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England
Barn Hall MoatSacred Well
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Fieldnotes |
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This site is on Land 'owned' by Barn Hall Farm. It is easily accesible from the road (B1026 Just Past Salcott cum Virley crossroads). There is however an extremely forboding sign, printed red against white, to the effect "Unauthorised visitors may be liable to prosecution" strange this, for a wooded moat in the middle of an arable field in a far from touristy area. Upon rather furtive inspection it seems there is some kind of duck breeding going on at the moat. I have already been threatened with a shot-gun in the area for walking across a fallow field so it is with great trepidation that I explore further. Comments on the legality or otherwise of 'The sign' would be welcome. |
Posted by avalidusername 23rd October 2002ce |
Folklore |
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Legend of the Devil and the claw marks Apparently a medieval lord at Salcott-cum-Virley was attempting to build himself a new manor house but was making little progress, because every night his tools and materials mysteriously disappeared. The nobleman was convinced that somebody was creeping up under cover of darkness and stealing his goods. He must have been very dim because he did not realise that he was trying to build his house on top of a deep marsh and that everything was simply sinking into it. The lord of the manor decided that one night he would keep vigil and catch the culprit red-handed. However, instead of a thief, up strode the Devil with two dogs. The Devil took one of the nobleman's house timbers and threw it into the darkness crying, `Where this beam doth fall, there build Barn Hall'. The chosen spot proved to be a sound one and free of the marshes, because Barn Hall stands there to this day. In return for this favour, the Devil took it that the man owed him his soul and vowed, "Where you are buried on land or sea, there I will come to fetch you." The terrified man decreed that, when he died, his body was to be kept in a coffin embedded in the walls of Virley church. The idea was that he would be protected by the sanctity of the church. The plan clearly worked a treat - at least for a while - and the power of God and the church proved to be too much for the Devil, who could only claw at the walls trying in vain to claim his prize. Today there are no obvious `claw marks' in the ruined church or indeed anything which could have been passed off as such in the past*. Perhaps in 1884 the bones of the nobleman were shaken from their safe entombment by the earthquake and the Devil finally got his man. As for the famous claw marks, they may have crumbled to dust as parts of the church came crashing down in the earthquake - or maybe they are yet to be rediscovered in the village, hidden behind the dahlias in somebody's rockery. *Of course, apart from anything else, we could point out that the walls of the church are clearly too narrow ever to have contained a coffin, but why ruin a good story? The source of the legend: `The devil comes to Salcott' by Jenny Humphrey (Colchester Public Library Another version of the legend retold by The Reverend Keith Lovett in his history of the Area (mainly local pamphlets available in St Mary's Church, Salcott) has the Nobleman attempting to build his Hall on the island in the middle of Barn Hall moat....The Devil taking hold of one of the Beams and hurling it up the hill to Where Barn Hall is now. There are marks extant on a Beam in the house. Local legend also has it that the Island + moat were the scene of Bacchanalia + other rites. The proximity Of Salcott to the early Roman resort of Mersea Island and the ease of access from Mersea to Salcott by sea + creek makes it quite possible that Barn Hall Moat witnessed some form of Romano-Pagan carryings on . |
Posted by avalidusername 29th October 2002ce |
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Saltcot c.1200. Building where salt is made or stored’. Old English sealt + cot. more to follow including exciting + salacious revelations from The Vicar of St. Mary's Salcott, The Reverend Keith Lovett,,,and he does |
Posted by avalidusername 23rd October 2002ce |
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