Weather and Folk Lore of Peterborough and District

Published by and for the benefit of the
PETERBOROUGH NATURAL HISTORY, SCIENTIFIC, AND ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
1911.
PETERBOROUGH: CHARLES HAWKINS, PRINTER, KING STREET
1856.
FROM A DRAWING BY
(Second Series).
his is a continuation of a Paper on the Survival of Old Customs in Peterborough and the neighbourhood which was read at the Royal Archæological Society's meeting in 1898, with an addition of a few more old customs, and more particulars of others, to which I have also added a collection of the quaint Weather and Folk Lore of this district. Being at a point where four counties are almost within a stone's throw, Peterborough possesses the traditions of the Counties of Huntingdon, Cambridge, and Lincoln, as well as Northampton. It is rather difficult to locate these sayings to one particular County, so I have taken those current within a radius of about fifteen miles.
Most of them have been repeated to me personally and only in a very few cases have I copied any which have been printed and then only to make the collection more complete.
The two Northamptonshire Poets, Dryden and John Clare, often notice the phases of the Weather, and John Clare, especially, describes the Rural Customs and weather Lore of this district with a true Poets feeling and amongst his M.S.S., now the property of the Peterborough Museum, are many unpublished poems and also his Diary which, at present, is unknown to the general public. John Clare was well styled the English Burns and his notes and Memoranda on the various local events are most valuable to those who take an interest in the sayings and doings of the early part of the 19th century.
Many charms are used at the present time and, altho' reticent, the villagers, (when you have gained their confidence), will tell you of their belief in the various whims and of the successful results of their practice.
In almost every proverb where Peterborough is mentioned it is associated with pride, and some people say that they are still applicable.