Latest Posts — Folklore

Miss Lock may be interested to know that the Rev. C.W. Whistler, a former vicar of Stockland, Bristol, and one of the greatest authorities upon the traditions and folk-lore of the Quantock country, recorded the local tradition that Rodway Hill, between Cannington village and the "Park" near Combwich, is so named from the rood erected on it to protect villagers from the Devil's hunt. He recorded, too, the story of a man who was said to have met a great black spectral hound on this hill, and that it brushed up against him in passing and that he was paralysed ever after.

Naturally the Ring is haunted. Even on bright summer days there is an uncanny sense of some unseen presence, which seems to follow you about. If you enter the dark wood alone you are conscious of Something behind you. When you stop, It stops; when you go on, It follows. However swiftly you turn round to look behind, you are not quite quick enough to catch sight of It, whatever It is. If you stand stock-still and listen, even on the most tranquil day when no breath of air stirs the leaves, you can hear a whispering somewhere above you. No birds live in this sombre wood but a single pair of yaffles, and occasionally the silence is broken by a loud, mocking laugh. Only once have we been so bold as to enter the Ring on a dark night. My wife and I went there alone. We never shall repeat the visit. Some things are best forgotten if they can be, and certainly not set down in a book.

Besides the loch itself there are several tarns, one of which rejoices in the name, Lochan Ora, "the golden lochlet." Here, unless tradition is false, lies a bull's hide, with many golden pieces, dropped into the tarn when the enemy pressed too closely.

Beyond a doubt that mound we pass by on the right shore of Loch Builg marks the grave of two Highlanders, who made their final halt here in the retreat from Culloden.

... Arbour Farm was next reached, and here, by the kind permission of Mr Meadows and Mr Bourne, the club visited the ancient Celtic stones known as the "Devil's Ring and Finger." There are two very large stones, one, an upright stone, grooved longitudinally, and with lateral grooves, where, possibly, arrow heads and pike heads may at some time have been sharpened, and shaped like a huge finger, represents the finger of his Satanic Majesty; and a broad flat stone, with a hole almost circular in the middle, is the ring. The stones belong probably to prehistoric times.

A local story, however, is to the effect that the stones arrived mysteriously one night after a girl had been murdered at the spot. ...

As regards the stone at Inverfolla, which is a very big one, and which has long been prone, there was an old local tradition that if anybody interfered with the stone or moved it, he would die within the year; and it is said that one man long ago did attempt to do this, and that he actually did die within the year: since when the stone has been quite safe, and has had a remarkably quiet existence, as nobody would now interfere with it for wealth untold.
I am, etc. Alex K. Stewart Lt-Col., of Achnacone.

One of the seven wonders of Glamorgan is the tumulus near the Bodvoc Stone on Margam Mountain. It is called the "Twmpath Diwlith" - the dewless mound. Tradition tells us that no dew ever falls on this mound.

Folklore of the District. (By Martin Phillips.)

Camden, in his "Britannia" (1610) remarks: 'In the very top of an hill called Mynyd Margan, there is erected of exceeding hard grit, a monument or gravestone, four foot long, and one foot broad with an inscription, which whosoever shall happen to read, the ignorant common people dwelling there about, give it out upon a credulous error, that he shall be sure to die within a little while after. Let the reader therefore look to himself, if any dare read it, for, let him assure himself that he shall for certain die after it.'

Writing in 1722, Daniel Defoe ('Tour through England and Wales') makes the following comment: 'In this neighbourhood, near Mynydd Margam, we saw the famous monument mentioned by Mr Camden, on a hill, with the inscription which the people are so terrified at, that nobody will care to read it; for they have a tradition from father to son, that whoever ventures to read it, will die within a month. We did not scruple the adventure at all, but when we came to try, the letters were so defaced by time, that we were effectually secured from the danger, the inscription not being anything near so legible as it seems it was in Camden's time.'

The inscription is still perfectly legible, and presumably the mountain climb did not appeal to Defoe who frequently expressed his abhorrence of Welsh antiquities and Welsh mountains, and apparently, he had no desire to risk the deciphering of the 'terrifying' inscription. Incidentally he has been described by a recent writer as 'one of the world's greatest liars, with a peculiar art for making fictitious narrative sound like the truth'. Defoe's description of other Welsh antiquities confirms the statement.

The Bodvoc stone was believed to cover buried treasure, and about sixty years ago a wide hole about five feet deep was dug around it at night. The stone was overthrown, and for a long period was covered with water. It was subsequently set up in an upright position, and the erection of an iron railing protected it from further harm. Guarding the alleged treasure was the inevitable ghost, which was said to be that of the departed Bodvoc.

Near the stone is the huge mound known as 'Y Twmpath Diwllith' (the Dewless Mound), which was erroneously considered to be always immune from dew. The word 'Diwllith' became translated to 'Dewless', but apparently it is a corruption of "Duw-lith" (God's Lesson). The mound is situated on the boundary line between Llangynvyd and Margam parishes, and in former times, during the yearly perambulation of the boundary, the customary lesson was read by the priest when the mound was reached.

A single Druidical stone is visible in front of the farm house of Sannox, in the middle of the green field. Many remains of a similar kind are still extant in the mosses and glens of the island. Of late much has been done to solve the enigma of those monoliths.

A pretty tradition has been handed down of a daughter of Fingal going out to meet her lover in the woods, having disguised herself by dressing in man's clothes; her lover, deceived by the circumstance, espied her amid the thick wooding, and, supposing her a foe, took his bow and drew an arrow from his quiver, and unfortunately killed his love. On the ground where she fell, he raised the tall monolith to commemorate the sad event, and had a second placed for himself not far from it - committing self-immolation. Her remains were buried entire, but his received all a chieftain's honours and druidical rites, placed in an urn, inside a stone chest, alongside of his love.

Such is the tradition as handed down. There is still a love of the superstitious and the marvellous amongst the islanders. Yet, strange it is, in the very centre and civilization here are as great attempts to revive that ancient spirit of magic, hence those seances and impositions. There seems little doubt now regarding one use of those stones, that they were raised to mark the last resting place of the ashes of the great. This seems quite established.

The "Stannin Stane" on the Hill of Kirriemuir is, undoubtedly, the most familiar object among our local antiquities. Many who have never seen i t know it through Barrie's writings; but every Kirriemuir boy has bestrode it, and visitors to the Hill rarely fail to give it some attention.

Formed of the old red sandstone of its site, the great, solitary monolith measures 9 feet in height, is 7 feet in width at its broadest part, and averages a couple of feet in thickness. There is no exact record regarding its hold on mother earth, which, probably, is not great, for the native rock crops out all round.

But there are tales, difficult to credit, of its being originally "as high again" as it is now; of its standing on another stone even larger than itself; and of its having split in two, overwhelming a band of robbers who were dividing their ill gotten plunder at its base.

No record appears on its surface; no tradition exists to explain its origin or purpose; surmise alone can offer any feasible explanation of its meaning. Says one, it marks the bounds of some ancient tribal possession; says another, some great warrior of old lies buried here. But, whatever its precise age or origin, it may safely be affirmed that the "Stannin Stane" saw all the conflicts waged between the early Picts and Caledonians, and marked the advance of Rome eastwards to the sea, from the great camps of Ardoch and Cardean to Stonehaven, Aberdeen, or the Moray Firth, or from Battledykes by Forfar to the Tay.

In a small field near the confluence of the Burn of Kilry with the River Isla is a huge monolith known as the Standing Stone. It is about seven feet above the ground and ten feet in circumference at its base, tapering slightly to the top. While making agricultural improvements many years ago an attempt was made to remove it, but it was found to be so deeply embedded in the ground that the effort had to be abandoned.

That this monolith was raised to commemorate some great event, or fulfil some important purpose, there can be little doubt, but why it was raised or what people raised it are unknown. In all probability it was set up by the Druids, the high priest of whom performed his sacred rites and dispensed justice at the pillar. It is also said to mark the site of a battle between local rival families, when many of the combatants were drowned in the swollen river. Any such tale is unworthy of credence. Almost without doubt the stone stood where it is long before these families were ever heard of.

The Boy Who Was Taken By The Fairies Of Knockfierna.

Elm Park is a townland situated in the County Limerick, about five miles to the west of the city. About fifty years ago there was an old man and his wife living in a farmyard in this place. One night, about eleven o'clock, the old man heard someone moving about in the yard. He opened the door and saw, standing about ten yards from the door, a little boy about twelve years of age. He called him in and asked him who he was. He could get no answer from the child, who appeared to be in a dazed condition. They kept him throughout the night, and in the morning the man sent for the priest. The latter came and prayed over the child.

When the prayers were finished, the child seemed to regain the use of his faculties and he told the priest his name, and said he was from Knockfierna. He further stated that at about 7 o'clock on the previous evening he was looking for the ass about two miles from his home. As he approached the "lios" a horseman came forth from it, snatched up the boy, placed him in front of him and galloped off. The boy remembered nothing until he found himself at the place mentioned above.

The priest communicated with the parents of the child, and on the following day he was taken home, much to the relief of his people, who had spent the previous night searching for him. The belief was that he was taken by one of the fairy huntsmen of Knockfierna.

W. J. Carey.