The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Folklore Posts by texlahoma

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Pendle Hill (Sacred Hill)

A recording I made in 2006 with my Grandma on her recollections of Pendle Hill.
https://soundcloud.com/matthew-m-shaw/pendle-hill

Tregiffian (Entrance Grave)

It was previously thought that treasure was buried under the monument, and digging over the years certainly weakened the foundations and probably contributed to its collapse.

Cerne Abbas Giant (Hill Figure)

After an excursion, causing mischief in the Vale of Blackmore, devouring several sheep, the Giant lay down on the hill to rest and digest his breakfast. On falling asleep the local people rivetted him down, killed him and then cut his figure in solid chalk.
Variations of this story can be found in:
Hutchins 1774 29292
Darlton 1935 p 80
Wightman 1977 p98

Badbury Rings (Hillfort)

"Some years ago archaeological students, camping on the summit, were disturbed by the clash of metal, the sound of marching men and shouted military orders in a strange tongue. The camp is reported to have been abandoned in panic and one of the students suffered a nervous breakdown" (Wilks 1978, p66). There seems to be a stray member of this company, an old warrior with a twisted leathery face, gashed with wounds, who creeps up on people after dark, with a preference for scaring courting couples. The last sighting was in the autumn of 1977 (Coaster 12p5).
There is also a milder ghost, somewhat out of place amongst this archaic barbarity. The Dorset Evening Echo of 19 January 1979 interviewed a woman who had been walking on the site in the afternoon with her husband; he looked back and saw, standing on top of one of the banks, an old lady. "She wore a long blavk coat buttoned up the front and finishing in a little stand up collar. She wore one of those hats like Queen Mary used to wear". The husband turned round to say that they should help her down the slope, but when he and his wife returned to the area they found no such lady.
These ghosts are interesting in view of the popularity of the Rings among the Blandford and Wimborne people as a centre for day outings, picnics and so on. The warrior ghosts who frighten the modern visitor are in part a projection of historical musings on the fort, comparing its bloody origins with present tameness:the past is scary. The black lady, by contrast, is a realistic ghost, since little old ladies are quite common at the site on a warm afternoon."
Cuckoo Pounds and Singing Barrows - Jeremy Harte

The Cloud (Sacred Hill)

On the summit of cloud hill is a stone outcrop known as the drummer's knob. It is said that at this place during the Jacobite rebellion an English sniper killed a young Jacobite drummer boy. He is said to haunt the area with his ghostly drumming.
It is also said that a giant dropped his shoe on the hill and was then startled by a small animal and fled leaving his shoe behind. The shoe then turned to stone over many years and now looks like a boulder with a hollowed out face.
http://www.texlahoma.com

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