Armboth: Cumbria’s Most Haunted

Driving past Thirlmere these days, you wouldn’t suspect that it was anything other than an attractive valley in the central Lake District. But this area is associated with a long list of peculiar and spooky stories going back hundreds of years.

Thirlmere from Steel Fell c. Mick Knapton

Before the valley was flooded at the end of the 19^th century to create Thirlmere reservoir, it looked very different. Instead of a large lake with a steeply-sloping shore, there was a ribbon of water, comprising two skinny lakes connected at a narrow neck by an ancient wooden structure commonly referred to as the ‘Celtic bridge’. On the eastern side of the bridge stood Dalehead Hall – now a hotel – and on the western side, Armboth House.

Scary, Scarier & Scariest: Halloween lanterns to Celtic headhunters!

I’ve had a little question running on Twitter and Facebook:

Jack-o'-Lantern c. Toby Ord

If you’re over 40 and were brought up in Britain or Ireland, did you make Halloween lanterns when you were little?

I had over 300 responses and this, roughly speaking, is the result.

The Hanged Man at Beacon Hill

Beacon Hill in Penrith is one of those places you might like to avoid at Halloween. For, says local tradition, your nose may catch the noisome odour of rotting flesh before coming upon the gruesome sight of a man’s body rotting in a gibbet hanging high above the town.

Hanging "in chains"

One dark Tuesday night in November, 1766,  a butcher called Thomas Parker was on his way home after a very good day at Penrith market. He stopped off at the Cross Keys pub in Carleton, where he had a jolly old time downing lots of beer and treating all his friends. Eventually, the pub landlord realised that Parker had had far too much and stopped serving him, offering to put him up for the night to sleep it off. Parker refused, and set off to walk the last couple of miles back to Langwathby.

*gulp*

Just a quickie to let you know that I will, apparently, be appearing on Belinda Artingstoll’s programme on Radio Cumbria on Sunday morning to talk about the stuff on here. I have no idea what to say, and me knees are a-knockin’, so if anyone’s got any ideas, now’s the time to shout up!

The Cappel: Cumbria’s spooky black dog

The Black Dog

There are stories of black dogs all over Britain. There’s usually something spooky or downright sinister about them, inspiring stories in both folklore and fiction – Arthur Conan Doyle’s Hound of the Baskervilles being the classic example. They are known by different names across the country – a barghest¹, padfoot², a schuck³, a gytrash⁴, the cù sìth (although he’s green)⁵ and, in Cumbria, the cappel⁶.