Rocking Stone – Rocking Moor, Thruscross

 Rocking Moor is an area of high moorland, three miles to the east of Bolton Abbey, and ten miles to the west of Harrogate.

 The moor is named after a large Rocking Stone, which sits on top of an earth-fast boulder near the highest part of the moor. In most cases, rocking stones are natural features created by erosion, or when a boulder has been left fortuitously stranded during glacial times. The upper stones can weigh several tons, but if they only rest upon one or two pivot points, they can be finely balanced, and will move or ‘rock’ when pushed.

  Originally this Rocking Stone sat in isolation on the high moor, with panoramic views over the surrounding landscape. However, sometime during the 17th century a stone building was erected alongside the Rocking Stone, perhaps being used for hunting or other recreational purposes by the owners of the Bolton Abbey estate. The positioning of the building ‘face on’ to the Rocking Stone would seem to indicate that the stone was the focal point of the site, and that it already had some local significance.

Boggle Hole – Robin Hoods Bay

“My mammy bid me gan to bed,
My daddy he said, No,’
My mammy said, if I wad na gan,
She would fetch the Boggle-Bo”

 Boggle Hole is a cave in the cliffs at Robin Hood’s Bay, 5 miles to the south of Whitby. The cave has given its name to a YHA youth hostel, which was originally a water mill located in a narrow stream gully running down into the bay. Although the location is somewhat isolated, it is on a scenic and popular stretch of the coastline.

 The Boggle Hole cave itself is located in the cliffs immediately alongside the gully, on its south side. In the past the cave appears to have been larger, but at some point much of the roof has collapsed, leaving an open cleft running back into the cliff. The constant action of the tides, and winter storms are the likely cause of the collapse, undercutting the cave sides until they could not support the roof. In its original state the cave would have been similar to the Rev. Young’s description of the Hob Hole cave at Runswick bay, further up the coast. (see Hob Hole post).

This week i have been mostly Swan Kulning …

There are a few more posts about folklore sites in the pipeline, but i need to revisit the locations for photos. So in the mean time here is another curious and intriguing piece that caught my eye on youtube.

This kind of vocalising has a very ancient feel to it, and it can also be heard in the songs of  Karoliina Kantelinen (ethno musicologist at Helsinki university) who incorporates these old vocal traditions into her own performance.

The Devil’s Bridge – Hebden

 The Devil’s Bridge (Dibble’s Bridge) spans the river Dibb near the village of Hebden, 3 miles to the east of Grassington, in the Yorkshire Dales.

 The old folklore of the area records that this bridge was built by the Devil, and a story based on this folklore appeared in the Chronicles and Stories of the Craven Dales (Dixon, 1880).

  The legend is set during the Middle Ages, sometime before the dissolution of the monasteries (1540), when Fountains Abbey was still a thriving religious community. A cobbler from the village of Thorpe (near Grassington) was returning home from the abbey with a bag of shoes for repair, when he found the river Dibb was in flood, and so he had to wade across. On the other side of the river he met a smartly dressed gentleman who asked him how far it was to Grassington. For some reason the cobbler was suspicious of the stranger and so he told him that it was a long way, and that he himself had worn out the bag of shoes travelling from there.

Nursa Knott and the Devil’s Apronful

 Nursa Knott (Nursery Knot) is a prominent limestone hill located two miles to the west of Greenhow village, near Pateley Bridge in the Yorkshire Dales.

  Nursa Knott features in a local legend about the Devil, and the story seems to have first been recorded by Bailey Harker in his Rambles in Upper Wharfedale (Harker, 1869). Harker’s visit to Stump Cross Caverns required a change of cloths at the nearby Grouse Inn, where he noted ….

 “After we have dressed ourselves again in our own costume, we take the highway for Barden. To our right is Nursa Knott, and a little beyond it The Apron Full of Stones. Of these stones there is a curious legend, to the effect that the Devil being anxious to fill up Dibb Gill was carrying these ponderous crags in his apron when he stumbled over Nursa Knott, and the strings broke, the crags falling to the ground. It is said that if any of them were to be removed at night they would be carried back to their original place before morning.”