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England
Willy HoweArtificial Mound
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From Burton Fleming we made our way to Willy Howe, a tree covered artificial mound, which had been hollowed out by excavators in the past. The Howe is in a dominant setting on the brow of a hill overlooking the race and can be easily seen on approach from the village. You can clamber through the thick undergrowth and onto the top of the howe but once you get there you are conforted with a steep drop into the middle. The place is totally overgrown and quite literally you can get into the belly of the mound where trees now grow. This post appears as part of the weblog entry Exploring the Gypsey Race! A tour around a forgotten landscape
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Posted by notjamesbond10th June 2004ce |
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Me and Tim (my indentured dodman) visited Willy Howe on the way back from Rudston on a lovely sunday afternoon. Tim was greatly amused by the name. You can't miss it in the chalk, wold landscape, the thought crossed my mind that the landscape was very feminine with it's broad rollings and undulations. If this is the landscape of the goddess then she's a big lass. The trees on its flanks were just coming into bud and there was a lovely show of daffs on one side. Spring had sprung on Willy Howe, a very sexy place. |
Posted by fitzcoraldo25th March 2002ce Edited 3rd November 2009ce |
Folklore |
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A slightly different version of the 'cup' tale, and a few new points:The legend [as told by William of Newburgh] existed early in the twelfth century, or more than seven hundred years ago. I learnt, during my visit to the spot, that it still exists, though in a debased form.From 'On some ancient barrows or tumuli recently opened in East Yorkshire' - chapter 2 in 'Essays on Archaeological Subjects' by Thomas Wright, v1, 1861. |
Posted by Rhiannon7th May 2007ce Edited 7th May 2007ce |
There is an artificial mount, by the side of the road leading from North Burton to Wold Newton, near Bridlington, in Yorkshire, called "Willy-howe," much exceeding in size the generality of our "hows," of which I have often heard the most preposterous stories related.p92 in: The every-day book and table-book; or, Everlasting calendar of popular amusements. By William Hone, 1837, and now online at Google Books. |
Posted by Rhiannon 19th March 2007ce |
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Another story connected with Willy Howe - in Jennifer Westwood's 'Albion' (and originally from 'Hone's Table Book of 1827). I retell it as a warning to you all to respect the fairies. One of the fairies who lived in Willy Howe had rather a crush on a local man. She wanted to help him, so she told him that if he came to the top of the Howe early every morning he would find a guinea waiting for him. However, he must never tell anyone where he got his money from. For some time he did exactly as she said, and as his money grew he was able to live comfortably (and finally maybe a bit too comfortably). His friends were surprised and suspicious at his new found wealth, and couldn't understand why he was so secretive about its source. Eventually one night the man could keep his secret no longer and told one of his friends. In the morning he took his friend to the hill to show him the guinea that would be there. Of course there was no money at all. He 'met with a severe punishment' and was beaten up by invisible fists. For ever after that he found he had lost his luck. |
Posted by Rhiannon 21st April 2004ce |
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Fitzcoraldo's account mentions the classic motif that once the man had crossed 'the first beck' and put moving water between himself and the hobs, he was safe. Grinsell notes a version of the story, which was told to Raymond Hayes by a local in 1938. The important point here is that the beck was specifically named as the Gypsey Race. Rather grossly, when the man got there the fairies were just catching up with him, and they cut off the back half of the horse, which hadn't quite crossed the stream. He escaped clinging to the forequarters, which managed to struggle ashore! If you look at the map, the Gypsey Race is right by Willy Howe, so our hero didn't have far to go, luckily! |
Posted by Rhiannon 12th September 2003ce Edited 19th March 2007ce |
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I hope Fitzcoraldo won't mind me reiterating the folklore he's recorded, because I was fascinated with the extra bit I found out. Apparently the story originally comes from something written by William Newburgh - and considering he died in 1198, that's proof that the story is pretty old. Assuming this is true (and I haven't checked). Often tales were only written down in the Victorian era, and then you can say they're only Victorian romanticism - but this time (if it's for real) it suggests that stories with the same themes and motifs go back a long way. This version is given in Grinsell's book 'Folklore of Prehistoric Sites..' as a translation of the original. The preceding paragraph is a description of the Gypsey Race, and how it flows irregularly. The account goes on: "A countryman went to call on a friend staying in the next village. Late at night he started the return journey and he was rather drunk. Well, suddenly from a nearby mound (I have seen it often; it is about 1/4 m from the village) he heard the voices of people singing, like the members of a Festal banquet. Wondering who would break the silence of the dark night with ceremonial rejoicings in that place, he decided to investigate more closely into this mystery, and, seeing an open door in the side of the mound, he drew near and looked inside; he saw a spacious building, well lit, filled with people reclining at tables, as many men as women, apparently there for a ceremonial meal. Now one of the attendants seeing him standing at the entrance offered him a cup. Taking it, he deliberately refrained from drinking, but threw out the contents, kept the container, and went off with it at top speed. Uproar broke out at the banquet over this theft of the goblet, and when the guests pursued him, it was through the speed of his beast that he escaped and took refuge in the village with his remarkable booty. In the end this goblet of unknown material, unusual colour, and unfamilar shape, was bestowed on Henry the Elder, King of the English, and after him it was delivered over to the Queen's brother David of course King of the Scots. It was kept many years in the Treasury of Scotland, and some years ago (as I hear from a reliable source) was transferred to Henry II by William King of the Scots when he expressed a wish to see it." It's interesting that the Gypsey Race should be described first. Also the 'unknown material' of the goblet is a interesting feature (and even reminds me of modern tales of 'alien' abduction rather than fairy abduction). Henry II's dates do fit in, as he reigned from 1154 to 1189. |
Posted by Rhiannon 12th September 2003ce |
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A farmer returning home late one night heard music coming from Willy Howe. On investigation he found a door which neither he or anyone else had seen before. He peeped inside and saw a table groaning with food and a bunch of hobs making merry. The hobs invited him in and offered him a drink. He took the drink and then dashed off with the cup. The hobs gave chase but as soon as he crossed the first beck on his route they gave up and returned to their feast. On arriving home he saw that the cup was a fabulous gold vessel. He presented this cup to King Henry I who later passed it on to his brother-in-law King David of Scotland |
Posted by fitzcoraldo 23rd April 2002ce |
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Aubrey Burl (in 'Prehistoric Avebury') hypothesises that Willy Howe is another Silbury Hill or Duggleby Howe - a Neolithic mound with no burial, and with significance other than a mausoleum (the burial mentioned by fitzcoraldo below was a later interment). It was trenched into by Canon Greenwell in 1886, who like Lord Londesborough before him found no bones, but did find a rock-cut pit. Greenwell was an enthusiastic digger, "a clergyman whose methods have led archaeologists to wish that he had used his knees more often in prayer and less frequently in excavation." (excavation with your knees?) |
Posted by Rhiannon 25th November 2003ce Edited 25th November 2003ce |
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Another type of Bronze Age burial was burial in an oak coffin, consisting of a hollowed out tree trunk. The most recent example was found in the barrow at Willie Howe, 2 miles from Sledmere (NGR SE 955 658). the coffin burial was in fact the third burial on the site. The primary grave was in a deep rock cut pit, just off centre, which had been robbed prior to 1863. This was surrounded by a ditch 70ft in diameter. In phase 2 another grave was dug outside the ditch, containing an adolescent lying on a bier of chalk blocks and accompanied by a bronze awl and a long necked beaker. The oak coffin belonged to the final phase, and was set in a deep rock cut grave and was surounded by a ditch 110ft in diameter. Only a few charcoal fragments of the coffin itself survived, but it had been surrounded by compressed chalky rainwash which left its shape quite clear. It had been covered by a wooden lid, part of which had caved in. The coffin contained an adult male lying on the right side, with two rough flint blades as grave goods. a radiocarbon date of 1600 +/- 70 bc was obtained from one of his bones". From "Five Yorkshire Barrows" Peter Armstrong Current Archaeology No.94 Vol. VIII No. 11 Published October 1984 |
Posted by fitzcoraldo 30th April 2002ce |
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