Raise the Julenek!

(A Yule related post inspired by the Old Wife's Neck.)

Our Scandinavian cousins have preserved a Yuletide custom known as the Julenek - a sheaf of grain stalks kept over from the summer harvest, which is then hung up outside on Christmas eve. The custom was apparently condemned in the 1700's as having pagan origins, but today it is still a popular Christmas decoration in Nordic countries.

'Nek' is an old Scandinavian word for a harvested sheaf of grain (oats, barley, wheat etc) while Jule / Yule is the week long period around the winter solstice. So the Julenek is the 'midwinter Sheaf'.

Today, the purpose of the Julenek is said to provide a food supply for winter birds, and as a symbol of charity and caring for animals at Christmas. A story attached to the Julenek tradition tells how a poor man gave one of his last sheaves to provide food and shelter for the birds on Christmas Eve. The birds prayed that God would help the man, and the following morning the grains of the Julenek were turned to gold. This Christian charity element may have been emphasised to allow the continued use of the Julenek after the accusations that it had pagan overtones.

The Old Wife's Neck - Sneaton Moor

 The Old Wife's Neck is a short standing stone located on Sneaton Low Moor, 5 miles to the south of Whitby.

  This is another North Yorks Moors location associated with the folklore figure of the 'Old Wife' (see also The Old Wife of Lund Ridge). It also continues the Old Wife's association with prehistoric sites, as this stone is part of an ancient bank and ditch earthwork running across the moor. Four parallel banks run for 750m on an east/west alignment, with several upright stones located along the banks. More stones are said to have existed on the banks in the past but these have since been removed. It has also been suggested that a stone row may have originally stood on the same alignment, and these stones were incorporated into the later earthworks.

Cailleach an Dùdain (Old Woman of the Mill Dust)

  The legendary 'Old Wife' figure of the North York Moors seems to have had a sister further north who was known as the 'Cailleach' (both their names meaning 'The Old Woman'), who was celebrated in music, song, and dance. Cailleach an Dùdain (Old Woman of the Mill Dust) is an old tune for pipes or fiddle, which was noted in the Scottish Highlands and Islands in the mid 1700's. The dance and tune were thought to be long forgotten, however, folk dance researchers (Flett, 1956) were able to record a version of it from an old crofter on Benbecula in 1953. The words to the tune did not survive so well, but some verses were recorded by Alexander Carmichael in his Carmina Gadelica (Carmichael, 1900).

Have a listen, and picture the lively scenes played out in those remote crofts and barns all those years ago.....

  This was the tune to which the Dannsa Na Cailleach - the' Old Woman's Dance' was performed (an interesting topic for another time). The tune being played on the pipes or fiddle, or if an instrument was not available, then someone would sing the tune 'Purt a Beul' style.

The Hob-thrush of Over Silton

 Over Silton village is located on the edge of the Hambleton Hills, 5 miles to the east of Northallerton. 

Hidden in the woods to the north of the village stands a high crag, which was once believed to be the the home of a Hobthrush - a supernatural dwarf-like being. A small cave half way up the crag was called Hobthrush Hall or Hobby's Hall. The cave is marked on the old OS maps as 'Hobbrush Hole', but this is perhaps how the name was recorded from the local accent.

Writing in the mid 1800's, William Grainge noted that ....

"In the precipitous cliffs, a short distance north-west of the village, called 'the Scarrs,' is a cave in the rock, known by the name of Hobthrush Hall, which was formerly the abode of a goblin of somewhat remarkable character, who appears by the stories yet current relating to him, to have been possessed of great agility, as he was in the habit of jumping from the hills above his dwelling to the top of Carlhow Hill, about half amile distant. He was not of the malignant kind. On the contrary he was one of those friendly to man. The Silton goblin was a true and faithful servant to a person named Weighall, who kept the village inn, and rented the land on which his hall was situate. It was Hob's invariable practice to churn the cream during the night, which was prepared for him the evening before, for which his reward was a large slice of bread and butter, always placed ready for him when the family retired to bed, and always gone in the morning. One night, the cream was put into the churn as usual, but no bread and butter placed beside it. Hob was so disgusted with this piece of base ingratitude, that he never came to churn more, and appears to have entirely left the neighbourhood. His dwelling yet remains, a rugged cave among the rocks, dark, wet, and uncomfortable, but extending a considerable distance underground."

The Devil's Missing Arrows

The three large standing stones known as the Devil's Arrows stand in fields to the west of Boroughbridge. When the antiquarian John Leland visited the town around the year 1540, there was a fourth stone located next to the central one. His description of the stones (from north to south) runs ....

    "A little without this town on the west part of Watling Street standith 4 great maine stones wrought above in conum (tapering) by man’s hand. They be set in 3 several fields at this time. The first is a 20 foot by estimation in height, and 18 foot in cumpace. The stone toward the ground is sum-what square, and so up to the middle, and then wrought with certain rude boltells (fluting) in conum. But the very top is broken of 3 or 4 foot by estimation. The other 2 of like shape stand in another field a good bow shot off and the one of them is bigger than the other : and they stand within a 6 or 8 foot one of the other. The fourth standith in a several field a good stone cast from the other 2, and is bigger and higher than any of the other 3. I esteem it to the weight of a 5 wain loads or more."

Forty years after Leland, William Camden also visited Boroughbridge and saw the standing stones, but he noted that one of the stones had recently been toppled …

    "Near unto this bridge Westward we saw in three diverse little fields four huge stones of pyramidal form, but very rudely wrought, set as it were in a straight and direct line. The two Pyramids in the middle, whereof the one was lately pulled down by some that hoped, though in vain, to find treasure, did almost touch one another. The outer most stand not far off, yet almost in equal distance from these on both sides"

Broxa Spring

The hamlet of Broxa is located five miles to the west of Scarborough.

Take a look at any OS map and it will usually mark the location of several wells and springs. Many of these will be unnamed, while a few will have descriptive names such as the 'Cold Well', or perhaps refer to the owner e.g. 'Peggy West's Well'. Rarer still are those marked as holy wells, or with names refering to some folklore character such as 'Robin Hood's Well'. A small number of springs and wells are named after their location or the nearest village, which might not be unexpected, however in some cases the 'village well' naming seems to point to the well having some unusual property. The Ebbing and Flowing Well at Giggleswick was referred to in an old document as the 'Giggleswick Spring'. 'Redmire well' was a healing sulphur spring, Cawton spring well is a holy well, Newtondale Spring is an very impressive chalybeate spring. This type of naming seems to point to a 'special' spring which the village was known for over a wider local area. When 'Broxa Spring' was noted on the OS map it was decided to visit the site and test this theory.

The Old Wife of Lund Ridge

 Lund Ridge is located 4 miles to the north of Helmsley, on the North York Moors.

 The first edition OS map (1857) shows a stone called the "Old Wife" located alongside a footpath running across the moorland on Lund Ridge. The stone does not appear on later maps, but overlaying the old and new maps provided a grid reference SE61062 91175. A visit to the site in 2016 found no stone at the map location, however a short standing stone was noted by the road side 30m further west. It was also noted that a track cut through the heather had exposed the land surface where the Old Wife Stone originally stood, and this had revealed a spread of stones - possibly the remains of a cairn. Some confirmation of this came from the Historic Environment Record map which shows a large cairnfield across the southern end of Lund Ridge.

 The above information begins to point to the Old Wife Stone having stood on, or alongside, a small cairn on the edge of the cairnfield on Lund Ridge. Sometime during the late 1800's the stone was removed, but where did it go? It is worth noting that the short standing stone by the roadside is not marked on the early OS maps, so there is a strong possibility that the 'Old Wife' was simply moved the 30m or so across the moor and placed alongside the track rather than the footpath. This may have taken place when the footpath crossing the moor fell out of use.