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.
The first reference to the Conjuring Stone seems to come from Thomas Gill, in his book ‘Vallis Eboracensis’, which was published in 1852, and where he notes ……..
“ A short distance from chapel-garth in a hollow place, is a large stone called the “conjuring stone”. In the days of superstition and witches, a troubled ghost supposed to be “Doomed for a certain time to walk the night, And for the day confin’d to fast in fires; till the foul crimes done in his days of nature were burnt and purged away,” frequented this lonely spot and the neighbouring road and so terrified the natives, that it was deemed necessary for the peace of the town and the comfort of the “poor ghost” to ease it of its troubles by the aid of the priest, who after various ceremonies, exorcised the spirit and fastened it down with what is now designated, the “conjuring stone” which remains to the present day.”
The area where the Conjuring Stone is located has changed quite a bit since the publication of Thomas Gill’s book. In his day the stone (as shown on the 1856 OS map) was located in a wooded area away from the village, but a few years later, Aldwark Manor was built in the fields next to the stone, and the wooded area became part of the manor house grounds. For the next 100 years the stone sat by the stream running through Manor Wood, but in the 1970’s most of the woodland was cut down leaving only a few mature trees. In the 1980’s Aldwark Manor became a Hotel and golf club, and as part of the landscaping work for the golf course the stream was covered over, but during this process the Conjuring Stone was also buried. It was only through the efforts of the Late Mr Stephen Watson (a native of Aldwark) that the stone was located and uncovered, and the hotel owners then built a retaining wall around the stone to protect it. The near loss of this piece of local history prompted Mr Watson to write a booklet called ‘The Conjuring Stone’ (S.J. Watson. 1987).
The Witch of Hollows Hole
As a young boy in the 1940’s, Mr Watson was shown the Conjuring Stone by an old man who worked at the manor house, and he was told that a witch was buried under the stone. Mr Watson took this to indicate that the stone might actually cover the body of some old witch, but this seemed at odds with the ghost exorcism story connected with the stone. However, these two aspects can perhaps be explained with reference to folklore, where the term ‘witch’ not only referred to a person practising witchcraft, but also the malevolent spirit or entity sent out from them to do their bidding. For past generations the word ‘witch’ was often used in this sense, a malevolent supernatural force, similar to a ghost that could be exorcised or ‘conjured’ by a priest, trapping it in one place. In this way it could be said that a ‘witch’ was trapped under the stone.
From Thomas Gill’s description, the lane next to the ‘Hollows Hole’ was regarded as a haunted place, with some believing that a troubled ghost hung about this spot, while others thought the place was under the spell of witchcraft. As with other haunted spots, it is likely that people avoided the lane, especially after dark, horses might be ‘spooked’ as they passed that way, and unexplained ‘accidents’ would occur in the vicinity. Mr Watson noted that the Hollows Hole dip in the road used to be much deeper – to the point where a horse and cart struggled to get through it. When the road was ‘Tarmaced’ his father helped raise the road level by carting tons of gravel from a local quarry. Alongside this ‘haunted hollow’ stood Manor Wood with the stream flowing through it. As a boy Mr Watson remembered this dense area of woodland as being rather ominous – “a dark place over grown with Yew trees” and here beneath the trees sat the Conjuring stone on the bank of the stream.
Mr Watson seems to have been the unofficial guardian of the Conjuring Stone, checking up on it every now and again. A visit in the mid 1980’s found the stone half buried on the stream bank, as in the years since the trees were removed the soil had slipped down and almost covered the stone. At that time he cleared the soil, and took the opportunity to measure the stone at over 1.2m in length, 1m wide and 0.45m in depth with a estimated weight of 1 ton. A geologist noted that it was not a sandstone from the local area, and that it was probably a glacial erratic from the Pennines. Mr Watson was also puzzled by a series of cut marks on the upper surface of the stone. After seeing the stone myself these appear to be quarry marks made in an attempt to split the stone for removal and use elsewhere – so again the stone had survived an earlier attempt at destruction. When viewed from certain angles these surface marks give the impression of eyes, nose, and mouth, which can only have added to the story of a witch trapped beneath the stone.
As can be seen in the photo’s below (from 2011) the stone was then protected by a low circular wall, as the landscaping had raised the soil level.
After notes
I visited the Conjuring Stone in the mid 1980’s with Ian Taylor and Edna Whelan, after we had been for a day out on the North York Moors. Although it was quite late in the day, we called into Aldwark on the way home, and it was beginning to get dark as we walked along the quiet lane and through a gap in the hedge. There were still trees and bushes alongside the stream at that time, and after some searching we found the Conjuring Stone, but with the sun setting the wood became darker and it took on a rather spooky atmosphere. As it was actually too dark to take photographs, we decided to leave it for another time, but for some reason it was many years before i returned.
A similar story of a ghost being ‘conjured’ can be found near the village of Timble, to the west of Harrogate. Here, another spirit haunted a small ford where a bridleway crosses a stream to the south of the village, This ghost or ‘Flay Bogle’ so terrified the villager that a priest was called in to exorcise it. The priest tricked the ghost into agreeing to be ‘conjured down’ until the candle he held had burnt away, but he then threw the candle into a deep pool in the stream so that it would never burn away, and so the spirit was also trapped there.
Another example from the 1600’s records that the ghost of Thomas Preston was believed to haunt Low Hall at Appletreewick. His restless spirit became so troublesome that it was exorcised and trapped in the spring head of a stream to the north of the village.
The Conjuring Stone is marked on the old OS map in Gothic script, showing that it was already regarded as an antiquity in the 1800’s. Exorcism of people or places are rarely heard of these days, but in the past there was a real belief in witchcraft, demons and the Faery folk etc, and people feared them greatly. Priest’s were expected to have the knowledge and rites to counteract such malevolent forces, with priests of the ‘old church’ (Roman Catholic) being regarded as more adept in these matters.
Further afield in Brittany, if a person was believed to be possessed by an evil spirit, a priest would perform an exorcism and transfer the spirit into the body of a black dog. The priest kept the now possessed dog under control by the tying his rosary around its neck, before leading it to some remote spot and trapping the spirit in a bog or marshy place. Terrifying Black Dogs are part of British folklore too, and the connection between spirits and watery places is also present.
Credit must go to the late Mr Stephen Watson, who for many years was the unofficial ‘guardian’ of the Conjuring Stone. A booklet in the Easingwold library records his efforts to keep the stone and its tradition alive in the village, and to safeguard its future with the hotel owners. (The Conjuring Stone S.W. Watson 1987).