An account of the ancient little people, later called fairies, who lived in the hills of Eskdale and Millom

THERE are two large handwritten journals in Whitehaven Archives that were written in the early 20th Century by the local vicar (Revd Sykes) and detail much of the history of Eskdale and Millom, on the western edge of Cumbria. The books have not been transcribed and much of it replicates church records that are also available in the archives. However there are also chapters entitled 'gossip' and 'scraps' which detail local tales and legends. Among these are details of stories about fairies in the district. I haven't had time yet to go through the whole journal but here is one extract:

"Stories of the Fairies were very difficult to obtain as the dalesmen were much afraid that they were being made fun of by the enquirer. There is little doubt however that the belief that they were a real people existed in the dales till quite recent times. At Dalegarth for example the corn that had been put ready for flail which was still in occasional use in my time was often found threshed in the morning. And the churning at Millom Castle had frequently been finished before the housewife appeared in the morning.

"There were certain gifts which the Little people would accept and others which they treated with scorn - but my memory does not serve me to give what I was told in my MSS book of Eskdale notes which was destroyed after I left the dale. The late Vicar Rev J Hall however has recorded that any one who feared malevolence on the part of the fairies used to make a sound like the sharpening of knives. This accords with a story told me by a lady at Harrogate whose forbears were from a Yorks dale; if a woman had to leave the house unattended she would often lay a knife across the doorstep. One story from Cumberland - a certain family was troubled by the Elfin tricks of our little people and determined to rid themselves of this bugbear by doing a surreptitious flitting from the house. Every thing was packed and they were just turning away from the house when a neighbour who knew the trouble met them and said 'I see you are flitting'. He was answered by a thing piping screech from somewhere no one could see in the packed cart "Yes we're a flitting".

An old man who worked at Water Bleau (?) used to tell tales of the tricks played upon him by Fairies but some times they would bring their fairy pipes found in underground passage of the quarry. Some of these were given ? as old tobacco pipes. The old farm house at Water Blaue (?) was pulled down many years ago - it was shaped somewhat like the letter E without the middle 

"It was noted for the following story:

"There used to be two skulls laid on the staircase window. No one knew their history. Attempts were often made to get rid of them but without success. They were sometimes taken away and hidden, some even buried but they were always found next morning in their accustomed place on the stair window sill. The people of the house got used to this and let them remain but if any strange visitor tried to eject the gruesome objects, it was no use - they always returned before morning. My informant said that people passing on the road used to keep wary eye on the house till they were safely passed. But nothing uncanny was ever seen or known to happen."

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My Notes:

The story of the skulls is very similar to the famous Calgarth Skulls story.

The Millom fairy (also called hobthross or hobthrush) is told in more detail in Lays and Legends of the English Lake Country by John Pagen White (1873).

N.B. The accounts are in 2 large notebooks of Revd. William Slater Sykes. Ask for YDSO 81 at Whitehaven archives.