King Arthurs Stone

Goss Moor - © Copyright Tony Atkin and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

"In the western part of Cornwall, all the marks of any peculiar kind found on the rocks are referred either to the giants or the devil. In the eastern part of the county such markings are almost always attributed to Arthur. Not far from the Devil's Coit in St Columb, on the edge of the Gossmoor, there is a large stone, upon which are deeply-impressed marks, which a little fancy may convert into the marks of four horse-shoes. This is "King Arthur's Stone," and these marks were made by the horse upon which the British king rode when he resided at Castle Denis, and hunted on these moors. King Arthur's beds, and chairs, and caves, are frequently to be met with. The Giant's Coits,--and many traditions of these will be found in the section devoted to the giant romances--are probably monuments of the earliest types of rock mythology. Those of Arthur belong to the period when the Britons were so far advanced in civilisation as to war under experienced rulers; and those which are appropriated by the devil are evidently instances of the influence of priestcraft on the minds of an impressible people."

Hunt 1903

Map - Goss Moor (King Arthur's Stone no longer seems to exist - correct me if I am wrong!)

Map - Castle Denis

18th century proverb about crusties!

"She is as crusty as that is hard bak'd." - Somerset.

(One that is surly and loth to do any thing.)

Ray 1768





[Who would have thought "Crusty" was an 18th century word!  Brilliant! Crusties hold your heads up high, your linguistic heritage traces back 250 odd years!]

Obscure proverb - any suggestions?

"Let them buckle for it" - Somerset

Ray 1768



[No idea. Some kind of competitive game?]

Matchmaking proverb

"You shall have the red cap" - Somerset

Ray 1768

[A red cap is worn by a Catholic Bishop, though how this relates to 18th century protestant somerset I don't know. Perhaps there was a protestant equivalent being used at this time. Red fits appropriately with the life stage of marriage, as life often was depicted in folklore as white (early life, virginity), moving to red (love, sex) and then to black (death). I doubt very much the red cap was related to the Redcap of the folklore of the Scottish English borders, a goblin said to need fresh blood to keep its cap red...]

Porridge proverb from Somerset

"She will as soon part with the pot as the porridge" - Somerset

Ray 1768

[Could be to do with starvation and poverty, but more likely to be about meanness - someone who wont give anything away!]

Did the Devil go to Cornwall?

The Devil's Quoit near Saint Columb Major. Image  © Copyright Michael Murray and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

"In St Columb Major, not far from the ruins of what is generally considered to be a British fortification, Castele-an-Dinas, stands a tumulus known as the Devil's Coit. It is curious to find one tradition directly contradicting another. We are told, on the one hand, that--

The devil never came into Cornwall.

Because, when he crossed the Tamar, and made Torpoint for a brief space his resting-place, he could not but observe that everything, vegetable or animal, was put by the Cornish people into a pie.

He saw and heard of fishy pie, star-gazy pie, conger pie, and indeed pies of all the fishes in the sea. Of parsley pie, and herby pie, of lamy pie, and piggy pie, and pies without number. Therefore, fearing they might take a fancy to a "devily pie," he took himself back again into Devonshire.

On the other hand we find, amidst the rocks of the shore and the hills, numerous devil's coits, plenty of devil's footsteps, with devil's bellows, devil's frying-pans, devil's ovens, and devil's caves in abundance. Of course, on Dartmoor, since the devil remained in Devonshire, we might expect to find such evidences of his presence. The devil's frying-pan at Mistor is well known, and nearly every granite Tor preserves some impression of this melancholy, wandering wicked one."

Hunt 1903

 

Map - The Devil's Coit

Map - Torpoint

Map - The Devil's Frying-pan, Mistor

The Pipers Holes

Piper's Hole on Tresco, Isles of Scilly. Image © Copyright Richard Croft and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

"On the banks of Peninnis, in St Mary's, is Piper's Hole, which communicates, as tradition saith, with the island of Tresco, where another orifice known by the same name is seen. Going in at the orifice at Peninnis Banks in St Mary's, it is above man's height, and of as much space in its breadth, but grows lower and narrower farther in a little beyond which entrance appear rocky basins, or reservoirs, continually running over with fresh water, descending as it distils from the sides of the rocky passage. By the fall of water heard further in, it is probable there may be rocky descents in the passage. The drippings from the sides have worn the passage, as far as it can be seen, into very various angular surfaces. Strange stories are related of this passage, of men going so far in that they never returned; of dogs going quite through, and coming out at Tresco, with most of their hair off; and such like incredibles. But its retired situation, where lovers retreat to indulge their mutual passion-, has made it almost as famous as the cave wherein Dido and Aeneas met of old. Its water is exceeding good.

[from] Heath's "Scilly Isles."  

These stories of Piper's Hole are still told, and many of the ignorant inhabitants regard it with superstitious dread. The Fugoe Hole, at the Land's End, has yet to be spoken of in the Witch stories. Several who have attempted to penetrate this hole have escaped only by great luck --" by the skin of their teeth," as the saying is."

Hunt 1903

 

 

Map - Pipers Hole on St Marys

Map - Pipers Hole on Tresco

[I cannot locate the Fugoe Hole]

The Devil's Doorway

Polperro - image by © Copyright Alan Fleming and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

"In the slate (Killas) formations behind Polperro is a good example of a fault. The geologist, in the pride of his know­ledge, refers this to some movement of the solid mass--a rending of the rocks, produced either by the action of some subterranean force lifting the earth-crust, or by a depression of one division of the rocks. The gray-bearded wisdom of our grandfathers led them to a conclusion widely different from this.

The mighty ruler of the realms of darkness, who is known to have an especial fondness for rides at midnight, "to see how his little ones thrive," ascending from his subterranean country, chose this spot as his point of egress.

As he rose from below in his fiery car, drawn by a gigantic jet black steed, the rocks gave way before him, and the rent at Pol­perro remains to this day to convince all unbelievers. Not only this, as his Satanic majesty burst through the slate rocks, his horse, delighted with the airs of this upper world, reared in wild triumph, and, planting again his hoof upon the ground, made these islands shake as with an earthquake; and he left the deep impres­sion of his burning foot behind. There, any unbeliever may see the hoof-shaped pool, unmistakable evidence of the wisdom of the days gone by."

Hunt 1903

Map - Polperro

The Irish Lady - a ghostly rock - Part 2

The Irish Lady is in the bottom right of the picture, Land's End is top right. Image by © Copyright Graham Horn and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

[cont...] "...Sir Humphrey Davy wrote a poem on this tradition. The following is an extract from it:--

"Where yon dark cliff  o'ershadowa the bltte main,

[ - A rock near the Land's End called the "Irish Lady."]

Theora died amidst the stormy waves,
And on its feet the sea-dews wash'd her corpse
And the wild breath of storms shook her black locks.
Young was Theora; bluer was her eye
Than the bright azure of the moonlight night;
Fair was her cheek, as is the ocean cloud
Red with the morning ray.

" Amidst the groves,
And greens, and nodding rocks that overhang
The gray Killarney pans'd her morning days,
Bright with the beams of joy.

"To solitude,
To nature, and to God, she gave her youth;
Hence were her passions tuned to harmony.
Her azure eye oft glisten'd with the tear
Of sensibility, and her soft cheek
Glow'd with the blush of rapture. Hence she loved
To wander 'midst the green wood silver'd o'er
By the bright moonbeam. Hence she loved the rocks,
Crowu'd with the nodding ivy, and the lake
Fair with the purple morning, and the sea
Expansive, mingling with the arched sky.

"Dark in the midnight cloud,
When the wild blast upon its pinions bore
The dying shrieks of Erin's injured Sons,
She 'scaped the murderer's arm. 

[The Irish lady was shipwrecked at the Land's End about the time of the massacre of the Irish Protestants by the Catholics, in the reign of Charles the First. So says Davy--the tradition is very old.]

"The British bark
Bore her across the ocean. From the west
The whirlwind rose, the fire-fraught clouds of heaven
Were mingled with the wave. The shatter'd bark
Sunk at thy feet, Boleriutn, and the white surge
Closed on green Erin's daughter."

-- PARIS's Life of Sir Humphrey Davy, p. 38

This kind of tradition is not uncommon."

Hunt 1903




Map - The Irish Lady

The Irish Lady - a ghostly rock - Part 1

The Irish Lady is in the bottom right of the picture, Land's End is top right. Image by © Copyright Graham Horn and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

"Near Pedn-men-dw, the "Headland of Black Rock," is a curiously-shaped rock, known as the Irish Lady. In days long ago some adventurous sailors from Ireland were shipwrecked at night on this rock, and every soul perished, save a lady, who was seen in the morning sitting on the top of the rock. The storm was still raging, and it was quite impossible to render this solitary sufferer any assistance. Days and nights passed away the people watched the dying woman from the shore, but they could not reach her. At length they saw that her sufferings were at an end; and at last the dead body was washed into the sea. Often, when the winds and waves are high, the fishermen see a lady tranquilly sitting on this rock, with a rose in her mouth; to show, it may be presumed, her perfect indifference to the ragings of tempests..." [cont...]

Hunt 1903

The riddle of the cross trees...

The Cross Tree at South Tawton

[I have just had an article published in the Dartmoor magazine about the mysterious vanished history of the Cross Trees on Dartmoor... A sprinkling of good folklore in there.

It is somewhat embarrassing publishing work like that - no mater how many times you proof read it there is still the urge to clarify things and remove bits when I read it back! 

Buy the magazine - read it!

There is some other bits of folklore in their as well, including a regular column specifically dedicated to a particular story by 'Mary Tavy' (this edition it is about the 'watching place' near Moretonhampstead).

http://www.dartmoormagazine.co.uk/currentissue.html 

(And unlike here I checked my grammar and spelling quite carefully!)]

The Armed Knight

The Armed Knight, or An Marogeth Arvowed. Image  © Copyright Tony Atkin and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

"AT low water there is to be seen, off the Land's End, towards the Scilly Island (probably so called from the abundance of eel or conger fishes caught there, which are called sillys, or lillis), for a mile or more, a dangerous strag of ragged rocks, amongst which the Atlantic Sea and the waves of St George's and the British Channel meeting, make a dreadful bellowing and rumbling noise at half-ebb and half-flood, which let seamen take notice of to avoid them.

"Of old, there was one of those rocks more notable than the rest, which tradition saith was ninety feet above the flux and reflux of the sea, with an iron spire at the top thereof, which was overturned or thrown down in a violent storm, 1647, and the rock was broken in three pieces. This iron spire, as the additions to Camden's "Britannia" inform us, was thought to have been erected by the Romans, or set up as a trophy there by King Athelstan, when he first conquered the Scilly Islands (which was in those parts); but it is not very probable such a piece of iron, in this salt sea and air, without being consumed by rust, could endure so long a time. However, it is or was, certain I am it commonly was called in Cornish, An Marogeth Arvowed, i.e., the Armed Knight; for what reason I know not, except erected by or in memory of some armed knight; as also Carne-an-peul, i.e., the spile, spire, or javelin rock. Again, remember silly lilly, is in Cornish and Armoric language a conger fish or fishes, from whence Scilly Islands is probably denominated, as elsewhere noted." (Hal; in Gilbert's History of Cornwall," vol iii. p. 43). Mr Blight says this rock is also called Guela, or Guelaz,--the "rock easily seen."

Hunt 1903

Map - Rocks off Lands End

Map - Isles of Scilly

Tithes - a proverb

"A good tither a good thriver" - Somerset.

Ray 1768

[A tithe was a sort of tax taken by the church. It used to consist of every 10th animal / plant produced, but by the 19th century was more usually paid for with its monetary equivalent. The church did play the part of (a rather inadequate) welfare state, but also used the profits for 'spiritual' purposes, such as paying clergy, feeding abbots, entertaining nobility, sending off missionaries etc. On top of this taxes where paid. As tithes where means based it would be a reasonable indicator of your relative wealth.]

The need for mead - a Somerset proverb

""Little mead little need." - Somerset

(A mild winter hoped for after a bad summer.) "

Ray 1768

Highly sexed young Somerset folk... A proverb.

"A child's bird and a boy's wife are well used" -  Somerset

Ray 1768

Proverb about paying - Somerset

"If you touch pot you must touch penny" - Somerset

(Pay for what you have)

Ray 1768

A goat's concience

""He hath a conscience like a Cheverel's skin." - Somerset

(That will stretch) A Cheverel is a wild goat."

Ray 1768

Proverb about not rocking your baby to sleep on your lap

""Let not the child sleep on bones" - Somerset

i.e. The nurses lap"

Ray 1768

[Interesting that Ray, being from the class that writes books, assumes this is about the 'nurse' looking after the child, not their parents.]

Town and country - a Somerset Proverb

"Like a loaders horse that lives among thieves." - Somerset

(The country-man near a town)

Ray 1768

Another Prophosy of Merlyn - the meeting of Men and Women

Rame Head, looking along Whitsands Bay.  Dodman is many miles behind the photographer!  Image © Copyright Rob Farrow and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Merlyn is said to have pronounced the following prophecy, standing near St German's Grotto on the shores of Whitsand Bay:--

"When the Rame Head and Dodman meet,
Man and woman will have cause to greet."

Hunt 1903

Map - Whitsands Bay

Map - Rame Head

Map - Dodman Point

[Outside of this book St. German's Grotto at Whitsands Bay is unknown to the internet - very mysterious!  This prophesy (presented more simply as a proverb) was also recorded by Ray in 1768.]

Another prophosy of Merlyn - The Levan Stone

The Levan Stone - image by © Copyright Rod Allday and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

"This bisected mass of granite has been already noticed in con­nection with St Levan.

 "When, with panniers astride,
A pack-horse can ride
Through the Levan Stone,
The world will be done.""

Hunt 1903

Map - Saint Levan's Stone

A prophecy of Merlyn - the burning of Paul, Penzance and Newlyn

Looking towards Mousehole and Merlyn's Rock (about center of the picture) - Image © Copyright VR6Lee and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

"PROPHECIES by Merlyn are tolerably prevalent in Cornwall. The character of these may be known by one or two examples --

"Aga syth tyer, war and meyne Merlyn
Ara neb syth Leskey Paul, Penzance hag Newlyn."

This has been translated--

"There shall land on the stone of Merlyn,
Those who shall burn Paul, Penzance, and Newlyn."

This prophecy is supposed to have been accomplished when the Spaniards, in the reign of Elizabeth, landed at Mousehole, a fishing village in the Mount's Bay. Near the pier at Mousehole is still a rock called "Merlyn Car," or "Merlyn's Rock," and not far from it another, called "the Spaniard.""

Hunt 1903

Map - Paul

Map - Penzance

Map - Newlyn

Map - Mousehole

Map - Merlyn Car / Merlyn's Rock

Map - The Spaniard

The Pixie Gardens Exist!

[I always doubted this was anything more than a private name for an area of Dartmoor I was told by a woman at a bus stop - now I have stumbled across official recognition of their existence!

The Pixie Gardens near south Zeal exist! Here is a link to the common land known as The Pixie Gardens and Bottoms. What a brilliant name for these tiny fields!]

The Four Parish Stone and the Saxons

Watch Croft - a hill near the four parish stone - image by Iain Macaulay [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"At a point where the four parishes of Zennor. Morvah, Gulval, and Mathon meet, is a flat stone with a cross cut on it. The Saxon kings are also said to have dined on this."

Hunt 1903



Map - The Four Parish Stone

[According to the OS map it looks like there are now only three parishes meeting here - Gulval and Mathon having become Madron County Parish.  

Again this is currently an unfashionable legend, so I could not find a copyright free image of the exact stone. It is tempting to think that the legend itself is not of local origin - why celebrate an invading armies victory, especially when they did not become the local areas dominant culture - but for a non-local legend it seems strange to use an otherwise unknown stone.  To me the Victorians as a whole seem far to enamored with the Celtic - or Keltic - origin of Cornwall to make this up, though they did take ancient historians - including Saxon propagandist Bede - at their word. Perhaps at an earlier date it became temporarily fashionable in Cornwall to look the Saxon influenced east, an then the legend grew and stuck..? Perhaps in the early days of the 'new world' and an expanding empire led from London?  Who knows!]