CHAPTER XIII.
MISCELLANY.
There are many traditions relating to the county, some of which are worth preserving; others are only the result of some fertile brain which first invented the tale and then told it as a tradition. Several of Roby’s “Traditions of Lancashire” are of this class; others are of considerable antiquity and of historic interest.
Scattered all over Lancashire are the remains or traces of roadside crosses, which at one period must have been very numerous, many of them being of great antiquity. At Burnley, near to the church, is one of these, which is of undoubted Saxon origin; it is known as Godly Cross, and associated with it is a tradition to the effect that long before the church was built religious rites were celebrated on the spot indicated by the cross, and that Paulinus baptized his converts in the waters of the Brun, which flows close by. The legend further asserts that upon an attempt being made to build an oratory on an adjacent site, the stones were nightly removed by supernatural agents, in the form of pigs, to the place where ultimately the church was erected. Similar traditions as to the removal of foundation–stones obtain as to the parish churches of Winwick, Rochdale, and one or two others. Very few parishes in Lancashire are without some trace (if only in a name) of these ancient crosses. The following furnishes a good example of the use to which these relics of a past age were applied as late as 1624. John Stirzaker and others, on July 25 in this year, confessed to the Bishop of Chester that they had been present and assisted in carrying the corpse of Thomas Bell of Garstang to the parish church there, and that they were in the company and consented “to the settinge downe of the said corse att crosses and yielding obeysance to the same superstitious manner as they went alonge, and that they carryed, or agreed thereto, the sayd corps by the church porche, and afterwards it was buryed without the mynister’s ayd or any prayers made at the buryall thereof.” The Bishop’s sentence was that the offending parties should acknowledge their faults “in their accustomed apparel on the Sundaie next, being att Morning Prayer tyme,” and also be prepared to receive the Holy Communion before the Feast of St. Michael, or in default they were to be excommunicated.
In this same parish of Garstang there still exists near Cross House the socket of one of these crosses, about which a curious bit of folklore obtains, to the effect that any persons troubled with warts or similar excrescences would get instant relief by washing their hands in the water from time to time collected in the hollow place where the base of the upright shaft once stood.
In the town of Wigan is a portion of a very ancient stone cross, known as Mab’s Cross. The origin of the cross itself is unknown, but its name is derived from a family tradition connected with the Bradshaigh family, one of whom, Sir William Bradshaigh, in the time of Edward II., having been absent from home for ten years, on his return found that his wife Mabel (daughter of Hugh Norres of Haghe) had married a Welsh knight, who, on hearing of the first husband’s return, took to flight, but was overtaken and slain by Sir William. For her unfaithfulness, Mabel was enjoined by her spiritual adviser to walk barefooted and barelegged once every week to the cross at Wigan, and there to do penance.
The most interesting monument in Wigan Church is the tomb of Sir William and Lady Mabel Bradshaigh.
In a county where there are so many ancient private houses, the successive owners of which led not unadventurous lives, it is no wonder that there are not wanting those old legends which add a charm and an interest to the remaining vestiges of what were once the family mansions of the oldest settlers in the county. Of these traditions a selection only can be taken.[235] At Kersall Hall, near Manchester (see [p. 209]), Peverill, the last Saxon owner, is said to have been slain whilst defending his ancestral home against the Norman intruder, who forthwith caused his dead body to be cast into the Irwell, and having taken possession, he retired for the night. But before the dawn he was called to account by ghostly visitors, and was found dead next morning on the threshold of the hall, and on his brow was written in blood a warning that all future intruders would meet with a similar fate, which threat the legend records was carried out against a succession of occupiers of the old dwelling–place. Not far from Bolton is a small farmhouse called Timberbottoms, which is also known as the Skull House, in consequence of the tradition that the taking away of two human skulls which had for generations been kept there would bring bad luck to the inhabitants; the tale goes that many times and oft had these relics been buried at Bradshaw Chapel, but they had always found their way back to their old quarters.[236] The dragon often figures as the hero of legendary lore, and associated with particular localities. The dragon of Rusworth is the only legend of the kind referring to Lancashire. At Rusworth is a house at one time owned by the Rusworths, one of whom in the remote past is supposed to have slain the beast which was devastating the district. In the house are several old oak carvings illustrating the event. In connection with Townley Hall, near Burnley, the spirit of some former owner, who demands a life every seven years, was supposed to wander about the demesne crying:
“Lay out, lay out
Horelaw and Hollinhey Clough.”
The late Mr. Harland, in his “Lancashire Legends,” quotes this as a singular instance how these old tales frequently have some foundation; for in 1604 James I. granted by letters patent to Charles, Lord Mountjoy, the Earl of Devon, for services rendered in the time of Queen Elizabeth, inter alia, “all that parcel of land called Horelaw Pasture, abutting on Hollinghey, part of the Duchy of Lancaster, and formerly inclosed by John Townley.” Here was evidently the source of the legend. Townley had without authority inclosed the land, and on the King reclaiming it, an imaginary grievance was created.