The Julbock – Yule Goat

  Across Britain and much of Northern Europe, the last sheaf of grain to be harvested on a farm held a special significance. It was kept in the farmhouse, and given pride of place at the harvest supper, and was also brought out at Yule/Christmas. In Scandinavian countries this last sheaf was called the Skördebock or ‘harvest Goat’, and straw from the sheaf was formed into the shape of a goat. These straw goats or ‘Julbock’ are still a popular Christmas decoration in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Poland.

Return to the Burial Cave – Elbolton Hill

  A previous post described the Neolithic burials found in Knave Knoll Cave on the upper slopes of Elbolton Hill, near Burnsall in the Yorkshire Dales.

  An excavation of this cave in the 1890’s found a group of three skeletons, which rather unusually had been buried in a sitting position. Two of the skeletons were found next to each other against the cave wall, with the third person sat in the area in front of them. The skulls from these burials are in Skipton Museum, and in 2022 they were Radio Carbon dated to 3800BC – the Early Neolithic period.

The Conjuring Stone – Aldwark

  The village of Aldwark is located alongside the river Ure, 10 miles north-west of York.

  The old OS map shows a narrow lane leading from the south side of the village down towards the Aldwark bridge river crossing. A little way along this lane there is a dip in the road known as the ‘Hollows Hole’, where a low bridge crosses a stream flowing westward over fields to the river. On the east side of the bridge, the stream flowed through a small copse called Manor Wood, and here on the north bank of the stream could be found a large boulder known as the Conjuring Stone.

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)