The village of Staithes is located on the Yorkshire coast, 8 miles to the north of Whitby.
The first edition OS map of 1856 marks a place called the ‘Devil’s Breeches’ near the head of a stream valley on the south side of the village. There appears to be nothing written down in the area’s local history to explain this name, and it seems to have only been recorded by the OS map surveyors more than 170 years ago.
A recent visit to Staithes provided an opportunity to ask some older residents about this place name, but only one person knew of it because they had seen it on the old map, and they had no explanation as to why the Devil would be connected with that place. With the folklore behind the placename apparently long forgotten (a very common situation) it is perhaps worth exploring some possible explanations for this intriguing name.
The Devil’s Trousers?
‘Breeches’ is an old word for trousers, and the ‘Devil’s Breeches’ name is connected with a folktale that can be found in several European countries, however its origins seem to lie in a rather gruesome Scandinavian folk belief.
In the mid 1800’s, Jón Árnason collected folklore in Iceland, with much of it rooted in the beliefs brought to the island by early Norse settlers. Amongst this folklore, Árnason records details of the skollabrækur – meaning the ‘Devil’s Breeches’ (also known as the Nábrók – Corpse Britches). These were a pair of trousers made from the skin of a dead person, and anyone who wore such trousers would become rich from the gold coins that magically appeared in the ‘pockets’. By ‘pockets’ Árnason was apparently referring to the scrotum where the coins could be found, making this an even stranger kind of necromancy.
The Devil’s Breeches name at Staithes may once have had some connection with this kind of folk belief, and it is worth noting that Staithes was also a Viking settlement, deriving its name from the Norse word for a harbour or landing place.
The question is why would the Devil’s Breeches name be attached to a stream valley? – as this folklore would normally be connected with a person rather than a location. The earliest OS map shows the ‘Devil’s Breeches’ name at a point where the valley forks into two separate gully’s, and this would seem to indicate that these two gullies were the Devil’s Breeches.
On the map, this fork in the valley does actually create a shape that looks like two legs, so this perhaps gave rise to the breeches idea, but why the Devil’s Breeches? And again – why a location rather than a person? The Devil’s Breeches name also predates the accurate OS maps, so viewing this leg shaped feature in the landscape before these maps were created would somehow require a birds eye view, as it is not apparent on the ground.
Today, the narrow stream valley is overgrown with trees, bushes, and brambles, however the old maps show that it was once more accessible with paths along the whole valley.
Devil’s Breaches?
Rather than Breeches (trousers), the name might refer to the ‘breaches’ or gaps in the hill side made by the two gullies. This explanation would tie in with other stories where the Devil created valleys, dykes and other earthworks for various reasons. The Devil’s Dyke (ditch) near Brighton in Sussex is a wide and deep valley, which folklore records was dug through the hills by the Devil in order to channel water and drown the Christian communities on the lower lying ground beyond.
The two gullies at Staithes carry water from the higher ground above the village, and during heavy rains these streams can still flood parts of Staithes. It is likely that significant flood events also took place in the past, and this may have inspired a story that it was the Devil who originally created the ‘breaches’ in the hillside to wash away the village. Such a story may have existed at Staithes a few hundred years ago, but like so much folklore it was not recorded before it was lost, especially in a relatively isolated location on the Yorkshire coast.
The Devil’s backside?
Another intriguing explanation for the name might be that the word breech can also mean the rear or rump of something, and at one time it also meant buttocks or arse. In this case the stream valley may have originally been called something like the ‘Devil’s Arse’, but perhaps the Victorian map makers changed the name for reasons of politeness, which did actually happen elsewhere in Staithes (see the end notes). Such a crude placename would then be related to the ‘Trolls Arse’ at Saltersgate on the moors 15 miles to the south of Staithes. Here another rugged and steep sided valley carries a stream from higher ground, and again there is no folklore to explain the name, although it is recorded in old documents dating back to the 1300’s (see the Trolls Aws page). It was suggested that early Scandinavian settlers in this area brought their pre Christian beliefs and practices with them, and that the Troll name (meaning a supernatural being) might have had its origin in the belief that a troll water spirit or ‘Fossegrim’ dwelt in this isolated valley. These spirits were particularly connected with waterfalls and streams that flowed towards the north – as does the Trolls Arse stream and also the Devil’s Breeches stream at Staithes.
So perhaps there was once a belief that the Devil’s Breeches was the dwelling place of Fossegrim water spirits? In later times such spirits would be regarded as Devils, and this perhaps gave rise to the placename.
Fishermen’s Friend?
In the Norse religion, offerings were made to the ‘Landvættir’ (spirits of the land) so that the land would be productive and the people living there could prosper. Those living on the coast would make similar offerings for ‘luck’ with their fishing and for their safety while out at sea. Such practices carried on into Christian times, and seem to have lingered longest in fishing communities where catches were uncertain and the dangers of the sea were ever present. This suggestion might seem a little far fetched, but only two miles away at Runswick Bay (the next fishing village down the coast from Staithes), a spirit living in a cave on the sea shore was still being visited for ‘luck’ and healing up until the early 1800’s …
“He was called Hob Thrush, and whilst shepherds and fishers invoked his luck, the wives took their bairns who were suffering from whooping-cough to the cavern, …”
So the Devil’s Breeches at Staithes may have been part of a very old tradition which lingered amongst the fishing villages along the Yorkshire coast – surviving as a belief in the Hob spirit At Runswick, or the Jenny Biggarsdale spirit at Sandsend, Jenny Furness at Whitby, the cave dwelling spirit at Boggle Hole, and possibly the Jenny Gallows spirit at Flamborough. Other old fishing villages on the coast may have had similar guardian spirits but the tradition died out long ago, only surviving long enough to be recorded in the smaller isolated villages.
(artist Nadezhda Antipova)
End notes
There is some support for this coastal tradition, as it has been recorded elsewhere in Britain, and in the past it may have been common around the coast. In the mid 1800’s Cornish fishermen at Newlyn were leaving a small part of their catch on the sea shore as an offering to a spirit called the Bucca. In return for this the Bucca was believed to guide fish into their nets, and crabs into the pots etc. This Bucca was also associated with a stream. The Bucca and Bogle names are thought to be related, along with others like Puck, Bukow, and Buggyboo etc. all derived from a very ancient root word ‘Bu’ meaning a spirit or supernatural being of some kind.
The dwelling place of these spirits seems to fit a pattern where they could be found in a rocky place such as the rock face at a waterfall or an actual cave, with this location connected to the sea by water – either directly on the shore or by a nearby stream. At Staithes the Devil’s Breeches gullies form a secluded place a little way from the village where the streams have cut through the hillside to the bedrock. Any spirit residing there would be connected to the sea by the stream waters flowing down to the shore. Fisher folk could make the short walk up the valley and leave an offering to bring luck with their fishing and safety while out at sea.
Up until the early 1800’s Staithes was apparently a bit of a wild and lawless place, but persistent Methodist preachers eventually transformed the village into a sober and God fearing community. At that time It is likely that many dubious superstitions and practices were abandoned and deliberately forgotten. It is possible that the Devil’s name was applied at that time to deter people from visiting the ravine, and the area was allowed to become overgrown so that the footpaths through them were impassable. A similar thing happened at Runswick Bay in the early 1800’s where the villagers were embarrassed and annoyed when their belief in the Hob spirit became widely known, as they thought it made them look backward. Soon after this the Hob Hole cave was destroyed.
The suggestion that the Victorian OS map makers may have changed the Devil’s Arse name to a more polite Devil’s Breeches, is not impossible as this did actually happen with another Staithes placename. In this case a rock outcrop near the village where ‘night soil’ was emptied into the sea was locally called Scar Shittings, but the OS recorded it as Scar Shootings.
