Read Online Folklore of Lincolnshire by Susanna O'Neill - Free Book Online
Authors: Susanna O'Neill
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comes just after the fields and meadows have flooded, it produces an ideal environment for skaters, safe in the knowledge that even if the ice does crack, the water is only an inch or so deep and so no real disaster can occur.
Skating on the Fens is an age-old tradition and, originally, the skaters used flattened animal bones strapped to their feet. Then improvements were made in the Victorian era and steel blades were introduced, adding new speed for the ‘Fen runners’. The first people known to have started the trend were the farm workers who, with no farmland to work on in the frozen weather, started skating to keep warm! Then the inevitable competitions began and with no income from farming in such cold weather, racing for a loaf of bread or a slab of meat was plenty of motivation for the hungry souls. By the 1800s, Fen skating was a massive spectator sport and a National Skating Association was developed but, as previously mentioned, much depended on the right conditions. Coincidentally, at the time of writing this chapter those very conditions have presented themselves and many Fenland dwellers are dusting off the skates that have been packed away for years and are once again enjoying skating on the Fens.
The Lincolnshire Life magazine tells the story of a boggart who lived in the Fens. It explains that boggarts were wild creatures, half man half animal, who lived secretly in the small areas of wilderness left behind when the main areas of the Fen were drained. The magazine suggests they could have been descended from the ‘slodgers’. Before the drainage in the nineteenth century, ‘Fen slodgers’ made their living catching fish and fowl on the wetlands of the Fens, for trading and survival. Legend implies some ‘slodgers’ never accepted the transformation of the Fens and stayed behind, hidden from people and scraping an existence. The Lincolnshire Life magazine explains that they were extraordinarily strong and were also rather sly and cunning.
This particular boggart lived in the Fenland near a farmer, who wanted to drain the area round-about and use it for growing crops. One day, after he had been out ploughing the area, the boggart confronted him and told him in no uncertain terms that the land belonged to him and that the farmer had to clear out: ‘Most local men would have fled at first sight of the fearsome creature, with its ape-like stance, deep eye sockets and long, tangled hair; but the farmer, though apprehensive, stood his ground and engaged in argument.’ 15
The two, both believing the land was theirs, carried on arguing for some time until at last they reached an agreement. They decided that the farmer would till and sow the land but that they would share the end produce. The farmer would take what he grew in the soil and the boggart would have whatever grew above it.
They parted and didn’t meet again until harvest time. The farmer, quite a cunning man himself, had grown potatoes and when he went to collect his crop he also took with him a large cudgel for protection, in case the boggart turned violent at this trickery. The boggart was visibly displeased when he saw the large mound of potatoes the farmer had, but after spying the cudgel in his hands, he allowed the farmer his crop. He insisted, however, that for the next crop things would be reversed; the boggart would have all that grew under the soil and the farmer would have whatever was on top. The farmer went home very happy, planning the crop of beans he would grow. Of course at the next harvest the boggart lost out again and so, realising he had been tricked, this time he insisted corn would be grown. At harvest time they would each start at an opposite corner of the field and cut at the same time until they met in the middle. The farmer had no choice but to agree, although he was uneasy about the deal. He knew that with the strength of ten men, the boggart would be much faster at cutting the corn and would take the farmer’s
Skating on the Fens is an age-old tradition and, originally, the skaters used flattened animal bones strapped to their feet. Then improvements were made in the Victorian era and steel blades were introduced, adding new speed for the ‘Fen runners’. The first people known to have started the trend were the farm workers who, with no farmland to work on in the frozen weather, started skating to keep warm! Then the inevitable competitions began and with no income from farming in such cold weather, racing for a loaf of bread or a slab of meat was plenty of motivation for the hungry souls. By the 1800s, Fen skating was a massive spectator sport and a National Skating Association was developed but, as previously mentioned, much depended on the right conditions. Coincidentally, at the time of writing this chapter those very conditions have presented themselves and many Fenland dwellers are dusting off the skates that have been packed away for years and are once again enjoying skating on the Fens.
The Lincolnshire Life magazine tells the story of a boggart who lived in the Fens. It explains that boggarts were wild creatures, half man half animal, who lived secretly in the small areas of wilderness left behind when the main areas of the Fen were drained. The magazine suggests they could have been descended from the ‘slodgers’. Before the drainage in the nineteenth century, ‘Fen slodgers’ made their living catching fish and fowl on the wetlands of the Fens, for trading and survival. Legend implies some ‘slodgers’ never accepted the transformation of the Fens and stayed behind, hidden from people and scraping an existence. The Lincolnshire Life magazine explains that they were extraordinarily strong and were also rather sly and cunning.
This particular boggart lived in the Fenland near a farmer, who wanted to drain the area round-about and use it for growing crops. One day, after he had been out ploughing the area, the boggart confronted him and told him in no uncertain terms that the land belonged to him and that the farmer had to clear out: ‘Most local men would have fled at first sight of the fearsome creature, with its ape-like stance, deep eye sockets and long, tangled hair; but the farmer, though apprehensive, stood his ground and engaged in argument.’ 15
The two, both believing the land was theirs, carried on arguing for some time until at last they reached an agreement. They decided that the farmer would till and sow the land but that they would share the end produce. The farmer would take what he grew in the soil and the boggart would have whatever grew above it.
They parted and didn’t meet again until harvest time. The farmer, quite a cunning man himself, had grown potatoes and when he went to collect his crop he also took with him a large cudgel for protection, in case the boggart turned violent at this trickery. The boggart was visibly displeased when he saw the large mound of potatoes the farmer had, but after spying the cudgel in his hands, he allowed the farmer his crop. He insisted, however, that for the next crop things would be reversed; the boggart would have all that grew under the soil and the farmer would have whatever was on top. The farmer went home very happy, planning the crop of beans he would grow. Of course at the next harvest the boggart lost out again and so, realising he had been tricked, this time he insisted corn would be grown. At harvest time they would each start at an opposite corner of the field and cut at the same time until they met in the middle. The farmer had no choice but to agree, although he was uneasy about the deal. He knew that with the strength of ten men, the boggart would be much faster at cutting the corn and would take the farmer’s
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