Welcome the Lucky Bird

To-night it is the New Year’s night, to-morrow is the day, And we are come for our right and for our ray, As we used to do in old King Henry’s day. Sing, fellows, sing Hagman heigh !

If you go to the bacon-flitch, cut me a good bit, Cut, cut and low, beware of your man ; Cut, and cut round, beware of your thumb, That I and my merry men may haye some. Sing, fellows, sing Hagman heigh !

If you go to the black ark, bring me ten mark, Ten mark, ten pound, throw it down upon the ground, That I and my merry men may have some. Sing, fellows, sing Hagman heigh !

If New Year’s Eve night wind blows south,

it betokenth warmth and growth;

If west, much mild and fish in the sea;

If north, more cold and storms there will be;

If east, will bear much fruit;

If north-east, flee it, man and brute.

Happy New Year Everyone

Lost Words

Bishops foot – when something has been burned to the pan when boiling. ‘The bishop has set foot in it or ‘it’s been bishopped’. Bizon – shame or scandal. Black bowwowers – brambles. Blaze – to take a salmon at night using a three pronged barbed dart called a Leister. Bloacher – any large animal. Boothaler – robber. Byspelt – mischievous person. Chance bairn – an illegitimate child. Choller – double chin, Curse of Scotland – the nine of diamonds. William Duke of Cumberland was said to have written his order for the battle of Culloden on the back of the card. Cutty – a short knife. Dag – a small gun. Delf – a pit from which ironstone has been dug. Derwentwater lights – the Aurora Borealis. Deuse – the devil or evil spirit. Drunkards cloak – a large barrel. Elflocks – tangled hair. Ell Mother – stepmother. Fairy money – found treasure, the location must never be disclosed. Fat Hen – a goose. Fause – cunning, sharp, clever. Fendy – clever at providing for oneself. Flay – to frighten. Fleking eather – a large dragonfly. Flesher – a butcher. Fout – a spoilt child. Frim – handsome. Fuddle – to intoxicate fish whilst poaching. Fusba – a giant puffball. Gadger/gauger – an exciseman / customs officer. Gantree – a stand for ale barrels. Gavelock – a crowbar. Ged – a pike. Girngaw – the cavity of the mouth. Gorocock – red grouse. Greybeard – a stone or earthenware jug. Greyhen – a large stone bottle. Gully – a large sharp knife. Hair – a small quantity of anything. Half Marrow – a middle sized lad. Half rocked innocent – a fool. Hammie – a coward. Hause – neck or throat. Hidlins – done by stealth, secretly. Hirst – a woody bank. Hob Collingwood – The four of hearts – unlucky. Hope – the head of a valley. Jagger Galloway – a pony with a saddle for carrying lead in Teessdale. Jagger is Scots for a peddler. Jennick – true and proper. Joskin – a masons labourer. Keed – to peep. Keld – The still part of a river. Keslop – the belly or stomach. Kirok – a large pile of stones. Kisting – a funeral. Kite – the belly. Kitty – Jail. Knap – the brow or projection of a hill (nab). Knowe – top of a hill. Lamb – to beat soundly/leather/lather. Lashy – cold/wet. Lig – to lie down. Lob cock – a sluggish person also Lurdane. Mab – to dress carelessly. Maunderer – a tedious, weary speaker. Meggy money legs – a millipede. Mere stone – boundary stone. Merry dancers – Aurora Borealis. Muck worm – a miser. Mugger – a hawker of pots. Old Bendy/hooky/scratch/nick – the devil. Old Peg – inferior cheese. Old trot – old woman. Pickatree – woodpecker. Powsoddy/pansoddy – a pudding placed under a roast. AKA Yorkshire pudding, Auld Wife’s Sod, Cinder catcher. Purdy – a thick set fellow. Pyrray Dancers – Aurora Borealis. Quicken tree – mountain ash. Rack rider – a small trout. Rain Bird – woodpecker. Rone – a thick covering of bushers/whin. Skadely – a sly thief. Skelly– the Dace/chubb/roach. Skew the dew – a splay footed person. Smartle – to melt or waste away. Snaw broth – melted snow. Snot – the burned wick of a candle. Sough – to sigh like the wind. Spanker Eel – a Lamprey. Sunderland Fitter – the Knave of Clubs. Taplash – bad small beer, dregs. Thruff stone – a flat tomb stone. Thruntu – stout, robust, strong built. Threeskin – three weeks since. Unlicked cub – an ignorant, unpolished youth. Vaig – to roam. Vamp – to pawn an item. Wain – a cart drawn by oxen. Wame – the belly. Wankelly – uncertain weather – vairable. Wark – Seaweed. Weather Gleam – A clear sky on the horizon – spoken of objects seen on the ridge of a lofty hill, so as to appear as if in the sky. ‘A man looks gigantic, he seems to be clad in radiance, like one of Ossian’s departed heroes’. Wheal – the deepest part of a river. Wet-hand – drunk. Windy wallets – a noisy fellow. Yaud/Yawd – horse. Yuck – to itch

Monument Podcast

David Parker contacted me a few months ago and asked if we could meet up and have a chat about the Devil’s Arrows for a podcast he was putting together. I met up with David who is a lovely bloke, full of knowledge and enthusiasm. David has now released his podcast, the second in a series.

David’s website is here 

During our chat I said a couple of things that weren’t 100% accurate so here’s a few corrections

• The paper on the alignment of Henges is by Roy, not Ron, Loveday
• I was way out on the height of the bank at Mayburgh Henge, 15 feet is probably a more accurate estimate.
• The Bronze Age monument at Street House was a round barrow not a long cairn. The long cairn was part of the final stage of the Neolithic monument.