Sidney Oldall Addy

“ The gods of the old religion had become, in Christian eyes, the devils of the new, and witchcraft was, above all things, the practice of the old religion. We may be almost sure that Haggas Croft was once the abode, or reputed abode, of a sorceress or witch. The very foundations of the witch's house were left, and the name Haggas—Old English hægesse, a witch—can hardly be mistaken. On a hill at Baslow in Derbyshire is a great stone called the Egglestone, sometimes popularly corrupted into Eagle Stone. ”

“ The name is evidence of a belief in fays or hill-folk who were once supposed to haunt these places. As we have seen that witches, according to popular belief, might be present either in the body or the spirit at these meetings, it is difficult to separate the nymph or demi-goddess from the witch, and this difficulty runs through all Teutonic mythology. The belief that lovely beings of light dwelt upon these places seems to have been associated with nightly mysteries which were wholly sensual, and in no sense divine. Particular spots were associated with the presence of nymphs or elle maids. ”

“ I have myself talked to an old Derbyshire woman who remembered in her youth that cocks were buried alive as a charm to avert pestilence, and, as Dr. Munro has lately told us, this heathen praclice still lingers in Scotland. [2] It was thought that the smothered cries of the poor birds when buried in the earth would propitiate the offended spirit which caused the mischief.
This line of thought has been suggested by a natural pillar composed of three stones at Hollow Meadows, near Sheffield. The pillar is known as the Cock-crowing Stones, otherwise Stump John. ”

“ The Elle-people live in the Elle-moors. The appearance of the man is that of an old man with a low-crowned hat on his head; the Elle-woman is of a fair and attractive countenance, but behind she is hollow like a dough-trough. Young men should be especially on their guard against her, for it is very difficult to resist her ”

“ The man may be often seen near the Elle-moors, bathing himself in the sunbeams, but if any one comes too near him he opens his mouth wide and breathes upon them, and his breath produces sickness and pestilence. But the women are most frequently to be seen by moonshine; then they dance their rounds in the high grass so lightly and so gracefully that they seldom meet a denial when they offer their hand to a rash young man. It is also necessary to watch cattle, that they may not graze in any place where the Elle-people have been ”

“ And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle." Here it would seem that the witch had an accomplice, who wore a mantle or cowl. If we examine some of the field-names about Ecclesall, we shall detect signs of that worship or fear of the spirits of the dead which was always associated with witchcraft. In the thirteenth century the monks of a neighbouring abbey built or further endowed a chapel just below the hill known as Dobbin Hill—the very highest ground in Ecclesall—and an old road between Porter Brook and High Storrs is still known as Dead Lane or Deadman's Lane. ”

“ The better opinion hitherto held is that Eccles is the genitive case of an Old English personal name Æcel, so that, if the opinion were correct, Eccleshill would be a hill once inhabited by a man called Æcel. I am not, however, aware that hills were ever named after persons, though it is possible that in a few cases they may have taken the names of the mythological or half-divine beings which arose from the worship of ancestors or chiefs, or, in later times, of the saints which succeeded those beings. ”

“ The English word "gnipe" meaning a peak, or hill, Old Norse gnipa, or nipr is not applicable to this place, which is flat land lying by the banks of the river Don. The Middle English neep, which occurs in neap-tide, low tide, comes nearer, and it may be connected, but the Don is not a tidal river. There seems to be no way of explaining the word unless we take Nepe (1365) or Neep (1637) either as a personal, or a mythological, name. In the belief of our ancestors, the woods, fields, and rivers were peopled with spirits, just as they are now in the belief of savage nations. ”

“ Sometimes, we are told, the little man in black "plays on a pipe or cittern and the company dance." At last he vanishes, and the witches "are all carried to their several homes in a short space." The heathen practice of attempting to torture or destroy a person by sticking pins, etc., into an image made to resemble him, or into a live animal, is still in use. I am told that at Curbar in Derbyshire, a few years ago a girl was deserted by her lover. ”

“ It is said that on a certain morning in the year these stones turn round when the sun shines upon them. [3] Several other large stones, or heaps of stones, in the district are also known as "cock-crowing stones." Possibly they have been the scene of pagan rites. In South India at the present time "cocks are actually sacrificed to the village deity who is represented by the large stone in the centre of a cromlech." ”

“ It is obvious that these names were intended to express the same idea, and it is equally clear that these two hills and this lane did not obtain their names from living men and women. Jenkin is equivalent to "little John," and as Robin Hood is a mythical being, so also is his companion Little John a mythical being. When we are told that Little John lies buried in Hathersage churchyard we can only infer that a long time ago a sprite called Little John or Jenkin was believed to haunt the slope or hill on which the church was built. ”

“ This stone, even yet, is associated with popular superstition, and the late Duke of Rutland used to say that a girl would not accept a man for her lover, or marry him, until he had climbed upon the top of this stone, which is very difficult of access. ”

“ Patrick lead one to think that he is a myth, the creation of popular fancy. In Iceland, where no amphibia are found, the word padda, a toad, our paddock, is used of any inserts or beetles in foul water. ”

“ It would thus appear that these names are sometimes associated with old ruins, in that respect resembling the word Grim or Grime. As will appear below we must admit the identity of witches and fairies, so that Ecclesall would mean "fairy hill" as well as "witch hill," and so with regard to the other names compounded with Eccles.↑ Grimm observes that velde is here the O. N. fiall, a hill.↑ I have noticed this curious name in several places. Thus I find Deadman's Lane in the City of York mentioned in 1579. (Yorkshire Fines, ii, 140.) There is a Deadman's Lane in Derby. ”

“ It is a common belief in the neighbourhood of Sheffield that the carriage of a corpse along a road confers a right upon the people to use that road for ever.↑ Science of Fairy Tales, 1891, p. 348.↑ Glanvil's Sadducismus Triumphatus, 1726, p. 304.↑ The bird eagle was pronounced yargle in Derbyshire, as I have been told.↑ Glanvil's Sadducismus Triumfhatus, 1726, p. 311.↑ Glanvil, ut supra, p. 296.↑ There was a Malkin Croft in Heeley, as will be seen in the chapter on "The Church Lands."↑ Remaines of Gentilisme (Folk-Lore Society) , p. 379.↑ Gatty's Hunter's Hallamshire, p. ”