Society & Culture & Entertainment
Society & Culture & Entertainment & Religion & Spirituality Information Information
Champion Wrestlers In London
When in London, he was admired, not for his skill in archery but as a champion wrestler. Matthew Birkett in a letter dated 1786 further informed Clarke that he had learned from a man who was 104 years old when he died that Hugh Hird (sic) for that was the Lad's name, had lifted a 30footIong beam, 13 in. and 12t in. in thickness, into place entirely by himself. Birkett also recounted Hird's exploit against the Scots.
When questioned by the King as to his diet, Hird replied, 'Thick pottage and milk that a mouse might walk upon dry shod, for breakfast, and the sunny side of a wether for his dinner.' It is doubtful from this equivocal reply whether His Majesty would understand that Hird was referring to cream and to a sheep roasted whole, since all sides of a wether are in the sun at some time. Or indeed, whether Clarke or one of his Kentmere informers was its author.
'Tradition tells us', Clarke adds, 'that Hird killed himself at the age of forty two with pulling up trees by the roots.' If however, he was born before nunneries were dissolved (around 1536) his year of birth was 1484 at the latest. By the reign of Edward VI, he would have been at least 63 years of age. Matthew Birkett carefully refrains from mentioning any king by name, a precaution which Clarke or his informer would have done well to follow. But this is one of the characteristics of folklore; dates and periods arc; often undependable and historic facts are given which are questionable.
Since Furness Abbey was a Benedictine house under an Abbot, how did Hird's mother come to be a nun there? There are many difficulties of this nature in both our early records. But how much we gain from them !' The picture of a Border archer in action singlehanded against a band of Scottish marauders, exercising a skill which won for England innumerable battles. A glimpse into the frugal life of the dalesfolk 'poddish' and fresh milk, with meat 'when it was available'. Their lack of worldly ambition and contentment with so little.
When the king asked him what he would have, he only desired this little tenement called Lowick How. It is Clarke who adds, 'The whole estate would have been granted if he had asked it'. Even Heard's apparent gluttony was in reality his forethought in preparing for the needs of the morrow's tasks and Machell expressly states that he ate with moderation and paid his groats with the rest of the company. Moreover he worked for four days without further food, having eaten four meals. His great strength was not only devoted to killing off enemies but put to the service of the community, as when he lifted the beam into place for the builders. Finally we are left with a conviction that the Cork Lad once really lived in the dale and performed there his Samson like feats. The exact period when he lived remains unproved but also unimportant.
The place names of Cumberland suggest a singular inactivity on the part of the Devil and his minions within the county. Only the name of Fiends Fell shows that the Anglian dalesmen regarded the fierce H elm Wind that came down from the Pennine summits to have been due to the activities of demons. The Old English name Fiends Fell was in use until at least 1479. Some time later, the new name of Cross Fell points to the erection of a cross to counteract the demonic powers believed to dwell on the summit.
When questioned by the King as to his diet, Hird replied, 'Thick pottage and milk that a mouse might walk upon dry shod, for breakfast, and the sunny side of a wether for his dinner.' It is doubtful from this equivocal reply whether His Majesty would understand that Hird was referring to cream and to a sheep roasted whole, since all sides of a wether are in the sun at some time. Or indeed, whether Clarke or one of his Kentmere informers was its author.
'Tradition tells us', Clarke adds, 'that Hird killed himself at the age of forty two with pulling up trees by the roots.' If however, he was born before nunneries were dissolved (around 1536) his year of birth was 1484 at the latest. By the reign of Edward VI, he would have been at least 63 years of age. Matthew Birkett carefully refrains from mentioning any king by name, a precaution which Clarke or his informer would have done well to follow. But this is one of the characteristics of folklore; dates and periods arc; often undependable and historic facts are given which are questionable.
Since Furness Abbey was a Benedictine house under an Abbot, how did Hird's mother come to be a nun there? There are many difficulties of this nature in both our early records. But how much we gain from them !' The picture of a Border archer in action singlehanded against a band of Scottish marauders, exercising a skill which won for England innumerable battles. A glimpse into the frugal life of the dalesfolk 'poddish' and fresh milk, with meat 'when it was available'. Their lack of worldly ambition and contentment with so little.
When the king asked him what he would have, he only desired this little tenement called Lowick How. It is Clarke who adds, 'The whole estate would have been granted if he had asked it'. Even Heard's apparent gluttony was in reality his forethought in preparing for the needs of the morrow's tasks and Machell expressly states that he ate with moderation and paid his groats with the rest of the company. Moreover he worked for four days without further food, having eaten four meals. His great strength was not only devoted to killing off enemies but put to the service of the community, as when he lifted the beam into place for the builders. Finally we are left with a conviction that the Cork Lad once really lived in the dale and performed there his Samson like feats. The exact period when he lived remains unproved but also unimportant.
The place names of Cumberland suggest a singular inactivity on the part of the Devil and his minions within the county. Only the name of Fiends Fell shows that the Anglian dalesmen regarded the fierce H elm Wind that came down from the Pennine summits to have been due to the activities of demons. The Old English name Fiends Fell was in use until at least 1479. Some time later, the new name of Cross Fell points to the erection of a cross to counteract the demonic powers believed to dwell on the summit.