Sea Maidens at Durdle Door

Lulworth Castle, the magnificent home 
of the Weld family, was destroyed by fire in 1929 and amidst the tales of woe from the inhabitants came another strange 
story, that all the  maidservants had mysteriously disappeared. 

They were never seen again after the 
night of the fire and the local story has 
it that  all twelve of the young girls had 
gone for a walk along the cliff path to 
Durdle Door and had been washed 
into the sea from the forty foot high arch 
of the rock.

A former naval commander living in retirement at Poole recounted his 

experience back in the 1930's off the coast of Lulworth when a wild crescendo 

of screams tore the night air. 

" I leapt up the companion ladder, my throat scalding with fear. Desperately I sought to

penetrate the wall of darkness to the north, frantically searching to divide water from shore as the shrieking inferno raged about me. Then the screaming stopped as abruptly as if the waters had quenched it for ever and a small evanescent form rose on what I could just distinguish as the foreshore, not two hundred yards from my boat. It was the figure of a child. As it developed substance I saw it was a young girl. Her white expressionless face jerked awkwardly in a macabre dance, soon she was joined by another, and another. At once the foreshore was peopled with ten or a dozen girlish wraiths prancing and leaping in a mournful travesty of a childhood game. They were a ghastly spectacle and utterly joyless. Suddenly the figures were still as if restrained by a noiseless command, grew faint and were gone. I forced my eyes to stare harder but the curved foreshore was empty."

There are many legends of strange sea creatures along the coast of the South West of England such as the Veasta. This is a  large sea creature, part seahorse, part fish.

It has been spotted swimming off Chesil Beach near Portland numerous times. The first documented report was in 1457, it was seen again by the historian Rev John Hutchens in 1757,and was seen again in Church Ope Cove on Portland in 1965.

The remains of a strange creature was washed up on Burton Bradstock beach just a few miles down the coast in the 1980's and it was believed at the time to be the Veasta.

Another strange oddity found around the Cornish coast is the Whooper of Sennen Cove 

which makes a whooping sound from inside a thick cloud of mist. It would 

appear in clear weather over the cove signifying a severe storm was approaching.

It had the power to stop any fisherman from passing through the cloud of mist to 

the sea when a storm was imminent.

The Whooper deserted the cove when two fishermen, determined to get to the fishing 

grounds, beat their way through the mist with flails. They should have

heeded the whooper’s warning  because neither were seen again!

Falmouth has  its own resident sea monster called Morgawr ( Cornish for Sea Monster).

There have been many sightings since 1926 and is  described as having  a  stout body with a very long neck and black smooth skin like a seal lion. The local fishermen always blame a poor catch and bad weather on sightings of the monster.

 Locals believe that the monster only appeared after a German submarine U28 torpedoed a British merchant ship during W WI with loss of all on board. The creature was reported to have been at least 60 feet long shaped like a crocodile with webbed feet and a powerful tail.

There have been numerous sighting since and one man claimed to have taken a photo of the Morgawr lying in the water off Mawnan. The stretch of coastline between Rosemullion Head and Toll Point is known  as Morgawr’s Point due to the many sightings along this stretch of the coast.

A skeleton of what some people believe to be a Mawgawr was found washed up on  Charlestown beach near St Austell in 2017.

The Mice of Horsehill Farm series

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mice-Horsehill-Farm-Teasels-Present-ebook/dp/B00O37VNPW/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=teasels+present+elizabeth+andrews&qid=1561556587&s=books

http://www.magic-myth-legend.co.uk/the-mice-of-horsehill-farm-teasels-present

The Faerie Queen and True Thomas the Rhymer

True Thomas The Rhymer: Many people have been seduced into leaving the 

mortal world and travelling to Faerie land; some never to be seen again, for

 once there it is very difficult to escape. 

One such was Thomas the young Laird of Erceldoune who one May Day saw

 a beautiful woman riding towards him across the grass. He was so smitten 

that he promised then and there to love and stay with her for ever if she would 

only give him a kiss: although in some versions it’s more than a kiss he received! 

Once the kiss had been given Thomas watched in horror as the woman’s appearance 

changed before his eyes, her hair turned gray and her face became lined and 

haggard, her clothes became tattered and there before him stood an old crone 

where two minutes before there had been the beautiful woman with whom he 

had fallen in love.

Thomas knew that he could not go back on his promise and as she made to leave the

 hill where they had met, he gave one backward glance to the mortal world. 

Then followed the old crone to a cave in the side of Eildon Hill and from there

 into the otherworld. They traveled for many days in pitch black surrounded by 

strange sounds until at last they came to an enormous cavern and in the middle

 stood a Faerie Castle surrounded by a beautiful garden.

Thomas turned to the old crone to exclaim at the wonder of the place and there 

in place of the old crone stood the beautiful woman as she had been before. 

Thomas gazing on her face then knew that it was the Faerie Queen herself that he 

had made his promise to.

To Thomas, it seemed as though he had only been there for a few days and when

 the Faerie Queen told him that in fact he had been there for seven years he could 

not believe it. She warned him that if he stayed another night then he would be 

bound for ever in Faerieland and for the sake of their love he would be given a 

chance to return to his mortal home. With a blink of her eye Thomas found himself 

once again standing on Huntlie Bank. The Faerie Queen gave Thomas a parting

 gift: the ability to be a master harpist and also that he would answer every question 

with truth. For seven years his wisdom and prophecies were sought by many. But he 

never forgot the beautiful Queen that had stolen his heart; and one day he received a

 summons from her; Thomas walked out of his home and was never seen again in 

the mortal world.

from 'Faeries and Folklore of the British Isles'

www.magic-myth-legend.co.uk

Fairy Tomb

New Grange Passage Tomb , Brugh Na Boinne, Meath.

This is one of the finest passage graves in Ireland and it is situated in the ancient Boyne Valley Cemetery.

There are three great mounds, three chambers within, a 62 ft passage leads to one chamber. The walls are huge slabs, all carved with intricate spiral and geometric patterns.

Offerings of Gold, Jewellery and coins were buried at New Grange for the Faeries.It was believed that they were the guardians of the land and the health and fertility of animals and crops depended upon their cooperation.

Excerpt from Faeries and Folklore of the British Isles

available www.magic-myth-legend.co.uk or Amazon

The Blue Men of the Minch

Barrington Court, used for filming Wolf Hall

Barrington Court, Somerset, the National Trust 

property that was chosen to be one of the filming locations for Wolf Hall.

Although the estate had been occupied since the 11th century the

Tudor manor house was not built until the 1500’s. One of the early

 owners, a Giles Daubney, was courtier, diplomat and 

military commander under Edward IV and Henry VII.

Later Henry Daubney inherited the estate and was created Earl of Bridgewater 

for his services to Henry VIII. 

He eventually went bankrupt and was involved in the disgrace of Catherine 

Howard, Henry VIII’s fifth wife so the state was forfeit to the crown.

It had various owners since then including Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk who 

then sold it to the Cliftons

John Clifton was thought to be responsible for most of the 

building work at Barrington .

 By the early 19th century the property was almost derelict and Barrington Court 

was acquired by the National Trust in 1907 and was leased to 

Col. Abram Arthur Lyle of Tate & Lyle in the 1920's who 

refurbished the court house and renovated Strode House (built in 1674) which 

was originally a stable and coach block. It was at this time that the Lyles contracted 

Gertrude Jekyll to design the three formal gardens on the property that are 

now maintained by the head gardener.

The original stables were used as a location with Mark Rylance leaving his horse 

in this amazing building. ( minus the wicker cow!)

 The interiors are fitted with Colonel Lyle’s collection of 

salvaged antique woodwork.

The house was one of the first large properties acquired by the National Trust, at that time

 they did not  realise just how extensive the repairs and maintenance would be, but do not 

let this put you off visiting this property, its well worth a visit if you are in the area.

Cornish Knockers

The Swifts are here... a sure sign of summer!