Myths, legends and stories from the Barleywolds

A wide variety of myths, legends and stories come from the Barleywolds, including E.M. Forster's book Howards End, George Orwell's book Animal Farm, and the myth or legends of: Jack O'Leggs - The giant Robin Hood of Weston, Piers Shonks of Brent Pelham - The Last Dragon Slayer, The Witches of Royston, The Blind Fiddler of Anstey, The Devil's Hills at Stevenage and Gravely, and The Miracle of the Ring at Clavering. Also, there are the at least partly true stories of: The Witches of Royston, The Mad Dogs of Barkway, The Templars of Royston Cave, The Day of the Living Dead in Braughing and The Ugley Village Ghosts.

The Mad Dogs of Barkway

(by Nicholas Blatchley. https://www.hertsmemories.org.uk/content/herts-history/topics/traditional-hertfordshire-project-2017/hertfordshire-archives-local-studies/mad-dog-disease-barkway)

Rabies is infectious to most mammals, including humans. Its terrifying symptoms, though, including foaming at the mouth and crazed behaviour, are associated so strongly with dogs that it’s been commonly referred to as mad dog disease. Before its causes and cure were known, outbreaks of “mad dog disease” could cause mass panic. During the 17th and 18th centuries, restraint orders were often issued for dogs, and appropriately enough this was especially true in Barkway. Here, the original order was made only for a month, but it continued to be extended right up until June 1886. Besides ordering children to stay away from all dogs, owners were compelled to muzzle their dogs, with severe penalties for anyone who broke the ruling.

This was a drastic measure in a farming economy with numerous working dogs, showing how widespread were both the disease and the fear of it. Before a vaccination was developed in the late 19th century by Louis Pasteur and Émile Roux, other cures were tried. According to the folk of Barkway, the most effective cure for “mad dog disease” was to take a small piece of cheese rind and write on it the Latin poem dedicated to dogs which begun “Deibus orebus.”  You then fed the cheese to the dog — assuming, that is, it had not already bitten off your hand. This may seem a ridiculous measure to us, but the good folk of Barkway insisted that it worked. After all, no child died in Hertfordshire from “mad dog disease”, so maybe they knew better than us. Or maybe it had more to do with the draconian local laws on muzzling dogs.

The Templars and Royston Cave

(from: https://www.roystoncave.co.uk)

The Templars were a religious order of Knights, founded in about 1118, orginally for the protection of pilgrims to Jerusalem, but they developed into Crusaders and a secretive, multinational organisation of great wealth and power, resulting in the order being dissolved by the Pope in 1307, with its knights being tortured and burnt at the stake. Prior to that, the Templars re-founded Baldock in about 1148, having been given lands around Weston, and rapidly developed trade and agriculture in the region, including vineyards around Weston, and trading at the markets of Royston. The Royston Cave has been suggested to be a Templar Temple, for enactment of their secretive rites, before or after 1307. 

Although the origin of the Royston cave is unknown, its rediscovery is well documented. In August 1742 a workman dug a hole in the Butter Market to build footings for a new bench for the patrons and traders. He discovered a buried millstone and dug around it to remove it. He found a shaft leading down into the chalk. When discovered, the cavity was more than half-filled with earth. The rumour was that there must be a treasure buried beneath the soil inside the cave, but removal of the soil revealed no treasure, but instead a single skull and religious carvings etched into the chalk walls of the bell-shaped chamber. No one knew what they had found, and no records of its age or purpose exist, but that did not stop people spinning theories, stories and myths that continue to this day. Some of the most popular ideas are outlined below.

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The Knights Templars had a stronghold in Baldock, and sold produce at the Royston market, so it’s possible the Templars used Royston Cave as a secret place of worship. Carvings similar to that in Royston Cave have been found at Templar sites across Europe.

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King James I's involvement with Freemasonry has long been disputed but some argue that he helped establish it in England, after it originated in Scotland where he was also king. With James owning a large palace in Royston and visiting the town often to hunt, some theories suggest the King used Royston Cave to practise Freemasonry, away from the prying eyes of his court. If that's the case, Royston Cave is one of the earliest examples of a Freemason's Lodge in England.   

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Some suggest Royston Cave was a hermitage, the subterranean home of a hermit. A hermit is someone who lives in solitude as a religious discipline. It was common in the Saxon period for hermitages to be established by the side of roads, so Royston Cave's proximity to the crossroad may not be a coincidence. Some suggest that travellers would pay the hermit to pray for their safe passage and that less notable figures carved in the cave could be effigies of its more generous benefactors. 

Lady Roisia, after which Royston is thought to be named, was the wife of William the Conqueror's steward. They owned extensive land in the area, including the site where Royston sits. Having been attributed to establishing the stone cross at Royston's crossroad, some suggest Lady Roisia used Royston Cave as her private chapel, and may have been buried there.

Royston Cave is visited by Earth-energy and Pagan visitors. They believe the Michael and Mary Ley lines meet inside the cave. Ley lines are thought to connect sacred sites with electromagnetic energy. The Michael and Mary lines are also said to cross through Glastonbury and Avebury. It’s believed the Ley lines create a powerful source of healing energy and that Royston Cave has been a sacred place for thousands of years.

The Last Witch of Walkern

(from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Wenham_(alleged_witch))

Jane Wenham of Walkern was one of the last people to be condemned to death for witchcraft in England in 1712. In 1710, she brought a charge of defamation against a farmer, John Chapman, in response to an accusation of witchcraft. The local justice of the peace, Sir Henry Chauncy, referred the matter to the Rev Godfrey Gardiner, the rector of Walkern. She was awarded with a shilling, though advised to be less quarrelsome. She was disappointed with this outcome, and it was reported that she had said she would have justice "some other way". She supposedly then bewitched Ann Thorne, a servant at the rectory.

A warrant for Wenham's arrest was issued by Sir Henry Chauncy, who gave instructions that she be searched for "witch marks". She requested that she undergo trials to avoid being detained, such as a swimming test, however, she was asked to repeat the Lord's Prayer.

The accused was brought before Sir John Powell at the assize court at Hertford on 4 March 1712. A number of villagers gave evidence that Wenham practised witchcraft. The judge was clearly more sceptical than the jury of the evidence presented. When an accusation of flying was made, the judge remarked that flying, per se, was not a crime. Through the good offices of Sir John Powell, Queen Anne granted Jane Wenham a pardon. 

The trial caused a sensation in London, where publishers sold material proclaiming Wenham's innocence or guilt. Chauncey's son-in-law and one of the witnesses at the trial, Revd Francis Bragge, published three pamphlets about the case, including, A full and impartial account of the discovery of sorcery and witchcraft practis'd by Jane Wenham of Walkern in Hertfordshire.

It has been speculated that Jane Wenham was persecuted partly because she was a religious Dissenter, which was then common in Walkern and Hertfordshire generally. Francis Bragge himself recorded that Wenham said that she was "persecuted out of Spite, only because she went to the Dissenting Meetings".

Old Man's Day in Braughing

(https://www.hertsmemories.org.uk/content/herts-history/towns-and-villages/braughing/old-mans-day-famous-braughing-tradition)

The attractive village of Braughing has long been famous for its locally made pork sausages, but it is also well known for its traditions, one of the most notable being that of Old Man’s Day. Every year, on 2 October, the residents of the village gather to commemorate an extraordinary event that occurred in 1571 – or, to be more precise, an event that didn’t occur!

It concerns the tale of one Matthew Wall, a young farmer in his prime who was engaged to be married to his sweetheart. The ceremony that took place on 2 October 1571 was not his marriage, however, but his funeral. As the pallbearers carried his coffin down Fleece Lane, which is steep in places, on the way to the church of St Mary the Virgin in the village, one of them slipped on the wet autumn leaves that covered the lane and, to everyone’s horror, the coffin fell to the ground. But the shock, and no doubt embarrassment, of the pallbearers quickly turned to amazement as they suddenly heard a loud banging and cries coming from inside the coffin. On opening the lid they discovered that Matthew was still very much alive! It is likely that he had been in a coma, or had suffered some kind of fit, and the jolt of the coffin as it hit the ground had brought him back to consciousness. A lucky escape indeed!

After recovering from this ordeal, Matthew did eventually marry his sweetheart and they had two sons. He lived for many more years, until 1595, and when he did finally die he made a rather unusual bequest in his will. He left some of this money (which amounted to 20 shillings in total) specifically so that every year on 2 October the church bells would be tolled as if for a funeral and then later rung in a wedding peal. Some of the money also paid for the sexton to place brambles on his grave to prevent sheep grazing on it – a custom known as brambling. And lastly, he requested that Fleece Lane should be swept clear of leaves to ensure that no-one slipped on them – a rather strange request, in fact, given that had there been no slippery leaves covering the lane on the day of his ‘funeral’ in 1571 he might well have been buried alive!

The tradition is still kept alive today and on Old Man’s Day each year the church bells are rung as Matthew requested, local children and the vicar sweep Fleece Lane with brooms – the children being rewarded for their efforts with sweets – prayers are said by Matthew’s grave and a song is sung to commemorate his lucky escape.

The Blind Fiddler of Anstey

(retold by Nicholas Blatchley. https://www.hertsmemories.org.uk/content/herts-history/towns-and-villages/anstey/blind-fiddler-anstey)

One of many villages to the north-east of Buntingford, Anstey was evidently significant enough in mediaeval times to have had a castle. It also produced the curious legend of Blind George the fiddler and the Devil’s Hole.

The Devil’s Hole is a tunnel rumoured to run from a chalk pit called Cave Gate to the castle. It’s said that no-one had dared explore to find out the truth of the story until one night, at least two centuries ago. A blind fiddler called George was playing and drinking at the Chequers (now called The Blind Fiddler) in the village when talk turned to the Devil’s Hole. Having had a number of drinks and “grown quarrelsome and pot-valiant”, George declared that he, his fiddle and his dog would venture into the tunnel and find out the truth of the matter.

Followed by a large entourage, many of them begging him to abandon the challenge, George walked to Cave Gate and declared he’d follow the tunnel “though the Devil himself were at the end of it.” As he entered the cave, led by his dog, he called to the villagers to follow his progress above ground by the sound of his fiddle. Then he vanished from sight, and the unearthly sound of an unknown fiddle tune rose from beneath. The villagers followed it across the fields until they were about halfway to the castle. At that point the fiddle rose to a nightmarish shriek and stopped. Only silence came from the tunnel.

The people rushed back to Cave Gate just in time to see the dog race out. His tail was gone and his hair singed off, and he ran off into the darkness howling as if all the devils in Hell were behind him, never to be seen again. Blind George, too, was never seen again, and it was generally assumed that the Devil had indeed been there to meet him. No-one ventured in to find out, though, and soon afterwards the entrance was sealed up, both to deter the foolhardy and to prevent George’s ghost from escaping. It’s said, though, that when snow falls on Anstey the first to melt is always a straight line from Cave Gate to the castle.

The Devil's Hills at Stevenage

(by Nicholas Blatchley. https://www.hertsmemories.org.uk/content/herts-history/towns-and-villages/st-albans/the-devils-work-in-hertfordshire)

The folklore Devil is a curious figure, less a prince of evil and more a malevolent trickster god. Both his attempts to claim souls and the ways of escaping (as Piers Shonks did) are entirely arbitrary, rather than being based on any morality. And, formidable as he is, the Devil always seems to end up either being tricked or making a simple mistake.

One of the most common deeds of the Devil throughout Britain is the creation of prominent geographical features, and he seems to have been hard at work in Hertfordshire. Several are still named after him, such as the “Devil’s Hopscotch” on Royston Heath, where a series of ridges runs up to Church Hill. The Devil’s Dyke, Grim’s Dyke, the Devil’s Ditch and Grime’s Brook are other features whose names commemorate the Devil.

One of his most prodigious feats of construction in the county, however, was at Stevenage, where he created the Six Hills. Though historians claim these as Roman burial mounds, folklore tells a different story.

It seems the Devil was sitting one day watching travellers pass on the Great North Road and decided it would be amusing to throw clods of earth at them. Going to the nearby Whomerley Wood, he began digging pits and tossed seven great clods at the road. The Devil’s aim, however, is notoriously bad, and this occasion was no exception. None of his clods landed on the road — instead, six landed nearby and formed the Six Hills.

By this time, the Devil’s temper was getting the better of him, and the seventh throw was so wild that it flew all the way to Graveley. Here it knocked the steeple off the church, and the earth landed to form the steep hill near the churchyard.

The Miracle of the Ring at Clavering

(https://saffronwaldenhistory.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/miracle-of-the-ring.pdf)

The story goes that Edward the Confessor was dedicating a church to St John the Evangelist (thought to be next to the castle at Clavering), when he was approached by a poor beggar who asked for alms. As he had no money, he took instead a valuable ring from his finger and gave it to the poor man. Then much later, some pilgrims in the Holy Land were given the ring by someone who said he was John the Evangelist, but when disguised as a beggar had received the ring from Edward. John entreated the pilgrims to return the ring to Edward, and tell him they would meet in Paradise within six months. The pilgrims obeyed his wishes and returned the ring to the king who, within six months, was dead. By this sign, it was known that Edward had gone straight to heaven.

After his death, the cult of Edward the Confessor grew – he represented the ‘good old days’, a relatively peaceful interlude between the troublesome Viking period and the extremes of William the Conqueror. He had been the last of a line of Saxon kings stretching back to the sixth century, an impeccable lineage. Although he had not been a particularly religious man in his lifetime, in death he was promoted as pious and generous, a very special monarch whose soul had gone straight to heaven after he died and worthy to become, as he later did, a saint. Part of the evidence presented in favour of his sanctification, promoted by Westminster Abbey, were the miracles. The cult waxed and waned, but reached a peak during the reign of the Plantagenet king Henry III, who was devoted to the memory of Edward. He rebuilt Westminster Abbey with its shrine to Edward, still there today behind the high altar.

On 11 March 1251, Henry III spent the night in Clavering Castle, and while there he sent an order for further embellishment to Edward’s tomb at Westminster. Next day he sent an order relating to the chapel at Clavering:

To the sheriff of Essex. Contrabreve to thoroughly mend the roof of the chapel of St.John the Evangelist in the churchyard of Clavering, which is miraculously called the chapel of St. Edward the king and confessor, to paint an image of St. Edward on the east side of the lower part of the doorway, with a ring to stretch out to the image of St. John the Evangelist on the upper part, to find a lamp burning before the altar, and to cause a chaplain celebrating divine service there daily to have 50s yearly.

The miracle of the Ring relates to a medieval belief that John the Evangelist would remain alive until Jesus's second coming (based on verse 23, chapter 21 of John's Gospel, thought to have been written by John the Evangelist, i.e. the apostle John). Hence, the ring was associated with spiritual immortality (and charity).

It is interesting to speculate what happened to the famous ring? When Edward’s body was exhumed in 1102, it was found to be uncorrupted – seen then as a proof of his saintliness. The sceptre and crown were taken out but the ring on his finger left in place. However, when his body (still uncorrupted) was translated to its new shrine in 1163, the ring was taken from his finger and remained among the abbey relics and was recorded in John Flete’s History of Westminster Abbey in the 15th century as being still there. After that, it is not known what happened to the ring. However, there is a further legend that the sapphire set in the Maltese Cross on top of the Imperial State Crown, still used for coronations, came from Edward’s ring. Alternatively, the ring may lie with the beggar in the churchyard of Clavering!

The Gough map of c. 1400 AD shows what are thought to be road/routes  (in red) from London to Cambridge and the East of England passing through Barkway, whereas the road from London to the North passes through Royston, i.e. some of the main roads in the country passed through the Barleywolds. Note that: the map is orientated with North on the left, and East at the top; rivers are indicated in green; and the modern names of settlements are in white.

The Pilgrims Tales

The Miracle of the Ring in Clavering features pilgrims returning from Jerusalem, and telling tales. Pilgrims were common in medieval times, and must have been particularly abundant on the roads and markets of the Barleywolds, bringing news, ideas and stories from the wider world, at a time when there were few other sources of the news, rather than the olds. The main roads running north-south and east-west across the country, crossed at Royston, and would have been thronged with pilgrims heading to or from Walsingham, Canterbury, Westminster, Saint Albans, Bury St Edmunds, Norwich, Ely or abroad, as far as Rome or Jerusalem. 

The Walsingham Pilgrimage route from London passed through Ware, Collier’s End, Braughing, Hare Street, Barkway, Barley and then East along the Icknield way. Barkway may have been the main place pilgrims stayed overnight when taking this route. Alternatively, before Braughing, pilgrims followed the Old North Road/Roman Road via Buntingford, Buckland, Reed and stayed in Royston, before turning East on the Icknield Way. This pilgrimage was one of the two main pilgrimages in medieval England - the other being to Canterbury, made famous by Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, written in about 1390. Such pilgrimages were of great importance in medieval times - and every Englishman was expected to go on pilgrimage to Walsingham at least once in their lifetime. Indeed, almost every King between Henry III in 1226 and Henry VIII went on pilgramage to Walsingham at least once.

A pilgrimage was ostensibly done for spiritual or physical health, to mitigate sins or give thanks. But it was often combined with visiting fairs, telling tales etc and could be a type of medieval holiday (holyday) c.f. The Canterbury Tales. The journey and pilgrimage route were as important as the destination, so pilgrim routes normally included religious houses, hospices or wayside chapels to aid the pilgrims with their spiritual and temporal needs. Royston had two medieval 'hospitals', a priory, multiple inns, two markets and a fair that catered for the needs of pilgrims. Could it be that the Royston cave was created for pilgrims, perhaps as a spiritual experience? Imagine a hermit for a small fee showing pilgrims the carvings by flickering lamplight, and for the full experience, staying overnight, and for an even larger fee, carving images on request. One of the most prominent images is that of Saint Christopher, the patron saint of pilgrims.

Travelling was often hazardous with miles of open or forested countryside, poor tracks, outlaws and wild animals like wolves and boar, so pilgrims were encouraged to travel in groups. In the later Middle Ages, there were so many people wanting to make pilgrimages to various places that the Church had to regulate the practice so families and work were not neglected. A pilgrim had to have permission from his Bishop before setting out and had to put his affairs in order, often making a will, repaying outstanding debts and providing for his family in his absence. Pilgrims would assemble in their parish church to dress in the distinctive pilgrim habit and be blessed by the priest. Pilgrims typically wore a long grey gown with a cowl and a broad hat, and carried a staff, a scrip and a bottle (see image above).