter of " the three blessings," viz. : — salt or 
 sugar, an egg, and bread. The following form of Avords 
 is used by old-fashioned kindly people : — " Weel mayest 
 thou thrive and grow till thou bringest me this back 
 again." The egg is emblematical of new life, the salt of 
 incorruption, and the bread of bodily sustenance. These 
 votive offerings must be pinned in the baby's lap, and so 
 brought home. 
 
 children's hands AND NAILS. 
 
 In order that a child may gather riches it is said to be 
 proper to leave its right hand unwashed, for " muck," 
 as an old crone once told me, " bodes luck." A baby's 
 nails must not be cut till it is a year old, for fear it 
 should grow up " light-fingered," that is, in plain terms, 
 a thief. The mother must bite them off, if needs be ; 
 and in some parts it is believed that if the first parings 
 are buried under an ash tree, the child will turn out a 
 first-rate singer or famous musician. Care must be taken 
 not to cut the child's nails on a Sunday or a Friday, at 
 any rate for the first time. For — 
 
 Cut them ou Friday, cut them for sorrow. ; 
 
 And— 
 
 Better a child had ne'er been born 
 Than cut his nails on a Sunday morn.
 
 184 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 GIFTS. 
 
 Many a child has been buoyed up wth the hope of 
 getting some vakiable present soon, through seeing a 
 white speck on his finger nail. As it grows up to the 
 end of the nail the prospect grows near ; but he must 
 not let it be pared oft", for fear of losing the gift. Its 
 particular nature dei:)ends on the finger the mark is on. 
 Beginning with the thumb, young people say : — " A 
 gift, a friend, a foe, a lover, and a journey to go." 
 Children less precocious, too bashful to say a " lover," 
 substitute "a letter" instead. 
 
 TIG-GEE. 
 
 When children are leaving school, to go home for the 
 night, and come to the place where their roads separate, 
 each tries to get the last touch. Giving a sudden sharp 
 tug at the boy's jacket, the girl's frock, or the satchel or 
 bag, if any, the challenger runs off" as fast as he or she 
 
 can, exclaiming — 
 
 Tig tag ! 
 
 Leather bag ! 
 
 Last bat's poison. 
 
 The challenged one, if possessed of any spirit, follows, 
 
 and tries, and often manages, to get the last bat. Tiggy- 
 
 touch-wood is a similar play. 
 
 OTHER children's GAJVIES. 
 
 The old game of Hunt the Slipper is still occasionally 
 
 played by girls. The players, all but one, sit down in a 
 
 circle on their " hunkers," and pass a slipper round from 
 
 one to another under their skirts. The odd player tries
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 185 
 
 to catch hold of it, and Avhen she succeeds in doing so, 
 another takes her place. Certain forfeits are demanded 
 for any breach of rules, and reclaimed on sundry hard 
 conditions. The game of *' Honey Pots," played indis- 
 criminately by both boys and girls, is too well known to 
 require description ; so is the familiar girls' game of 
 Hitch i' Bed, sometimes simply called " The Beds." 
 
 THE GOSSIP STONES. 
 
 On the side of the road, between Pensher and Offerton, 
 there once stood two tall stones, of which one only is 
 now left. A woman who had seen eighty-eight winters, 
 told my informant in 1876 that she had heard her mother 
 tell the story of their erection, as even then an old story. 
 Two gossips, that is to say, persons who had together 
 stood godfather to a child, were coming from a christen- 
 ing at Pensher, when they fell out and fought. The one 
 was killed and the other died on the spot. Their bodies 
 were buried where the}- were found lying, and the stones 
 placed above them. 
 
 SPITTING one's FAITH. 
 
 When required to make an asservation on any matter 
 deemed important, schoolboys "spit their faith," or, in 
 the Durham vernacular, " pin their sawl," that is, their 
 souls. They also add " Christ's Cross, cut my throat if 
 I tell a lie ! " at the same time making the sign of the 
 cross In bygone daj^s, when peculiar fashions were more 
 rife than they are now, the pitmen used to spit upon a
 
 18G LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 stone together, by way of cementing their confederacy, 
 Avhen about to make a " stick " for higher wages. When 
 one lad challenges another to fight, he dares him to spit 
 over his little finger, or scratch his buttons ; if he will 
 not, he is a coward ; if he does, it is a fair battle, 
 
 BARLEY. 
 
 When a lad wishes to bespeak something for his own 
 exclusive use, he says " Barley me that ! " an expression 
 that Brockett thinks is only a corrupt contraction for 
 "By your leave me that." When he calls for a truce 
 during a school-green fight, he cries " Barley ! " which is 
 just the French " Parlez," from which comes our English 
 "Parley." 
 
 BOGLE ABOUT THE STACKS. 
 
 This has, from time immemorial, been a favourite 
 pastime, during the clear moonshiny autumn nights, 
 about farm places and in country villages. One of the 
 young players personates a bogle, and hides himself 
 among the stacks in the farm yard. The rest hunt him 
 until they catch him, Avhen he has to pay a forfeit, kissing 
 his captor if it bo a young woman, or giving up his cap, 
 pocket-knife, or some other article, if it be a young man. 
 
 COBBING. 
 
 To cob is, according to Brockett, to pull the hair or ear, 
 to strike, to thump ; and cobbing he defines as " striking,, 
 thumping, a punishment among children and workmen." 
 In some schools cobbing means taking a lad firmly by the 
 collar with both hands, and bumping him behind with.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 187 
 
 the knee. In others it is seizing the unfortunate object 
 of the cobbing-match by the hair, and tugging at it on 
 both sides alternately, dragging out in some cases the 
 ear-locks, and in all cases inflicting great pain. 
 
 Those who will bear no part in cobbing the delinquent 
 are liable to be cobbed themselves, and so is any boy 
 who is mercifully disposed, and does not give a sufficient 
 tug to hurt the victim. The prescribed rites for this- 
 administration of justice, or as it more usually is, this 
 gratification of capricious mischief, are standing on one- 
 leg, closing the eyes, elevating the left thumb, compressing, 
 the lips, and repeating some such verses as the following — 
 
 All mauuei- of men, under threescore and ten, 
 
 Who don't come to this cobbing match, 
 Shall be cobbed over and over again ! 
 
 By the high, by the low, by the wings of a crow, 
 Salt-fish, regnum, a buck or a doe ? 
 
 A doe is a violent tug at the hair ; a buck, a rap on the 
 skull with the closed hand ; what salt-fish and regnum 
 are I do not know, 
 
 children's rhymes. 
 
 To make a butterfly alight, repeat the following lines — 
 
 Le, la, let, 
 Ma bonny pet. 
 
 and if this is only said often enough, the charm never 
 fails.
 
 188 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 Does rain spoil a holiday, let the boys and girls shout 
 out : — 
 
 Kain, rain, gan away ! 
 
 And come some other summer's day ! 
 
 or more imperatively and decidedly — 
 
 Rain, rain, go to Spain ! 
 Fair weather come again ! 
 
 sooner or later, the rain will depart, If there he a rain- 
 bow in the sky, the children must keep looking at it all 
 the time. 
 
 In order to charm away a flight of crows, when they 
 settle upon a new-sown field of corn, or corn nearly ripe, 
 ■or standing in the stook, the crow herds ought to say : — 
 
 Crow, Crow, get out of my siglit, 
 Or else I'll eat your liver and light. 
 
 When you happen to touch a snail, it draws in its 
 horns. To make it put them out again, you should 
 
 say :— 
 
 Snail, snail, put out your horn. 
 
 Or I'll kill your father and mother the morn. 
 
 The ladybird (Cocclnella Septemimnctahis) is raised to 
 activity 1)y the cry of : — 
 
 Lady-bird, lady-bird, fly away home, 
 
 Your house is on fire, your children all gone. 
 
 In the South Shields vernacular this runs — 
 
 Cushie cow lady, flee away hyera, 
 
 Yer house is on fire, yer bairns are all gyen.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM, 189 
 
 The Dock being an approved antidote to the sting of 
 a nettle, the following lines should be repeated when it 
 is being applied : — 
 
 Nettle out, dock in ; 
 
 Dock remove the nettle sting. 
 
 To the lapwing, peewit, or peeze-weep, when it is pre- 
 tending to be lame, and hirpling along the ground to 
 draw you away from its young, you may call out — 
 
 Peeze-weep, wallojj away, 
 Cau'd feet and a frosty day. 
 
 The cry of the plover is interpreted into the following 
 in some districts :— 
 
 Bidcake bleary, bidcake bleary, 
 
 G'ie the lads what you like, I sit easy. 
 
 There is a ridiculous mock numeration rhj-me : — 
 Onery, tworey, tickery seven, 
 Allum-a-crack, tennum, eleven. 
 Pin, pan, musky dan, 
 Tiddleum, Toddleum, twenty-one. 
 
 When the clock strikes, after the usual warning, the 
 nurse should say to the child — 
 
 Zickery, zickery, zock, zock ! 
 
 The mouse ran iip the clock, clock ! 
 
 The clock struck one, down the mouse ran ! 
 
 Zickery, zickery, zan, zan ! 
 
 JAWPING EGGS. 
 
 Jawping eggs at Easter is a favourite youthful amuse- 
 ment. One boy or girl holding a boiled egg in his or her 
 hand, challenges another to give blow for blow, taking
 
 190 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 care to hit the end only. One of the eggs is sure to be 
 fractured in the conflict, and its shattered remains become 
 the spoil of the conqueror. To "jaup" is the local 
 vernacular for "Chip." 
 
 STEALY-CLOTHES. — SCOTCH AND ENGLISH. 
 
 A party of boys divide themselves into two bands, the 
 captain of each alternately choosing his man till the num- 
 ber be complete, so as to secure, as far as possible, equality 
 of strength and skill. Then a line is drawn as a bound- 
 ary of their respective territories, and at equal distances 
 from this line, the hats, coats or handkerchiefs of each 
 band are laid in a heap. The game commences Avith a 
 defiance, couched in no measured terms of abuse, and 
 ending with " Set your foot on English ground, Scots, if 
 ye dare ! " or the converse. After this they make 
 mutual incursions, each trying to seize and carry away 
 some articles from the other's store. But if they are 
 unfortunately caught in the attempt, they must not only 
 restore the plunder, but remain prisoners until one of 
 their own party can make his way to them, and touch 
 them. When all the things belonging to one of the 
 bands are transferred to the other's head-quarters the 
 game is Avon. 
 
 THE STIRRUP GLASS. 
 
 It used to be a common thing for the host or landlord 
 to present a parting drink to his guests, at the door of 
 the private mansion, tavern, or inn, as the case might 
 be, after they had mounted their beasts to go away.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 191 
 
 This was called the stirrup cup or stirrup glass. I knew 
 an old butcher who had a favourite l^rown pony he rode, 
 and who used to require a stirrup glass for his beast, in 
 addition to one for himself, the real fact being that Mr 
 Toot-up drank off both to fortify the inner man, though 
 his galloway got the credit of the second. 
 
 THE SWORD-DANCERS. 
 
 It is still the practice, though less in repute than for- 
 merly, for companies of pitmen and other workmen from 
 the neighbouring collieries to visit Sunderland, Gates- 
 head, Hartlepool, Seaham, and other towns, during the 
 <3hristmas holidays, to perform or play a dance, accom- 
 panied by song and music. The dancers carry swords 
 in their hands, very often made of lath, and they wield 
 these in various ways during the performance; hence 
 they are called sword dancers. They are clad in white 
 shirts or tunics, decorated with a profusion of ribbands, 
 of various colours, gathered from the wardrobes of their 
 sweethearts, sisters, and other well-"\vishers. The captain 
 generally Avears a kind of faded uniform, with a large 
 cocked-hat and feather, for pre-eminent distinction; and 
 the buffoon, or "Bessy," who acts as treasurer,and collects 
 the cash bestowed on the party in a tobacco box, some- 
 times wears a woman's go^^Ti and petticoat, and a hairy 
 cap, with a fox's brush pinned on to it behind. One of 
 the actors is dubbed "Galatian," and is the braggadocio 
 of the lot. Another personates a doctor, direct from 
 High Germany. " Bessy " first enters, brandishing a
 
 192 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 besom, and clears the floor for the players. Then Gala- 
 tian and the Ca})tain, after reciting their various past 
 achievements in high-sounding rhyme, engage in mortal 
 combat. A dreadful clashing of steel it sometimes is. 
 At last Galatian falls, and the Captain soliloquises over 
 his body. He repents, however, that he has killed him, 
 and offers a great reward to any one who will restore 
 him to life. Then the doctor chimes in with a long list 
 of his infallible nostrums and miraculous cures, and after 
 being somewhat severely cross-questioned by the Captain, 
 he is ordered to try his skill. This he does in a very 
 ludicrous fashion, administering a strong dose of some 
 horrid compound which he calls "hoaxy croaxy" tO the 
 fallen champion, and giving him a sly kick behind, order- 
 ing him to rise up and fight again. Galatian rises as if 
 out of a swoon, and sings out — 
 Once I was dead, 
 
 But now I am alive, 
 And blessed be the hands of him 
 Who made me to revive. 
 The final is that all differences are patched up, and a 
 general dance takes place, with which the play concludes, 
 and the party take their leave, with set metrical expres- 
 sions of thanks, proportioned to the largess they have won. 
 
 HINTS TO LIARS. 
 
 Mr Punshon informed Mr Brand that among the colliers 
 of his time there was a custom of giving a pin to a person 
 in company, by way of hinting to him that he was fibbing. 
 If another man outlied him, he in turn delivered the
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 193 
 
 pin to him. "No duels," adds Brand, "ensue on the 
 occasion." "Take ray cap," was another common hint, 
 to people who were transgressing the bounds of credulity. 
 On one occasion a North Country wench was indicted at 
 the Old Bailey for feloniously stealing from her mistress 
 a dozen round-eared lace caps, of a very considerable 
 value. The girl pleaded not guilty, insisting very 
 strenuously that she had her mistress's ex2:>ress orders for 
 what she had done. The prosecutrix being called upon 
 by the court to answer this allegation, said, " Mar}', 
 thou wast always a most abominable liar." "Very true, 
 Madam," replies the hussy, " for whenever I told a round 
 lie, you was so good as to bid me take your cap." The 
 court burst into a violent fit of laughter, and the jurj* 
 acquitted the prisoner. 
 
 N
 
 194 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 CHAPTER XVIIL 
 
 CUSTOMS REGARDING COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE. 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 Each clay of the week has some peculiar virtue as a 
 clay for getting married on. Thus it is — 
 Monday for wealth, 
 Tuesday for health, 
 Wednesday the best day of all, 
 Thursday for losses, 
 Friday for crosses, 
 And Saturday no luck at all. 
 
 The unsiiitableness of Lent for marrying and giving 
 in marriage is expressed in the verse — 
 If you marry in Lent 
 You are sure to repent. 
 
 It is very unluck}- for swine to cross the path in front 
 of a wedding party. Tiie bridegroom, as well as the 
 bride, has been known to turn back, instead of proceed- 
 ing to church, when such an occurrence happened. This 
 was, of course, before the clays when actions for breach 
 of promise became fashionable. Hence the old adage — 
 " The Swine's run through it." The presence of the 
 bride's mother is inauspicious at a wedding. A wedding 
 after svmset entails to the bride a joyless life, the loss of 
 children, or an early grave. A wet day is deemed un- 
 lucky, too, while a fine one is auspicious, for — 
 "Happy is the bride that the sun shines on."
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 195 
 
 To rub shoulders with the bride or bridegroom is 
 deemed an augury of speedy marriage ; and, again, she 
 who receives from the bride a piece of cheese, cut by 
 her before leaving the table, will be the next bride among 
 the company. Dinner over, the bride sticks her knife 
 into the cheese, and all the men at table endeavour to 
 seize it. He who succeeds, without cutting his fingers 
 in the struggle, thereby insures happiness in his married 
 life. The knife is called "the best man's prize," since 
 commonly, by some means or other, the "best man" 
 secures it. Should he fail to do so, woe to his matri- 
 monial prospects. The maidens, for their prize, try to 
 possess mementoes of a piece of the wedding dress, called 
 a " shaping," for use in certain divinations regarding 
 their future husbands. When she proceeds to the altar, 
 the bride should wear something borrowed. On the 
 bride's arrival at her new home, one of the oldest women 
 in the neighbourhood, who has been stationed on the 
 threshold, throws a plateful of cake over her head, so that 
 it falls outside. A scramble ensues, for it is deemed very 
 fortunate to get a piece of the cake, which ought to be 
 put next night under the pillow to dream upon. Throw- 
 ing a shoe after the bride and bridegroom, on their leaving 
 the bride's parents' house, is also very common. It is a 
 symbol of renunciation of all right in the happj?- woman 
 by the old people, and the transference of it to her hus- 
 band. In the pit districts the bridal party used, at one 
 time, to be escorted to church by men armed with guns, 
 which they fired again and again close to the ears of the
 
 196 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 bride and bridegroom, terrifying them sometimes not a 
 little. In some places he Avho gives the bride away claims 
 the first kiss, in right of his temporary paternity ; in 
 other places it is the privilege of the parson who ties 
 the knot. 
 
 It is unlucky for a woman to marry a man whose sur- 
 name l)egins with the same letter as her own, foi' — 
 If you change the name and not the lettei", 
 You change for the worse and not for the better. 
 
 A country wedding is, by rights, wound up by a race 
 for a ribbon, given by the bridegroom. All the racers, 
 winners and losers alike, are entitled to a glass of spirit 
 each ; and, accordingly, as soon as the race is run, they 
 present themselves at the house, and ask for their allow- 
 ance, without any particular hesitation. It is unluck}^ 
 for a young Avoman to attend church on the day when 
 her banns are being published ; if she do, her child will 
 run the risk of being deaf and dumb. The wife who 
 loses her wedding ring incurs the loss of her husband's 
 affection, Avhile the breaking of the ring forebodes death. 
 
 THE BRIDEWAIN. 
 
 West Sheel, or West Broomshields, in the chapelry of 
 Satley, near Lanchester, was long the inheritance of the 
 Darnells. One of the family, named William, by his 
 last Avill and testament, in 1674, appointed for his 
 daughter Elizabeth (besides her marriage portion), the 
 ancient provision, on her marriage day, of a Bridewain : 
 that is, a wain or Avaggon, Avith articles of use and luxury,
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 197 
 
 " inside and outside gear and plenishing" for the young 
 couple. The bridewain was usually crowned with boughs 
 and flowers, and the horses or oxen which drew it 
 were decorated with ribbons and bride favours. It was 
 brought around to the houses of relatives and friends, 
 who contributed what they pleased as a marriage present. 
 
 STEALING THE BRIDE'S GARTERS. 
 
 In some of the villages in the county palatine, in the 
 unsophisticated olden time, it was the custom after the 
 connubial knot had been tied, for one of the wedding 
 party, the bridegroom's man or some other, to take oif 
 the bride's garter while she knelt at the altar ; and this 
 rather delicate piece of work having been anticipated, 
 the garter was generally found to do credit to her taste 
 and skill in needle-Avork. 
 
 THROWING THE STOCKING. 
 
 On the wedding night, after the bride has retired, and 
 while she is undressing, she delivers one of her stockings 
 to a female o-ttendant — " the best maid," — who throws it 
 at random (or perhaps not quite) among the assembled 
 company. The person on whom it happens to light will, 
 it is supposed, be the next to enter into the blessed state 
 of matrimony. Another and more curious, though per- 
 haps obsolete mode of divination, was for the invited 
 guests to repair to the bridal chamber, where the happy 
 pair received them sitting up in bed, in full dress, except 
 only that they had taken off their shoes and stockings. ^ 
 One of the bridesmaids then took the bridegroom's-^
 
 198 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 stocking, and standing at the foot of the bed with her 
 back towards it, threw the stocking with the left hand 
 over the right shoulder, aiming at the bridegroom's face. 
 This was done by all the unmarried females in rotation. 
 When any of them was so fortunate as to hit the object, 
 it was a sign that she was soon to be married. The 
 bride's stocking Avas thrown by the young men at the 
 bride's face in like manner, a like prognostic being di^awn 
 from it. Brand says new marriages were often occasioned 
 b}^ such incidents. Throwing the stocking finds a place 
 among the ceremonies gone through in that popular old 
 local poem " The Collier's Wedding."
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 199 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 DEATHS AND FUNERALS. 
 THE LYKE WAKE. 
 
 The watching of a corpse previous to interment is 
 known by the old Saxon term Lyke wake, from lie, a 
 body, and u-aecce, watch. It was formerly considered 
 very wrong, indeed positively impious, to leave the 
 defunct for a single moment alone. One set of watchers 
 therefore took the place of another, from the moment of 
 the breath leaving the body, till the lifting of the coffin 
 previous to the interment. And as the grief, even of 
 near relations, cannot long drown the natural appetites, 
 refreshments had to be provided somewhat liberally for 
 such good natured friends and neighbours as volun- 
 teered to sit up with the corpse. In the custom itself 
 there was nothing wrong, it was rather a tribute of 
 respect paid to the deceased and an exhibition of sym- 
 pathy in affliction. But as the best things in this world 
 are apt to be abused, even so was the lyke wake. In 
 process of time it came to be nothing better than a scene 
 of feasting and revelry, extremely indecent on such a 
 melancholy occasion. Instances are related to have 
 occurred where the festering corpse was kept unburied 
 for more than a week, until the watchers had consumed, 
 in their festivity, everything that was in the house.
 
 200 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 This almost always happened when the deceased man or 
 woman had lived alone, had some modicum of means, 
 and had no relations near. It was common to say that 
 people had met to drink such a one's dirgie ; and after 
 the funeral it was the usual practice to adjourn to the 
 nearest public-house to finish off, if it was not convenient 
 to return to the deceased's late residence and conclude 
 the orgies there. 
 
 EARTH AND SALT ON A CORPSE. 
 
 It was once customary to set a plate full of earth and 
 salt upon a corpse, as an emblem of mortality and eternal 
 life. Some matter-of-fact people, who could not rise to 
 the conception of the mystical meaning, said it was done 
 to prevent the body from swelling, through the air get- 
 ting into the boAvels. 
 
 FLOWERS IN THE COFFIN. 
 
 Down till about fifteen or twenty years ago, it was an 
 almost universal custom in Sunderland to decorate the 
 dead in their coffins Avith wreaths of flowers. For this 
 purpose rosemary, white roses, wall-flowers, southern 
 Avood, and other flowers, were used in their season, and 
 those who had them in their gardens were always ready 
 to give them to their poorer neighbours. This was a 
 very ancient custom, going back to the earliest times. 
 
 THE TIDE. 
 
 Life goes out with the tide, and comes in with it. So 
 births and deaths, in seaport towns at least, happen 
 respectively at the flow and ebb. In some extracts of 
 old date, from the parish register of Heslidon, near'
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 201 
 
 Hartlepool, the state of the tide at the time of death is 
 named. "The xith day of Maye, A.D. 1595, at vi of 
 ye clocke in the morning, being full water. Mr. Henrye 
 Mitford, of Hoolau, died at Newcastel, and was hurried 
 the xvi. dale of Male, at vii of ye clocke at noon, being 
 Sondaie, at evening prayer ; the hired preacher made ye 
 sermon." — " The xvii. dale of Male, at xii of ye clocke 
 at noon, being lowe water, Mrs. Barbara Mitford died, 
 and was buried the xviii. day of Male, at ix. of the clock. 
 Mr. Holsworth maid ye sermon." 
 
 THE SOUI. BELL. 
 
 Many people still believe that the tolling of the parish 
 church bell at the time of a death or funeral, commonly 
 called the passing bell, the dead bell, or the soul bell, is 
 for the purpose of driving awa}' the evil spirits, which 
 dare not, it is imagined, come Avithin hearing of the 
 solemn sound. It used formerly to call all good Christians 
 to pray for the soul of the deceased person. Hence the 
 old couplet — ■ 
 
 When the bell begins to toll, 
 
 Lord, have mercy on the soul. 
 Bede is the first who mentions the custom. 
 
 REALISING THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 The Rev. Arthur Shepherd, vicar of Pittington, who 
 died in 1770, had a hatchet deposited with him in his 
 coffin, and a plate of looking-glass inserted in the lid 
 opposite his face, " both," says Surtees, " with a view to 
 facilitate his resurrection." Mr. Shepherd is said to
 
 202 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 have been a very worthy character. He held the living 
 during forty years, and as he reprobated the practice of 
 burial within the walls of churches, he and his wife Anne 
 were interred in the church yard, in the open air, and, 
 presumably, not very deep. 
 
 ANIMAL SACRIFICES AT CHRISTIAN BURIA.LS. 
 
 In the month of August, 1849, in excavating the earth 
 within Staindrop Collegiate Church, in order to build 
 flues for warming the sacred edifice, the skeleton of a 
 human body was exhumed, which was generally sup- 
 posed to be one of the " Noble Nevilles," of Raby Castle, 
 in the Bishopric ; and at his feet were found the bones 
 of a dog of the greyhound breed, which must have been 
 buried along with its master, and had probably been 
 killed (in other words sacrificed) for the purpose. 
 
 BARNARD CASTLE FUNERALS. 
 
 At Barnard Castle, half a century since, funerals were 
 attended by women chiefly, all those in the neighbour- 
 hood going as a matter of courtesy, if it took place in the 
 afternoon. Forenoon Funerals were counted private, and 
 none attended unless invited. The poorer class generally 
 sent round the bellman to announce that such a person, 
 naming him or her, was to be interred at such an hour, 
 or that so and so Avas going to bury his father, wife, or 
 child, as the case might be, and that all persons were 
 invited to be present. Not to go was reckoned a slight.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 203 
 
 THE DEAD KNOCK. 
 
 A mysterious rap heard at the door, or upon the foot 
 of the bed, when there is nobody there to give it, is set 
 down as being a warning of the approaching death of 
 some friend or relative. In most cases it is neither more 
 nor less than an indication that the wood of which the 
 furniture has been made has not been thoroughly sea- 
 soned, and is now beginning to crack, because dried. 
 
 SHROUDING THE LOOKING-GLASS. 
 
 If you look into a mirror in the death-chamber, you 
 will see the corpse looking over your shoulder. There- 
 fore, the mirror ought to be removed or shrouded. "We 
 have seen this done by the attendants in a number of 
 cases. 
 
 RECOVERING THE BODIES OF THE DROWNED. 
 
 It is said that the bodies of the drowned float on the 
 ninth day, and, that if a gun be fired over a dead body 
 lying at the bottom of a river, or of the sea, the con- 
 cussion will break the gall bladder, and cause the body 
 to float. 
 
 A DEAD MAN RESTORED TO LIFE. 
 
 In Simeon's History of the Church of Durham, that 
 veracious chronicler tells us that shortly before Bishop 
 Walcher's death, which took place during a popular 
 tumult at Gateshead, in the year 1080. a man named 
 Eadulf, who resided at no great distanct from Durham,
 
 204 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 in a ville called RavensAvurthe (RavensAvorth), fell sick 
 and died ; but he returned to life before sunrise next 
 morning. Suddenly sitting up, he so terrified the people 
 who were Avatching by the supposed corpse, that they 
 took to flight. But as they A\:ere running away, he called 
 them back and said : " Do not be afraid. Of a truth I 
 have arisen from death. Sign yourselves and this house 
 Avith the sign of the cross." As soon as he had said this 
 a number of little birds rushed through the door from 
 the outside of the house, and filled the room in which 
 they were sitting ; and they flew backAvards and for- 
 Avards in such a troublesome manner as almost to dash 
 themselves in the very faces of the beholders. So the 
 deacon (Avhom the priest had dispatched thither Avhen he 
 himself had returned to the church) ran and sprinkled 
 them and the house Avith holy Avater, and immediately 
 all that ghastly company of birds vanished like smoke 
 from before their eyes. The man Avho had risen from 
 the dead then related several things regarding the joys 
 of the dead and the punishment of the damned, which 
 he had seen Avhen absent from the body ; he also stated 
 that he had recognised several of his former acquaint- 
 ances, Avho Avere rejoicing along Avith the blessed ones 
 in flowery abodes, and he announced that for some others, 
 who were still alive, the eternal torments of hell Avere in 
 preparation. One of these was Waltheof, Earl of North- 
 umberland, who afterAvards was the instigator of the 
 Eishop's murder.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DUKHAM. 205 
 
 BIDDERS TO A FUNERAL. 
 
 Brand, in his Antiquities, says : — " At South Shields, 
 in the County of Durham, the bidders, i.e., the inviters 
 to a funeral, never use the rapper of the door when they 
 go about, but always knock with a key, which they carry 
 with them for that purpose." 
 
 virgins' GARLANDS. 
 
 It used to be the custom in many country churches to 
 hang a garland of artificial flowers over the seats of 
 deceased virgins, in token, says Bourne, of esteem and 
 love, and as an emblem of their reward in the heavenly 
 church. They were made of variegated coloured paper, 
 dyed horn or silk, representing forget-me-nots and other 
 flowers, fastened to small sticks crossing each other at 
 the top, and fixed at the bottom with a circular hoop. 
 From the centre was suspended the form of a woman's 
 glove cut in white paper, on Avhich the name and age of 
 the party commemorated by these frail memorials were 
 sometimes written. The custom, once probably very 
 general, of placing flowers, particularly roses, lilies, and 
 violets, in the coffin with the deceased, is still preserved 
 amongst our villagers. Brand says he saw in the churches 
 of Wolsingham and Stanhope, in the county of Durham, 
 specimens of the Virgins' Garlands, the form of a 
 woman's glove, cut in white paper, hung in the centre of 
 each of them.
 
 206 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 CONFIRMATION. 
 
 A preference is universally felt among ignorant candi- 
 dates for the touch of the Bishop's right hand over the 
 left in the rite of confirmation. The reason assigned is, 
 that the unfortunate recipients of the sinister palm are 
 doomed on the spot to a life of single blessedness. On 
 this account, some young women are known to have come 
 forward twice or thrice to be confirmed, in order to 
 improve their chance for marriage.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 207 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 PORTENTS, AUGURIES, AND OMENS. 
 
 CUTTING one's NAILS. 
 
 One must not cut one's finger or toe nails on a Friday. 
 If anything happens to a nail on the sixth clay of the 
 week, the broken part must be bitten off. Neither knife 
 nor scissors must be used by any means. 
 
 A shoe omen. 
 
 A person who wears away his or her shoes in the 
 middle and fore part of the sole will be fortunate in life. 
 He or she who, on the contrary, either wears out the 
 shoe at one or the other side, and so " cams " it, through 
 walking in a shambling fashion, and setting the feet 
 down carelessly, or else causes it to break out at the toes 
 or go down at the heel, will be unfortunate. 
 
 LENDING SALT. 
 
 No knowledgeable person will lend salt. " No, indeed," 
 an old crone will say, " I will not lend you any, but I'll 
 give you some. Let's have nyen o' yer salt back here." 
 If you borrow salt, it is very unlucky to return it. 
 
 TEA LEAVES. 
 
 It is unlucky to throw aAvay tea leaves ; they should 
 always be laid on the back of the fire ; this keeps away 
 poverty.
 
 208 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 FUNERAL OMENS. 
 
 He who meets a funeral is certain soon to die, unless 
 he bares his head, turns, and accompanies the procession 
 some distance. If the coffin is carried by bearers he 
 must take a lift. This done, if he bows to the company, 
 he may turn and go on his Avay without fear. If, at a 
 funeral, the sun shines brightlj' on the face of one of the 
 attendants, it marks him for the next to be laid in that 
 churchyard ; and persons aware of this take care to place 
 themselves, dui'ing the interment, on the south or east 
 side of the grave. If the sound of the earth falling on 
 the coffin be heard by any person at a considerable 
 distance from the spot, it presages a death in that 
 person's family, 
 
 sailors' dreams. 
 
 If a Sailor dreams that the ship has signed articles to 
 sail, it will be lost on the voyage ; no consideration will 
 tempt him to go to sea in her. He would ten times 
 rather go to jail. In a case of this kind, not long ago, 
 the man told the Magistrate that he was satisfied with 
 the ship, officers, and food, l)ut he had had a dream that 
 the ship would be lost, and would not go to sea in her 
 for any amount of money. Once before, he added, he 
 had a dream that the vessel in which he was sailing 
 would be lost, and it was lost. 
 
 SUPERNATURAL GIFTS. 
 
 The seventh successive son and the ninth successive 
 daughter are supposed to be endoAved with supernatural
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 209 
 
 powers. On the other hand, the illegitimate child of an 
 illegitimate man or woman cannot enter, it is said, into 
 the kingdom of heaven. We once knew a poor fellow 
 who believed this to be true. 
 
 SUPERSTITIONS OF SAILORS. 
 
 A correspondent of the Sunderland Times, whose 
 initials were A.J.G., writes on the subject as follows : — 
 " It is not a little strange that the men Avho face terrible 
 dangers oftener than any others, the men who are sup- 
 posed to be the boldest and hardiest, should be the most 
 superstitious. The most common omen current among 
 sailors is that it is unlucky to put to sea on a Friday. 
 It is accounted very unlucky to lose a water bucket or 
 mop. To throw the cat overboard or drown one at sea 
 is the same, and a storm is bound to be the consequence 
 of such a rash deed. Children are deemed lucky to a 
 ship. Whistling at sea is supposed to cause increase of 
 wind. This belief is supposed to arise from an old dread 
 of the potency of his Satanic Majesty in stirring up a 
 storm, and to abstain from whistling is thought to con- 
 ciliate his feelings — wherein generally is implied a most 
 delicate compliment to his Highness's ear for music. 
 The appearance of dolphins and of porpoises, disporting 
 themselves in the water, is held to presage a gale." 
 
 TO TEST A lover's TROTH. 
 
 The maidens in Durham are wont to test their lovers' 
 fidelity by taking an apple pip, and, naming the lover, 
 putting it in the fire. If it makes a noise as it bursts 

 
 210 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 with the heat, the experimenter is assured of her young 
 man's affection ; hut if it burns away silently, she Avill 
 be convinced that he has no true regard for her, and will 
 forsake her Avhenever to do so serves his turn. 
 
 WISHING CHAIRS, 
 
 We have wishing chairs here and there throughout 
 the North Country. There is one at Finchale Priory ; 
 and he who seats himself in it, breathes a wish, and tells 
 no one what it is, will possibly receive it. 
 
 SPITTING ON A HORSE SHOE. 
 
 If you see a horse shoe, a piece of old iron, or even a 
 nail, on your path, take it up, spit on it, and throw it 
 over your left shoulder, wishing for something at the 
 same time. Then keep the wish an inviolate secret, even 
 from your wife or husband, if you have one, and you will 
 be sure to have it gratified, if you wait long enough. 
 
 MINOR SUPERSTITIONS. 
 
 The folloAving list of little superstitions, still extant in 
 the County of Durham, was supplied to Mr. Henderson 
 by a careful observer : — "It is counted lucky there to 
 carry in the pocket a crooked sixpence, or a one with a 
 hole in it, or to put a stocking on, through inadvertence, 
 inside out. People with meeting eye-brows are thought 
 fortunate fellows. It is lucky to set a hen on an odd 
 number of eggs ; set her on even ones, and you will have 
 no chickens. Again, if two persons wash their hands
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 211 
 
 together in the same basin, they will be sure to fall out 
 before bed time. If a person's hair burn brightly when 
 thrown into the fire, it is a sign of longevity ; the brighter 
 the flame the longer the life. On the other hand, if it 
 smoulder away, and refuse to burn, it is a sign of 
 approaching death. If the nose itches, it is a sign that 
 you will be crossed, or vexed, or kissed 1)y a fool ; if the 
 foot, it foretells that you Avill soon tread on strange 
 ground. Itching of the right hand portends receiving 
 money ; of the left hand, paying money ; of the ear, 
 hearing sudden news. If the right ear tingles, you are 
 being spoken well of ; if the left ear, some one is speak- 
 ing ill of you. If you shiver, some one is walking over 
 jour future grave. If you stumble up stairs (by accident), 
 you will be married the same j'ear ; if you snufF out the 
 candle you certainly will. If you sing l^efore breakfast 
 you will cry before supper. If you put a button or hook 
 into the wrong hole while dressing in the morning, some 
 misfortune will occur during the day. A mole at the 
 back of the neck marks out the bearer of it as in danger 
 of hanging." Here follow some more omens of the same 
 kind : — Spring has not arrived till you can set 3'our foot 
 upon twelve daisies. If you take violets or primroses to 
 a house in less quantity than a handful, all the owner's 
 young chickens or chicks will die. Before you kill any- 
 thing that is to be eaten it is necessary to wash your 
 face ; otherwise the meat will not keep. Eat pancakes 
 on Shrove-Tuesdaj^, and grey peas on Ash-Wednesday, 
 and you will have money in your pockets all the year
 
 212 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 round. To sweep the dust out of your house 1)}^ the 
 front door is to sweep away the good fortune of your 
 family ; it ought to be swept inwards, and carried out 
 in a basket or shovel, and then no harm will follow. It 
 is unlucky, after one has started on a journey, to be 
 recalled and told of something previously forgotten ; but 
 the spell may be t)roken by asking for meat and drink, 
 and partaking of it. No one should, on any account, 
 lend another a pin ; say — " You may take one, but, mind, 
 I do not give it." To make anyone a present of a knife 
 or other sharp implement is sure to cut friendship or 
 love. Mr. Henderson has heard in Durham of a school- 
 master who wished to reward one of his pupils with 
 a knife, but dared not do so Avithout first receiving from 
 the boy a penny, in order that the knife might be pur- 
 chased, not given. Every body knows it is unlucky to 
 spill salt. Rooks and swallows are lucky birds ; where 
 they come to a place and take possession of it, the people are 
 sure to thrive ; whereas a place Avhich they desert, or from 
 which they are driven away, is alwaj's an unlucky place. 
 
 DISAGREEABLE DREAMS. 
 
 If you dream that a cat is lying on your bed, you are 
 going to encounter an enemy who will give you trouble. 
 If you dream about your teeth getting loose and falling- 
 out, you are going to lose a friend. 
 
 SIGNIFICANT DREAMS. 
 A reverend gentleman in Barnard Castle— a near 
 relative of my own — used to pray every evening that the 
 dreams of himself and household might be "spiritual
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 213 
 
 and significant." There is, indeed, a veiy general belief in 
 the significance and fulfilment of dreams. A remarkable 
 discovery of a dead body by means of a dream took place 
 in South Durham in the year 1848, and was narrated in 
 the papers of the day. Mr. Smith, gardener to Sir 
 Clifford Constable, was supposed to have fallen into the 
 Tees, his hat and stick having been found near the water 
 side, and the river was dragged for some time, but with- 
 out success. A man named Awde, from Little Newsham, 
 a small village four miles from Wycliffe, then dreamt 
 that poor Smith was lying under the ledge of a certain 
 rock about 300 yards below Whorlton Bridge, and that 
 his right arm Avas broken. The dream so affected this 
 man, that he got up early and set out at once to search 
 the river. He went to the boat-house, told his story to 
 the person in charge there, and asked for the boat. He 
 rowed to the spot he had seen in his dream, and on the 
 first trial he made with the boat-hook, he drew up the 
 body of the drowned man, and found his right arm 
 actually broken. A few years ago a plate-layer, named 
 "William Potts, was killed on the North-Eastern Railway 
 at Washington, by being knocked down and run over by 
 a goods train. The night before the accident, a little 
 girl, who lived next door to the engine driver of the 
 goods train, dreamed that she saw the engine knock a 
 plate-layer down, who was at the time driving in a 
 "wooden key" with his hammer, and run over him, 
 killing him on the spot. The thing was so strongly 
 impressed on the mind of the girl, who was then an
 
 214 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 invalid, that the first thing she did in the morning was- 
 te go and tell the engineman's wife ; and when her hus- 
 band came home she related to him the dream as it had 
 been told to her, Avhen he told her what had happened on 
 his journey home from York. The wife was the more 
 affected at the circumstance, from the fact that the 
 deceased and herself had been acquainted with each other 
 almost from childhood. It was concluded that he was 
 really employed at " keys " or " chairs," according to 
 the dream, from the fact that there were some out near 
 the spot where he was killed. 
 
 UNLUCKY HOUSES. 
 
 "Aye, shour, Ave're removin', honne'," said a ship- 
 master's wife in Bishopwearmouth, as she stood at the 
 door of her domicile one day, with her household goods 
 around her: "folks say it's all them unlucky houses. 
 My hoosband was three times shipwrecked in our first 
 house. Then we removed ; but we had ney sooner get- 
 tin' into the next house than he was browt on shore in 
 the life-boat. Aw's shour I hope we'll hev better luck 
 in the house Ave're gan tey." 
 
 LAYING A LOAF UPSIDE DOWN. 
 
 You must on no account lay a loaf on the table, or, 
 e I , anywhere, upside down. To do so is, in the 
 sieht of all old housewives, a serious fault.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 215 
 
 WINDING WORSTED. 
 
 Ill the County of Durham, in the old times of our 
 grandmothers, it was reckoned unhicky to wind worsted 
 by candlelight. No sailor's or shipowner's wife, at any 
 rate, would do it, as it Avould have been sure to " Avind 
 away the ship's luck." 
 
 THE NEW MOON. 
 
 If a person happens to have money in his pocket when 
 he first sees the new moon, he will certainly not want 
 money that month. There is an equivoque in this. It 
 is unlucky to see the new moon first through the window. 
 
 CANDLE OMENS. 
 
 Candles and other lights burn blue and dim when 
 invisible beings are present, especially if they be evil 
 spirits. " A letter at the candle," as it is called, caused 
 by a hair or some other foreign substance, collecting some 
 of the half melted tallow round it and preventing it from 
 dissolving, is regarded as the fore-runner of some strange 
 news. " A spail at the candle," which is a similar 
 appearance, in the shape of a chip, or rather shaving of 
 wood, prognosticates death in the house — generally that 
 of the person who sits opposite to it, or some one very 
 near and dear to him or her. 
 
 A CINDER FLYING OUT OF THE FIRE. 
 
 When household coal is full of gas, the bubbles pro- 
 duced in burning not unfrequently burst, and throw off 
 hot sparks or flakes Avhich are apt to burn holes in the
 
 216 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 carpet (if there is any), or might even set the house on 
 fire, if not promptly stamped out. If the explosion is a 
 silent one, as sometimes happens, the spark or cinder 
 signifies a coffin ; if it rattles, it means a purse. 
 
 HANDSEL. 
 
 Fishwomen and huxters have from time to time im- 
 memorial been in the habit of handselling, that is, spitt- 
 ing upon the first bit of money they receive in a morning, 
 so as to render it lucky. They say it makes it draw- 
 more money to it. The Danes and Swedes, as well as the 
 Scots, use the same word — handsel, handsol, hansel, — 
 to signify the same thing, 
 
 SIGNS OF BEING A WITCH. 
 
 " Hinny, if ye ivver gan intiv a house, an' ye see a 
 person there who has eye-brows meetin' each other, that 
 person's a witch. An' you must be sure to cross your- 
 self, and close the fingers of your left hand over your 
 thumb ; and that takes away her power. I always de'd, 
 an' they can do nothing to us." Such was the sage advice 
 tendered to a young woman by an old crone, in the hear- 
 ing of a friend of mine, a short time ago. To follow it, 
 it is clear, could do no harm. 
 
 SNEEZING, 
 
 Many a Durham dame — mother, nurse, friend, or 
 simple acquaintance, — never hears a person sneezing, and 
 particularly a child, without ejaculating the brief prayer : 
 " God bless thee ! "
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 217 
 
 HARVEST BLESSING, 
 
 Seventy or eighty years ago, nobody ever passed a 
 body of reapers in harvest time without shouting — " For- 
 ther ye !" to which the response was " thank ye ! " A 
 similar custom is alluded to in the book of Ruth (II. 4), 
 wherein it is said that when Boaz came from Bethlehem 
 he said unto the reapers " The Lord be with you ! " and 
 they answered him "The Lord be with thee !" 
 
 BREAKING THE RAINBOW. 
 
 The children hereabouts cut the rainbow in two, or at 
 least fancy they do so, by laying two straws on the 
 ground in the form of a cross. Shortly after they have 
 done so, the rainbow always falls asunder. The weather- 
 wise call it a "weather gall," Scotice weather ga',when only 
 a small piece of the end of a rainbow, near the horizon, 
 is visible. It has this name evidently from its colour. 
 
 GOING SUN-WAYS ROUND. 
 
 " The dead maun aye go wi' the sun." This custom 
 originated in the notion that it is unlucky to walk in 
 procession in a contrary Avay to that in Avhich the sun 
 goes. When the wind veers round northerly from east 
 to west, old farmers observe that fine weather seldom 
 follows ; but that when it goes sun-waj^s round, or " south 
 about," a favourable change may be expected. From 
 this the general conclusion has been draAvn, that to go 
 against the sun's course (in German " widersonne," 
 Scotch " withershins ") is purposely to bring ill luck, 
 not on the individual who does so, however, but on those 
 against whom he harbours ill-will.
 
 218 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 THE EAST WIND. 
 A wind from the East 
 Is good for neither man nor beast. 
 
 There is reckoned to be something very remarkably 
 unwholesome in East winds, and particularly North- 
 easters. They cause headaches, cramps, lumbagoes, 
 rheumatisms, and a host of serious disorders. One old 
 commandant at Tynemouth is said to have suffered so- 
 dreadfully from them, that when he looked out in the 
 morning, and saw tlie weather-cock pointing in the- 
 dreaded direction, he never shewed face outside again 
 that day. Some of the men, observing this, climbed up 
 and nailed the weather-cock with its bill to the East, and 
 so kept the old gentleman indoors for six or seven weeks. 
 Every morning when he arose, his hrst exclamation was, 
 " There it is still — always the same ! " adding a round 
 volley of oaths. 
 
 THE HURRICANE OF 1839. 
 
 Mr. Luke Mackey, of South Shields, communicates- 
 the following item : — " A farmer's wife at West Cowton, 
 near Croft, Avas the cause of the hurricane of June, 1839. 
 She Avas blamed by a butcher with stealing some meat 
 from him, and in revenge read the 1 — 6 psalms back- 
 wards, and prayed that the winds might rise. My infor- 
 mant, Matthew Crawford, knife grinder, &c., was living 
 there at the time, and says there are numbers of people 
 who can attest it. The farmer's wife, he adds, left West 
 Cowton shortly after, the place being too hot to hold 
 her," The storm here referred to was one of the most 
 violent that ever visited the North. There is a good 
 account of it in " Fordyce's Local Eecords."
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 21 & 
 
 WHIN-BURNING. 
 
 It is a common notion in the North of England, and 
 also in the South of Scotland, that Whin-burning breaks 
 the weather; likewise mooi^-burning, and even "wrack-" 
 burning — especially the former. 
 
 STARS NEAR THE MOON. 
 
 The appearance of a star near the moon is an omen of 
 bad or stormy weather being not far distant. 
 
 SNAKE STONES. 
 
 In Scott's Marmion, the Nuns of Whitby are recorded 
 to have told exultingly 
 
 how, of thousand snakes, each one 
 
 Have changed into a coil of stone, 
 
 When Holy Hilda prayed ; 
 Themselves, within their holy bound, 
 Their stony folds had often found. 
 
 Specimens of the seemingly petrified snakes, or snake- 
 stones, as they are called, may still be seen in many a 
 house in the County Palatine, carefully kept. The good 
 Saint Hilda, it was said, knocked oft' their heads, and the 
 fact is that all of them are headless, the reason being, 
 however, that they never had any ; for they are not 
 snakes at all, but fossil shell fish or ammonites. One of 
 the Flint Jack fraternity, some time ago, made a pretty 
 good livelihood by attaching stone heads to these fossils,, 
 and sellino- them to iernorant tourists.
 
 220 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 OLD women's cures, CHARMS, &C. 
 CONCERNING THE TEETH. 
 
 It Avas by eating the forbidden fruit that toothache was 
 first caused. So you will be gravely told by many sage 
 matrons. Even after the tooth is drawn there is still 
 some mysterious connection between it and the gums. 
 For if it is thrown away and allowed to rot, you will 
 have gumboil or some other plague of the kind until it 
 has been fairly dissolved away. To prevent this, when 
 a decayed tooth is extracted, salt should be put into the 
 hollow part, and it should be thrown into the fire. In 
 the case of a young person losing his or her first teeth, 
 the old woman who pulls the loose grinder out with her 
 fingers or by means of a pack thread, will say, as she 
 devotes it to the devouring element : — 
 
 " Fire, fire, burn tlie byen ! 
 God send thee thy tyeuth agj'en." 
 
 SALT WORKERS ESCAPING THE PLAGUE. 
 
 A tradition prevails at Shields, that when the plague 
 raged there, in the middle of the seventeenth century, 
 the persons employed about the salt works entirely 
 escaped the infection.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 221 
 
 CURE FOR WHOOPING COUGH. 
 
 Take the child affected with whooping cough to a tan- 
 yard, and hold it for some time over the pit while the 
 hides are being turned over. Or put a live trout's head 
 into the mouth of the sufferer, so as to let it breathe 
 therein. Or make it sup porridge made over a stream 
 running from north to south. Or tie a hairy caterpillar 
 (locally Hairy 'Ubertj in a small bag round the child's 
 neck, so that when it dies, the cough may vanish. Or 
 carry the patient through the smoke of a lime-kiln. Or 
 catch a shrew mouse, make a holocaust of it (that is, 
 burn it to ashes) and administer the water in which the 
 ashes are put to the child as a curative draught. Or, 
 take the patient to the gas works to breathe the air 
 engendered there. Another remedy current in Sunder- 
 land is to have the crown of the head shaved, and the 
 hair hung upon a bush or tree, when the birds carrying 
 it away to their nests will carry away the cough with it. 
 Still further, the sufferer may be passed nine times over 
 the back and nine times under the belly of a donkey, or 
 of a piebald pony, Avith good hopes of a cure. Another 
 infallible cure is said to be, to bake a cake on Good 
 Friday, hang it up to dry thoroughly, so that it will not 
 mould, and grate as much of it as you think will do, 
 when a child happens to take the whooping cough, and 
 give it the powder in a warm drink. 
 
 A REMEDY FOR GOITRE. 
 
 The Eev. J. W. Hicks, incumbent of Byers Green, 
 near Bishop Auckland, informed Mr. Henderson, that
 
 222 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 on asking a parishioner afflicted with Goitre, whether he 
 had tried any measure for curing it, he answered : — " No, 
 I have not, though I have been a sufferer for eleven years. 
 But a very respectable man told me to-day that it would 
 pass away if I rub a dead child's hand nine times across 
 the lump (the hand of a suicide will do equally well). 
 I've not much faith in it myself, but I've just tried it." 
 Somewhat similar measures were resorted to, Mr. 
 Henderson tells us, on the authority of the Eev. H. B. 
 Tristram, of Greatham Hospital, by another sufferer, 
 not many years ago. " The body of a suicide, who had 
 hanged himself in Heselden-dene, not far from Hartle- 
 pool, was laid in an out-house, awaiting the coroner's 
 inquest. The wife of a pitman at Castle Eden Colliery, 
 suflfering from a wen in the neck, according to advice 
 given her by a ' wise Avoman,' went along and lay all 
 night in the out-house, with the hand of the corpse on 
 her wen. She had been assured that the hand of a 
 suicide was an infallible cure. The shock to the nervous 
 system from that terrible night was so great that she did 
 not rally for some months, and eventually died from the 
 wen. This happened about the year 1853." 
 
 CURE FOR THE STY. 
 
 A great relief, if not a perfect cure, for that trouble- 
 some and painful swelling on the eye-lid, commonly 
 called a sty, by learned doctors hordeolum, is supposed to 
 be effected by the application to the tumour of a wedding 
 rina;, nine times reoeated.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 223 
 
 CURE FOR EPILEPSY. 
 Let a half-crown piece that has been offered by some 
 person on going to Holy Communion, and begged for 
 from the priest, be made into a ring to be worn by an 
 ■epileptic patient, and it will infallibly cure him. 
 
 TO CAUSE OR TO REMOVE WARTS. 
 
 Wash your hands with water in which eggs have been 
 boiled, and it will cause warts ; wash them nine times 
 with the water in which potatoes have been boiled, and 
 it will cure them. Or, for the latter purpose, take a 
 large black snail, rub the wart well with it, and throw 
 the poor creature against a thorn hedge, so as to impale 
 it on one of the twigs ; as the snail melts away, so will 
 the warts. Another way : — Put into a small bag as many 
 pebbles as there are warts on your hands, and drop it at 
 a place where four roads meet. Whoever picks up the 
 bag will get the warts. A fourth plan is to steal a piece 
 of beef from a butcher's shop and rub the warts with it, 
 after which the beef must be thrown into a place where 
 it vvall lie and rot, and as it rots the warts will fade away. 
 A fifth, sometimes adopted, is to make as many knots on 
 a hair as there are warts on the hands, and throw it to 
 the winds. The application of eel's blood is likewise 
 supposed to cure warts. Boys take a new pin, cross the 
 Avarts with it nine times, and fling it over the left 
 shoulder ; or they cut an apple in two, rub the warts 
 with each half, tie the halves together again, and bury 
 them in the ground. In the latter case, as the apple 
 decays, the warts will disappear.
 
 224 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 CHARMS AGAINST CRAMP. 
 
 Mr. Henderson says : — " School-boys have their super- 
 stitions and legendary rites. In my own day, and 
 perhaps at the present time, no boy would commit him- 
 self to the Wear without tlie precaution of an eel-skin 
 tied round his left leg to save him from cramp. Well 
 do I remember thus fortifying myself against danger, 
 before plunging into the stream," A charm often used 
 by folks who are troubled with cramp in their limbs — 
 a most excruciating malady — is to take a roll of sulphur 
 or common brimstone in each hand when they go to bed, 
 and keep it there all night. I have known this done in 
 several cases, it was said with good effect. Another 
 charm is to wear a cramp ring, made out of the handle 
 of a decayed coffin. Such rings used formerly to be 
 blessed by the priest on Good Friday. They were either 
 worn on the finger or placed next the skin on the limb 
 subject to the cramp.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 225 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 MORE GHOSTS. 
 A HYLTON CHAPEL CHOST, 
 
 Many years ago— our authority is George Gamshy's 
 grandmother, who has heen dead for half-a-centurj', and 
 who was eighty years old when she died — a sailor named 
 Wull, who lived at Hylton, was returning home one 
 night along the north Ijanlc of the Wear, Avhen a woman 
 came out of the hedge, between High Southwick and 
 H}lton Castle, laid her hand iipon his shoulder and 
 walked along with him. She said nothing, and he said 
 nothing ; Ijut the sweat poured off him like water. 
 When he came to the small chapel near the castle, she 
 disappeared, gliding down the two or three steps and 
 through the little gate leading to the cemetery attached, 
 at the foot of the slope next the river. He got home, 
 but he scarcely knew how, and as soon as he crossed 
 the threshold he fainted away, and it was a good while 
 before he came to. 
 
 APPARITION AT STOCKTON. 
 
 In Mr. W. D'Oyly Bailey's " History of the House of 
 
 D'Oyly," the following passage occurs : — " Many cases 
 
 are related by the superstitious of persons who, dying 
 
 abroad, have in their last moments visited or appeared 
 P
 
 226 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 to their friends at many thousand miles distance. 
 That a most remarkal)le instance of this occurred in Mr. 
 Bailey's house at Stockton, Ijetween the hours of twelve 
 and one, midnight, close upon the time when it was 
 afterwards ascertained Lieut. T. D'Oyly (the late Mr. 
 Bailey's nephew), died in the East Indies, the author 
 can vouch for, as it was communicated to him some 
 weeks before news of Lieut. Thomas D'Oyly's decease 
 reached England." 
 
 THE miser's ghost AND THE BOX-MAKER. 
 
 Surtees, in his " History of Durham," quotes the follow- 
 ing wonderful story said to have been told by Bishop 
 Gunning, who had it from a doctor who came out of the 
 Bishopric of Durham, in the year 1671 : — Lately there 
 lived a usurer in Durham who spoke to a boxmaker of 
 his acquaintance, to make him a box to hold about 
 j£208, which he did ; after this the usurer died and left 
 neither will nor money that anyone knew of, and so he 
 was buried ; after this his ghost apj)eared to the box- 
 maker in the night, made him rise and carried him over 
 hedge and ditch into a meadow ; and there made him 
 dance till he Avas quite tired, and so left him ; and served 
 him so a second time ; and came the third time, and 
 then the box-maker did speak to the ghost, asking him 
 what he Avould have him to do for him ; then the ghost 
 l)id him follow him into a barn, and] there showed him 
 where the box which he made was hid full of gold and 
 silver ; and then gave him his will in writing, making
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 227 
 
 ±he boxmaker swear to perform the same, which accord- 
 ingl}^ he did, and got well by it too ; and after that the 
 ghost came to give him his thanks, and told him, to 
 gratify his care and due observance of his will, he "would 
 ^.ell him a secret that should be for his good but he must 
 .^wear to keep it ; and then he told him and left him. 
 
 WAFTS. 
 
 The waft, waff, or fetch, is the apparition of a dying 
 •person, manifestfng itself at his or her departure from 
 this world, to a friend at an indefinite distance. In 
 Scotland it is known as the wraith. The belief in it is 
 common all over the country, and we have heard many 
 ■examples of it quoted. Sir Cuthbert Sharpe says that 
 *' at Hartlepool ' wafFs ' were still common in his time, 
 and few persons died there before their neighbours had 
 seen their 'waff.' " Indeed he tells us that "some persons 
 have seen their own ' waffs,' and under the conviction 
 that their death before long was thereby predicted, have 
 seldom recovered from the impression." The 'waft' 
 usually takes the form of the person about to die, but 
 not always. For a strange cat or dog, a hare crossing 
 the road, or some other startling appearance, is some- 
 times, from coincidence of time, supposed to be the 
 waft of a friend in the article of death.
 
 228 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 SUBTERRANEAN PASSA(;ES. 
 
 Near every ancient castle, cathedral, al»l)ey or hall, the 
 common people have traditionar}' tales of nnJerground 
 (vaulted) roads, sometimes to great distances, such as 
 from Durham to Finchale Abbe}', from liaby Castle to 
 Staindrop Church, from the Bishop's Manor House to 
 Darlington Church, from the Green Cove at Hartlepool 
 to the Church there, from Wearmouth Monastery, or 
 some say Hylton Castle, to the sea at Roker (Spottie's 
 Hole). The latter, called also more euphoniously the 
 Monk's Cavern, Avas partially explored some eighty years 
 ago, by three of the inhabitants of Monkwearmouth, as 
 related by Garbutt (History of Sunderland, p. 89), 
 " After they had advanced a little way from the entrance, 
 they found the passage perfectly good, in general allow 
 ing them to walk upright, and entirely hewn out of the 
 limestone rock, with which this place is surrounded. 
 Having proceeded a considerable distance in the direction 
 of the site of the monastery, without meeting with any 
 considerable impediment, they thought it prudent to 
 return, on account of the danger of coming in contact 
 with foul air, to which they might have been exposed by 
 a further progress." The local song of " Spottie," 
 written b}- Mr. Thomas Clarke, of Sunderland, father of
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. * 229 
 
 Mr. Thomas Clarke, of Silver Street, in that town, wlio 
 died in 1816, and preserved by Sir Cuthbert Sharp, in 
 his "Bishoprick Garland," has immortalised the memory 
 of a poor foreign refugee, who took up his residence for 
 some time in this dreary aliode, and communicated his 
 sobriquet to it. Being unable to speak the English 
 language, his daily subsistence Avas gained among the 
 farm houses in the neighbourhood, where he endeavoured 
 to make himself understood by means of signs, and was 
 known by the name of Spottee, on account of the 
 variegated spots on his upper garment. Having lived 
 for some time in this subterraneous habitation, he 
 suddenly disappeared, and was supposed either to have 
 died suddenly, or, by advancing too far into the cavern, 
 to have fallen a prey to foul air. Poor Spottee, whoever 
 he was, and whatever became of him, furnished the sub- 
 ject for one of the most racy local songs that ever was 
 written, a song which Topliff used to sing with peculiar 
 gusto, and which Captain Edward Eobinson preferred to 
 act in character, in a style which no one can ever hope 
 to equal. The following stanza is a specimen of the 
 composition : — 
 
 The fiud weyves o'Wibburn they (livv'ut knaw what for te dey ; 
 They darn't come alang the sands, wi' their sweels i' their hands, 
 
 te sell their lang tyel'd skyets at Jacob Spenceley's landin', as 
 
 they you'sd for te dey ; 
 Now they're fworced te tyek a cobble, an' come in by the sey. 
 
 "Flowter's Flowd," mentioned in one of the stanzas, 
 .seems to be a vulgarism for " Slater's Flood," and if so,
 
 230 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 the reference is to one Slater, a bailiff of Durham, whose 
 dead corpse, when being taken from St. Nicholas' parish 
 in that city for burial at St. Oswald's, had to be carried 
 round by Elvet and Kotteu Eow, owing to a great flood 
 in the river AVear, which rose that day (8th July, 1721) 
 higher than had ever been remembered. *•' The Life and 
 Adventures of Little Spottee, the Hermit of the Rock" 
 — entirely fanciful — are contained in a ballad written by 
 John Young, Bishopwearmouth, and published and sold 
 (without date) by "\V. Sutherland, Bedford Street, North 
 Shields. The song is golden, the ballad only tinsel.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 231 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 HOLY WELLS. \ 
 
 At Monkton, near Jarrow, the reputed birth-place of 
 Bede, there is a famous well Avhich bears his name. Its 
 waters have long been in great repute for their health- 
 giving properties. As late as the year 1740, saj^s Brand, 
 it was a prevailing custom to bring children troubled 
 with any disease or infirmity to it, A crooked pin was 
 put in, and the well laid dry between each dipping — a 
 curious association of ideas, for here, as at the Pool of 
 Bethesda, beside the sheep market in Jerusalem, only 
 one patient could receive benefit, it seems, after each 
 troubling of the waters. Brand's informant had seen 
 twenty children brought together on a Sunday to be 
 dipped in Bede's well, at which also, on Midsummer 
 Eve, there was a great concourse of neighbouring people, 
 with bonfires, music, dancing and other rural sports, 
 This and other merrj' customs have long been discon- , 
 tinned. But still when the well is occasionally cleared / 
 out, a number of crooked pins (a few years ago a pint)^ 
 are always found among the mud. These have been 
 thrown into the sacred fount for some purpose or other, 
 either in a general way as charms for luck, or to promote 
 and secure true love, or for the benefit of sick babies.
 
 232 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 In days when the ague was common in this country, the 
 usual offering at this and other holy wells, by the shiver- 
 ing and shaking Gaffer Grays and Goody Blakes of 
 the period, was a bit of rag tied to the branch of an 
 overhanging tree or bush. The particularlj' fine springs 
 of Houghton, from which the town receives its distinctive 
 appelation of le-Spring, are all chalyljeate. One of them, 
 situated in Newbottle Lane, is still called the Holy AVell, 
 This name is said to have been imposed upon it in the 
 year 700, when the Venerable Bede and his attendants 
 jmssed through Houghton, and regaled themselves with 
 " the fine beverage of nature " at this particular fountain. 
 Of the Holy Wells at Shotley, Brancepeth, Butterby, 
 Hartlepool, &c., little more can be said, but that they 
 have all more or less powerful medicinal properties, 
 though without any local traditions attaching to them. 
 
 THE HELL KETTLES. 
 
 Holinshed, in his " Chronicles of England," published 
 in 1677, says : — " What the foolish people dream of the 
 Hell Kettles, it is not worthy the rehearsal ; yet to the 
 end the leAvd opinions concerning them may grow into 
 contempt, I will say this much also of these pits. There 
 are certain pits, or rather three little pools, a mile from 
 Darlington, and a quarter of a mile distant from the 
 These [Tees] banks, which people call the Kettles of 
 Hell, or the Devil's Kettles, as if he should seethe souls 
 of sinful men and women in them. They add also, that
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 233 
 
 the spirits have oft l^een heard to cry ami }'ell about 
 them, with other hke talk, savouring altogether of pagan 
 infidelity." Mr. Manson, of Darlington, in his " Zigzag 
 Eambles," gives the best account I have seen of these 
 mysterious ponds. 
 
 THE GIANTS COR, BEN, AND <'0N. 
 
 Corbridge, Benfieldside, and Consett, got their names, 
 it is said, from three giants, whose names form the first 
 syllables of the words respectively. They were Ijrothers, 
 and they had a huge hammer in connnon, which each, 
 at a whistle, could throw nine miles. On one occasion, 
 when Con, who had become blind, threw the hammer, it 
 fell short, and made Howden, which, as the name indi- 
 cates, is a hollow dene near Consett. I am inclined to 
 suspect that Cor was no other than Thor, the Xorse 
 God of Thunder, whose hammer— the mauler or smasher 
 — had the property of returning to his hand, like the 
 Australian boomerang, after beinu' hurled. 
 
 HOLY BIZONS. 
 
 In the good old times, to which some sentimental 
 people would fain return, it was customary to make 
 men or women guilt}^ of certain misdemeanours stand 
 on " the stool of repentance " in church, for three 
 successive Sundays, in face of the whole congregation, 
 and be rebuked by the minister. This penitential act 
 was performed in a white sheet, and the misdemeanant 
 so undergoing purification, was commonly knoA\ni as a
 
 234 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 " Holy Bizon," from an old Anglo-Saxon Avord meaning 
 " an example." But a " Holy Bizon," now, is any shame- 
 ful person, scold, rogue, termagant or hypocrite, who by 
 the judgment of his or her fellows, ought to be made a 
 public example of. The word " bizon " used l)y itself, is 
 a shame or scandal, anything monstrous or excessive. 
 Thus, in the local song, " Canny Newcastle," the follow- 
 ing verse occurs : — 
 
 Wiv a' the stravaigin aw wanted a munch, 
 
 An' maw thropj^le was ready te gizen ; 
 Se aw went tiv a yell-house, and there tyeuk a lunch, 
 
 But the reck'uin', me soul ! was a bizon. 
 
 TOO DEAR FOR THE BISHOP OF DURHAM. 
 
 The Bishops of Durham, now sadly stinted, Avere long 
 proverbial for their riches. For a thing to be too dear 
 for the Bishop of Durham to buy meant that it was 
 priceless. In the thirteenth century, a piece of cloth, 
 richly embruidered, was offered for sale, but was held 
 up at so high a price that even the nobles themselves 
 refused or durst not buy. This coming to the ears of 
 Anthony Beck, who then filled the see as prince-bishops 
 he Avent immediately and bought it, and ordered that it 
 should be cut into cloths for his sumpter horses. It is. 
 likeAvise recorded that at one time in London, the 
 Bishop of Durham gave forty shillings for forty fresh 
 herrincfs — the dearest fish of the kind ever heard of.
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 235» 
 WHENCE DRYBURN HAD ITS NAME. 
 
 On the 27tli of May, 1590, four seminary priests,. 
 "Papysts, tretors, and rebels to hyr Majestye," Avere 
 hanged and quartered at Durham " for their horryble 
 offences." Their names were Hill, Hogge, Holida}^ and 
 Duke. A brook, near the common galloAvs, ceased to 
 flow at the time of their execution, and has remained 
 dry ever since ; therefore it is called Dryburn to this 
 day. Mr. John Yaxley, a reverend priest, in a letter 
 dated July 17, 1707, says : — " Above twenty year& 
 since, I have been shown the hole from whence it issued, 
 and the marks of its former channel." 
 
 MARVELS AT BUILDING HILL. 
 
 In the year 1767, during a lawsuit raised by Mr. 
 Teasdale Mowbray against Mr. John Thornhili for 
 digging and carrying away stones from the quarry at 
 Building Hill without paying dues for the same, a 
 woman deposed " that her father went to the hill one 
 night for his gavelock, and saw a " waugh ;" also, that 
 when a man of the name of Coward Avas " digging the 
 rock about ninety years ago, he found in a cavity, several 
 fathoms from the surface, a large toad alive, Avith a nob 
 on its head as big as an egg, full of diamonds, and there- 
 by got a great deal of money." 
 
 RHYME ON BULMER STONE, DARLINGTON. 
 
 " In Darntoun Towne there is a stane, 
 
 And most strange yt is to tell, 
 That yt turnes IX times round aboute, 
 
 When yt heais ye clock strike twell."
 
 236 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 In Longstaffe's " History of Darlington," we are tokl 
 that this trnl}' Avonderf ul revolving stone, thongh, by-tlie- 
 bye, it is not singular in this property, stands in front 
 of some low cottages constituting Northgate House, in 
 the street bearing the same name. It is a water-worn 
 boulder-stone of shap (Westmoreland) granite. 
 
 SIR JOHN DUCK. 
 
 Sir John Duck, the richest burgess in the civic annals 
 of Durham, -was bred a butclrer under John Heslop, in 
 defiance of the trade and mj-stery of l)utchers, Avho were 
 fully as arbitrary and despotic in the good old times as 
 trade unions in ours. In the l^ooks of the trade appears 
 the following entry : — " That he (Heslop) forbear to set 
 John Duck on work in the trade of butch ei-." Tradition 
 tells that after he was thus cast out and was -walking 
 /about in a state of extreme despondency, a raven, flying 
 over his head, let fall a piece of silver, Avhich lucky 
 incident made a strong impression on his mind. AVith 
 the money he bought a calf; the calf, with care and 
 perseverance, ere long became a cow ; the cow became a 
 herd of cattle ; and in the course of a few years he 
 realised a splendid fortune. He built himself a noble 
 mansion in Silver street, and endowed an -hospital at 
 Lumley, probably the place of his birth. His death 
 took place on the 26th of August, 1691, and he was 
 buried beside his wife (the daughter of his old master) at 
 the church of St. Margaret, on Monday the 31st of the
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 237 
 
 same month. He was created a baronet by James the 
 Second. The following rhyme was once current regard- 
 ing him : — 
 
 On Duck, the Butchers shut the door ; 
 
 But Heslop's (hiughter Johnny wed : 
 In mortgage rich, in offspring jjoor, 
 
 Nor son nor daughter crowned his bed. 
 
 RUN AWAY, DOCTOR BOKANKI ! 
 
 This saying is used by the school-boys and young 
 collegians of Durham, to any of their chums or mates 
 who are guilty of a mean or cowardly act. It arose 
 from the circumstance of Dr. Walter Balcanqual, Dean 
 of Durham, in the time of the Civil AVars, fleeing away 
 from the city with extreme precipitation, after the battle 
 of Newburn, for fear of the Scots. The reason was that 
 he understood they had given out that they would seize 
 upon and punish him as an incendiary, for writing the 
 Kings' " Large Declaration " against them. Balcanqual 
 was a Scotchman, who had followed James I. into 
 England. 
 
 THE WANDERING PIPER. 
 
 I happened to encounter this famous personage in 
 1833, when travelling along the great North Eoad. He 
 was said to be a " gentleman," some said a " nobleman,'' 
 others more definitely " Lord Glenlyon," or " Lord 
 John Gordon," who, to decide a wager whether he could 
 collect a certain sum of money within a certain time,
 
 238 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 without solicitation, by playing on the bagpipes, travel- 
 le<l from town to town, l)estowing liis receipts on the 
 charitable institutions of each place. At Durham, he 
 made a donation of £1 15s. to the Lying-in-Charity, 
 established for the relief of poor married lying-in-women. 
 It stands recorded in their books as from the " The 
 Wandering Piper." Whether it really was a wager, and 
 whether, if it was, he won it or not, we cannot say. AVe 
 only recollect that he had a very fine ass to carry his 
 ipipes, that he spoke with a sharp Highland accent, and 
 that he looked very like a real nobleman, with long 
 fingers that would have pleased Lord Byron. A portrait 
 of him Avas published at the time. Many Sunderland 
 people well remember his visit to that town. As he 
 walked about the streets he was followed by a group of 
 boys. One gentleman threw him a sixpence which fell 
 on the ground. A lad called his attention to it. He 
 would not stoop to pick it up, but merely said " Put it 
 into your pocket, my boy " — an order quickly complied 
 with. All money offered to him the donor had to put 
 in his sporran, or at least into his hand. 
 
 KING CHARLES I. AT BISHOP AUCKLAND, 
 
 On the night of the 4th Februar}^ 1646, His Gracious 
 Majesty Charles lay at Christopher Dobson's house in 
 Bishop Auckland. This much we learn from the parish 
 register, quoted by Sir Cuthbert Sharp. And well- 
 supported tradition relates that Gertrude, the eldest 
 sister of Colonel Francis Wren, who was as earnest a
 
 OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 239 
 
 Eoyalist as her brother was a stern Republican, went to 
 Dobson's to visit the King, and found him in the middle 
 of a large guard room, the soldiers sitting round on 
 benches, smoking tobacco — a practice Charles, like his 
 father, held in utter abomination. Shocked at their 
 uncourtly freedom and want of respect towards royalt}-, 
 she dashed the pipes from the soldiers' mouths as she 
 advanced towards the King, to whom kneeling, she 
 tendered her respectful homage His Majesty, equally 
 surprised and gratified at such a bold and unexampled 
 proof of attention to his personal comfort, raised her up, 
 saying, '* Lady, I thank you ! you have done more than 
 the boldest man in England durst have done." Charles, 
 it may be proper to add, was then " in the hands of the 
 Philistines," having been delivered up to the English 
 Parliament by the Scottish Presbyterians, to whom he 
 had fled for shelter, but with whose hard conditions he 
 refused to comply : and he was then being conveyed to 
 Holmby House, where he was seized and carried off by 
 Colonel Joyce at the instigation of Cromwell.
 
 /.
 
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