The previous post about the Flamborough spirit known as Jenny Gallows (‘Jinny Gallus’) suggested that several pieces of folklore may have merged together over the years to create the story that is known in the village today. This would not be unusual when a story gets told by different people over many years – bits get added or left out, and so it changes over time.
In more recent times the ghostly Jenny Gallows was used by parents to scare their children, and keep them away from ponds and pools of water in the area, especially the old quarry and the pond near the castle ruins in the village. A similar thing took place in Lancashire, where children were scared by ‘Jenny Greenteeth’ who was said to lurk in rivers and canals waiting to drag them under the water. Elsewhere there are other ‘Jenny’ spirits connected with water, and this perhaps points to them originally being part of much older beliefs about a dangerous type of water spirit.
An older version of the Jenny Gallows folklore from John Nicholson (1890) has Jenny taking her own life in a … “circular hole, resembling a dry pond … near Flamborough“. Her ghost was then believed to dwell in the hollow, and she could be made to appear by circling around it nine times. On one occasion a local farmer did perform the circling ritual, which caused Jenny’s spirit to appear, and she then chased the terrified farmer back to the village. The farmer was on horseback for this chase so this might suggest that the dry pond was some distance from the village. A current resident of Flamborough remembers Jenny Gallows pond being alongside the road leading up to the lighthouse, and anyone running around it 3 times would cause Jenny to appear. This location fits nicely with the story told by Nicholson, being less than a mile from Flamborough, and a place from where Jenny Gallows could chase the farmer back down the lane to the village. The pond is a “circular hole” and usually dry – only occasionally holding any water, and is now getting overgrown with bushes and brambles.
30 years after Nicholson, the Rev. William Smith (1923) was told of another pond haunted by Jenny Gallows, but this was “… now only a dry round hole near the North landing“. The North Landing is a bay on the coast 1 mile to the north east of Flamborough village, so this would also qualify as being “near Flamborough”.
These various locations show that the ghost of Jenny Gallows could be encountered out on the Flamborough headland as well as in the village itself, and it may be that in the past she could appear at other watery places in the area too.
Jenny Gallows – where ist thou?
Looking at the old OS maps of the area around North Landing reveals nothing that matches the description of a ‘dry round hole’, but such a feature may not have been significant enough to put on the map. The 1854 edition OS map does however provide perhaps the strongest clue to the original location connected with Jenny Gallows, as it shows a place called ‘Gallows Hole’ on the cliffs between Selwick Bay and the North Landing. The name may refer to a section of the cliffs, but it might also refer to one of the caves in the cliff face below, as with the cave known as Robin Lythes Hole at the North Landing.
It seems to be quite a coincidence that there is an old story of a Jenny Gallows killing her self in a ‘hole’ near Flamborough, and there also being a place on the Flamborough cliffs called ‘Gallows Hole’.
Was this the original location of the story – the place where Jenny Gallows ended her life, and later became known as Gallows Hole after her? Perhaps her ghost was then believed to roam the headland area, dwelling in the ponds and hollows there, because she could never return to the village. The Fall Hole and Cradle Head names on the map next to Gallows Hole might also relate to the original story, and these perhaps hint at some tragic event which took place there long ago.
If Gallows Hole was the original location, then it seems that some of her story has been forgotten over the years, and again this would not be uncommon as local stories and old folklore totally died in many villages during the 1800’s, with only remnants being vaguely remembered in later years.
Nine times around
Elsewhere in his book on East Yorkshire Folklore, Nicholson noted that … “nearly every pit in the Riding has its goblin” and “nearly every pit and hollow is haunted, and consequently held in dread“. So the belief in haunted hollows appears to have been widespread in this part of Yorkshire, and would explain why the spirit of Jenny Gallows was connected with a circular hollow or dry pond in this area. The mention of ‘goblins’ might explain why the fairies were also connected wiith the Jenny Gallows hollow, and in some old stories the spirits of dead people were said to dwell with the fairy folk.
Anyone foolish enough to want to raise the ghost of Jenny Gallows had only to circle the haunted hollow a certain number of times, and her spirit would then appear. Such circling rituals were also connected with the Pudding Pie Hill burial mound near Thirsk, and also the Fairy Hill at Asenby, so this would appear to be another link with the fairy folk. This link also lends support to the theory that the fairies were at one time believed to be spirits of the dead, and the circling ritual may have been a way to contact them.
Jenny Gallows has also been referred to as a witch, and this might seem a little odd until it is realised that in the past a ‘witch’ was another name for a bad or evil spirit. Such a witch spirit haunted the village of Aldwark near York, and so terrified people that eventually a priest was called in to perform an exorcism – trapping the spirit under a large rock on the bank of a stream. This rock became known as the Conjuring Stone, with the tradition that a ‘witch’ was buried beneath it.
Today the different parts of the Jenny Gallows folklore – a young woman taking her own life, the haunted pools and hollows, a link with the fairies and the castle ruins, and the Gallows Hole on the Flamborough cliffs, etc, all suggest that in the past the tale of Jenny Gallows would have been much longer and more detailed. The tradition of story telling was one of the ways people entertained themselves in the past – gathering around the hearth on an evening, or in the local inn, where a good storyteller could spend an hour or two just on one tale. By describing in detail the events that took place, the background of the characters involved, where they lived, who they were related to, the clothes they were wearing, etc. the story teller would capture the imagination of the listeners, and create a vivid picture in their minds.
Endnote
Nicholson’s older version of the story noted that Jenny Gallows chased the farmer back to the village but for some reason she would not enter it. This suggests that the village was protected in some way, or that there was a limit to where her ghost could travel. it is interesting to note that on the west side of Flamborough village there is the Danes Dyke – an ancient bank and ditch earthwork which runs for 2 miles from north to south across the Flamborough promontory, cutting off the village and the headland from the land further west. The Danes Dyke is also haunted by a ghostly woman dressed in white, so did this earthwork form a limit or barrier beyond which the spirit of Jenny Gallows could not pass?
In the 13th century Eyrbyggja Saga from Iceland, an old viking called ‘Thorolf Lame Foot’ died and was placed in a burial mound, but he came back to haunt the area, terrifying the local farmers. Thorolf had become a Draugr – one of the ‘undead’, and rather than just being a ghost, a Draugr had physical strength, and could injure or crush people to death (Just as Jenny Gallows was able to strike and leave a scar on the horse that the farmer rode). Eventually Thorolf’s body was moved and reburied on a small headland by the sea, and a wall was built across the headland to keep his spirit there. Such ideas and beliefs may have existed amongst the descendants of the Vikings who settled at Flamborough, and in later times became woven into local stories.
The Jenny Gallows spirit seems to have originally been more than just a village ghost, and a final post will suggest that she had some ‘relations’ connected with the fishing communities further north along the Yorkshire coast.
References
Nicholson, J. (1890) Folklore of East Yorkshire
Smith, W. (1923) Ancient Springs & Streams of the East Riding of Yorkshire.
First image is a painting by John Everett – The Somnambulist (1871)
Last image is by Ida Rentoul Outhwaite – The castaway
