Weather and Folk Lore of Peterborough and District

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Title: Weather and Folk Lore of Peterborough and District
Author: Charles Dack
Release Date: December 9, 2005 [EBook #17269]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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WEATHER AND FOLK LORE
OF
PETERBOROUGH AND
DISTRICT.
BY
CHARLES DACK.
PUBLISHED BY AND FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE
PETERBOROUGH
NATURAL HISTORY, SCIENTIFIC,

AND
ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
1911.

PETERBOROUGH:
CHARLES HAWKINS, PRINTER, KING
STREET
[Illustration: MAY DAY, AT GLATTON, HUNTS.
1856.
FROM A DRAWING BY
THE REV. E. Bradley, (Cuthbert Bede).]
_Old Customs! Oh! I love the sound.
However simple they may be,

What e'er with time hath sanction found,
Is welcome and is dear to
me.
John Clare._
WEATHER AND FOLK LORE OF PETERBOROUGH AND
DISTRICT.
(Second Series).
This is a continuation of a Paper on the "Survival of Old Customs" in
Peterborough and the neighbourhood which was read at the Royal
Archæological Society's meeting in 1898, with an addition of a few
more old customs, and more particulars of others, to which I have also
added a collection of the quaint Weather and Folk Lore of this district.
Being at a point where four counties are almost within a stone's throw,
Peterborough possesses the traditions of the Counties of Huntingdon,
Cambridge, and Lincoln, as well as Northampton. It is rather difficult
to locate these sayings to one particular County, so I have taken those
current within a radius of about fifteen miles.
Most of them have been repeated to me personally and only in a very
few cases have I copied any which have been printed and then only to
make the collection more complete.
The two Northamptonshire Poets, Dryden and John Clare, often notice
the phases of the Weather, and John Clare, especially, describes the
Rural Customs and weather Lore of this district with a true Poets

feeling and amongst his M.S.S., now the property of the Peterborough
Museum, are many unpublished poems and also his Diary which, at
present, is unknown to the general public. John Clare was well styled
the English Burns and his notes and Memoranda on the various local
events are most valuable to those who take an interest in the sayings
and doings of the early part of the 19th century.
Many charms are used at the present time and, altho' reticent, the
villagers, (when you have gained their confidence), will tell you of their
belief in the various whims and of the successful results of their
practice.
In almost every proverb where Peterborough is mentioned it is
associated with pride, and some people say that they are still
applicable.
The first and second of the following rhymes date from before the
Reformation:
Crowland as courteous, as courteous may be,
Thorney the bane of
many a good tree,
Ramsey the rich and Peterborough the proud,

Sawtry, by the way, that poor Abbey,
Gave more alms than all they.
Ramsey the rich of gold and of fee,
Thorney the flower of the Fen
Country,
Crowland so courteous of meat and of drink,

Peterborough the proud, as all men do think,
And Sawtry by the way,
that poor Abbaye,
Gave more alms in one day, than all they.
Peterborough the proud of their ancient See,
Thorney the flower of
many a fair tree,
Crowland the courteous of their meat and drink,

Spalding the gluttons as all men do think,
Sawtry by the way, that old
Abbaye,
Gave more in one day than all they.
Peterborough poor and proud.
Another version gives Peterborough:

Famous for pride and Stamford for poor.
The next two belong exclusively to Peterborough, and the first I have
only just obtained from a lady who remembers the verses, as they were
repeated early in the 19th Century:
When the Clock of the Abbey strikes three minutes fast,
There will be
a gay wedding before the month's past;
When the Clock of the Abbey
strikes three minutes slow,
The river's bright waters will soon
overflow;
When the Church Clock and Abbey Clock strike both
together, There will soon be a death or a change of the weather.
The Abbey or Cathedral is dedicated to St. Peter, and the Parish Church
to St. John. The Head Verger of the Cathedral until recently had charge