Latest Folklore

St. Catherine’s Hill is a sandstone cliff, rising above the Wey, a mile south of Guildford, and nigh unto the wood below “the long backs of the bushless downs” where once Sir Lancelot was tended by Elaine. It is a thirteenth century chapel that stands there, ruined long ago by the Protestants ; but children play there still, and outside the chapel, in October, Cattern’s Fair is held, and cattern cakes are sold and eaten, and gipsies bring thither their brown women and their wiles.

St. Martha’s, in sight of which I write this, is twin with St. Catherine’s. The two chapels were built (saith the story) by two giant sisters, who had but one hammer between them, and tossed it from the one hill to the other as either needed it in building.
A. J. M.
Buttercup Farm.

From Notes and Queries, August 14th 1886.

About 1894, schoolchildren used to take bottles with sugar or treacle to fill, and drink in company, at the spring which flowed out at the foot of St Catherine’s Hill, Guildford (site of a chapel and an ancient horse fair), on the side nearest the river.
Barbara Aitken

Holy Wells in Surrey
Barbara Aitken
Folklore > Vol. 64, No. 2 (Jun., 1953), p. 350

I have only found some snippets online about the archaeology: the hill has produced mesolithic finds, a bronze axe, disc and ornament.

A friends dad told me a story about the lake near Ashley Park. One day people where cutting barley in the field where the lake is and they struck a spring. They thought great some fresh water. However the spring didnt stop flowing and this is how the lake was formed. Im not sure if this is folklore or whether it is meant to be true but there are crannogs in the lake so it is likely the lake is their for at least 1000 years. Intriguingly the name of the lake is Lough Eorna or the lake of barley.

In TC Darvill’s ‘Long Barrows of the Cotswolds’ (2004) he says “In 1820 during the clearance on woodland and stone quarrying a previously unrecorded long barrow was revealed. It was promptly investigated on 22/23 February 1821 by Dr Fry of Dursley and TJ Lloyd Baker of Hardwick Court.”

Previously unrecorded? Should we doubt this? Does it mean ‘previously unrecorded by the local antiquarian gentlemen’ or ‘previously unnoticed by local people’? If it’s the latter, how can it fit with the ‘Hetty Peglar’ name? The general explanation has been that Hetty was the Hester Peglar you find on a monument in the church – the wife of Captain Pegler of Wresden, alleged owner of the land. But she died in 1694. So why on earth would the barrow be named after her, if it wasn’t discovered until 1820?? Then again, ‘Peglar’ is hardly an uncommon name in the area, so it might just be another Hester, from later. Or maybe ‘previously unrecorded’ is a total red herring, and it was perfectly well known locally for years (a century+, seemingly) previously. Hmm. I don’t think the bottom of this has been reached.

The tumulus near the east end of the avenue leading to the Maiden Castle in Grinton is popularly reported to contain an iron chest filled with money.

From ‘Notes and Queries’ for 24th December, 1910.

Concerning the Maiden Bower at Dunstable a local versifier embodies the local idea :—

Still Tatternhoe dames rehearse their tale,
On eve of winter’s day
About a chest hid in their knoll
When Romans went away.

‘Tis at the bottom of that well
On Castle Hill, they say;
Of good old gold it was brimful,
And lies there to this day.

From ‘Notes and Queries’ for December 24 1910.

At Gaer Llwyd, about half way between Chepstow and Usk, is a cromlech—I believe the only one in Monmouthshire—the origin of which is thus accounted for by popular tradition.

“Once upon a time,” which may be token to mean in the heroic ages of Gwent, there lived one Twm Sion Catti, who was on more familiar terms than a Christian gentleman (if he was one) ought to have been with his Satanic Majesty, with whom he one day engaged in a friendly game of quoits. It seems to have been a trial as much of strength as accuracy of aim, for the quoits consisted of the stones which now form the cromlech. A believing imagination points out the steps by which each cast was matched by another as good, until on Twm Sion Catti throwing a stone which literally capped them all, and now measures upwards of twelve feet by four, his adversary gave in.

Now, as there was a Tim Sion Catti who flourished in historic times—a kind of Welsh Robin Hood of the period of Queen Elizabeth—we must suppose that tradition, with its usual readiness to group all marvellous actions around one popular hero, has confounded his name with an earlier one associated with the cromlech.

From Notes and Queries, July 27th, 1878, our correspondent being J F Marsh.

From a letter to ‘Notes and Queries’ for 21st July, 1900, by W B Gerish.

The only legend I can trace concerning the place is to the effect that Queen Boadicea lies buried under a very fine and indubitably ancient cork tree just inside the west bank of the camp.

Cork tree? How very exotic.

There’s all sorts on the ‘yellow mountain’ – enclosures, cairns, possible standing stones.. and some of the stones round here had a strange reputation for curing people who had been bitten by mad dogs..

“[A] remedy consisted in a visit to the wonderful stone at Mynyddmelyn [William Howell, “Cambrian Superstitions,” pp. 23, 25.]. A bit of this stone reduced to a fine powder and mixed with milk was given to the sufferer and the cure “never failed.” Friends of the person bitten made a pilgrimage to the stone for the purpose of obtaining a small portion of it, or else the patient was conveyed to the stone, where, with bound hands and feet, he was forced to lick it.”

Quote from Marie Trevelyan’s “Folk-lore and folk-stories of Wales”. Published in 1909. Online at V Wales:
red4.co.uk/Folklore/trevelyan/welshfolklore/chapt22.htm

Some folklore about a cave under Craig Rhiwarth, recorded in ‘Celtic Folklore – Welsh and Manx, by Rhys (1901). Cwm Glanhafan is on the mountain’s eastern side.

Take for instance a cave in the part of Rhiwarth rock nearest to Cwm Llanhafan, in the neighbourhood of Llangynog in Montgomeryshire. Into that, according to Cyndelw in the Brython for [date missing on STA], p. 57, some men penetrated as far as the pound of candles lasted, with which they had provided themselves; but it appears to be tenanted by a hag who is always busily washing clothes in a brass pan.

Online at the Sacred Texts Archive
sacred-texts.com/neu/cfwm/cf202.htm

It’s been suggested over the years that it’s the Roman settlement in Caerleon that’s being referred to as King Arthur’s court (see for example, earlybritishkingdoms.com/archaeology/caerleon.html ).

But frankly, I think the following story rather hints that King Arthur’s men are under a hillside. And near a wood. And that sounds more like the vicinity of Lodge Wood Camp to me than the flat land down by the river. Of course there’s only one way to find out – you’ll have to go and look for the secret entrance yourself.

[This story] relates how a Monmouthshire farmer, whose house was grievously troubled by [a] bogie, set out one morning to call on a wizard who lived near Caerleon, and how he on his way came up with a very strange and odd man who wore a three-cornered hat. They fell into conversation, and the strange man asked the farmer if he should like to see something of a wonder. He answered he would. ‘Come with me then,’ said the wearer of the cocked hat, ‘and you shall see what nobody else alive to-day has seen.‘

When they had reached the middle of a wood this spiritual guide sprang from horseback and kicked a big stone near the road. It instantly moved aside to disclose the mouth of a large cave; and now said he to the farmer, ‘Dismount and bring your horse in here: tie him up alongside of mine, and follow me so that you may see something which the eyes of man have not beheld for centuries!‘

The farmer, having done as he was ordered, followed his guide for a long distance: they came at length to the top of a flight of stairs, where two huge bells were hanging. ‘Now mind,’ said the warning voice of the strange guide, ‘not to touch either of those bells!‘

At the bottom of the stairs there was a vast chamber with hundreds of men lying at full length on the floor, each with his head reposing on the stock of his gun.

‘Have you any notion who these men are?‘
‘No,’ replied the farmer, ‘I have not, nor have I any idea what they want in such a place as this!
’ Well,’ said the guide, ‘these are Arthur’s thousand soldiers reposing and sleeping till the Kymry have need of them. Now let us get out as fast as our feet can carry us!‘

When they reached the top of the stairs, the farmer somehow struck his elbow against one of the bells so that it rang, and in the twinkling of an eye all the sleeping host rose to their feet shouting together, ‘Are the Kymry in straits?‘
‘Not yet: sleep you on,’ replied the wearer of the cocked hat, whereupon they all dropped down on their guns to resume their slumbers at once.

‘These are the valiant men,’ he went on to say, ‘who are to turn the scale in favour of the Kymry when the time comes for them to cast the Saxon yoke off their necks and to recover possession of their country!‘

When the two had returned to their horses at the mouth of the cave, his guide said to the farmer, ‘Now go in peace, and let me warn you on the pain of death not to utter a syllable about what you have seen for the space of a year and a day: if you do, woe awaits you.’ After he had moved the stone back to its place the farmer lost sight of him.

When the year had lapsed the farmer happened to pass again that way, but, though he made a long and careful search, he failed completely to find the stone at the mouth of the cave.

From John Rhys’s informant, retold in ‘Celtic Folklore – Welsh And Manx’ [1901], online at
sacred-texts.com/neu/cfwm/cf202.htm
It’s a story that is told about various locations in Britain. I like the way they’ve got guns in this version and kept up with Progress.

Lodge Wood Camp is above Caerllion / Caerleon, and arguably the setting for the start of the Mabinogion story ‘The Lady of the Fountain’ – effectively King Arthur’s Camelot:

King Arthur was at Caerlleon upon Usk; and one day he sat in his chamber; and with him were Owain the son of Urien, and Kynon the son of Clydno, and Kai the son of Kyner; and Gwenhwyvar and her handmaidens at needlework by the window.
[..]
In the centre of the chamber King Arthur sat upon a seat of green rushes, over which was spread a covering of flame-coloured satin, and a cushion of red satin was under his elbow.

Online at the Sacred Texts Archive.
sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/mab/mab05.htm

Caerlleon is also described as the location of Arthur’s court in ‘Geraint the son of Erbin’:
sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/mab/mab13.htm

..Ayrshire--divided into the three districts of Cuningham, Kyle, and Carrick--seems to have been the main seat of the families of the race of Coel, from whom indeed the district of Coel, now Kyle, is said traditionally to have taken its name. There is every reason to believe that Boece, in filling up the reigns of his phantom kings with imaginary events, used local traditions where he could find them; and he tells us “Kyl dein proxima est vel Coil potius nominata, a Coilo Britannorum rege ibi in pugna cæso” and a circular mound at Coilsfield, in the parish of Tarbolton, on the highest point of which are two large stones, and in which sepulchral remains have been found, is pointed out by local tradition as his tomb.

From The Four Ancient Books of Wales by William F. Skene [1868], online at
sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/fab/fab012.htm

Lots more here in the ‘History of the County of Ayr’ v1 by James Paterson (1847).
archive.org/stream/historyofcountyo01pateuoft#page/2/mode/1up

It might be related to the stones, it might not. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to think it would be, as many similar places have grave-related folklore. This is a line from ‘Stanzas of the Grave’, a 10th-century Welsh poem:

“the grave of Bedwyr is on Tryfan hill.”

Bedwyr is one of King Arthur’s mates and one of several Arthurian characters mentioned in the early poem. You can read the rest of the poem at this page at the University of British Columbia:
https://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/sechard/344art.htm

* * *

Tryfan is a conical hill on the south side of Ogwen Lake. Its sides are precipitous and covered with huge stones resting one upon the other. The summit can be reached in one direction. On the top are two erect stones which from the road appear like two men. There is a small patch of level ground on the top. The triplet runs thus:

Bedd mab Osvran yn Camlan,
Wedi llawer cyflafan,
Bedd Bedwyr yn allt Tryfan.

Which may be thus translated:

In Camlan lies brave Osvran’s son,
Who many bloody conflicts won.
In Tryfan’s steep and craggy womb,
Uprais’d with stones is Bedwyr’s tomb.

Or literally, “The grave of the son of Osvran, after many conflicts, is in Camlan. The grave of Bedwyr, in the ascent of Tryfan.” I quote from Williams‘ Observations on the Snowdon Mountains. If Bedwyr is buried in the steep of Tryfan, it is difficult to ascertain the spot, for the whole hill-side is one mass of large stones. Perhaps, though, this Tryfan is not the one honoured with Bedwyr’s grave.

in Archaeologia Cambrensis vol 5, series 4 (1874).

Are these just the suppositions of a Victorian Gentlemen or have they got some basis in local folklore? Curious ideas, whichever.

..In Norfolk one of the hundreds, or subdivisions of the county, is called Grimshoo or Grimshow, after (as it is supposed) a Danish leader of the name of Grime or Gryme. [..] In about the centre of this hundred is a very curious Danish encampment, in a semicircular form, consisting of about twelve acres.

In this space are a great number of large deep pits, joined in a regular manner, one near to another, in form of a quincunx, the largest in the centre, where the general’s or commander’s tent was placed. These pits are so deep and numerous as to be able to conceal a very great army. At the east end of this entrenchment is a large tumulus, pointing towards Thetford, from which it is about live or six miles distant; and which might possibly have served as a watch tower, or place of signal: and here the hundred court used to be called.

This place also is known by the name of The Holes, or Grimes-graves. This part of the country, being open, was a great seat of war between the Saxons and Danes, as appears from many tumuli throughout this hundred, erected over the graves of leaders who fell in battle; or as tokens of victory, to show how far they had led their armies and conquered.

J. P. F.
West Newton.

From Notes and Queries s1-V (123): 231. (1852)
nq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/s1-V/123/231-a.pdf

Another version of the folklore:

OLD THORN-TREES (clxxxvi. 106, 129). In the parish of Berwick-St.-John, there was an old encampment with a tumulus in the centre and on this tumulus there used to be an old thorn scrag, which was cut down by the then owner and used as firewood.
Thereupon, a blight visited the whole village : no cow would have a calf, no duck nor chicken would lay an egg, and no woman would have a baby. This state of affairs continued for about three years, until a petition from the villagers was sent to the man who cut down the old scrag.

On hearing the complaint, he said, “Oh, I’ll plant another thorn-tree.” This he promptly did. Whereupon, every cow had a calf, ducks and chicken laid eggs and every female had a baby within six months. Wonderful—but true!
JOHN BENETT-STANFORD.

From Notes and Queries 186 (7): 166. (1944). Online at
nq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/186/7/166-c.pdf

Having recently been engaged with several other gentlemen in opening a barrow or tumulus in the parish of Gillingham, Dorset, and known as Langbury Hill, I am desirous to lay the results before your readers, and to ask their opinion relative to the appearances presented. The barrow in question is a long low mound of earth, measuring,- in its present state, about one hundred feet from its eastern to its western extremity, by about thirty feet wide, while the highest part is some six feet above the level of the surrounding field.

Tradition states that it was the burial place of those who were slain in a battle between the Saxons and Danes ; doubtless referring to the battle of Penn, fought in 1016 between Edmund Ironside and Canute, the village of Penn being only a few miles distant, in a northerly direction.

The tradition proceeds to inform us that the blood shed on this occasion flowed as far as to a place still called Slaughter’s Gate, and which is distant about a quarter of a mile from the barrow.

From Notes and Queries Volume s1-XII, Number 315 Pp. 364 (1855). Online at
nq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/s1-XII/315/364-a.pdf

Folk-lore Jottings from the Western Counties. -- While living as a child at Dinder, in Somersetshire, between the years 1866 and 1867, I remember hearing it said by a woman-servant, who came, I think, from no great distance, that (perhaps with the preface, “they say”) if you go up Masboro’ Castle (the highest point of the Mendips) on Easter morning, you will see a lamb in the sun..

Folk-Lore Jottings from the Western Counties
Grey Hubert Skipwith
Folklore, Vol. 5, No. 4. (Dec., 1894), pp. 339-340.

I think Beacon Batch is really the highest point of the Mendips. Indeed Masboro Castle is not noticeably high. But I guess there are other particularities here you could sooner take issue with.

Mr J Ll W Page, in his ‘Exploration of Exmoor’ (pub 1895), wrote :- “One of the most beautiful of Easter customs still survives. Young men have not yet ceased, on the Resurrection morning, to climb over the nearest hill top to see the sun flash over the dark ridge of Quantock, or the more distant line of Mendip.

“The sight of the newly risen luminary on this particular morning is to them an augury of good luck, as it was to the white robed Druid in the ages that are past. Early in the [19th] century, Dunkery, probably because it is the highest land in Somerset, was favoured above all surrounding hills, and its sides, says Miss King, were covered with young men, who seemed to come from every quarter of the compass and to be pressing up towards the Beacon.”

From ‘Calender of Customs, Superstitions, Weather Lore, Popular Sayings and Important Events Connected with the County of Somerset’, by W G Willis Watson, 1920.

It’s definitely the domain of the pixies round here. According to Jack Hurley in his 1973 ‘Legends of Exmoor’ “it was to Withypool farms that pixies came to thresh the corn at night. At one farm, curious womenfolk peeped through a hole in the barn door and saw the pixies busy threshing... in their birthday suits. So to show gratitude for the services of the little folk, the women made clothes for them and left the gifts in the barn. The pixies took this as an insult, and they never came again.” Sounds very much like the attitude of the more northern hobgoblin. I don’t think pixies (or hobgoblins) are usually seen without their kit on. Perhaps they left because they were embarrassed.

There seem to be a lot of spectres floating about the vicinity of Grace Dieu Priory.

The link at the bottom, an article by Stephen Neale Badcock, gives you the full lowdown. He also mentions that Paul Devereux did a bit of research at the location. This is an excerpt from his ‘Earth Lights’ book (1982).

“In the north-west of Leicestershire are the ruins of Grace Dieu Priory and in the field alongside stands the remains of a monolith. In our research on the county Andrew York and I learned of a legend which stated that a ‘White Lady’ ghost could be seen in this field on rare occasions. It was supposed to be the ghost of one of the nuns belonging to the former priory. To our surprise we discovered that this was not merely a legend, but it was also claimed that people nowadays had allegedly seen the spectre, even that a country bus which which runs along a road down one side of the haunted field had, at night, stopped for a white figure only to find it was the ghost. It was our good fortune to learn of an eyewitness account of the phenomenon. According to this witness, on the bus one evening when one of these incidents occurred, the ‘White Lady’ was simply a softly glowing, misty column of light, not a figure at all, that floated off across the field. In daylight, this type of event, or something very similar, seems to appear more as a dark column of gaseous or cloudy substance – a veritable vapour.

To add to the interest, it seems that the site is pretty much on a large geological faultline – a feature thought to be often present where spooky lights (earthlights) are seen.

The White Lady of Gracedieu. Compiled by Stephen Neale Badcock.
geocities.com/oliveshark53/whitelady.htm

Curiously, to support my speculation about a golden torc [see Tan Hill – Ed.], I found the following in M E Cunnington’s ‘Introduction to the Archaeology of Wiltshire’ (1949).

A piece of gold torque, or collar, weighing about 2 1/2 oz., was found by a man digging hard chalk on Allington Down, near Tan Hill, in 1844.* When the early Iron Age site at All Cannings Cross was being excavated in 1920-22 an old man who had known the finder of the torque gave the following account of its discovery. At first the finder thought it was brass, and hung it on a hurdle near where he was digging, and there it stayed for about a week; he must have had his doubts about it, for he then took it away and showed it to his master, who offered him half a crown for it; this he refused, because he thought, if the master was willing to give him half-a-crown, it’s likely as not to be worth more; so he took it to a bank in Devizes, where they soon found it to be solid gold, and thus led it to being claimed by the lord of the manor, the then Lord Ilchester, in whose family it is still.

I bet he wished he’d kept his mouth shut. The common law of treasure trove at the time was “when any gold or silver, in coin, plate or bullion hath been of ancient time hidden, wheresoever it be found, whereof no person can prove any property, it doth belong to the King, or to some Lord or other by the King’s grant, or prescription”. But I don’t suppose a poor digger had much chance of arguing it wasn’t ‘hidden’.

Anyway, so perhaps there was local knowledge that a gold torc had been found sometime in the past, and this had got converted/incorporated into the story below? Who knows the Complicated Workings of Folklore. Or it could really have been a ghost of course.

*(also see Wilts Arch Mag 36 p435)

I read in Maud Cunnington’s ‘Introduction to the Archaeology of Wiltshire’ (1949) that “Falkener’s Circle [sic] formerly stood in a field called Waylen’s Penning.”

I know. It could have just been a man called Waylen who owned the field. But what if it’s to do with Waylen = the mythological smith Wayland? and the original circle was where he penned his animals? Information to confirm / deny this is welcome...

The name of this barrow alludes to Grim, the legendary founder of Grimsby who is said to have fled Denmark and settled there with the young prince Havlock after the Danish king was killed in an invasion.

What Wayland (Volund) got up to in his smithy isn’t actually very nice, if you read the ‘Völundarkviða’ Norse poem. It’s a bit gruesome. I’ll leave it up to you whether you tell the kids as they’re poking about amongst the stones. Actually they’ll probably relish it. A little excerpt:

He struck off the heads of those stalwart boys,
Under soot-blackened bellows their bodies hid,
From both their skulls he scraped the hair
And set them in silver as a sight for Nidud,
Of their eyes he fashioned excellent gems
For his dear neighbor, Nidud’s wife,
And out of the teeth which were in their mouths
He forged a brooch to bring Bodvild joy.

You can read the translation by W. H. Auden and P. B. Taylor at ‘Woden’s Harrow – Norse Myth Source Texts’ here
angelfire.com/on/Wodensharrow/volund.html

Coflein says that Bedd Gwyl Illtyd was originally described as a pair of stones with a mound between, but now it’s thought to be the remains of a ring cairn 13m in diameter.

On the motif of petrifaction as punishment for wrongdoing, a life of St Cadog (c. AD 1100) relates that he turned two wolves into stones for biting sheep; and a life of St Illtud (c.AD 1140) narrates how he turned two robbers into stone for stealing his herd of swine. ‘Till now.. are seen the immovable stones called by the name ‘Two Robbers’*. These stones cannot certainly now be identified, but two rather widely separated standing stones were located a few years ago on Mynydd Illtud by D J James.

*A W Wade-Evans: Vita Sanctorum Britanniae et Genealogiae (1944

From ‘Notes on the Folklore of Prehistoric Sites,’ by L V Grinsell, in Folklore vol 90, no1, p66 (1979).

But we know it’s St Illtyd’s grave. Tradition has it that he lived, died and was buried here. It’s known as the Grave of St Illtyd’s Feast Day, because it was the custom to ‘watch their on the Vigil of the saint’s day’, which is either the 6 or 7 November.

The chapel is dedicated to St. Illtyd, and sometimes gives the name of Llan Illtyd to this division of the parish. On an adjoining eminence, near a pool, are two large stones, placed six feet asunder, at each end of a small tumulus, which is called Bedd Gwyl Illtyd, or “The Grave of St. Illtyd’s Eve,” from the ancient custom of watching there on the eve of the festival of that saint, who was supposed to have been buried here.

(Lewis’s ‘Topographical Dictionary of Wales’, 1833).

St Illtyd himself was useful to have about, as he introduced to the Welsh a new and improved method of ploughing. He was described in another Triad as one of the three knights in the court of King Arthur ‘who kept the Greal’ (the other two were Cadoc and Peredur).

(from volume 3 of Baring-Gould’s ‘Lives of the British Saints’ 1913).