Wisk, Wisked or Yesk hounds

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sidney Paget

[Writing on the Cron Annwn – Welsh hounds of the other world] "And they must recall to the minds of our readers the Wisk, Wisked, or Yesk hounds of Devon, which are described in the Atheneum for March 27. 1847, as well as the Maisue Hellequin of Normandy and Bretagne."

NOTES AND QUERIES. [No. 19. Mar. 9. 1850.]

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]

An Italian proverb about Cornwall

The Falmouth Sail Training Ship 'Hardiess' sailing into St Mawes Harbour - by Rod Allday [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"'He doth sail into a Cornish port without a bark.'

It is and Italian Proverb, where it passeth for a description (or derision) of a man as is wronged by his wife's disloyalty.  The wit of it consists of an illusion to the word Hora."

Ray 1768



[So - not really Cornish - but worth including here I think! I am guessing the Hora bit comes from the italian word for Cornish - I cannot find it online.]

Barnstaple Fair - a song - (part 4)

Fairground ride - By Iantresman (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

[cont...] "...King George the Third rode out to Staines the hounds to lay the stag on,
But that was.no great things of sport, for mighty kings to brag on,
The French, alas ! go a la chasse in von po shay and pair,
But what's all that to Button Hill ? To Barnstaple Fair?

For we will all a-hunting go, on horse, or mule, or mare, Sir !
For everything is in the field to Barnstaple Fair, Sir!
To Button Hill, whose name to all the sporting world sure known is,
Go bits of blood, and hunters, hacks, and little Exmoor ponies ;

When lords and ladies, doctors, passons, farmers, squires prepare,
To hunt the stag with hound and horn to Barnstaple Fair,
Then up and ride for Chillam Bridge, or on to Bratton town, Sir,

To view the rouse, or watch the Yeo, to see the stag come down, Sir !
 

There's nothing else in jollity and hospitable fare, Sir!
That ever can with Barnstaple in fair time compare, Sir!
And guests are very welcome hospitality to share, Sir!
For beer is brew'd, and beef is bought to Barnstaple Fair, Sir !..." [cont....]
 

 

Hewett 19000

 

True signs of rain from an old almanac - part 1

Morning mist over Chagford, Devon - If you wish to use my photos please attribute this blog

"The hollow winds begin to blow,
The clouds look black, the glass is low,
The soot falls down, the spaniels sleep,
The spiders from their cobwebs creep.

Last night the sun went pale to bed,
The moon in halos hid her head ;
The boding shepherd heaves a sigh,
For see a rainbow spans the sky.

The walls are damp, the ditches smell,
Closed is the pink-eyed pimpernel ;
Hark ! how the chairs and tables crack,
Old Betty's joints are on the rack...." [cont.]

Hewett 1900

[I posted these in the wrong order and don't know how to sort them - sorry!]

True signs of rain from an old almanac - part 3

Morning mist over Chagford, Devon - If you wish to use my photos please attribute this blog

[cont.] "...The leech disturbed is newly risen,
Quite to the summit of his prison ;
The whirling winds the dust obeys,
And in the rapid eddies plays.

My dog, so altered is his taste,
Quits mutton bones, on grass to feast ;
And see yon rooks, how odd their flight,
They imitate the gliding kite,

Or seem precipitate to fall,
As if they felt the piercing ball.
'Twill surely rain ! I see with sorrow,
Our jaunt must be put off to-morrow.

From an Almanac published 1844.

Hewet 1900

A non-traditional weather rhyme about Devon rain.

Mist over Padley Common, Chagford, Devon - if you wish to use my pictures please attribute this blog.

"A gentleman who once visited the west country thinks the following fairly represents the chronic conditions of Devonshire weather :

One unlucky Friday, with sorrow and pain
I proceed to record it, it came on to rain,
It rained on the Saturday, rained on the Sunday,
It rained every hour of the day on the Monday.
On Tuesday it rained cats and dogs as they say,
And Wednesday was also a very wet day,
On Thursday and Friday, especially the latter day,
It rained very hard, but my gracious on Saturday
The rain was most dreadful, a great deal more bad
Than that of any other day we had had.

Anti-Pluvius, Western Morning News, Feb. l7th, 1899."

Hewett 1900

Devon / Westcountry weather lore #18 July (part 2)

Oak tree on Exmoor near Pool Bridge Campsite, in July - if you wish to use my photos please attribute this blog

[cont.] "...A shower of rain in July, when the corn begins to kern, is worth a plough of oxen, and all belonging thereto.

Very hot July, August, and September, breed hard frosts and intense cold for the next January.

If the deer rise up dry and lie down dry on St. Bullion's day (July 4th), it is a sign there will be a good goose harvest.

Dog days bright and clear,

Portend a happy year ;

But if accompanied with rain,

For better times all hopes are vain.

A heavy rainfall in the middle of July shows that St. Mary Magdalene is washing her handkerchief to go to her cousin St. James' fair."

Hewett 1900

Unlucky in Devon - 41

Cock Crowing - By Steev Selby from Wollongong, Australia  [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

It is unlucky -

"For a cock to crow at midnight, or a dog to howl between sun-set and sun-rise."

Hewett 1900

The Black Dog of Roborough - part 1

Black Dog - By Liza Phoenix (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

 

"A MAN having to walk from Princetown to Plymouth took the road which crosses Roborough Down. He started at four o'clock from the Duchy Hotel, and as he walked at a good swinging pace, hoped to cover the sixteen miles in about three hours and a half' It was a lovely evening in December, cold and frosty, the stars and a bright moon giving enough light to enable him to see the roadway distinctly zigzagged across the moor. Not a friendly pony or a quiet Neddy crossed his path as he strode merrily onward whistling as he went. After a while the desolation of the scene seemed to strike him, and he felt terribly alone among the boulders and huge masses of gorse which hemmed him in. On, on he pressed, till he came to a village where a wayside inn tempted him to rest awhile and have just one nip of something "short" to keep his spirits up.

Passing the reservoir beds, he came out on an open piece of road, with a pine copse on his right. Just then he fancied he heard the pit-pat of feet gaining upon him. Thinking it was a pedestrian bound for Plymouth, he turned to accost his fellow traveller, but there was no one visible, nor were any footfalls then audible. Immediately on resuming his walk, pit-pat, pit-pat, fell the echoes of feet again. And suddenly there appeared close to his right side an enormous dog, neither mastiff or bloodhound, but what seemed to him to be a Newfoundland of immense size. Dogs were always fond of him, and he of them, so he took no heed of this (to him) lovely canine specimen. Presently he spoke to him. "Well, doggie, what a beauty you are : how far are you going ?" at the same time lifting his hand to pat him. Great was the man's astonishment to find no resisting substance, though the form was certainly there, for his hand passed right through the seeming body of the animal. " Hulloh ! what's this ?" said the bewildered traveller. As he spoke the great glassy eyes gazed at him ; then the beast yawned, and from his throat issued a stream of sulphurous breath. Well, thought the man, I am in for it now ! I'll trudge on as fast as legs can carry me, without letting this queer customer think I am afraid of him. With heart beating madly and feet actually flying over the stony way, he hurried down the hill, the dog never for a moment leaving him, or slackening his speed..." [cont.]

Hewett 1900

Devon Dreams L- N

"The following few examples shew " the stuff which dreams are made of."

Larks. 
To dream of these birds is a good sign, as it denotes that you will overcome all difficulties that may come in your way, and you will speedily rise to a good position.

Lightning 
without thunder is one of the very luckiest dreams. To lovers it means happiness; to farmers, good crops ; and to sailors, prosperous voyages.

Mad Dogs. 
In dreams these are omens of success.

Magpies. 
That you will soon be married.

Nightingales. 
Nightingales singing are indicative of bright days coming and a release from all troubles and anxieties.

Nuts. 
Indicate the receipt of money.

Hewett 1900

Ill-omened animals on a wedding day...

Raven - Corvus Corax - Naumann, Naturgeschichte der Vögel Mitteleuropas (Natural history of the birds of central Europe) of 1905

"Now follow the unfortunate omens and events attached to this momentous occasion. Should a raven hover over their path, a cat, dog, or hare pass between them, or should they encounter a toad, frog, or other reptile, then terrible misfortunes will follow them for all time. These creatures are supposed to be the embodiment of pixies, witches, and every species of evil spirit. Even his satanic majesty does not object to assume the form of an animal, to enable him to work certain ill on their future lives, and to assist in contributing his share to their distress."

Hewett 1900

Isabella and the seven sons

Bickleigh Bridge - Neil Kennedy [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"She, too [Isabella Courtney of Powderham], it was, who met a man on Bickleigh Hill, near Tiverton, carrying a basket containing seven of his baby children, to whom he intended to give "a swim in the river Exe at Bickleigh Bridge." On being asked by her what he was carrying, he replied, "Puppies not worth rearing." Presently he confessed that his wife had given him seven sons at a birth, and fearing the lack of food and raiment, he had determined to drown them. The countess adopted them, and provided for their upbringing out of the proceeds of her estates at Tiverton and Chumleigh."

Hewett 1900

Map - Powderham
Map - Bickleigh Bridge
Map - Tiverton
Map - Chumleigh

[Hooray! Chumleigh! A story that involves mid Devon! Amazingly little about this area - all I need to do now is find a story to fill the vast hole of silence around Holsworthy...]

The Ashen Faggot

Fire - if you wish to use my images please attribute this blog

"The custom of burning the yule log is observed in large country houses, [in Devon] at the present time, on Christmas Eve, but where the fireplaces are contracted and slow-combustion grates the vogue, small branches of green ash, are cut fresh from the plantation. These sawn into lengths the width of the grate are tied into faggots with four or five strong binds of bramble canes. Very large faggots, which are intended to be burnt in old-fashioned kitchen fireplaces, are bound with chains. The bramble binds are a source of much amusement, for soon after being placed on the dogs, they burn through, one by one. Before they begin to light and burn, each of the youngest members of the family choose a bind, and whose is first burnt through will be the first to marry. It is customary for the company to drink a quart of cider at the bursting of each bind, so that by the time the whole have given way, there has been a large consumption of that beverage. It soon begins to influence the flow of spirits and induces a hilarious state of mind, increasing in strength as the night advances."

Hewett 1900

The Ghostly boat of the Bottoms - Part 2

Ghost Ship - By George Grie (self-made, http://www.neosurrealismart.com) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

"...[cont.] They, kept a boat in the cove, and would start in it at daybreak, disappear out at sea, and never return till it was night; nay, sometimes they remained out all night if the weather were stormy. At times they remained on shore arid hunted, generally, however, at night, and in storms, when the cry of the hounds, ringing out at midnight, would startle the sleeping country.

The stranger died, and his coffin was carried by the peasants to the churchyard, the servant and the dogs following it. But when the earth was thrown into the grave, servant and dogs all disappeared, and were never seen again. At the same moment their boat disappeared from the cove. Ever since that time the ghostly vessel sails at certain periods in awful silence and mystery to the pirate's grave."

Valentine (undated)

Map -The Bottoms

Map - Croft Pasco Pool

Map - Chygwiden area

The Death of King Rufus - part 1

"It was said of William the Norman that he loved wild beasts "as if he were their father," and it seems a true judgment tested by his cruel laws. The slaying of a man might be atoned for by a price; hut he who killed a stag, boar, or even hare, was punished with total blindness. Even his Norman nobles might keep no sporting dogs on their estates unless the fore-paws of the poor animals were mutilated. This law was an exceedingly cruel one at a time when men depended on the chase for much of their subsistence.

But William seems to have brought a curse on himself and his progeny by this act of ruthless selfishness. His second son, Richard, was gored to death by a stag, as he was hunting here; his wife and favourite daughter died soon after, and he met his own death as the consequence of his cruelty to the city of Mantes.

His second son, Rufus, succeeded him, and kept his court at Malwood Keep in 1100, close to the forest in which he intended that same Lammas-tide to hold a chase. Prince Henry, his younger brother, was with him..."  [cont.]

Valentine (undated)

Saint Neot's Well - part 3

Roe Deer
By Die4Dixie [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], from Wikimedia Commons

"At another time St. Neot was praying at this well, when a hunted deer sought protection by his side. On the arrival of the dogs the saint reproved them, and, behold ! they crouched at his feet, whilst the huntsman, affected by the miracle, renounced the world, and hung up his bugle-horn in the cloister. 

Oxen -By Allen Drebert (Allen Drebert) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Again, the oxen belonging to the saint had been stolen, and wild deer came of their own accord to replace them, and returned to their woods at night, until the stolen bullocks were restored. When the thieves beheld St. Neot ploughing with his stags they were conscience-stricken, and returned what they had stolen. Such stories as these are represented in the stained-glass window, c. I500-1530, and many more may be gathered from the country people, who affirm that the church was built by night, and the materials brought together by teams of two deer and one hare. They also show in the churchyard the stone on which the saint used to stand to throw the key into the keyhole, which had been accidentally placed too high. (St. Neot was of small stature, and either this lock or another was in the habit of descending, so that his hand could reach it.)... [cont...]

Hope 1893

The Wicked Weaver of Dean Prior

"But first we must find the Hound's Pool, where a vicar of Dean Prior transformed the spirit of a wicked weaver, who had been a trouble to the village, into a black dog, and set him to bale out the pool with a nut-shell.  The story makes us think of Binjie in Cranmere, and Tregeagle, who, over the Cornish border, is emptying Dosmary Pool with a limpet-shell."

Cresswell 1921

Map - Hound's Pool
Map - Dean Prior
Map - Cranmere Pool
Map - Dosmary Pool

Princetown Prison

"A very brief acquaintance with Dartmoor Prison and the neighborhood removes all romance that may hang round the prisoner and captive, and when from time to time one escapes nobody is sorry when he is again caught - which invariably happens. He steals from the hamlets, and is discovered with stolen goods in his possession; one got as far as Plymouth, where a dog so alarmed his tender conscience that he began to run, so that the police, surprised to see a man running for nothing, suspected something amiss. Another left his boots in the back kitchen of a house near Chagford; he did not go away barefooted, and the authorities afterwords identified the "borrowed" pair."

Cresswell 1921

[N.B. Not sure weather to include this one - not really folklore yet, but stories of prison escapees are still passed orally today almost like folk tales]

Map - Princetown

Map - Plymouth
Map - Chagford

Lady Howard - Okehampton Castle

"While the antiquary studies the shattered walls [of Okehampton Castle], the folk-lorist will be rejoicing in the legend of Lady Howard of notorious memory.  She was the daughter of Sir John Fitz, of Fitzford, Tavistock (not the Elizabethan astrologer, whose name we shall presently see, but a later knight of the same name), and has a reputation of having been very wicked, but if we read her history we shall perhaps feel she was more sinned against than sinning. Four husbands had she (but was twice a widow before she was sixteen!).  She always chose to be called by the title of her third husband, Sir Charles Howard, son of the Duke of Suffolk; her fourth was Sir Richard Granville, the most detestable of all the governors of Lydford Castle.

In the Civil War Lady Howard chose to espouse the Parliamentary cause, which doubtless aggravated her crimes in the opinion of loyal west-countrymen. Mrs Bray says that she had heard a vague tradition that Lady Howard died in a state of mental misery and agony in a house near Okehampton, and to this day expiates her wickedness by running nightly to Fitzford, Tavistock, to Okehampton Park, in the form of a black dog, to bring away a blade of grass. When all the grass is plucked the day of judgment will come, and her penance will be ended. Sometimes the dog is described as accompanying the coach of bones, in which tradition says she used to drive towards the moor. Mr. Baring Gould preserves the story among Songs of the West in a ballad, gruesome both in words and tune :-

My Ladye hath a sable coach,

With horses two and four;

My Ladye hath a gaunt bloodhound,

That goeth before:

My Ladye's coach hath nodding plumes,

The driver hath no head,

My Ladye is an ashen white,

As one that long is dead.

It is needless to add that misfortune is sure to follow the luckless individual who meets "My Ladye" in her weird journey across the moor."

Cresswel 1921

Map - Okehampton
Map - Lydford Castle
Map - Fitzeford House Gatehouse, Tavistock