Latest Folklore

One of the most intriguing stories about the cross (hinted at but not explained on the Bucks CC website) is that the present day cross shape was originally a large phallic shape. The Bucks CC site mentions that it has almost certainly been altered since the 18th C; I can imagine what both the Church and pious villagers in the Vale below had to say about a hundred foot dick in full view every day. I only wish there was evidence for the original shape, so they could spend their 75,000 quid restoring it to that!

A local violinist planned to visit the 9 Ladies one midsummmer’s night with his family....his aim was to take part in a duet with the ‘fiddler’ stone ( king stone ).
But in true Derbyshire fashion he never made it....
Tripped over a tree root and broke his bow.

In Burls ‘Prehistoric Avebury’ and various other books is the story which was told to journalist Paul Screeton.
About ’ a very sincere man ’ who fell asleep at Arbor Low and was visited in his dream by the ghosts of Atlanteans who instructed him in the henge’s ‘Purposes and dimensions’.

I’ve never come across the rest of the story, so can’t really shed any light as to what those purposes were......

In local folklore Robin Hood/Green Man was supposed to have stood astride the rocks and pissed onto the fields ’ where seven maidens upon seeing it turned to stone ‘

David Clarkes- Ghosts and Legends of the Peak

This stone is connected with the Hays of Errol, and the Falcon Stone near Knapp and Rossie Priory. A Scottish peasant named Hay, and his two sons, assisted in the Scots victory over the Danes at the battle of Luncarty, c. 990 A.D. Following the battle, the peasant was awarded land for his assistance. From Bellenden’s ‘Boece’, in The Archaeology of Scotland:

“Sone efter ane counsel was set at Scone, in the quhilk Hay and his sonnis war maid nobil and dotad for their singular virtew provin in this feild, with sindry landis to sustene thair estait. It is said that he askit fra the king certane landis liand betwix Tay and Arole; and gat als mekil thairof as ane falcon flew of ane mannis hand or sho lichtit. The falcon flew to ane toun four miles fra Dunde, callit Rosse, and lichtit on ane stane, quhilk is yit callt the Falcon Stane; and sa he gat all the landis betwix Tay and Arole, six miles of lenth and four of breid; whilk landis ar yit inhabit be his posteritie.”

The falcon was allegedly flown from this stone, and alighted at the Falcon Stone. All the land between was gifted to the Hays, and remained in their possession until the 1700’s.

The devil is at the devil’s jumps, a set of small hills nearby, and Thor throws this stone at him. It misses and lands in the marsh instead. The village (and common) take their name from being in the lee of Thor’s throw.

Elf-stones
” When I was a boy, I was an ardent archaeologist. I remember on one occasion having been told that chipped flints were to be found in a field near Blois Hall, in the North Riding.
Hurrying thither the first whole holiday, I was fortunate enough on that occasion to find a flint arrow head-the only one I ever did find. This I showed to an old fellow who was hedging; without hesitation he pronounced it to be an elf-stone, declaring that the elves were evil spirits, who in days past used to throw them at the kie-I had up to that time always been told they were shot at cattle-but my informant stuck to throwing. I well remember that he also said the elves got them out of whirlpools, where they were originally made by the water spirits, but he could not say what the water spirits used them for, though he knew of several instances in which both cattle and horses had been injured by the elves throwing elf-stones at them. He further informed me that when the elves got them from the whirlpools, they had much longer shanks than the one I had found: this was so that better aim might be taken with them. ‘But’ said he, ‘tha’re nivver fund wi’ lang shanks on, acoz t’ fairies awlus brak’ em off, seea ez t’ elves wadn’t be yabble ti potch ‘em at t’ beeasts neea mair’ and he had been told that fairies often wore them as ornaments. Sore eyes could be cured by the touch from an elf-stone, if a fairy had worn it, and they were also a potent love-charm if worn so they rested near the heart. ”

Yorkshire Wit, Character, Folklore & Customs
R. Blakeborough
1911

During Lethbridge’s “soundings” (banging an iron bar on the ground) he found the outline of a chariot...

Legend has it a golden chariot is buried under the hill.

Could be a bit of a dodgy posting this but here goes......

Castle Hill overlooks Castleton, with Peak Cavern (devils arse) below it.
The Normans built Peveril Castle on top of the hill, but local folklore reckons the druids used to worship there. Every Easter Sunday people from Castleton would climb the hill for sunrise, and then move on to drink from the Russet Well, down in the mouth of the cavern.

In one of the cottage gardens near the cavern a carving of a face was found on a stone and is thought to date back to the Iron Age.
Garland day usually May 29th( oak apple day ) is the surviving ‘pagan’ festival with a Green Man and loads of pissed up locals..

When the Heathcotes were excavating here in 1939, 3 of the stones were mysteriously smashed overnight. No explanation was ever found.
They are now held together with concrete.

Local tradition places Vortigern in Nant Gwrtheyrn (the ‘Valley of Vortigern’), a rocky valley leading down from Yr Eifl to the west coast of the Lleyn peninsula. Vortigern was supposed to have once had his headquarters there.
Here we also find his ‘city’: Castel Gwrtheyrn, once so marked on Ordnance Survey maps, but now unlocated. The best candidate for this fortress surely is Tre’r Ceiri, which lies just on the other slope of Yr Eifl, very close to the valley. His grave, Bedd Gwrtheyrn, is also to be found somewhere around here, as there are several locations bearing names familiar to us, such as Carn Fadrun, or the ‘fort of Modrun’ (she was a granddaughter of Vortigern) further south.

The source for this name of this valley, which is the only one in Wales named after Vortigern, is not known. Vortigern’s legends do take him to north Wales (especially Snowdonia), but never to the Lleyn peninsula itself. But maybe the legend about his death did travel to this area, as there are many more places that are connected with Vortigern in the direct neighborhood.

At least until around the year 1700 a stone grave covered with a turf mound existed there, which was called Vortigern’s Grave (Bedd Gwrtheyrn) by the local population. George Borrow, writing in 1862 (Wild Wales), described it as follows: “It was in a wind-beaten valley of Snowdon, near the sea, that his dead body decked in green armour had a mound of earth and stones raised over it”.

The village of Trellech is named after the stones; “The Settlement of the Stones”
Legends say they were erected in memory of a battle with the English under Harold, or in memory of a battle with the Romans, or they were thrown there by the Giant Jack o’ Kent from Ysgyryd Fawr 14 miles away. They are however puddingstone and probably middle or late Neolithic.

Local tradition holds that the trees on this cairn were used as the gallows for the Menzies family (Menzies Castle is just along the road.) The trees there are apparently three hundred years old according to my informant, who lives nearby in Dull.

According to local author Bruce Durie, in his recent book ‘Kirkcaldy and East Fife’, the stone is: “A rock hurled by the Devil when the church was being built. It has a rounded indentation known as the Devil’s Thumbprint. Sharpening a weapon on the thumbprint is said to guarantee victory.” So now you know!

Local legend has it that the Devil threw the boulder from Fife in an attempt to destroy Invergowrie Church.

As well as some obvious cup marks on the north face, this stone is connected with the Hays of Errol, and the Hawk Stone at St Madoes. A Scottish peasant named Hay, and his two sons, assisted in the Scots victory over the Danes at the battle of Luncarty, c. 990 A.D. Following the battle, the peasant was awarded land for his assistance. From Bellenden’s ‘Boece’, in The Archaeology of Scotland:

“Sone efter ane counsel was set at Scone, in the quhilk Hay and his sonnis war maid nobil and dotad for their singular virtew provin in this feild, with sindry landis to sustene thair estait. It is said that he askit fra the king certane landis liand betwix Tay and Arole; and gat als mekil thairof as ane falcon flew of ane mannis hand or sho lichtit. The falcon flew to ane toun four miles fra Dunde, callit Rosse, and lichtit on ane stane, quhilk is yit callt the Falcon Stane; and sa he gat all the landis betwix Tay and Arole, six miles of lenth and four of breid; whilk landis ar yit inhabit be his posteritie.”

The falcon was allegedly flown from the Hawk Stone at St Madoes, and alighted here. Rossie Priory lies just to the west of the Falcon Stone, and the Hays (as the Earls of Errol) held the lands there until at least the 1700’s. The story is quoted in several sources, and must have some foundation in truth. Part of the Hay’s heraldry featured a falcon. Thomas the Rhymer saw the future for the Hay family:

‘While the mistletoe bats on Errol’s aik,
And that aik stands fast,
The Hays shall flourish, and their good gray hawk
Shall nocht flinch before the blast.
But when the root of the aik decays,
And the mistletoe dwines on its withered breast,
The grass shall grow on Errol’s hearthstane,
And the corbie roup in the falcon’s nest.”

The last quotation is from Pratt’s ‘Buchan’, printed 1858. The oak decayed, the mistletoe dwindled, and the crow did nest where once the falcon lived.

From Brechin head north-west out of the town under the A94 and take the Careston / Noranside road. Just under 2 kilometres out of town, on the north side of the road, you will see the stone in the near corner of a field. There are some cottages just before where you may park carefully. The stone itself is relatively unremarkable, no cup or ring marks, but is of strangely striated stone. An old local rhyme (from a book dated 1854) says :

Between the Killievair and the Buckler Stane
There lies many a bluidy bane

This is alleged to refer to an ancient battle between Agricola, the Roman leader, and Calgacus, leader of the Picts. The Buckler Stane lay at Langhaugh, over 1 kilometer due north of the Killievair Stone, but is no longer visible. Five kilometers due north of the Killievair Stone lie the White and Brown Caterthuns, 285m high hills with the remains of ancient forts on their tops. It is alleged that this is where Calgacus had his forts.

Thanks to local farmer Mr J.Barron, at Findowrie, for this excellent contribution of local knowledge.

Allegedly the hill fort was home to a tribe of ferrocious warriors called the Wandelii, (possible reference to the Vandals ? or barbarians), who were mysteriously massacred one night by the local Christians.

Legend tells of a Knight sleeping in the hill. He can be called on a night of the full moon by shouting “Knight, knight, come forth and fight” But it is not recommended, as when the knight awakes, it is for a fight to the death.

Legendary place of the Gog & Magog hill figures. Not many traces are visible now however, but when winter comes, outlines can become more visible.

Cambrige Archaeology trust have more details on Gog & Magog.

“This moor, according to legend, took it’s name from a giant Rombald, who favoured it a good deal. The large block of sandstone at it’s eastern end, known as the calf, which lies at the foot of the mass of rock called the Cow, bears an indentation which is said to be the imprint of the foot of the giant, who, in taking a stride from the Cow to Great Alms’ Cliff, several miles away, broke the calf off and sent it rolling down the hillside.”

The Enchanting North
J.S. Fletcher
Pub. Eveleigh Nash
1908

“In times of old, when British nymphs were known
To love no foreign fashions like their own;
When dress was monstrous, and fig-leaves the mode,
And quality put on no paint but woad”

From Garth’s poems

The Boar was the Scottish/Pictish High Kings Standard up till the time of David.
The foot print is the place where the Chief Clan leaders pledged their loyalty to the King.They brought with them a small bag of soil from their home,put it in the foot print and with their foot on their native heath pledged their support. At Scone there is quite a heap of discarded soil from all over Scot/Pictland.

In WP Witcutt’s 1942 contribution to ‘Folklore’; Fairies were said to dance and hold high revel on the barrow on Xmas Eve.

“The history of another stone, the Stone of Scone, which is commonly believed to have originated here (Dunadd).
The story goes that when Fergus, the first king of Dalradia, was crowned here in AD 500, making the first footprint in the Dunadd stone, he also brought with him the Stone of Destiny, which was no less than Jacob’s pillow. This was set beside a majic cauldron which always supplied the right amount of food for the number of people needing sustenance”

Celic Jouneys
Shirley Toulson
Hutchison 1985

The Gaels called this place Stucis meaning Stones,the estate is still called Stix.Rabbie Burns was moved to pray in this circle when he passed through,it is said.
Source:-www.heartlander.scotland.net.