Crime watch 1642

Mr John Band of Leek has showed me a fascinating collection of documents dating from the 17^th century concerning Leek at a time when the country was caught up in the Civil War. The collection is made up of journals, newspaper accounts and letters which gives a real flavour of the time- and a really turbulent time it was.

A letter signed by the prominent citizens of Leek and dated early 1642 is indicative of how law and order was breaking down before the onset of the war which started in October. The period was a very harsh one. The late 16^th century and the first decades of the following one saw a series of harvest failures, the possible result of climate change, food price rises and inflation hitting the poor hard. Famine conditions frequently occurred. Roving bands of impoverished were a common sight in England and the response of the authority was one of panic as the example from Leek shows.

The letter was addressed to King Charles 1^st representatives complained about riotous disturbances in the town especially on market days.

“ Unto which said markets and ffairs there have usually come and repaired divers misbehaved, deboyst and felonious people not only to the disturbance of his Majesty’s peace committing many felonious acts amongst said inhabitants, but also among other of the said majesty’s liege people”.

(“Deboyst” means corrupt or depraved and appears in Shakespeare’s “Tempest” and “King Lear”}

According to the writer of the letter the answer to the bands of vagabonds and beggars was the construction of a cage and stocks. But Leek being Leek was that no one would pay for the work hence the need to go cap in hand to the authorities in Stafford.

“Accordingly whereby the saide worke beinge a thing of soe great necessity & consequence is likely to bee neglected & utterly loste of unlesse by yor hono worships yor petitioners may be herein relieved”

Of course, England was not the only part of Europe where disturbances occurred. In 1642 the Thirty Years War which had convulsed Central Europe was coming to an end with approximately a third of the population of Germany dead and the countryside ruined. Ireland had been in rebellion the previous year with atrocities recorded.

And in Holland the problem of fecklessness was addressed in a unique way. Simon Schama in his book on the 17^th century Dutch Republic describes, not quite believing, the existence of a “water house” in Amsterdam which ne’er do wells were tethered and put in a cell which filled with water and were forced to work a pump to stop from drowning.

I am sure there are people who would agree with such a contrivance existing now!

Carlos Trower- African Blondin

October has been for several years now been designated Black History Month. The Black existence in the Staffordshire Moorlands has not been  marked although the occasional account indicates that there were people of colour passing through the area from the 18^th century onwards. I subscribe to the British Newspaper Archive and some time ago I read of a visit made to Rudyard Lake by Carlos Trower the “African Blondin”  so called after the French tightrope walker who was the first to cross Niagara Falls who Trower admired..

Trower was born in the late 1840s in New York and began tight rope walking at an early age. He appears to be a natural performer who worked on perfecting and developing  his craft. He first performed at Rudyard in 1861 while still a teenager.

 By the 1870s he was well known in the country and regularly performed at various venues around the country. In June 1878 he made a triumphant return to Rudyard Lake.

 The Sentinel of the 28^th June 1878 carried a full account of his show in which he performed before a crowd of 10,000 admirers. The lowest admission price was 1/6.  Special trains ran from Manchester, Macclesfield and  the Potteries. There was a grandstand erected for the wealthier spectator and the audience were grouped on three sides of the lake. A tower was erected and a rope strung 100 feet above and for 200yards over the water. Additional weights  were added steadying  the rope. The weather had been hot and fortunately by the evening a cool wind began to blow although this added to the danger for Trower. A band struck up “ See the Conquering Hero Come” to announce the start of the demonstration. The crowd cheered as he began to walk slowly over the 6 inch rope adjusting his balance to suit the breeze. He made his way to the centre of the rope and sat down acknowledging the applause. He returned to the tower and reappeared with a stove and cooked and ate a meal on the rope. Carlos finally was blind folded as he walked above Rudyard Lake one more time

The Sentinel concluded “ At the close of his performance a hearty cheer attested the satisfaction almost universally felt at his gallant performance”

Trower returned to the States in 1878 appearing at a Coloured Persons Celebration in Brooklyn, Connecticut and Coney Island which indicates that he was sensitive to the  changes that had effected the black population since Emancipation.

As can be imagined his occupation was risky and he fell or was injured on several occasions. Early in his career he fell and was badly injured at Beverley and in 1886 he was receiving hospital treatment in London following an accident. By this time his career was in decline and he was having increasing bouts of ill health. He died penniless in an Asylum in Bow in 1889. His great grandson Ron Howard of Essex who helped me with this article visited Rudyard some years ago  to see the site of his ancestor

Buxton Rock Festivals 1972-4

I was looking through the 1974 archive of the Post and Times when I was staggered to see an advert for the Buxton Rock Festival which featured a billing for the “New York Dolls” appearing with the likes of Mott the Hoople, the Faces and Lindisfarne. The thought of the “Dolls” one of the founders of punk playing in a muddy farmer’s field near Hollinsclough was bizarre to say the least.

In the week of the Leek Blues and Americana Festival which was held in various pubs around the town perhaps it is timely to reflect on the hardy souls who for three years camped out on wind swept, rain lashed moors to listen to some world renowned rock bands.  This was a Glastonbury with flairs and Afghan coats at an altitude of 1500 feet. Perhaps a campaign medal ought to be struck? The 72 Festival had “Steppenwolf” whose “Born to be Wild” featuring in the cult film “Easy Rider” was an anthem to disaffected youth. Apparently they played an excellent set. The following year top billing was shared between Canned Heat and Chuck Berry who spent some of his act showing a drunken Hell's Angel how to duck walk before leaving quickly allegedly without being paid. The Angels engaged in a drink fuelled mud fight while Canned Heat played on- imagine a sort of Peak District Altamont.  The bar was provided by Samanthas of Leek. In 1974 the festival was held over two days in July although the weather was worse. It rained more or less continuously. Ronnie Wood playing with the Faces complained that it was so cold that his fingers were numb and he could not play. Over the weekend a number were treated for hypothermia although the sun did break out momentarily to ironic cheers when Roger Chapman formerly with “Family” sang “My friend the Sun”. It is rumoured that Rod Stewart did not get paid and who knows looking down on the sea of mud under a leaden sky might have persuaded him to move to LA.

I never went to the Festival, I may have been put off  by the cold and the real prospect of looking like Jack Nicholson at the end of “the Shining”, The truth , however, was  that I could see many of the bands in the comfort of Trentham Gardens or Vicky Hall. I saw groups like Mott the Hoople, Groundhogs, the Faces, Curved Air, Lindisfarne and Wishbone Ash and many others in the Potteries over this period. As for the “Dolls” they did not appear. Anyway, perhaps they might drop into the Wilkes Head soon fulfilling their contractual obligation of nearly 40 years ago?

Harrying of the North- William I and the Moorlands

I visited Pickering Castle in Yorkshire in August. Its a Norman Motte and Bailey structure constructed as a result of the Anglo Saxon uprisings in the North and the Midlands against the rule of William the Conqueror. First to revolt were the Mercians who joined forces with the Welsh under Eadric the Wild and went on the rampage along the Welsh border. William came north and defeated this Saxon/ Welsh alliance near Stafford. In retaliation Staffordshire and Cheshire were put to the sword. Discontent continue to  simmer especially in the North which exploded in 1069 when Norman officials were murdered. William  ensured that the Danes were bought off who had sided with the rebels in Yorkshire and then began the systematic strategy which became known as the “Harrying of the North”. The Normans slaughtered  ,destroyed crops and livestock and burned down towns and villages. The ground was salted to ensure nothing would grow and the survivors left to starve.

 A chronicler wrote “ there was such hunger that men ate the flesh of their own kind, of horses, cats and dogs. Others sold themselves into perpetual slavery that they might be able to sustain their miserable lives. It was horrible to look into the ruined farmyards and houses and see the human corpses dissolved into corruption, for there were none to bury them for all were gone either in flight, or cut down by the sword or famine. None dwelt there and travellers passed in great fear of beasts and savage robbers”.

I was chatting with an archaeologist in York who told me that it has been calculated that over 100,000 people died as a consequence of William's actions. Interestingly from the size of skeletons discovered in the Anglo Saxon period and for hundred years after William's the average height of the peasantry fell by 3 inches. He felt that it was the consequence of the Feudal System.

As far as the Staffordshire Moorlands the immediate impact of the “Harrying” were catastrophic. Many communities were abandoned  The Doomsday Book established by William to survey the wealth of the country 20 years after Hastings demonstrates this poverty. Several villages are registered as having no population such as Endon, Sheen, Rudyard and Grindon. Leek had 28 households and Cheadle 11. The Norman  invasion saw also a radical transformation of land ownership in Caverswall, for instance, prior to 1066 the land was possessed by Wulgeat of Madeley, in 1086 the owner was Arnulf of Hesdin originally from Picardy and a friend of  King William. In the immediate aftermath of the rebellions only 4% of land was in the hands of old Saxon aristocracy and I am guessing that the population of the upland areas was lower than before the Roman occupation of Britain. It took many years to recover.

Why Rudyard's war memorial has 1921 as the end of First World War

It has always occurred to me as odd that the war memorial in Rudyard should have the date August 31^st 1921 as the date signifying the end of the First World War. Why should this be so? Most people, if asked, would automatically pick November 11^th 1918 as the end of the War. Perhaps others might suggest June 1919 when the Treaty of Versailles between the belligerent powers was signed in the Hall of Mirrors. But again this seems not to be the case. The facetious side of me thinks that no one bothered to tell the people of Rudyard that the war was over. There is a precedent for official oversight as the people of Berwick on Tweed were left out of the peace treaty concluded between Britain and Russia in 1855 at the end of the Crimean War- Berwick was always included as a separate entity as it was a disputed border town between England and Scotland.

 There is also a Laurel and Hardy film “Blockheads” when Stan is asked to defend a trench. The Armistice is declared and Mr Laurel is overlooked and stays on the Western Front. Years later he is found, a huge pile of empty bean cans behind him and a furrow that Stan has ploughed constantly marching up and down are evidence of his steadfastness.

More seriously, I wondered if the continuing fighting in Soviet Union and in Ireland might offer a clue. After 1918 the Allies came to the assistance of the “White” pro Czarist forces who were fighting the Communist Government that had seized power the year previously. About 40,000 British troops were sent to the Soviet Union. The 7^th Battalion of the North Staffordshire Regiment, my grandfathers unit, were sent to the oil fields of Baku in the Caucasus to fight with Armenians against the Soviets. I did know an old comrade of my grandfather Bill Daniels who took part in the campaign which ended in 1920. The other possibility is the Irish War of Independence involving British troops which at the time was at a crucial stage.  In 1921 a truce was being negotiated between the IRA and the British Government. However this does not seem to enter into the Rudyard case.

The answer lies in a report made in the official Government mouth piece British Gazette of the 12^th August 1921 which announced the official end of the First World War following the signing of a peace treaty with Hungary. As part of the old Austro Hungarian Empire it was an element of the alliance that Britain went to war with in 1914. Therefore agreement with the Hungarians over territory and reparations triggered the official ending of the war and the rather pedantic date carved into the war memorial in Rudyard.

The phantom of Kiln Lane, Leek 1936

The news in September 1936 was grim. In Spain the Civil War raged as the Battle for Madrid reached a crisis. Hitler was beginning on a course of conquest in central Europe and his troops had marched into the Rhineland the previous March thereby breaking the peace treaty of Versailles. Mussolini’s air force had bombed the tribal armies of Abyssinia into submission in a matter of weeks. Stalin was about to unleash a reign of terror in the Soviet Union that would kill millions. In Britain, unemployment remained high in the industrial areas of the North, Scotland and Wales. 1936 was the year of the Jarrow March and in that year the crisis involving the King Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson would reach a head three months later and the King would be forced to abdicate. And in Leek fear stalked the lonely byways of the town.

 While carrying out research on the development of sport in North Staffordshire I came across a report of a “ ghost” haunting an area of Leek. Residents of Kiln Lane were fearful that the area was haunted. Local historians at the time testified that prior to reports that early autumn that area of Leek was not known for or associated with ghost stories. But the women who contacted both the local and national press were emphatically clear about the noises and sights they had observed. The article in the Daily Dispatch began “ Women living in the lonely Kiln Lane district of this Moorland town with a hundred ghostly legends are afraid to walk out alone at night because of the fear that the area is haunted”. The piece continues that rapping’s on windows, strange lights and sounds, weird noises and figures appearing at windows were reported by terrified people in the area. An elderly disabled women who lived in a ground floor room Mrs Jane Stonier is quoted “ There have been knocking at the door and a strange face appeared at a window. It stared at me and then disappeared into the night”.  Mrs F Astles saw a “ terrifying figure glide by the wall at the front of the house”. Mrs Edwards the daughter of Mrs Stonier heard weird laughter and chuckling outside her cottage. Locals cowered behind closed doors wondering what spectre stalked the local area.

 The local newspaper list a number of locally reported ghosts such as the “White Lady” and the “Luminous Children” and suggested that the event at Kiln Lane drew parallels with reports of “ Spring Heeled Jack” the Victorian ghoul which had terrorised communities all over the UK the previous century.

 The first report of the terror of Kiln Lane appeared in the Sentinel on the 16^th September 1936. A follow up report claimed that the haunting was in fact practical joke and that local youths would patrol the area in the hope of catching the hoaxer. For some time hysteria seemed to be gripping the town but the fear after awhile began to abate.  A subsequent article in the Leek Post offered an explanation of the phenomena. The moving lights the author concluded was due to headlights of vehicles on the Macclesfield road and the figures and noises the result of farm animals breaking out of fields and wandering into lanes.“ Dobbin and his friends have been seeking pastures new, and of course, the heavy shoes of the horse and the bleating of sheep in the night, are enough to provide sounds which easily frightened people might construe into other things”. The reportage of the time is very sceptical of supernatural reports seeking a logical and scientific explanation of the incident and suggesting that the terror was simply the result of hysteria and ”the imagination of frightened women”.

The effect of hysteria and popular delusions has been well documented throughout the ages from the witch trails of the 17^th century to the fear of UFOs after the war to the modern day trend of chain letters. Humankind is as superstitious and as prone to panic as any earlier generation. Indeed only a few years ago the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh was in the grip of a panic a people claimed that there were attacked by a creature called the “face scratcher” described as a mystery creature that attacked after dark. Over 100 people claimed to have been attacked by something that flashed blue and red lights. Indian scientists dismissed the alarm as “ mass hysteria” and suggests that the lights in the sky are due to atmospheric conditions.

The irony of the story of Kiln Lane is that three years after September 1936 Britain and the world would be plunged into the horror of total war, which would claim 60 million lives. In 1936 real monsters stalked the earth that would require the exorcism by the terrible exertion of the Second World War

JRR Tolkien died 40 years ago this month

In September 1973 JRR Tolkien died. The creator of the Lord of the Ring trilogy was well known in North Staffordshire. His eldest son John was the parish priest at Hartshill and led the funeral service for his father. John Tolkien commented that his father was last in Stoke in Easter and had spent many Christmas’s at the presbytery. The Sentinel carried a picture of JRR sitting on a bench at Kibblestone Scout camp taken in the early 70s.

 He did have strong connections with Staffordshire predating John’s position as a local priest as he lived in Great Haywood in 1916 while convalescing from wounds received whilst fighting on the Somme.

Tolkien’s reputation as the creator of Middle Earth and the Hobbits remains very high nearly 40 years after his death. In 2003 in the BBC Big Read survey the Lord of the Rings was voted Britain’s best-loved book. I read the book in 1975 appropriately enough besides the fjords of Norway.

Tolkien did claim in a radio interview in the 50s that he also knew the Leek area and that a boy he stayed in Leek with his parents at the George Hotel. The hotel was demolished in the late 60s.

An intriguing question exists over the medieval poem “ Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” written, it is alleged by someone who knew Leek and the Roaches well. Tolkien worked on the translation of the poem in the 20s

 The first references to Lud’s Church being associated with the Green Chapel, to my knowledge, only happen after the publication of a letter by Professor RWV Eliot’s to the Times on 21^st May 1958. He linked the poem with the Cistercian Abbey of Dieulacres beside the River Churnet about 1 mile from Leek. Some however believe that JRR also knew the legend.

The creator of the Lord of the Rings trilogy remained proud of his West Midlands associations. In a letter to the “New York Times” Tolkien described the geographic inspiration for the books the third and final volume of which was to be published in October 1955.

“ I am a West Midlander at home only in the counties upon the Welsh Marches; and it is I believe , as much due to descent as to opportunity than Anglo Saxon and Western Middle English and alliterative verse have a childhood attraction and my main professional sphere”