Bandford Forum - A list of Christian Sacrafices - Part 1

Bacon and Eggs - an offering to Christ? - Image from ChildofMidnight at en.wikipedia [CC-BY-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"In a most curious Sermon preached at Blandford Forum, Dorsetshire, Jan. 17, 1570, by William Kethe, Minister, and dedicated to Ambrose Earl of Warwick, 8vo. p. 18, speaking of the Jews, he says, "for the Synnes they daylie committed, they would be very busie in offryng Sacrifices and exercising themselves in Ceremonies;" adding, " a lyke kynde of policie was practised by the Papistes in the tyme of Poperie (in England) to bynde God to forgeve them theyr Sinnes. For whereas, in the tyme of Christmasse, the disorders were marvelous in those dayes, (and how it is now God seeth,) at Candlemasse, which some counte the ende of Christmasse, the Papistes would be even with God, by the tyme [they had offered hym a Bribe, and such a Bribe (beyng a Candle or Taper) as a very meane officer would take foule scorae of, though he could do a man but small pleasure in his sute. Shroft Tuesday was a day of great Glottonie, Surfeiting,and Dronkennes, but by Ashe Wensday at night, they thought God to be in their debt..." [cont.]

Brand 1813

[Jewish (and Catholic) people had a really horrible time in much of old intolerant England - including facing genocide and expulsion - please take this anti-Semitic and anti-Catholic sermon for its folkloric value only.]  

Common Land of Congrebury, Puxton and Week Saint Lawrence - part 2

A common near Congresbury - not sue if it is the same - by FollowMeChaps [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

[cont.] "...duck's-nest, hand-reel, and hare's-tail. On the Saturday before Old-Midsummer, several proprietors of estates in the parishes of Congresbury, Puxton, and Week St. Lawrence, or their tenants, assemble on the commons. A number of apples are previously prepared, marked in the same manner with the beforementioned acres, which are 'distributed by a young lad to each of the commoners from a bag or hat. At the close of the distribution each person repairs to his allotment, as his apple directs him, and takes possession for the ensuing year. An adjournment then takes place to the house of. the overseer of Dolemoors, (an officer annually elected from. the tenants,) where four acres, reserved for the purpose of paying expences, are let by inch of candle, and the remainder of the day is spent in that sociability and hearty mirth so congenial to the soul of a Somersetshire yeoman."

Brand 1813











Map - Congresbury
Map - Puxton
Map - Wick Saint Lawrence
Map - Dolemoor

A candlestick I made - my shop is here

"On Candlemas'day throw candle and candlestick away." - Somerset.

Ray 1768

[p.s. Adverts are now back up and running - If you wish to help me earn a few penny's from this insane escapade of mapping and cataloging Westcountry Folklore, please run your eyes over them (or tell me where I could apply for funding!)]

Two Somerset Proverbs for Candlemas - beans,candles and the moon

Beans on my allotment - if you wish to use this picture please attribute this blog

"Ray, in his Collection of Proverbs, has preserved two relating to this Day.

" On CandlemassDay, throw Candle and Candlestick away :" 

and

"Sow or set Beans in Candlemass Waddle." 

Somerset. In Somersetshire, Waddle means Wane of the Moon."

Brand 1813

[Brand is very vague on his references, but my guess is that in this case he is referring to “A Compleat Collection of English Proverbs Be Your Gods” by John Ray, 1737.  There are a good number of other West Country Proverbs in here - perhaps I should do a little scoot through here instead.... It is very early...]

Some Old Songs of Devonshire

Me playing fiddle - if you wish to use my photos please attribute this blog, thanks!

[I am a little uncertian what to do here - Please say if you think I have got it wrong.

Sarah Hewett includes a few Devonian folksongs in the end of her book.  I am uncertian whether to include them here. As this blog is mostly about the folklore of places, and most of the songs do not mention the place they are about I feel I should leave them out. Also including folk-songs takes us into huge territory, as a glance around the collections of EFDSS website will show. Most are not that unique to the place they where connected.

However, just because folklore appears in song form dosent meen it is not folklore!

It is a hard call to make for someone who has spent his life enraptured in the musical arms of folkmusic.

I think on this occasion, unless the song contains a reffrence to a specific West Country place I will simply list the song titles, and leave it at that. 

I am so slow at creating these posts I feel it would take to much time to include folksongs. Perhaps when I am in my 90's, and most of the folklore that is not in copyright is up here I will start on songs as well.

So here are the songs I am not detailing from Hewett 1900 - 

A SONG WRITEN ON THE OCCASION OF THE OPENING OF THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY 1844

YOUNG ROGER OF THE VALLEY.

THE OLD MAN'S SONG.

DADDY FOX.

WHERE ARE YOU GOING, FAIR MAID ?

THE OLD MAN WHO LIVED IN A WOOD.

RAISING THE ANCHOR.

THE DEAR LITTLE LETTER.

CHILDREN'S SONG FOR ALL SOULS' DAY.

THE KNIGHT KILLED THE SQUIRE.

THE DEVIL AND THE TAILOR.

THE STAR IN THE CANDLE.

A ROBIN TAPPING AT THE WINDOW PANE.

The following songs do reference a place, so I will include them -

PURTY JANE.

THE TRUE LOVERS.

JAN POOK.

BARBARA ALLEN.

THE WEST COUNTRY MAN.

BARNSTAPLE FAIR.]

Unlucky in Devon - 48

Candle - By Liam Quin (Quin, Liam: “Pictures of old books” (2003)) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

It is unlucky -

"To see a coffin-ring in a candle : it shews that some member of the household, or a very near relation, will very shortly die."

Hewett 1900

Lucky in Devon - 18

No star here! Some rights reserved by Velo Steve

It is lucky

"To see a star on the wick of a candle.

" There's a star in the candle to-night,
One bright little spot shining clear,
To make our heavy hearts light,
By shewing that a letter is near.""

Hewett 1900

Corfe Castle - part 2

"Edward was hunting in the forest of Wareham one day, when the clever, cankered dwarf of the queen, Wulstan, came up to him, and by some story of strange bird or beast, lured the boy-king to follow him into the wood, and leave his attendants. Then, finding that Corfe Castle, where his brother dwelt, was close at hand, Edward thought he should like to see little Ethelred - then ten or eleven year' old - and rode thus unattended to the door of his stepmother's home. She received him at the doorway, kissed him, and asked him to alight. He declined, but asked to see his brother. Elfrida then called for wine, and whilst the king held the cup to his lips, either the queen or one of her attendants stabbed him in the back. The wounded prince had, however, strength enough to set spurs to his horse, and attempt to rejoin his suite; but fainting from loss of blood, he fell; his foot got entangled in the stirrup, and he was dragged a considerable distance, till the horse stopped of itself Elfrida, alarmed at his apparent escape, sent servants after him, who found the poor young prince dead, and his face much cut by the flints of the road over which he had been dragged. The queen ordered his body to be lodged in a house near; on that spot a church was afterwards built. The next morning she had it conveyed to a marshy place, and retired herself to a mansion of hers called Bere, ten miles off. Little Ethelred had seen the murder, and was overpowered by his mother's wickedness; he reproached her so bitterly, in his childish grief and horror, that she beat him most severely with the great wax tapers, the only weapons she had near her hand. Ethelred was so much hurt that he hated the sight of them ever afterwards. Edward's body was found, and the murder discovered; but Ethelred, who of course was quite innocent of his beloved brother's death, succeeded to the throne. Dunstan was compelled to crown him ; but as he placed the royal diadem on the boy's head, he accompanied the act with an awful prophecy. It ran thus: "Even as, by the death of thy brother, thou didst aspire to the kingdom, hear the decree of Heaven. The sin of thy wicked mother and of her accomplices shall rest upon thy head, and such evils shall fall upon the English as they have never yet suffered, from the days when they first came into the isle of Britain even until the present time."..." [cont.]

Valentine (undated)

The Demon Tregeagle - part 11

'...Tregeagle was laden with a sack of sand of enormous size, and was wading across the mouth of the estuary, when one of those wicked devils, who were kept ever near Tregeagle, in very idleness tripped up the heavily-laden spirit. The sea was raging with the irritation of a passing storm; and as Tregeagle fell, the sack was seized by the waves, and its contents poured out across this arm of the sea.

[Loe Bar]

There, to this day, it rests a bar of sand, fatally destroying the harbour of Ella's Town. The rage of the inhabitants of this seaport,--now destroyed,--was great; and with all their priests, away they went to the Loo Bar, and assailed their destroyer. Against human anger Tregeagle was proof. The shock of tongues fell harmlessly on his ear, and the assault of human weapons was unavailing.

By the aid of the priests, and faith-inspired prayers, the bonds were once more placed upon Tregeagle; and he was, by the force of bell, book, and candle, sent to the Land's End. There he would find no harbour to destroy, and but few people to terrify...' [cont.]

Hunt 1903