Highly sexed young Somerset folk... A proverb.

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

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.]

Nancledra Logan stone - the 12 o'clock stone

A field near Nancledra. Unfortunately, as Hunt says, the folkloric stones near here where removed. Image by Sheila Russell [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"NUMBERS of people would formerly visit a remarkable Logan stone, near Nancledrea, which had been, by supernatural power, impressed with some peculiar sense at midnight. Although it was quite impossible to move this stone during daylight, or indeed by human power at any other time, it would rock like a cradle exactly at midnight. Many a child has been cured of rickets by being placed naked at this hour on the twelve-o'clock stone. If, however, the child was "misbegotten," or, if it was the offspring of dissolute parents, the stone would not move, and consequently no cure was effected. On the Cuckoo Hill, eastward of Nancledrea, there stood, but a few years since, two piles of rock about eight feet apart, and these were united by a large flat stone carefully placed upon them,--thus forming a doorway which was, as my informant told me, "large and high enough to drive a horse and cart through." It was formerly the custom to march in procession through this "doorway" in going to the twelve-o'clock stone. 

The stone-mason has, however, been busy hereabout; and every mass of granite, whether rendered notorious by the Giants or holy by the Druids, if found to be of the size required, has been removed."

Hunt 1903

Map - Nancledra

Map - Cuckoo Hill

Devon charm to cure whooping cough

Donkey, or Ass, at Clovelly in Devon - by Neil Kennedy [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"Bring an ass before the door of the house, into whose mouth thrust a slice of new bread, then pass the sick child three times over and under the animal's body, and the charm is completed."

Hewett 1900

[This charm reminds me of another on Dartmoor, where the sick child was put amongst the sheep - there was obviously an idea that the cough sounded like an animal, and thus sympathetic magic was needed.]

Devon charm to assist a child in teathing

"Make a necklace of beads cut from the root of henbane and place round the child's neck."

Hewett 1900

Unlucky in Devon - 61, 62, 63, 64, 65 & 66 ; and lucky in Devon 32 (all at sea)

The Lundy Ferry, nr. Ilfracombe North Devon

It is unlucky -

"To lose a mop or a broom at sea. 

To whistle on board ship, as it raises storms, and enrages the devil, who in retaliation brews tempestuous weather and causes shipwrecks.

Save a sailor from the sea,

And he'll become your enemy.

Fishermen are exceptionally superstitious and believe that ill-luck attends certain practices : for instance, they would never think of turning a craft against the sun, or of mentioning rabbits, hares, or pigs, while aboard, nor will they lend anything from one boat to another.

If the first herring brought aboard for the season is found to be a "melt," then a disastrous time in the fishing world is to be expected. If on the other hand the first brought in is a "roe," then hundreds of mease (600) will be caught and full purses the result.

Fishermen consider it most unlucky to throw a cat overboard, or to drown one at sea. 

(Children bring good luck to a ship.)"

Hewett 1900 

 

Unlucky in Devon - 35, 36, 37 & 38 (baptism and confirmation)

Roman Catholic Baptism

 It is unlucky -

"To reveal a child's Christian name before it is presented at the font for baptism.

To receive the left hand of the bishop on the head, at confirmation. It conveys a ban instead of a blessing.

For a child to refrain from crying when presented at the font for baptism. It is thought the more it yells and screams, the quicker the evil spirits will quit it.

For an unmarried person to be sponsor at a baptism : for "First to the font, never to the altar.""

Hewett 1900

Some instances of Robin Lore - Ashburton and Dawlish

The weeping robin - By Rasbak (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"A remarkable instance of credulity in robin-lore came to my notice in 1891. The following was told me by an educated lady, whose temperament is in no way morbid or hysterical ; but is in herself bright, cheerful, and religious. The sight of a robin carries her memory back to some of the saddest days of her life. Here is her story :

" In 1848 I was staying with my grandparents at Ashburton, in Devonshire. My grandmother, having a severe cold, went early to bed, and the weather being oppressively hot, the window was left open. Presently a robin, dishevelled and melancholy, flew into the room and perched on the towel-rail. No amount of persuasion could dislodge him, and at last all efforts to eject him were abandoned. He continued his sad weep, weep, weep, for at least an hour, when he quietly flew out of the window. That night grannie died. Again, in 1851, a robin, just as unhappy and forlorn as the former one, flew into my father's bedroom, exhibiting every sign of dejection. Nor would he be easily driven off, but sought the tester of the bed, where he continued his weep, weep, weep. That night my father died.
 

"Again, in the autumn of 1884, while on a visit to Dawlish with my husband and children, we often took our books and work into the garden. One evening, as usual, we were in the summer-house, the children playing noisily, when a robin flew into their midst, and hopped on the table, finally perching himself on the handle of my work-basket. A more pitiable dejected little birdie could not be imagined, his feathers were ruffled and touselled, and both wings drooped to his feet. There he sat, uttering his dolorous weep, weep, weep, for several minutes ; when we rose to go into the house he followed, sometimes fluttering along before us in the path, at others flitting from bush to bush close at our side. Even after we had closed the window we heard him on the shrubs outside, still pathetically uttering his doleful weep, weep, weep. The next morning my dear husband, who had gone along the Strand for a stroll while I dressed the children for a walk, dropped suddenly dead, and was brought home within a quarter of an hour after leaving the house. Can you wonder at my having a dread of a visit from a robin, after these pitiful experiences?""

Hewett 1900

Map - Ashburton
Map - Dawlish

Bream - Saint Levan's "Choke-Child"

A Small Bream - or "Choke-Child" -  http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimpenfish/2618563143/sizes/z/in/photostream/ - Some rights reserved by zimpenfish

 "Though St. Levan's Church is somewhat decayed, a little of the ornamental work that adorned it is still to be seen. It consists of some curious carving, which evidently at one time recorded the events in the life of the saint. There are repetitions of one especial device; it is that of two fish on a hook. We have already mentioned that St. Levan, when he had caught one fish, did not attempt to take more: his fishing was for food, not for sport. But one evening, when he was catching his supper, there was a strong pull on his line, and on drawing it in he found two breams on his hook. The good saint needed only one; but wishing to be impartial, he would not keep either, but threw them both back into the sea. Again they came on the hook, and were again thrown back; but when they appeared on it a third time, St. Levan thought that there must be some reason for so singular an occurrence, and carried them both home. When he reached his hut at Bodellen, he found his sister, St. Breage, and her two children come to visit him, and he was glad that he had caught two fish. They were cooked for supper. The children had walked far, and were very hungry. They ate fast and carelessly, and a bone stuck in the throat of each, and choked them. Since that time the bream has been called by the fishermen of St. Levan "choke-child.""

Valentine (undated)

Map - Saint Levan Church

[I have not been able to find the location of "Bodellen", any help would be appreciated]

Lightning the Cornish "Mock" on Christmas eve

Fire - Some rights reserved by Kirrus

"In Cornwall, as we are informed by a contributor to Notes and Queries, the Yule log is called ' the mock,' and great festivities attend the burning of it, including the old ceremony of lighting the block with a brand preserved from the fire of last year. We are informed also that, in the same locality, Christmas Eve is a special holiday with children, who, on this occasion, are allowed to sit up till midnight and ' drink to the mock."

Chambers 1888

Castle Rock and the Black Monk - part 1

Black Monk and Lady - Mumford, Ethel Watts, Herford, Oliver and Mizner, Addison: “The Cynic’s Calendar” (1905)

"That a castle ever existed here is not credible; but tradition has declared that there was one, and that it was lost by the sins of a family, though no vestige of it nor any written account of it exists.

The tradition is, that one dismal winter evening, a monk, tall, dark, in a black robe and cowl, called at the castle and asked for food and shelter for the night, in the Virgin's name. The lady, who chanced to be in the hall, and who disliked his countenance, refused him the solicited hospitality, and the angry pilgrim cursed her. It is probable that there was in the lady some lack of hospitality, that she was mean; and uncharitable, so that evil was allowed to assail her; or it might have been that she detected the true nature of the monk, and therefore refused to help him. The curse was a peculiar one. "All thine shall be mine," said the pilgrim, "till in the porch of Holy Church a lady and a child shall stand and beckon."

Years rolled on, and the next baron of the castle was of so greedy a nature, that he pulled down the Church of St. John, which then rose in the valley, for its materials, and took the holy vessels of the altar for his own use. One night, as he was feasting alone, and sacrilegiously drinking from the sacred chalice, the black monk appeared, told him his time of account was come, and that he must go with him..." [cont.]

Valentine (undated)

The Doones of Exmoor - Part 2

 

"...They consequently grew bolder and more savage year by year, till they robbed a farmhouse at Exford, and finding only a little child in it, they tossed her up and caught her on their swords, killing her for mere sport. A maid-servant, who, in fear of her life, had abandoned her charge and hidden herself in an oven, heard them say to the child,-

"If they ask who murdered thee,
Say 'twas the Doones of Badgeree."

This monstrous crime roused the farmers; they gathered together every man they could get, and proceeded in a body against the Doones' Glen.

After a severe fight they succeeded in destroying and taking prisoners the whole band; those that survived were tried and executed, and thus Exmoor was cleared from its bandits for ever."

Valentine (undated)

Map - Doone Glen

Map - Exford

The Olive, The Crown, The King and The Church - part 1

"Bath Cathedral was founded by Bishop Oliver King in the reign of Henry VII. 

"Lying at Bath," we are told, "and musing, or meditating one night late, after his devotions and prayers for the prosperity of Henry VII. and his children (who were all in most part living), to which king he was principal secretary, and by him preferred to his bishopric, he saw (or believed he saw) a vision of the Holy Trinity, with angels ascending and descending by a ladder, near to the foot of which there was a fair olive tree supporting a crown, and a voice that said, 'Let an Olive establish the Crown, and let a King restore the Church.'..." [cont.]

Valentine (undated)

Jesus Well, near Wadebridge

"Here also [near Wadebridge] is a well, or spring, known as JESUS WELL, to which children suffering from the whooping-cough are brought.--Ibid. 147."

Hope 1893

Map - Jesus Well

Saint Levan

"Near the edge of the cliff, on the right bank of the stream, close to the church, is the ruin of the ancient baptistery or Well of St, Levan, who, according to the legend, supported himself by fishing. He caught only one fish a day. But once, when his sister and his child came to visit him, after catching a chad, which he thought not dainty enough to entertain them, he threw it again into the sea. The same fish was caught three times, and at last the saint accepted it, cooked and placed it before his guests, when the child was choked by the first mouthful, and St. Levan saw in the accident a punishment for his dissatisfaction with the fish which Providence had sent him. The chad is still called here "chack-cheeld"--choke-child. The chapel has disappeared."

Hope 1893

Map - St. Levan

Saint Austell - Menacuddle Well

"About half a mile from St. Austell there is an enclosed well of remarkably pure water, known as Menacuddle Well, i.e., maen-a-coedl, the hawk's stone; and also the remains of its little chapel or baptistry. The chapel is 11 feet long, 9 feet wide. There are north and south doorways, B B, 2 feet 9 inches wide, and 5 feet high, The spring rises on the east side, and the basin, A A, is divided by a stone bar. 

Its romantic situation moves us more than any idea of the virtue of the water. It is also a wishing well. It lies in a vale at the foot of Menacuddle Grove, surrounded with romantic scenery, and covered with an ancient Gothic chapel, overgrown with ivy. The virtues of these waters are very extraordinary, but the advantages to be derived from them are rather attributed to the sanctity of the fountain than to the natural excellence of its stream. Weak children have frequently been carried here to be bathed ; ulcers have also been washed in its sacred water, and people in season of sickness have been recommended by the neighbouring matrons to drink of this salubrious fluid. In most of these cases, instances may be procured of benefits received from the application, but the prevailing opinion is that the advantages enjoyed result rather from some mystical virtue attributed to the waters for ages past, than from the natural qualities. Within the memory of persons now living, this well was a place of general resort for the young and thoughtless. On approaching the margin, each visitor, if he hoped for good luck through life, was expected to throw a crooked pin into the water, and it was presumed that the other pins which had been deposited there by former devotees might be seen rising from their beds, to meet it before it reached the bottom, and though many have gazed with eager expectation, no one has yet been permitted to witness this extraordinary phenomenon."

Hope 1893

Map - Menacudle Well

Menacuddle Well 2004

  © Copyright Michael Murray and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Saint Pirian and the Well

"Beside a path leading to the oratory of St. Pirian's, in the sands, there is a spot where thousands of pins may be found. It was the custom to drop one or two pins at this place when a child was baptized, and this custom was even retained within the recollection of some of the elder inhabitants of the parish. There are other places in this county where pins may be collected by the handful, particularly at the holy wells. The spring rises at the foot of Carn Brea."

Hope 1893

[I can not find the location of this well - St. Pirans Chapel is near Tintagel, where there is no sand near by (Rocky Valley), Carn Brea is the other end of Cornwall and far from the sea. Where is it? Could sand have shifted in the last 100 years?  Is it a different Carn Brea? Help!]

Sancred: Saint Euny's, Saint Eurinus', or Uny's Well - part 2

Well at Sancreed 2007, with Clouties - By Jim Champion [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC-BY-SA-2.5-2.0-1.0], from Wikimedia Commons

"...Dr. Borlase says : "I happened luckily to be at this well upon the last day of the year, on which, according to vulgar opinion, it exerts its principal and most salutary powers. Two women were here, who came from a neighbouring parish, and were busily employed in bathing a child. They both assured me that people who had a mind to receive any benefit from St. Euny's Well must come and wash upon the three first Wednesdays in May." Children suffering from mesenteric disease should be dipped three times in Chapel Uny "widderschynnes," and "widderschynnes" dragged three times round the well."


Hope 1893


Map - Sancreed

Cornish Holy Wells - Part 2

Madron Well and the Clouties around it, 2008 - Some rights reserved here.

"... My informant told me that Thursday was the particular day of the week, though some came on the second and third Thursday. May was the first month after Easter, when the waters had been especially blessed; for then was the great time of baptism. When I visited this well last week, I found in it a polyanthus and some article of an infant's dress, which showed that votaries had been there. After the sixth century, these baptisteries were removed into the church."

Hope 1893

Map - Madern Well

Meavy Cross and Oak

"Just such another old world village is Meavy, where beneath a shattered tree stands the old village cross, now restored, the children playing on the steps, just as Mrs. Bray describes them playing when the cross was a broken shaft."

Cresswell 1921

Map - Meavy

[I have included this piece solely because old venerated trees on Dartmoor fascinate me, and any mention of them I think deserves noting!]