Folklore

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Stray Notes on Oxfordshire Folklore

Percy Manning M.A. F.S.A.

To cite this article: Percy Manning M.A. F.S.A. (1902) Stray Notes on Oxfordshire Folklore, Folklore, 13:3, 288-295, DOI: 10.1080/0015587X.1902.9719315

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0015587X.1902.9719315

Published online: 06 Feb 2012.

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Download by: [137.189.171.235] Date: 12 June 2016, At: 23:58 288 Collectanea.

cook admitted the justice of his claim and began to divide the meat into three portions. " Why are you cutting that meat into three ?" asked the Touareg. " Because there are three of us—you, I, and my brother." " No, there are only two. Your brother is dead." " No, he is only asleep." " I tell you he is dead." " fie is not, you fool; he is asleep." And they began to quarrel about it. At last the cook, becoming enraged at the insults heaped upon him by the dead Touareg, snatched up his gun and fired point blank into him. The Touareg with a triumphant laugh sprang to his feet and, closely followed by the Arab, ran to his grave, where he immediately disappeared. The Arab, immensely pleased with himself for having got the better of a ghost, returned to the camp, stooped down and shook his brother to awaken him, but found to his horror that he was quite dead, having been killed by the shot which he had fired at his shadowy guest.

W. J. HARDING KING.

STRAY NOTES ON OXFORDSHIRE FOLKLORE.

Downloaded by [] at 23:58 12 June 2016 Compiled by PERCY MANNING, M.A., F.S.A.

The following notes, which were in part read at the meeting of March a 6,1902 (see p. 114), are largely based on the collections of my old friend Thomas James Carter, who was born at Baldon-on- the-Green, Oxon., on June 11,1832. His parents moved in 1836 to St. Clement's, Oxford, where he has lived ever since. In early life he worked for some years in the old St. Clement's brick­ fields, now long since built over. Here he began in his spare moments to hunt for fossils, and by degrees he acquired a con­ siderable practical knowledge of the subject. At length he was disabled by rheumatism from hard work, and took to the collec­ tion of fossils for his living. For many years he ranged the country round Oxford, going from quarry to brickyard, until he attained a very intimate acquaintance with the geology of the Collectanea. 289

district; and many geologists, not to mention candidates for " the schools," owe much to Carter's knowledge. Some of the finest specimens of local fossils in the University Museum were collected by him, notably the series of Trigonia clavellata, and of Ammonites catenata, from the calcareous grit of Marcham, Cidaris Smitkii from the grit of Headington, Glyphea Stricklandi and Rampho- rhyncus, from the Oxford clay of St. Clement's. It was as a collector of fossils that I first met Carter, but subse­ quently on turning my attention to folklore, it struck me that I might avail myself of his rambles over the country. He applied to his search for " old superstitions, stories, proverbs, words, &c." —such was his commission—the same keenness and shrewdness with which he had hunted fossils. In every case he wrote his information down before bringing it to me, and it is a selection from his MSS., copied practically verbatim, that forms the main body of these papers. I have added some items collected by myself at first-hand, together with explanatory notes where they seemed necessary. These are distinguished by square brackets, or are given as footnotes. For all else Carter is my authority. The dates give the time when he obtained the several items, and in most cases I have added the names of his informants.

I. WITCHCRAFT. Many years ago there lived in the village of Kirtlington an old woman called " Sarey Bowers," said to be a witch. She was the

Downloaded by [] at 23:58 12 June 2016 terror of all the children and young people, and something was sure to happen to any one who incurred her displeasure. She lived in an old hut at the top of the village, called Fox Town's End, which was a noted place for the hounds to meet at. A fox had been started from Town's End many times, but had never been caught, and Sarey was accused of bewitching both hounds and fox; but on the last day of the season the fox was run so close it could scarcely get away. It found shelter, however, in Sarey's hut, and when the hounds were whipped off and the door opened, Sarey was sitting by the fire. They say that Sarey was herself the fox.—(June, 1894.) About fifty years ago there was an old woman living at Newn- ham Murren, named Frewin, who was reckoned to be a witch. Many people while walking in the twilight were frightened by seeing a white cat that was said to be the old woman, and it was VOL. Xttl. V 290 Collectanea.

a common saying, " Don't stay out late, or you'll see the white cat."—(1898.) Old Mrs. Joseph Cooper, aged ninety-one, of Barton, near Headington, remembers when she was a child a woman called Miriam Russell, who was a witch, and the terror of the place. She was often seen riding about in a dough-cover [a bin for kneading dough]. She once went to ask for something of a family named Powell, who lived at Stowford Farm, and on being denied said she would remember them. A few days after, the cows and calves all suddenly ran about as if they were going mad, and several calves were found at last on the top of the thatched barn. Old Miriam made it known that this was her work. The Powells then willingly gave her what she wanted, and then the cows were quiet and the calves came down off the barn. Although Miriam was so formidable, she is said to have been very fond of children.—(August, 1897.) Some forty years ago there lived at Salford, near Chipping Norton, an old woman named Dolly Henderson, a notable witch. One day she fell out with a woman named Ann Hulver, and bewitched her, so that she was very ill for a long time and could get no cure. At last she went to a cunning man named Manning, who told her that she would meet a woman as she went home, and that she was the person who had caused her illness, but she was not to speak to her, or say anything to anyone about her. But she did; she told some women that worked in the fields what the man said, and so she got worse and worse till Downloaded by [] at 23:58 12 June 2016 she was like a skeleton. About this time a boy was also be­ witched by old Dolly, and his brother threw a thorn stick at her, which tore her arm and made it bleed a good deal. The woman and the boy then soon got well, but the old witch died, and the terror of the village was got rid of.—(From Mrs. Jinny Bigerstaff, of Salford, aged 63, who knew the people mentioned.1—(9th October, 1897.) 1 Salford te at the foot of the hill on which the Rollright Stones stand, Mr. A.J. Evans (F, L,, vi., 20), mentions the belief current in Long Compton —which is just on the other side of the hill—that the drawing of a witch's blood breaks the spell that she may have cast over her victim. As late as 1875 an inhabitant of that village was convicted of manslaughter for stabbing an old woman with a pitchfork, causing her death- He gave as his motive that she was a witch—one of sixteen witches in the village—and that he was trying to break her spells. Vide an article In the Birmingham Weekly Pest, on " Manners and Customs of Shakespeare's Greenwood," by Mr, George Morley, quoted in the Oxford Times, 22nd July, 1899. Collectanea, 291

Old Mrs. Snow, aged seventy-six, of Stanton St. John, says that when she was a girl, her father, John Turner, used to tell her of an old woman named Betty Cann, who was a witch, and lived at the top of the village in an old thatched cottage long since pulled down. When she met the villagers she always had something to say to them. She once asked Turner where he was going, and he told her, " To the wood to get some services " [service-berries]. When he got to the wood old Betty was up in the tree, and shouted out, " Hold your hat, here's plenty I " And she filled his hat. The boys and girls were afraid to go past her cottage for fear of being bewitched. Some of the older boys and men would go and look in at her window, or through the keyhole, and said as a fact that the old woman was dancing half-naked, and her old chairs were dancing too. In summer time she would meet the farmers and tell them not to carry their hay; if they did so after being told not, something was sure to happen—a horse would go lame, or a waggon would break down. She would also ride on hurdles, and send the cows and other cattle full tear down the village. She would tell the young men and girls where they had been last night, and what time they got home.—(17th February, 1898.) About sixty years ago there lived at Tetsworth an old gipsy woman called " Mother Buckland," who got.her living by begging.1 She was known as a witch, and it was thought unlucky to refuse her anything, as something bad would happen to those who did. One day she called at a house where a woman called Phoebe Downloaded by [] at 23:58 12 June 2016 Hawes was hanging out a shawl to air on a clothes-line in the sun, and Mother Buckland said she would like the shawl. She was refused, and then she threatened the woman and told her "Look out! You'll know; look out!" From that time the woman was bewitched, becoming like one lost, and this went on till the old gipsy came back some weeks after; then the shawl

1 [Thefollowing obviousl y Imperfect story among Carter's MSS. comes from Buckinghamshire, but as its hwU is only a mile or so from the border of Oxfordshire it may be added as a note.]-—Forty years ago an old gipsy woman called "Old Pretty Maid" was used to beg at Marsh Gibbon. She was a whch, and she bewitched a boy called Ilolton, who lived in a cottage now pulled down, at the top of the town, «o that he became a perfect pest to the tQwn through his mischievous tricks. After she bewitched the boy she could n°t rest, and she could not make water. Being in much pain she came to the house again where the boy lived, and found him up the chimney. So she took Pity on him, and then she soonfound relief . The boy got well, and she died- -"(loth September, 1897.) u a 292 Collectanea.

was given to her, and the woman soon recovered.—(From widow Linders, of Tetsworth, 12th September, 1897.) [A figure of an old gipsy woman telling fortunes, said to repre­ sent Mother Buckland, appears in the foreground of a very scarce lithograph drawn and 'printed by Plowman, of Oxford, in 1839, entitled " Commemoration of the Conservative Fete and Regatta held at Nuneham on the 13th August, 1839 . . . ."]

II. PREHISTORIC MONUMENTS. [The Rollright Stones and their folklore were the subject of an exhaustive paper by Mr. A. J. Evans, printed in Folk-Lore in 1894 (vi., 6-51), but the following items were collected quite inde­ pendently, and may therefore have some value for purposes of comparison. It will be remembered that the stones consist of a circle, a ruined dolmen called " The Whispering Knights," and a single standing stone called " The King," which are popularly said to be an invading king, five of his knights, and his army, turned into stones by a witch. If they could have topped the hill on which they stand and looked down on Long Compton, which lies just the other side, the king would have become King of England. Mr. Evans (p. 19) quotes the traditional verses which embody this story. In my own copy of Dr. R. Plot's Natural History of Oxfordshire, 2nd ed. 1705, are some MS. notes in a contemporary hand, and among them what is probably the earliest recorded version of these rhymes:— Downloaded by [] at 23:58 12 June 2016 " Said the Danish General, If Long Compton I cou'd see Then King of England I shou'd be. But reply'd the [" British" erased] Saxon General, Then riseu p Hill & stand fast Stone— For King of England thou'lt be none."]

[The stones are said to go down the hill to drink at a spring Evans, I.e. p. 24.] It was formerly said [writes Carter] that they went down to the brook on New Year's Eve to drink at twelve o'clock. Now the saying is, that they go down when they hear the clock at Long Compton strike twelve. [Though often moved, the stones would always have to be brought back; Evans, I.e. p. 27.] The old king that stands by himself on the side of the road was drawn by eight horses to Long Collectanea, 293

Com. (i.e., Compton), and the people were so miserable, they were obliged to bring him back; but the eight horses could not move him; they tried more, but could not succeed, till they brought a white one, and then he was brought back. [A variant of this story is as follows]: The stone was taken to Long Compton to form a bridge over a stream ; but they could not rest, and were obliged to bring him back ; but when they got to where he is, they were so frightened, they ran away, and left him standing. [The following story does not relate to the " King Stone," but apparently to one of the "Knights"; Evans, l.c. p. 27]: They took one large flat stone to Long Com. (i.e., Long Compton), to put over a ditch, and had to bring it back; but no amount of horses could do it, so they left it in the field at the bottom of the hill. [The following relates to the difficulty of counting the stones in the circle twice alike; Evans, l.c. p. 26]: A Charlbury man told me about a baker, who tried to count those stones at Long Com.; he got over the difficulty by placing a loaf on each stone, and then counted the stones, and found seventy-two. [Bad luck would come to anyone who injured the stones; Evans, U. p. 23]; A friend of mine, some years ago, broke a piece off one of the stones, and called at Chapel House (near Chipping Norton) to have some beer; he showed the stone, when the landlady begged him to take it back, as there would sure to be something bad happen to him.—(1894.) Downloaded by [] at 23:58 12 June 2016 [The Devil's Quoits at Stanton Harcourt are three large standing stones, which are all that remain of what was probably a circle considerably larger than that at Avebury, and which doubtless gave their name to the neighbouring village (Stanton *» A.S. Stdn- Mn, the stone enclosure).1 Beacon Hill is a very conspicuous landmark, just above Eynsham Bridge, on the Berkshire side of the Thames, about two and a half miles in a straight line from the " Quoits." B is very steeply scarped on three sides, and it has been suggested that it was the British fortress of Egonesham, captured by the Saxons under Cuthwulf in 571.2]

1 J. Y. Akerman, "Ancient Limits of the Forest of Wychwood," Archaeo- l°giz, xxxvli., 430; A. J. Evens, " Rollright Stones and their Folklore," Folh-Lon, vi,, 10. 8 J. Parker, Early History of Oxford {Oxf. Hist. Soc), p. SSJ. 294 Collectanea.

The devil was playing quoits on Beacon Hill on a Sunday, and in a rage at being told it was wrong, he threw these three to where they are now. One of the quoits standing in Walker's Field was once taken away, and put over a ditch called the "Back Ditch" in the "Farm Close" to make a bridge; but it was always slipping, and although often put back, it would not rest, and they were obliged at last to take it back to where it now stands. Wheel marks can still be seen on it.—(From Chas. Batts, labourer, of Stanton Harcourt, aged 35, who had it from his father. January i, 1898.) [Mr. Akerman,1 in 1858, records a rationalised version of the same story, as follows: " There is a tradition in the neighbour­ hood that the northernmost stone was once removed by an occupier of the land, and laid across a watercourse, where it served as a bridge over which waggons and carts for some time passed, and that it was restored to its old locality at the request of one of the Harcourt family. A groove in this stone, eight inches from the top, seven inches in width, and about three inches deep, is believed to have been caused by the wheels of the vehicles when it lay prostrate."] [Joseph Goodlake of Stanton Harcourt (now of Yarnton), aged 63, in March, 1901, gave me the following particulars which he had from his father: "When the war was in England, the fighting ended at Stanton by those stones, and from there across to Stan- lake Down by Cut Mill, Harcourt was the general; he was Emperor in England; he is buried in the church with his sword and gun and Downloaded by [] at 23:58 12 June 2016 clothes." Further : " When the war was in England the officers used to hide behind them" (the Devil's Quoits) "from the bullets," and the men used to pick the bullets out of them when my informant was young.] [The legend connecting the Quoits with a battle is confirmed by a story told by Tom Hughes:3 "An old man in that

1 Akerman, I.e. p, 431. 8 T. Hughes, Scouring of the White Horse (1859), p. 3a. There are several monuments to the Harcourt family in the church, the most conspicuous of which are two altar tombs with effigies in full armour j one to Sir Robert Harcourt, K.G., and his wife Margaret, 1471, the other to his grandson, Sir Robert, who was Henry VH.'s standard-bearer at Bosworth, and died some time after 1501. One of these two is apparently assigned to " the general." The story of the fighting may well have arisen from the numerous dis­ coveries of British and Anglo-Saxon remains that have been made in the Collectanea. 295

village" (Stanton Harcourt) "told me that a battie was fought there, which the English were very near losing, when the general rode up to one of his captains, named Harcourt, who was in the thick of it, and called out, ' Stan' to un, Harcourt, stan' to un, Harcourt,' and that Harcourt won the battle, and the village has been called Stanton Harcourt ever since."] Near Enstone is a ruined cromlech known as the "Hoar Stone." The villagers say that "it was put up in memory of a certain general named Hoar, who was slain in the Civil War. It was put there, as that was a piece of land no one owned."1 [Near Steeple Barton is another ruined cromlech, also called the " Hoar Stone," which is now only a confused heap of small stones, having been broken up by an ignorant farmer. Some fifty years ago it was much more perfect, and two of the side stones were standing about four feet out of the ground. " They used to say that whenever they tried to drag them two pebbles away with horses, they would roll back of their own accord. Them two pebbles growed out of little uns; at least that's my way of thinking."—(From George Nevill, of Varnton, aged 74, March, 1901.)]

neighbourhood. A tumulus close to the "Quoits" was destroyed by the grandfather of the present farmer, and on Stanlake Down many Anglo-Saxon burials have been found. ' A letter signed Zin in the Oxford Times of March 29, 1902, mentions this story, and adds that "there was a battle over there, Lidstone way." Lidstone being a hamlet of Ensione, about one and a half miles to the north­ Downloaded by [] at 23:58 12 June 2016 west. Mr. W. Harper in "Observations on Hoar-Stones," printed in Anhmologia (1833), xxv., 54, speaks of the "War Stone at Enstone. This conspicuous object is said by the country people to have been set up * at a French wedding.'" There is evidently here a confused version pf some legend auch as that belonging to the stones at Stanton Drew, Somerset, which were " vulgarly called the Weddings, and they say 'tis a company that assisted at a nuptial ceremony thus petrify'd." Stukeley's Aiury, quoted by Evans, Folk' Lore, vi., 31.