Notes and Queries, Vol. V, Number 132, May 8, 1852: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.Various
History
Notes and Queries, Vol. V, Number 132, May 8, 1852: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.
Various
Questions and answers -- Periodicals
[It may be proper to observe, that this Note by MR. SINGER had
been in the Editor's possession at least a fortnight previous to
the appearance of that by our esteemed correspondent at Leeds in
our last Number.]
FOLK LORE.
_Sites of Buildings mysteriously changed._--It may be amusing to the
readers of "N. & Q.," and attended with some useful result, to record a
few popular traditions respecting the mysterious opposition to the
building of certain edifices on the spots originally designed for them
by their founders. I will introduce the subject with the local
traditions about the building of three churches well known to myself.
1. The church of Breedon, in Leicestershire, stands alone on a high
hill, the village being at its foot. The hill is so steep on the side
towards the village, that a carriage can only ascend by taking a very
circuitous course; and even the footpath winds considerably, and in some
parts ascends by steps formed in the turf. The inconvenience of such a
situation for the church is obvious, and the stranger, of course,
wonders at the folly of those who selected a site for a church which
would necessarily preclude the aged and infirm from attending public
worship. But the initiated parishioner soon steps forward to enlighten
him on the subject, and assures him the pious founder consulted the
convenience of the village, and assigned a central spot for the site of
the church. There the foundation was dug, and there the builders began
to rear the fabric; but all they built in the course of the day was
carried away by _doves_ in the night, and skilfully built in the same
manner on the hill where the church now stands. Both founder and
workmen, awed by this extraordinary interference, agreed to finish the
edifice thus begun by doves.
2. The parish church of Wendover, in Buckinghamshire, stands nearly half
a mile from the town. The church was to have been placed on a field
adjoining the town, and there the building of it was begun; but the
materials were all carried away in the night by witches, or, as some
relate the tradition, by fairies, and deposited where the church now
stands. The field in which the church was to have been built is still
called "Witches' Meadow."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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