The Shrove Tuesday match held annually in Alnwick was the subject of a Northumberland Archives blog Football: A Matter of Life and Death? Folklore has it that a similar game was played in Ford between the married and unmarried men of the village in the eighteenth-century. Before the game could start, however, the men who had been married in the previous year had to ‘jump over, or wade through’ the Gaudy Loop.
The Gaudy Loop was a pit filled with water and rushes. Its connection was with marriage, and in particular newly weds, rather than football. ‘The Monthly Chronicle of North-Country Lore and Legend’, Volume 3 states that the tradition of the Gaudy Loop is long gone and forgotten but its custom was to demand money from newly married couples before they could leave the church. A couple marrying at Ford Church had to jump over or wade through the Gaudy Loop “or forfeit money to be expended in drinking to [their] health”.
Sometimes a ‘paten stick’ was used instead as the Gaudy Loop was not near the church (being located in a farmer’s field, and subsequently filled in for ‘being a nuisance’); on these occasions both the bride and groom would have to leap over the stick before leaving through the church doors. This may have been discouraged by the church rector. The custom of stopping a newly married couple from leaving a church until a payment was made was not uncommon. Bamburgh and Holy Island had ‘petting stones’ for the bride to be carried over before leaving the Church.
This photograph shows the original Edwardian drinking fountain in Ridley Park. After a thorough assessment the water fountain was deemed not fit for purpose and could not be repaired.
Edwardian drinking fountain
Pictured below is the new water dispenser which was installed on the 28th May 2019. Friends of Ridley Park Community Group worked with MIW water cooler experts and came up with this idea, for a water bottle filler. It’s weather-proof, vandal resistant, durable and easy to use, and the locals love it.
New drinking fountain
In 2013 a piece of public art which honoured three important Northumberland figures was unveiled. The three figures are of comedian Stan Laurel, who started his acting career on the stage at Blyth Theatre Royal. PC David Rathband, who was shot and blinded by Raoul Moat. David then went onto set up the Blue Light Foundation. However, sadly took his own life in 2012. Finally, guardsman Michael Sweeney who attended college in Blyth. He was deployed in Afghanistan and killed in 2010.
2013 addition of public art
The artwork was part of a national art collection, and received monies from the new lottery-funded Sustrans’ National Cycle Network in communities across the UK. The new walking and cycling routes are part of a national project creating new links within our communities across the UK and joins the popular Coast and Castle Route. The scheme received £50m from the Big Lottery Fund, and the Blyth scheme also received funding from Northumberland County Council.
The legend of a dragon stalking the countryside of Northumberland is first recorded by William Hutchinson in 1778. Hutchinson was given the ballad by the Reverend Robert Lambe of Norham who was almost certainly involved in its composition. Despite Lambe’s claims of transcribing an ancient manuscript it seems he took inspiration from local songs and stories which themselves may have been localised version of ballads found in Scotland and Iceland.
A lengthier prose version was published in The Monthly Chronicle of North Country Lore and Legend in May 1890, further removed from the original source but adding plenty of narrative detail to the ballad.
The story tells of the old king of Bamburgh whose much-loved wife passes away, leaving the kingdom in mourning. With the king’s son, Childe Wynd, unheard from since his departure in search of fame and fortune the duty of comforting the old king falls upon his daughter, the kind Princess Margaret.
Many women attempt to attract the king’s attention but his sorrow blinds him until the appearance of a beautiful but evil witch at the castle who uses her power to beguile the king and marry him, becoming the new queen.
When the lords and chieftains visit to give the new couple their blessing the knights are enraptured by Princess Margaret and the jealous queen whispers a curse which can only be undone by the return of Childe Wynd, presumed dead.
Princess Margaret awakes the next day to find herself transformed into a dragon, only able to crawl and shriek. The princess flees from her terrified courtiers and finds a nearby cave, emerging only when she becomes so hungry she cannot stand it. The dragon feeds on the livestock of farmers for miles around until the kingdom decide to appease the beast with daily offerings.
Childe Wynd, fighting with the Franks, hears of the misfortune at home and builds a ship of rowan wood for his return voyage. Approaching the castle at night he sees the evil queen’s eyes shining from a tower, bright but cold. The queen dispatches imps to attack the ship and raise a storm but they return unsuccessful, having been unable to break the protection of the sacred rowan wood. Wynd is able to navigate into Budle bay where the dragon waits for him on the beach.
Rushing toward the dragon, sword in hand, Childe Wynd hears a gentle voice from within his adversary and is compelled to act with love. He bows and kisses the dragon who retreats to its cave and emerges as Princess Margaret in her original form.
The evil queen escapes, her spell undone, the heir returned, and the princess’s true beauty eclipsing her own. When the evil queen is captured Childe Wynd has her transformed into a toad-like-creature, her outer state now reflecting her true nature and only her bright, shining eyes remaining the same. The creature roamed the land and hissed and spat at any passing beautiful ladies.
While we lack an accurate history of our local variant of the tale, many wild and fantastic beasts are depicted in Anglo Saxon and early medieval artwork from the area. The most famous of these is the “Bamburgh beast” depicted on a small gold plaque which can be seen in Bamburgh Castle’s archaeology museum. The location of the “laidley” (most likely a corruption of “loathly or loathsome”) worm’s hole is marked on early OS maps and, although the cave itself was destroyed by quarrying by the nineteenth century, it is fascinating to see the landscape influencing the story and the details incorporated into maps.
