Lancashire Folklore (Part Two)

Local superstitions, magical hands and the witches of the Northwest; its our second part exploring Lancashire Folklore, the collection wrote in collaboration between John Harland & T.T. Wilkinson, published in 1867.

'The cows of her neighbours were constantly milked by her - the pitcher in which she conveyed the stolen milk away, walking before her in the shape of a goose. Under this disguise her depredations were carried on till a neighbour, suspecting the trick, struck the goose and immediately it was changed into a broken pitcher.'

Tales From Antiquaria is a podcast dedicated to exploring the legacy of work published regarding folklore and local history during the golden age of antiquarian writing in the nineteenth century.

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Episode written, produced and presented by Eli Lewis-Lycett. All source material taken directly from the stated publication. Main theme music by Humanoid Media. Incidental music from Restum-Anoush. 

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Transcript

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Local superstitions, magical hands, and the witches of the northwest. My name is Eli, and this is Tales from Antiquaria, Lancashire Folklore, Part Two. We're back tonight with part two of our jaunt through Lancashire folklore, the 1867 collection written by John Harland and T.T. Wilkinson. Before we start, just a quick one from me, just to say if you could possibly leave us a review and a rating on your preferred podcast platform, it really helps secure the future of the show. And of course, if you can give us a like on the socials as well, that helps us stay connected. Anyway, let's get straight to it. The moon. Our farmers predict fair weather, or the reverse, according to the new moon, whether she lies on her back or stands upright. It's also very unlucky for anyone to look at the new moon for the first time through a window. Popular superstitions. Lancashire, like all other counties, has its own peculiar superstitions, manners and customs, some of which find no parallels in those other localities. It also has, no doubt, many local observances, current opinions and old proverbs and vulgar ditties which are held and taken in common with the inhabitants to a greater extent of the country and differ merely in minor particulars. But the following are a few of these local superstitions. If a person's hair, when thrown into the fire, burns brightly, it's a sure sign that the individual will have a long life. A young person lightly stirs the fire with a poker to test the humour of a lover. If the fire blazes brightly, the lover is said to be good humoured. A crooked sixpence or a copper coin with a hole through, is accounted a lucky coin. Cutting the nails of the hands or feet on a Friday or Sunday is very unlucky. If a person's left ear burn or feel hot, somebody is praising them. If the right ear burn, it's a sure sign that someone is speaking evil of the person. Tales of witchcraft. Belief in witchcraft is still strong in many of the rural districts. One respectable farmer assured me that his horse was bewitched into a stable through a loophole twelve inches by three. The fact he said was beyond doubt, for he had locked the stable door himself when the horse was in the field and had kept the key in his pocket. Soon afterwards a party of farmers went through the process known as burning the witch out, and the person suspected soon died. The horseshoe is still nailed behind many doors to counteract the effects of witchcraft. Warts are cured by being rubbed over with a black snail, but the snail must afterwards be impaled upon a hawthorn. Profuse bleeding is said to be instantly stopped by certain persons who pretend to possess the secret of a certain form of words or charm. The power of bewitching and producing evil to persons by wishing it is supposed to be transmitted from one possessor to another when one of the parties is about to die. Other superstitions. A red-haired person is supposed to bring ill luck if he be the first to enter a house on New Year's Day. Black-haired persons are hired and rewarded with liquor or small gratuities for taking in the new year to the principal houses of their respective neighbourhood. A man must never go a courting on a Friday. If an unlucky fellow is caught with his lady love on that day, he is followed home by a band of musicians. They play on pokers, tongs and pan lids, and the only way he can rid himself of his tormentors is by giving them money for drink. The whooping cough will never be taken by any child that is ridden upon the back of a bear. And the writer knows of cases in which this charm is said to have been effectual. Boggots on bridges. There is scarcely a dial in my vicinity where a running stream crosses a road by a small bridge or stone platte where there is not a boggot to be found. Wells, ponds, and gates have often had this bad repute. I have heard of the appearance of a calf with eyes like sorcers, a woman without a head, a white greyhound, a column of white foam like a large sugarloaf in the middle of a pond, or a group of little cats taking the shape of the boggot. Sometimes it is the shape of a lady who jumps behind hapless passengers on horseback. It's supposed that a Romish priest can lay boggets, and it's best to cheat them into consent to being laid while Hollies are green. Hollies being evergreens, the ghosts can reappear no more. The hand of Father Arasmith. At Bryn Hall, now demolished, once the seat of the Gerards, was a Roman Catholic chapel and a priest who continued long after the family had departed, having in his custody the dead man's hand. Preserved with great care in a white silk bag, it is still resorted to by many diseased persons and is said to perform wonderful cures. It is said to be the hand of Father Arismith, a priest who is stated to have been put to death at Lancaster for his religion in the time of William III. The story goes that when he was about to suffer, he desired his spiritual attendant to cut off his right hand which should then have the power to work miracles. Yet there is a tradition that Father Arismith was hanged for witnessing a rape. And having been found guilty of rape, in all probability the story of his martyrdom and of the miraculous attestation to the truth of the cause for which he suffered were contrived for the purpose of preventing a scandal on the church. Peggy's Well Peggy's Well is near the Ribble, in a field below Waddow Hall. Any calamities in the local area are often attested to Peggy, the evil spirit of the well. There is a mutated stone figure by the well, which has been the subject of many strange tales and apprehensions. It was placed there when turned out of the house at Waddow Hall to allay the terrors of the servants who dare not continue under the same roof with this midshapen figure. It was then broken either from accident or design, and the head, some time ago, as understood, is now in one of the attic chambers at Wadow Hall. Who Peggy of the Well was, tradition does not inform us. Witches of the Northwest About 1630, a man at Middleton named Utley, a reputed wizard, was tried, found guilty, and hanged at Lancaster for having bewitched to death Richard, the son of Alf Asherton. It's gravely recorded that one of the tenants of Sir Edward Moore in the year sixteen seven, residing in Castle Street, Liverpool, was a witch, descended from a family of witches, and inheriting the facility of witchcraft in common with a maiden's sister. When she was asked how long she had been a witch, she replied since the death of her mother, thirty years before, who decreed at a demise she had nothing to leave her and her sister bar these skills, and her two spirits, who she gave unto her daughters. The village of Singleton in the Flyde is remarkable only for having been the residence of Mag Shelton, a famous witch of a day. Her food, we are told was haggis, made of boiled groats and mixed with thyme and parsley. Many other wild tales related of her dealings in the Black Arts. The cows of her neighbours were constantly milked by her, and the pitcher in which she conveyed the stolen milk away, walking before her in the shape of a goose. Under this disguise her depredations were carried on until a neighbour suspecting the trick, struck the goose, and lo, immediately it was changed into a broken pitcher. Only once was this witch foiled by the powerful spell, at the controversy of a maiden who having sealed her in a chair before a large fire, struck her with a bogkin about a person and thus fixed it irremovably from her seat. Gifts to infants It is a custom in some parts of Lancashire, as well as in Yorkshire and Northumberland, that when an infant first goes out of the house in the arms of the mother or the nurse, others in every neighbourhood receive the call to present gifts. With some it is salt, some bread, and in some cases a small piece of money. These gifts are to ensure as the gossips avow that the child shall never want bread, meat, salt or money throughout their life. The old custom of sponsors giving the child twelve teaspoons called apostle spoons is now obsolete. There is still, even yet in some parts of Lancashire, a strong dread of the fairies or witches coming secretly and exchanging their own ill-foured imps for the newly born infant. Various charms are used to prevent the child from thus being stolen away. I find that's often a sign of beliefs and traditions that have lingered on in the communities going back several hundred years. Wonderful stuff. That part where we discuss the left earburning for love and the right earburning for people speaking evil of you. When I was growing up, it was often said left for love, right for spite, if you had a hot ear. And I wonder, I mean, this isn't so far from Lancashire where I grew up and where I live now, but I'm wondering if that's the same elsewhere in the country. I'd love to know. Hope you've enjoyed it, and we'll be back soon with our next episode. So until then, take care, and may your God go with you.com.