Strange little Witches of Buckinghamshire! Witchy Wednesday article.
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| Goblin, drawing by Olive Cockerell from Queen of the Goblins, by A. Pickering, 1892 Courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum; photograph, R.B. Fleming |
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| Map of UK showing the area of Buckinghamshire in red. Welcome to this weeks Witchy Wednesday. This week it is about the strange 'little Witches' of Buckinghamshire. Buckinghamshire on the surface doesn't have such a rich history of Witches and folklore characters as say other counties in the British Isles. No one really knows why? But I suspect it was likely that Buckinghamshire did indeed have many strange and fantastical folktales but that over time sadly these stories, left undocumented, just were forgotten and naturally faded away with time. Folktales are stories in the oral tradition, tales that people told each other out loud, rather than written down. Often told to family members during the winter months whilst sitting around warm fires. They are closely related to many storytelling traditions, including fables, myths, and fairy tales. I have however found whilst researching the history of Buckinghamshire, the county of my childhood, that thanks to historians, such as Horace Harman, some of Buckinghamshire's folk stories still survive. Horace Harman mentions some of these fantastical tales in his book Sketches of Bucks Countryside, which was published in 1934. In his book one of the stories Horace writes about is the folktale of the 'little Witches' of Bucks. These Witches were described as being very small, with rather large heads and long arms! The description, in my view, is that of a pixie or a goblin like creature rather than a the characteristics of a traditional human Witch. Horace Harman observed and noted down various stories about these creatures who seemed to be mostly spotted in farmland either dancing in fields, especially in the moonlight, or sitting on fences and gates. They reportedly had the power to hypnotise cattle, especially sheep! They were not regarded as particularly dangerous creatures but they have been known to cause great mischief and a cause for concern for local farmers. A local man who was asked about these creatures said in his strong Bucks accent. |
Did you ever see those little witches that went about the fields?’
‘No, I nevver did, but begoy! I a sin they little pee-pul as dances about in the moonlight.’
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| Maybe this is what the people of Buckinghamshire saw in the fields. A Peep at the Pixies A pixie illustration by W. Measom from the 1853 edition of A Peep at the Pixies by British novelist Mrs. Anna Eliza Bray. Courtesy of the Folklore Society Library, University College, London; photograph, R.B. Fleming |
Taken from In Sketches of the Bucks Countryside by Horace Harman. Published 1934.
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| Artwork from Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks by William Elliot Griffis depicting a scene from The Goblins Turned to Stone. The image maybe a good representation of the small goblin like 'Witches' seen in Buckinghamshire. |
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| Sketches of the Bucks Countryside By H.Harman. |
Join me for Witchy Wednesday every Wednesday here on my blog and on my Instagram page.
Kat 😉
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Even though Folk stories are fascinating to children please note that some folk tales and historical articles I post links too can be quite scary or contain adult themes. I would therefore recommend visiting all links and checking them yourselves before showing to younger children.
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