Some more Chagford Pixies

A Pixie Door I made - more here

 [Someone told me recently that when the pixies are about she finds it hard to get her horses out of the stable. She cannot see anything but the horses behave very differently. She also said that there where?boggarts? that got inside the plastic feedbags on windy days and would drag them around, like the wind would, only with more sentience, deliberately moving them just beyond her reach!.

She also reported a mother and daughter who lived in the parish ("who looked a bit fey") who frequently saw pixies. I know which hamlet they live in but I wont say it here, for I haven't asked them permission.

She also talked of several ghosts in the parish, one of whom could be detected by the sent of his pipe, who was a very friendly and amenable sort of fellow. She had a name for him (he may have been the shade of a former resident - not sure) but I have mislaid the paper I wrote it on. The scent was unusual because the whole hose had been redecorated and carpeted, and the pipe smell would move through the building!]

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

Reading the weather in Devon from the movements of animals - Kingfisher

Kingfisher, by Ruskin

"The kingfisher builds its nest in holes in the banks of a river. Should it become dislodged and float down the river and out on the surface of the sea without capsizing, then there will be a long spell of fine weather.

In some parts of the country this bird is used as a vane, not exposed to the action of the wind, but stuffed and suspended in a room by a thin string, its bill always indicating the point from which the wind blows.

Into what corner peers the halcyon bill ?
Ha ! to the east yes see how stands the wind

The antients supposed that it built its nest on the ocean, and hatched its young at the winter solstice.

To account for the preservation of the nest and young birds amidst the severity of the season, they imagined that the bird had a power of lulling the raging of the waves during the period of incubation ; and this power was believed to reside in its song," so says the author of Chambers's Information for the People, vol. ii, page 447."

Hewett 1900

Westcountry / Devon weather lore - Wind Direction

After a south-west wind in 1990  in Bristol. This was our garden after the wind. Somone didnt shut the door to the washing-machine room properly!  I think this shows that  "South-west wind doth no harm" is not entirely true! - If you wish to use my photos please attribute this blog.

"Every wind hath its weather.

No weather is ill,

if the wind be still.

When the wind is in the north, hail comes forth,

When the wind is in the west, look for a wet blast ;

When the wind is in the south, the weather will be fresh and good,

When the wind is in the east, cold and snow comes most.

North wind brings hail,

South wind brings rain,

East winds we bewail.

West winds blow amain,

North-east wind is too cold,

South-east wind not too warm,

North-west wind is far too bold,

South-west wind doth no harm.

East wind and west the sign of blast, North and south the sign of drouth.

When the wind is in the east,

The fisherman likes it the least ;

When the wind is in the west,

The fisherman likes it the best.

A west wind north about,

Never long holds out.

When the wind is in the east,

It's neither good for man nor beast.

When the wind is in the west,

Then the weather's always best.

A western wind carries water in its hand.

A northern air brings weather fair.

When the wind is in the south,

'Tis in the rain's mouth.

The southern wind

Doth play the trumpet to his purposes

And, by his hollow whistling in the leaves

Foretells a tempest, and a blustering day.

Hewett 1900

Devon / Westcountry weather lore #20 October (part 2)

Grimspound, Dartmoor,  Devon, in October By Phillip Capper (PhillipC) from Wellington, New Zealand (Flickr) [CC-BY-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

[cont...] "...When it freezes and snows in October, January will bring mild weather ; but if it is thundery, and heat-lightning prevail, the weather will resemble April in temper.
 

October should be a fill-dyke.

Crows groping greedily come back again,
With October's wind and rain."

Hewett 1900

Devon / Westcountry weather lore #20 October (part 1)

Grimspound, Dartmoor,  Devon, in October By Phillip Capper (PhillipC) from Wellington, New Zealand (Flickr) [CC-BY-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"Dry your barley in October
Or you'll always be sober.

Warm October, cold February.

The 28th of October was anciently accounted as certain to be rainy.

October's brew
Will fuddle you.

 

There are always nineteen dry days in October.
 

If October bring heavy frosts and winds, then will January and February be mild.
 

For every fog in October a snow in the winter, heavy or light according as fog is heavy or light.
 

As the weather is in October, so will it be in the next March.

Full moon in October without frost, no frost till full moon in November..." [cont.]

Hewett 1900

Devon / Westcountry weather lore #14 May (part 1)

Pulmonaria (lungwort) photgraphed in Devon in May - This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported At the english wiki, it was uploaded by User:Sannse

"Button to the chin till May be in.

Marry in May you'll rue it for aye.

No wind is colder than a May wind.

For a warm, wet May
The parsons do pray,
For then death-fees
Come their way.
 

A May wet
Was never kind yet.
 

A cold May is kindly
And fills the barn finely.

A cold May is good for corn and hay.

For an East wind in May it is your duty to pray.

A snowstorm in May,
Brings weight to the hay..." [cont...]

Hewet 1900

Devon / Westcountry weather lore #11 - March (part 2)

Wild Daffodils at Steps Bridge in Devon - by Derek Harper [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"A damp warm March will bring much harm to the farm.

Snow in March is bad for fruit and grape wine.

If it does not freeze on the loth of March, a fertile year may be expected.

When flies swarm in March, sheep come by their death.

March dust and March wind, bleach as well as Summer's sun.

March flowers make no Summer bowers.

March borrows three days of April,
The first brings sleet,
The second brings snow, and
The third is the worst day that ever blew.

In a very old magazine I found the following, which leads one to suppose that the cuckoo arrives in March :

In March the giikii begin'th to sarch.
In Aperal he begin'th to tell,
In May he begin'th to lay

In July away he do fly."

Hewett 1900

 

[Again I am unsure that Hewett collected all her rhymes in Devon - I don't know whether her "Very old magazine" would have specified a Devon origin. This rhyme sounds like quite a widespread one now - my dad, who grew up in Northamptonshire, learned "The cuckoo comes in April / and sings its song in May / June it builds its little nest / July it flies away / August / Go it must"]

Devon / Westcountry weather lore #3

Saint Paul - by Lucas van Leyden [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

"If the weather be dry and bright on January 26th, the year will be generally of the same type. St. Paul is the guardian saint of this day.

If the day of St. Paul be clear,
Then shall betide a happy year,
If it do chance to snow or rain,
Then shall be dear all kinds of grain,
But if the wind then be aloft,
Wars shall vex this realm full oft,
And if the clouds make dark the sky,
Both beasts and fowl this year shall die.
When midges in January play and fly,
Treasure your fodder for beasts in July."

 

Hewett 1900

 

Devon / Westcountry weather lore #1

Winter winds at Torquay - February 2007 - MDS [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"THE ancients observed with profound attention the natural phenomena of their time, the study of which helped them to make fairly accurate forecasts of the weather, and taught them to begin farm work and domestic affairs at the most favourable moment. They walked as it were hand in hand with nature, learning to interpret her subtle operations by marvellous intuition.

The flight of birds, the voices and actions of animals, the development of vegetation, all lent their aid to predict atmospheric changes.

Then the following traditions and proverbs were popular, and have been handed down from the earliest times.

If Christmas Day on Monday be,
A great winter that year you'll see.
And full of winds both loud and shrill ;
But in summer, truth to tell,
High winds there shall be, and strong,
Full of tempests lasting long ;
While battles they shall multiply,
And great plenty of beasts shall die.
They that be born that day, I ween,
They shall be strong each one, and keen
He shall be found that stealeth aught
Though thou be sick, thou diest not."

Hewett 1900

Devon charm to counter the power of a 'black whitch'

Horseshoe nailed to a door in Chagford, Devon. If you want to use my photos please attribute this blog

"TAKE a cast horse shoe, nail it over the front door, points upwards. While nailing it up chant in monotone the following :

So as the fire do melt the wax
And wind blows smoke away,
So in the presence of the Lord
The wicked shall decay,
The wicked shall decay. Amen."

 

Hewett 1900

Lucky in Devon - 25

I know this is not a Westcountry tree, but I couldn't resist it - I think felling this tree could NEVER be lucky!

It is lucky -

"To fell trees at the wane of the moon, and when the wind is in the North."

Hewett 1900

The Sea's Post Box

"One of the "sights" or wonders of Kynance are the rocks called the Post Office and the Bellows; they may be seen at half-tide on the landward side of Asparagus Island, a few feet above its base. The upper one is an orifice or slit. A sheet of paper must be held before it, from the side; a sudden gust of air at once carries it away into the slit, and then in less than a minute, with a loud roar, a burst of water issues angrily from the hole-the answer to our letter! This singular effect is said to be caused by the action of the waves beating against the now slight wall of rock, and the draught caused when they fall back. The Bellows Rock is below the Post Office, and also at intervals sends forth a sudden jet of water."

Valentine (undated)

Map - Post Office and Bellows rocks.

Madron - Saint Madern or Doom Well - Part 3

"...At the side of Madron well, which lies on the moor, a mile or so from the church, is a stone seat, formerly known as St. Madron's bed (Madron is spelt Madden in some old manuscripts). It was upon this that impotent folk reclined when they came to try the cold-water cure. There was also a chapel, about 200 yards away. The chapel was 25 feet by 16 feet, and contained an altar ; a sketch of the ground-plan is given above. It was partially destroyed by Cromwell; but the ruins remain, and still retain the old stone-altar--a rough slab of granite, with a small square hole in the centre, A. Those who were benefited gave alms to the poor and to the church. This was done down to the middle of the seventeenth century. The well of St. Madderne is still frequented at the parish feast, which takes place in July. On the top of the ruined wall is an old thorn-bush, covered with bits of rag fluttering in the wind, tied there as votive offerings."

Hope 1893

Map - Madron Well

[the exact location of Saint Madron's Bed appears to have been lost]

Madron Well 2006 By Jim Champion [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

The Mermaids Vengence - part 15

"...He heard the deep voice of the winds coming over the sea from the far west. He saw that which appeared at first as a dark mist, shape itself into a dense black mass of cloud, and rise rapidly over the star-bedecked space above him. He saw by the brilliant edge of light which occasionally fringed the clouds that they were deeply charged with thunder. There was something sublime in the steady motion of the storm; and now the roll of the waves, which had been disturbed in the Atlantic, reached our shores, and the breakers fell thunderingly within a few feet of Walter and his companion. Paroxysms of terror shook him, and with each convulsion he felt himself grasped with still more ardour, and pressed so closely to the maiden's bosom, that he heard her heart dancing of joy.


At length his terrors gave birth to words, and he implored her to let him go.

"The kiss of the sea-child is the seal of constancy." Walter vehemently implored forgiveness. He confessed his deep iniquity. He promised a life of penitence.

"Give me back the dead," said the maiden bitterly, and she planted another kiss, which seemed to pierce his brain by its coldness, upon his forehead..." [cont.]

Hunt 1903

The Mermaids Vengence - part 13

"...He could not entirely dissuade himself but that he heard this repeated by many voices; but he put the thought aside, referring it, as well he might, to the numerous echoes from the cavernous openings in the cliffs.

He reached the eastern side of the dark mass of rocks, from the point of which the tide was slowly subsiding. The song had ceased, and a low moaning sound - the soughing of the wind--passed along the shore. Walter trembled with fear, and was on the point of returning, when a most flute-like murmur rose from the other side of the rocky barrier, which was presently moulded into words

"From your couch of glistering pearl,
Slowly, softly, come away;
Our sweet earth-child, lovely girl,
Died this day,--died this day."

Memory told Walter that truly was it the anniversary of Selina Pennaluna's death, and to him every gentle wave falling on the shore sang, or murmured --

"Died this day,--died this day."

The sand was left dry around the point of the rocks, and Walter impelled by a power which he could not control, walked onward. The moment he appeared on the western side of the rock, a wild laugh burst into the air, as if from the deep cavern before him, at the entrance of which sat the same beautiful being whom he had formerly met. There was now an expression of rare joy on her face, her eyes glistened with delight, and she extended her arms as if to welcome him.

"Was it ever your wont to move so slowly towards your loved one?"

Walter heard it was Selina's voice. He saw it was Selina's features; but he was conscious it was not Selina's form..." [cont.]

Hunt 1903

The Mermaids Rock

"To the westward of the beautiful Cove of Lemorna is a rock which has through all time borne the above name. I have never been enabled to learn any special story in connection with this rock. There exists the popular fancy of a lady showing herself here previous to a storm--with, of course, the invariable comb and glass. She is said to have been heard singing most plaintively before a wreck, and that, all along the shore, the spirits have echoed her in low moaning voices. Young men are said to have swam off to the rock, lured by the songs which they heard, but they have never returned. Have we not in this a dim shadow of the story of the Sirens?

[footnote] The undulations of the air, travelling with more rapidity than the currents, reach our shores long before the tempest by which they have been established in the centre of the Atlantic, and by producing a low moaning sound, "the soughing of the wind," predicates the storms. The "moans of Tregeagle" is another expression indicating the same phenomenon."

Hunt 1903

[The picture is not of Mermaids Rock, but of a boat returning with the evening tide.]

Morthoe and the murder of Becket

   
       
       
Reproduced courtesy of Francis Frith.
   
'The Morthoe Hotel is down below on the beach; and there is an inn, the Chichester Arms, in the vilage, near the little Norman church, containing the tomb thought to be that of William de Tracey, one of Becket's murders, who said to have lived in dreary exile here, "when wind and weather turned against him." The legend also has has a common feature in Cornwall: the murderer's doom is eternally to make bundles and wisps of sand.'

Hope Moncrieff 1895

The Demon Tregeagle - part 12

'...His task was to sweep the sands from Porthcurnow Cove round the headland called Tol-Peden-Penwith, into Nanjisal Cove. Those who know that rugged headland, with its cubical masses of granite, piled in Titanic grandeur one upon another, will appreciate the task; and when to all the difficulties are added the strong sweep of the Atlantic current, -- that portion of the Gulf-stream which washes our southern shores,--it will be evident that the melancholy spirit has, indeed, a task which must endure until the world shall end.


Even until to-day is Tregeagle labouring at his task. In calms his wailing is heard; and those sounds which some call the "soughing of the wind," are known to be the moanings of Tregeagle; while the coming storms are predicated by the fearful roarings of this condemned mortal.'

Hunt 1903