There are many traditions relating to the county, some of which are worth preserving; others are only the result of some fertile brain which first invented the tale and then told it as a tradition. Several of Roby’s “Traditions of Lancashire” are of this class; others are of considerable antiquity and of historic interest.

Scattered all over Lancashire are the remains or traces of roadside crosses, which at one period must have been very numerous, many of them being of great antiquity. At Burnley, near to the church, is one of these, which is of undoubted Saxon origin; it is known as Godly Cross, and associated with it is a tradition to the effect that long before the church was built religious rites were celebrated on the spot indicated by the cross, and that Paulinus baptized his converts in the waters of the Brun, which flows close by. The legend further asserts that upon an attempt being made to build an oratory on an adjacent site, the stones were nightly removed by supernatural agents, in the form of pigs, to the place where ultimately the church was erected. Similar traditions as to the removal of foundation–stones obtain as to the parish churches of Winwick, Rochdale, and one or two others. Very few parishes in Lancashire are without some trace (if only in a name) of these ancient crosses. The following furnishes a good example of the use to which these relics of a past age were applied as late as 1624. John Stirzaker and others, on July 25 in this year, confessed to the Bishop of Chester that they had been present and assisted in carrying the corpse of Thomas Bell of Garstang to the parish church there, and that they were in the company and consented “to the settinge downe of the said corse att crosses and yielding obeysance to the same superstitious manner as they went alonge, and that they carryed, or agreed thereto, the sayd corps by the church porche, and afterwards it was buryed without the mynister’s ayd or any prayers made at the buryall thereof.” The Bishop’s sentence was that the offending parties should acknowledge their faults “in their accustomed apparel on the Sundaie next, being att Morning Prayer tyme,” and also be prepared to receive the Holy Communion before the Feast of St. Michael, or in default they were to be excommunicated.

In this same parish of Garstang there still exists near Cross House the socket of one of these crosses, about which a curious bit of folklore obtains, to the effect that any persons troubled with warts or similar excrescences would get instant relief by washing their hands in the water from time to time collected in the hollow place where the base of the upright shaft once stood.

In the town of Wigan is a portion of a very ancient stone cross, known as Mab’s Cross. The origin of the cross itself is unknown, but its name is derived from a family tradition connected with the Bradshaigh family, one of whom, Sir William Bradshaigh, in the time of Edward II., having been absent from home for ten years, on his return found that his wife Mabel (daughter of Hugh Norres of Haghe) had married a Welsh knight, who, on hearing of the first husband’s return, took to flight, but was overtaken and slain by Sir William. For her unfaithfulness, Mabel was enjoined by her spiritual adviser to walk barefooted and barelegged once every week to the cross at Wigan, and there to do penance.

The most interesting monument in Wigan Church is the tomb of Sir William and Lady Mabel Bradshaigh.

In a county where there are so many ancient private houses, the successive owners of which led not unadventurous lives, it is no wonder that there are not wanting those old legends which add a charm and an interest to the remaining vestiges of what were once the family mansions of the oldest settlers in the county. Of these traditions a selection only can be taken.235 At Kersall Hall, near Manchester (see p. 209), Peverill, the last Saxon owner, is said to have been slain whilst defending his ancestral home against the Norman intruder, who forthwith caused his dead body to be cast into the Irwell, and having taken possession, he retired for the night. But before the dawn he was called to account by ghostly visitors, and was found dead next morning on the threshold of the hall, and on his brow was written in blood a warning that all future intruders would meet with a similar fate, which threat the legend records was carried out against a succession of occupiers of the old dwelling–place. Not far from Bolton is a small farmhouse called Timberbottoms, which is also known as the Skull House, in consequence of the tradition that the taking away of two human skulls which had for generations been kept there would bring bad luck to the inhabitants; the tale goes that many times and oft had these relics been buried at Bradshaw Chapel, but they had always found their way back to their old quarters.236 The dragon often figures as the hero of legendary lore, and associated with particular localities. The dragon of Rusworth is the only legend of the kind referring to Lancashire. At Rusworth is a house at one time owned by the Rusworths, one of whom in the remote past is supposed to have slain the beast which was devastating the district. In the house are several old oak carvings illustrating the event. In connection with Townley Hall, near Burnley, the spirit of some former owner, who demands a life every seven years, was supposed to wander about the demesne crying:

The late Mr. Harland, in his “Lancashire Legends,” quotes this as a singular instance how these old tales frequently have some foundation; for in 1604 James I. granted by letters patent to Charles, Lord Mountjoy, the Earl of Devon, for services rendered in the time of Queen Elizabeth, inter alia, “all that parcel of land called Horelaw Pasture, abutting on Hollinghey, part of the Duchy of Lancaster, and formerly inclosed by John Townley.” Here was evidently the source of the legend. Townley had without authority inclosed the land, and on the King reclaiming it, an imaginary grievance was created.

Turton Tower had its ghostly visitant—a lady in white, who passed from room to room in rustling silken dress. Samlesbury Hall had a similar apparition, which was accounted for by the reputed murder of the lover of one of the daughters of the house. Osbaldeston Hall (like Holyrood) has in one of its rooms traces of blood which cannot be washed out; the story told is that at a large family feast a quarrel arose, which by the interference of friends was apparently made up, but later in the evening Thomas Osbaldeston met his brother–in–law in this particular room, and at once drew his sword and murdered him in cold blood. For this he was outlawed, and ever since the place has been haunted by the ghost of the victim, who walks through the silent rooms with uplifted hands and blood–stained clothes. How many of these old superstitions arose cannot ever be explained, but there is scarcely an old hall in the county but has associated with it a “ghost story.” In Lancashire still linger many very ancient bits of folklore and superstitious beliefs, but a large proportion of these are not peculiar to the county, but are also common in Yorkshire and other Northern parts of the country. Some are, however, purely local, and are worth a passing note. In Ashton–under–Lyne is an annual festival known as the Gyst–ale or Guisings, at which is performed the ceremony of “riding the black lad,” which is said to have had its origin from a grant made to Rauf and Robyn Assheton in 1422.

The custom is still observed in a modified form. An effigy of a man in armour is fixed on horseback, and led through the streets, after which it is dismounted and made to supply the place of a shooting butt, at which all kinds of firearms are discharged.

Rushbearings have already been referred to (see p. 123). They have now practically become a thing of the past; the people who formerly remained at home to celebrate these old rites now go away by the numerous cheap trips which mark the dates when the fairs were held.

Most of the old grammar schools had several customs, strictly observed by many generations of scholars—inter alia, barring out (Burnley Grammar School), which consisted in an assumed right for the boys at the end of each term to exclude the masters from the school, on which occasion a tallow candle was used to illuminate each pane of glass in the windows. Cock–penny was an annual present claimed by the head–master from each boy; this was probably intended as a payment for the game–cocks which in former years were provided. One of the statutes of the Manchester Grammar School, made about 1525, appears to have been especially designed to put a stop to this custom; it runs: “He” (the master) “shall teach freely and indifferently237 every child and scholar coming to the same school, without any money or other reward taking therefor, as cock–penny, victor–penny, etc.” Another clause provides that the scholars shall “use no cock–fights nor other unlawful games, and riding about for victors, etc.”

The payment of the cock–penny was continued in some places until a few years ago.

At funerals many old customs not common in other parts of the country were here observed, and, indeed, have not yet quite died out.

The promiscuous giving of the penny manchet (often provided for by will) was almost universal amongst the richer classes; but the gift to each person who was “bidden” to the funeral, of a cake called the “arval cake,” was not quite so common.

These cakes were generally given with ale, provided at the nearest public–house. In the neighbourhood of Burnley guests attending a funeral are met at the door by an attendant, who offers spiced ale (or other liquor) from a silver tankard. In some districts, those who went round to invite the guests to the funeral presented each of them with a sprig of rosemary; this inviting was sometimes called “lathing.” At Poulton–le–Fylde, at the beginning of this century, the older families always buried their dead at night by torchlight, when every householder in the streets through which the cortÈge passed placed a lighted candle in his window. In the seventeenth century a singular privilege was given to women dying in childbed, their bodies being allowed interment within the church without the usual fee.238

The peculiar rites appertaining to All Hallows’ Eve (October 31) are well known; but in the Fylde district it was celebrated by the lighting of bonfires, and it was locally known as Teanlay, or Teanley, night. Pace–egging in the same district is called “ignagning.”

In Rochdale, Good Friday, some fifty years ago, was called “Cracknel Friday,” as on this day people regaled themselves with small thin cakes called cracknels. St. Gregory’s Day (March 12) in the northern parts of the county is characterized as the day on which onion seed must be sown, or no crop will be yielded. Lancashire is rich in this kind of folk–lore.

Bury simnels are now known all over the country; they are a kind of cake, which derives its name from having originally been made from the finest part of flour, which in mediÆval times was called “siminellus.” They are used on Mid–Lent or Mothering Sunday. This day in other parts of Lancashire is called Bragot or Bragget Sunday, and on it a peculiar drink known as bragot was used; it consisted of spiced ale, which was always taken hot.

Did space permit, this chapter might well be extended, as the county is rich in old tales, ancient superstitions, “wise saws and modern instances,” charms, divinations and omens, many of which, however, are not of local historical interest, as they are more or less common to other parts of the country.