Arrow Stones – St. Mary’s Church – Thirsk

  Thirsk is an old market town in North Yorkshire, 20 miles to the north of York.

  A visit to the ancient crypt beneath Lastingham church in 2023, also noted some curious scrape marks in the stonework of the church tower. These vertical scrape marks are found on some old churches, and are usually known as ‘Arrow Stones’, with the local explanation that they were made long ago by villagers sharpening arrows heads, or Cromwell’s soldiers sharpening their weapons. There is no real evidence for this ever happening, and similar marks on religious building in France, Germany and Italy, were made by people collecting powdered stone for use in homemade medicines. The idea seems to have been that these buildings were blessed and holy places, and so the actual fabric of the building was also holy and would have healing powers. A similar belief was attached to holy wells, where the water was believed to have healing properties, and during medieval times many church fonts had a lid with a lock to prevent people taking the holy water and using it for their own purposes.

Jenny Gallows – Flamborough

  Jenny Gallows is the name of a ghost who once haunted the village of Flamborough on the East Yorkshire coast.

  The first reference to Jenny seems to be in John Nicholson’s ‘Folklore of East Yorkshire’ (1890) where he noted …

” Near Flambrough is a circular hole, resembling a dry pond, in which a Flambro’ girl committed suicide. It is believed that any one bold enough to run nine times round this place will see Jenny’s spirit come out, dressed in white; but no one yet has been bold enough to venture more than eight times, for then Jenny’s spirit called out –

” Ah’ll tee on me bonnet,
An’ put on me shoe,
An’ if thoo’s nut off,
Ah’ll seean catch thoo ! “

A farmer, some years ago, galloped round it on horseback, and Jenny did come out, to the great terror of the farmer, who put spurs to his horse and galloped off as fast as he could, the spirit after him. Just on entering the village, the spirit, for some reason unknown, declined to proceed farther, but bit a piece clean out of the horse’s flank, and the old mare had a white patch there to her dying day.” (Nicholson, 1890)

Willey Howe (Willy Howe) – Wold Newton

  Willey Howe is a large round barrow located near the village of Wold Newton, 7 miles to the north west of Bridlington in East Yorkshire.

  In folklore this mound has become connected with a story written down in the 12th century by William Parvus (William of Newburgh) who was Born in Bridlington, and later became an Augustinian monk at Newburgh. The story (translated from the latin original) is worth quoting in full …

The Spiral Stone and the Abbot’s Hand – Braithwaite Moor

  Braithwaite Moor is located to the north of Thruscross Reservoir, 10 miles north west of Harrogate.

  The Spiral Stone is mentioned as a point on the Hampsthwaite parish boundary in the early 1800’s. The Revd. Joseph Wilson (vicar of Hampsthwaite) noted the stone in his diary, after taking part in the 1801 boundary perambulation …

The Trolls Aws and Devils Elbow – Saltergate

  Saltergate is located to the north of the Hole of Horcum on the North York Moors, 7 miles to the north of Pickering.

  While recently sorting through some old photocopied articles, i came across a reference to a placename called the ‘Trolls Aws’, near Saltergate on the North York Moors. The article dated from 1937, and was written by Frank Dowson who lived in the village of Goathland, 4 miles to the north of Saltergate. Dowson wrote several articles about the Goathland Plough Stots for the Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society, including one about the Scandinavian influence in North Yorkshire. In this he mentions several placenames in the Goathland area, which he suggested were evidence of these early settlers, and among this list he notes the ‘Trolls Aws’ ……