Latest Folklore

In Cambret Moor, in the days of Symson, there was a stone of four or five feet in diameter, called “the Penny Stone,” under which money was supposed to have been concealed. This stone had upon it the resemblance of that draught which is commonly called the walls of Troy. It is to be feared some avaricious person has destroyed this stone, in the hope of finding the hidden treasure, because it is not now to be found.

But never fear!! I give you – the Penny Stone! Undestroyed and intact. Complete with Walls of Troy maze. (Not sure who Mr Symson was yet).

p332 in the ‘New Statistical Account of Scotland’ for Kirkcudbrightshire. Vol 4, 1845.

According to the OED, ‘Hallion’ or ‘Hallyon’ is “A term of contempt: A low or scurvy fellow; an idle, worthless fellow,” and is dialect from Scotland and the north of England.

The Reverend James Raine (who edited the memoirs mentioned below) didn’t want to go for the Druidic explanation, and dug out a copy of the Newcastle Courant of 9 October 1725 in an effort to dispel the myth:

It appears from this authority that upon the marriage of Sir William Blackett (a while before) “Shaftoe Vaughan, Esq. caused Shafto Craggs to be illuminated in the night,” and “a large Punch Bowl was cut in the most elevated rock, which was filled with such generous liquor as was more than sufficient for the vast crowd of neighbouring inhabitants,” &c.

As far as I’m concerned it’s the ‘a while before’ that gives this away – sounds like just another folklorey explanation for the ‘Punch Bowl’ if you ask me.

To add to Paulus’s post about the mound, Mr Watkins obviously thought this part of a ley:

Motoring into Linton, Herefordshire, I found the road sighted through that church to May Hill in the distance. On the map this alignment lay on a stretch of ancient road called The Line, with a house on it called The Line House. Sighted backward, the alignment goes through the edge of Lynders Wood, on to a sighting mound standing at the end of Capler Camp, from which I had noted that May Hill was a prominent object. Not far away was a place called Lea Line. [..]

.. It is curious that sceptics accept that fact when the sighted line over points was made by the Roman race, but refuse to entertain any possibility of other races having preceded them in such work..

From Notes and Queries, p62, July 28, 1928.

The Bawdstone is mentioned in ‘Twilight of the Celtic Gods’ by David Clarke and Andy Roberts (1996).

In the past, the stone was the focus of an extraordinary procession on the morning of 1 May, the festival of Beltane, which marked the beginning of summer. Dozens of people, some helping sick and infirm relatives, would follow a well-worn path from the market town of Leek and villages round about, travelling by foot many miles to the rock escarpment. Here they would crawl beneath the Bawdstone ‘to knock the Devil off their backs’.

The authors’ contact knew a man in his 80s who’d visited the stone in secret when he was sick. The big gatherings ceased at the turn of the century.

They also say: “In 1879 a writer.. described how the boulder was always whitewashed ‘with some ceremony’ on the morning of 1 May.” The farmer who owned the land continued the tradition until the 1920s.

About a mile and a half from [Stoke Edith] Mansion, on the south-west, and ocupying the summit of a commanding eminence, is St Ethelbert’s Camp, said, by popular tradition, to be the spot where Ethelbert pitched his tents when on his journey to the Court of King Offa.*

p590 of ‘The Beauties of England and Wales’ v6 (1805).

The Herefordshire on-line SMR says that the Ordnance survey first changed the name on the map to ‘Backbury’ in 1926. Landslides have obscured the defences in places.

*Sadly that was where he met his fate, at Sutton Walls.

About four miles north-eastward from Hereford, is Sutton Walls, celebrated as the Palace of Offa, King of the Mercians, where the unsuspecting Ethelbert was treacherously murdered..

Giraldus Cambriensis, in his life of St. Ethelbert, speaks of this place by the name of King’s Sutton, and South-town Walls, and mentions some ruins of a Castle which he saw here. Leland also notices the “notable ruines of some auncyent and great building, sumtyme the mansion of King Offa, at such time Kenchestre stood, or els Herford was a begynning.”

Sutton Walls comprehends a spacious Encampment on the summit of a hill, surrounded by asingle rampart, with entrances to the north and south. The area includes about thirty acres, and is nearly level, excepting towards the centre, where there is a low place, called Offa’s Cellar: in digging on this spot, a silver ring, of an antique form, was found some years ago.

Sutton is included in the extensive manor of Marden, which was an ancient demesne belonging to the Crown, but given by King Offa to the Canons of Hereford.. in expiation of the murder of Ethelbert. Marden Church was built over the spot where Ethelbert was first buried, and where a well, which still exists, and is called St. Ethelbert’s Well, is said to have miraculously sprung up. This edifice was dedicated to his memory, and stands within forty yards of the river Lugg. This neighbourhood abounds with good orchards, and the cyder is particularly celebrated.

The Beauties of England, v6, by John Britton etc. (1805)

From the Statistical Accounts (see link):

There is another stone between Castle Leod and the spa with an eagle cut upon it, and called in Gaelic Clach an Tiom-pan. It stands close to the old line of road, and is supposed to mark the place where a number of the Munroes fell in an affray with the Mackenzies of Seaforth. The tradition is as follows:
The Lady of Seaforth dwelt at that time in a wicker or wattled house at Kinellan. A party of the Munroes came upon her by surprise, and carried off the Lady, house, and all that it contained. They were overtaken near Castle Leod, defeated with great slaughter, and the Lady of Seaforth rescued. Clach-an-tiompan was set up by the Munroes over the remains of their fellow-clansmen. Kenneth Oure is said to have prophesied that in course of time ships should be seen moored to this stone.

From The Statistical Accounts (see link):

On the summit of a wooded hill called Knock Navie, there is a cairn called Carna na Croiche, i.e. the cairn of the gallows. The tradition connected with it is, that some men who were travelling, being weary and faint with hunger, as they passed Achnacloich, stopped and asked the woman who had charge of the laird’s dairy for some cheese and milk to allay their hunger, offering at the same time to pay for it. She, however, refused to give it; upon which, the men took it, laid down money for it, and went away. The woman immediately informed the laird of the circumstance, who being a man of a fierce and savage disposition, sent after the travellers, brought them back and hanged them on the spot now marked by the cairn.

From the Statistical Accounts (see link):

Antiquities. – Under this head, it may be mentioned, that, in a field a little to the west of the church, there is a singular upright stone, somewhat in the form of an obelisk, called Clach a Mhearlich, i.e. the thief’s stone, – which is evidently of very ancient date. Though in the midst of an arable field, it is most religiously preserved, no attempt being made to remove it, or alter its position. None even of the oldest inhabitants are acquainted with any distinct tradition, respecting its origin or intention; but, from the name, it is conjectured that some noted robber was buried beneath it.

The original Celts, or axes, are of polished stone, shaped something like a wedge. These are found of all sizes, some seeming intended for felling trees, and others for warlike purposes; and others again so very small, that they could only be designed for carving or dividing food..

They have been found in considerable numbers in the Shetland Isles, which were evidently first settled by the scandinavians. The natives suppose them to be thunderbolts, and account the possession of one of them a charm. Mr Collector Ross of Lerwick presented the author of this Introduction with six of these weapons found in Shetland. It is said the stone of which they are constructed cannot be found in these islands. The natives preserve them, from a superstitious idea that they are thunderbolts, and preserve houses against the effects of lightning.

page vii in vol 2 of ‘The Border Antiquities of England and Scotland’ by Walter Scott, Luke Clennell and John Greig (1817).

The cave is also connected with Fingal:

Fion-gal is said to have made Arran his resting-place when en route to the assistance of his allies in Ireland. He landed with his followers in a few rude birlings in the fine natural harbour of Mauchrie, and resided in the cave of Drumidoon.

On his return from Ireland he spent a considerable time in Arran roaming through its forests with his favourite dogs. It was about this time that a son was born to him in the Doon cave. A straight groove is shown in the sandstone, of about two feet in length, which is believed to have been the exact size of the child’s foot the day after his birth. From this infallible datum, the Rev. Mr Headrick has computed that Fion-gal must have been from seventy to eighty feet in height, and his wife from sixty to seventy!

The gigantic proportions of Ossian’s hero are futher attested by the tradition, that he formed a bridge of stepping-stones between his cave and the opposite coast for the convenience of himself and his followers.

p97/8 of ‘The Antiquities of Arran’ by John McArthur (1861).

The next fort we meet in our ramble is that of Tor-Castle – Castle Hill – a little to the north of Slaodridh [..]

It is said that a battle was fought long ago around the Tor-Castle, between the natives of Arran and a band of marauders from Kintyre. The Arran men were encouraged to victory by the cheers of their wives and children, who crowded the Clappen Hill to witness the conflict. After a desperate struggle the invaders were repulsed, and forced to seek safety in their ships.

Tor-Castle is further remarkable for the existence of ancient plough-marks, popularly known as elf-furrows, which are clearly traceable over it summit. Tradition relates that the rich black mould of the mound tempted the natives to reduce it to cultivation. This was many years ago, when the old rig system of farming obtained in the Island.

The lands of the neighbourhood were partitioned between twelve families, each of which claimed a rig of the Castle Hill. The mound was cleared of the rich verdure which mantled its surface, and drills of cabbages were planted within the ruined walls. But a signal retribution followed the commission of this daring sacrilege. Before the year closed, the children of the hamlet were fatherless, and eleven new graves were seen in the little church-yard of the district.

The villager who escaped had been called to another part of the Island when the old building was being turned into a household garden, and thereby avoided the doom which befell his companions. The people of Arran still regard the old fortlet with a superstitious dread, and he is thought to have a bold heart who will venture to disturb its ruins or visit them after nightfall.

p82 of ‘The antiquities of Arran’ by John McArthur (1861).

In Arran, the belief in fairies still lingers in the minds of the older inhabitants, and many curious stories are told of the pilfering habits and cunning tricks of the wee-folks, who held their midnight meetings within the stone circles and old forts of the Island.

Many of the minor relics of the stone period have been found beneath the moss and heath of the Arran glens and hills, but few of them have been deemed worthy of preservation. Arrow-heads of stone and flint are frequently picked up by the natives whilst digging peat in the moors [..] They are called elf-shots by the Islanders, and are supposed to have been used by the fairies long ago.

[..] As we find the little flint arrow-head associated with Scottish folk-lore as the elfin’s-bolt, so the stone hammer of the same period was adapted to the creed of the Middle Ages. The name by which it was popularly known in Scotland, almost to the close of the last century, was that of the Purgatory Hammer [.. so the inhabitant of the burial cist could] with it thunder at the gates of purgatory..

McArthur also talks of the highly polished stone balls found in cists and the “Baul Muluy” (the stone globe of Saint Monlingus): a goose-egg sized stone of jasper, which could cure diseases. People swore solemn oaths on it, and “even during the present generation it has been consulted by the credulous Islanders”. Curiously it could remove ‘stitches from the sides of sick persons’ and if it didn’t cure you and you died, “it moved out of bed of its own accord.”

St Molingus was said to have been chaplain to the McDonalds, and they carried the ball with them into battle for good luck. It was next held by the MacIntosh family as a hereditary privelege, but “this curious relic was lost a few years ago by a gentleman to whom it was entrusted, who partook too much of the scepticism of the present age to appreciate its value.”

A final bit of related folklore: “The perforated pebbles of the British barrows [..] are still known in the Scottish Highlands by the name of Clach Bhuai , or the powerful stones, on account of the inherent virtues they are believed to possess.”

From p68-71 of ‘The antiquities of Arran’ by John McArthur (1861).

The superstitions of the Arran people are deeply imbued with the legends of fairy mythology. The perforated column of “Fion=gal’s Cauldron Seat,” on the Mauchrie Moor, was believed to contain a fairy or brownie, who could only be propitiated by the pouring of milk through the hole bored in the side of the stone.

p67 of ‘The Antiquities of Arran’ (1861) by John McArthur.

John McArthur says in his 1861 ‘Antiquities of Arran’, that

“At Kingscross, on a hillock near the shore, there is a monolith which marks the spot from which King Robert the Bruce embarked for the Carrick coast; and in a neighbouring field, there is an unhewn block of sandstone, believed to be the sole relic of the rude cot in which the king resided, on the eve of his departure from the Island.”

The RCAHMS record won’t commit itself, mostly because the stone has become surrounded by a cairn of stone. The Name Book of 1864 suggests the stone stood alone at 6-7ft high, but now (or at least, in 1977) only 80cm shows out the top of a cairn. “It is possibly a Bronze Age standing stone to which a later tradition is attached, but in its present state this is conjectural.”

An interesting group of stone circles may be seen in the Mauchrie Moor, near the farm of Tormore, in Arran. Tradition relates that Fionn-gal and his heroes were hunting the boar in the woods on the neighbouring glens, when a fleet of Norse galleys was seen approaching the shore. Scarcely had the marauders succeeded in effecting a landing in the Mauchrie Bay, when they were attacked by Fion-gal and his followers, and driven back to the ships. A few of the Vikings whose retreat had been cut off were chased over the Island, overtaken and slain near the old fort of Dunfiun – Fion-gal’s fort. The Fingalian heroes who fell in the conflict were buried in the moor where they fought and died, and the huge stone columns, now half-concealed amid the tall heath, were raised in circles around their graves to the mournful song of the bards.*

*Local tradition.

From p50 of ‘The Antiquities of Arran’ by John McArthur (1861).

Maybe this isn’t the right spot – I’m assuming it is because it’s high ground near Shiskine, and a fort is the right kind of place for fairies to hang out being antisocial.

Once upon a time a bevy of faeries met on the summit of Durra-na-each, near Shiskin, and proceeded to amuse themselves by throwing down pebbles amongst the trees of the Mauchrie forest. The “rules of the game” required that the stones should be thrown from between the finger and thumb. Many centuries have passed since then, and the giant oaks of the Mauchrie have crumbled into dust, but over the moor may still be seen the pebbles of the faeries in the gray monoliths and stone circles which lie buried in the moss and heath.

p40 of ‘The Antiquities of Arran’ by John McArthur (1861).

Near the celebrated stone circles on Mauchrie Moor, Arran, there is a cairn, partly demolished, which Fion-gal, the hero of Highland tradition, is said to have used as his justice-seat; and the stone, beside which the culprit stood – a huge block of red sandstone, is pointed out as the “Panel’s Stone.”

p30 of John McArthur’s ‘Antiquities of Arran’ (1861).

I wonder which monument this applies to. It can’t be Fingal’s Cauldron Seat, surely, as simultaneously dishing out justice would give you indigestion. Perhaps this is the Panel Stone?

From Aubrey Burl’s Megalithic Brittany:

“It is known as La Pierre du Coq and it is claimed that at Easter and Christmas a cock which guards a great treasure will fly away. Should it land on one’s shoulder it signifies an invitation to take the gold.”

This place sounds very interesting. It is a cave on the coast in a sandstone cliff, and is full of carvings – animals, concentric circles, cup and rings, serpents, a coat of arms.. The RCAHMS record says “an Iron Age date is suggested for the animal figures” (this is a comment from 1961).

It gets a mention in the ‘Statistical Account of Scotland’:

There are several natural caves, the principal, and which excites the curiosity of strangers of all ranks, is [..] called the King’s Cove, because, as tradition affirms, King Robert de Bruce and his retinue lodged in it for some time, when taking shelter in retired places, before his defeat of John Baliol, and accession to the throne of Scotland [..]

The cave is so spacious, that sermons have been preached in it to some hundreds of hearers at different times. About 2 miles south from it is another cave, which could contain 200 persons; but nothing else is remarkable about it.

Ah it’s the carvings that pull in the crowds you see. The RCAHMS record mentions that Pennant in 1772 called the cave ‘Fingal’s Cave’, maybe suggesting that the folklore about Robert the Bruce is actually later? confusingly though, the cave is at the foot of a mountain called Torr Righ Mor – which means`big hillock of the king’.

Amongst the carvings are ogham inscriptions and a cross – traditionally the caves were supposed to have been used by early Christian hermits.

There’s a LOT of carvings, from every era up to the present day. It’s not obvious what’s currently believed about the I. A. date. Lots of description here:
lmid1.rcahms.gov.uk/pls/portal/newcanmore.details_gis?inumlink=39229
I’m most surprised it doesn’t have its own website?

On the bank of the Slidry stream, to the south of Arran, there is an elongated, ship-like cairn, exactly similar to the celebrated currach mound of Iona. It is thirty feet in length, with a smaller ridge attached, measuring nine feet. The sides of the tumuli are trenched with flat, flag-like stones, and at each end there stands a large monolith of red sandstone, encrusted with lichen and moss.

This monument is supposed to mark the grave of one of Fion-gal’s heroes, about whom many strange stories are told. An anxious treasure-seeker who dug into the larger mound, is said to have found a huge bone, into the hollow of which he thrust down his foot and leg as into a boot.*

*Headrick’s Arran, p148.

Headrick was writing in 1807: a book called ‘View of the Mineralogy, Agriculture, Manufactures and Fisheries of the Isle of Arran’.

It sounds like the cairn suffered a lot in the 19th century. The RCAHMS record suggests remains still exist (though the name “couldn’t be confirmed locally” in 1977).

At Torlin, on a green bank near the shore, there is an interesting specimen of the “elongated” chambered cairn. It is intersected from east to west by a row of vaults, consisting each of six unhewn slabs, from five to eight feet square. These vaults or chambers were filled with human bones, some of which, we were informed, were cleft as if from the blow of an axe or hatchet.

This cairn was partially removed some years ago by a modern Goth, who rifled the cells of their contents, and strewed them over his field. With daring irreverence, he selected one of the largest skulls from the ghastly heap, and carried it home with him; but scarcely had he entered his house when its walls were shaken as if struck by a tornado. Again and again the avenging blast swept over his dwelling, though not a sigh of the gentlest breeze was heard in the neighbouring wood.

The affrighted victim hastened to re-bury the bones in their desecrated grave, but day and night shadowy phantoms continued to haunt his mind and track his steps, and a few months after the commission of his rash deed, whilst riding along the high road towards Lag, he was thrown from his horse over a steep embankment, and dashed against the rocks of the stream beneath.

This tradition is well known in Arran, and has tended to deepen the feelings of superstitious dread with which these monuments are generally regarded.

It was with some feelings of trepidation, after listening to this fearful tragedy, that we proceeded to remove the stones and earth which filled the rifled cells of this ghost-haunted cairn; but a few marine shells, mixed with the small delicate bones of birds, were all we could discover to repay our labour.

p23 of ‘The Antiquities of Arran’ by John McArthur (1861).

The traditions.. which float around this class of the Arran grave mounds [chambered cairns] are associated with the fierce raids and clanish feuds of early times; and it is said that the ghosts of the buried dead were wont to rise from their graves and renew the combat in the shadowy folds of the evening mists.

From p22 of ‘The Antiquities of Arran’ by John McArthur (1861).

A little bit more on the boltstone:

In the midst of enclosures, and remote from public view, stands that curious vestige of antiquity, The Bolt, Baston, or Battle-stone, in the language of tradition, The Giant’s Thunderbolt; supposed to have been hurled from its native rock, the Edge, about a mile distant, by gigantic prowess..

..Dr. Plot* describes the pillar as “of a square figure, tapering a little towards the top, two yards and one inch high, and nearly four yards about,; having two clefts in the top, so that at a distance it appears like a triceps; its site in a leasow near to the Comptons.”

On personally surveying this relick, 1818, it appeared to be about five feet above the ground, a by-stander observed, that it was three times that depth in the ground, and that no effort had succeeded in attempting to loosen it.

p337 in Stourbridge and its vicinity, by William Scott (1832).

Three times. Let’s go for something believable, please.
The Rudston stone (and doubtless many others) has a similar subterranean rumour.

*From Plot’s 1686 ‘Natural History of Staffordshire’.