May 8. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



437 



of such a situation for the church is obvious, and 

 tlie 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 pa- 

 rishioner 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 extra- 

 ordinary interference, agreed to finish the edifice 

 thus begun by doves. 



2. The parish church of Wendover, in Bucking- 

 hamshire, 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 cai-ried 

 away in the night by witches, or, as some relate 

 the tradition, by fairie-s, and deposited where the 

 church now stands. The field in which the church 

 was to have been built is still called " AVitches' 

 Meadow." 



3. The parish church of Winwick, Lancashire, 

 stands near that miracle-working spot where 

 St. Oswald, king of the Northumbrians, was killed. 

 The founder had destined a different site for it, but 

 his intention was overruled by a singular per- 

 sonage, whose will he never dreamed of consulting. 

 It must here be noticed that Winwick had then 

 not even received its name ; the church, as not 

 uncommon in those days, being one of the earliest 

 erections in the parish. The foimdation of the 

 church, then, was laid where the founder had di- 

 rected, and the close of the first day's labour showed 

 the workmen had not been idle, by the progress 

 made in the building. But the approach of night 

 brought to pass an event which utterly destroyed 

 the repose of the few inhabitants around the spot. 

 A pig was seen running hastily to the site of the 

 new church ; and as he rnn he was heard to cry or 

 scream aloud " We-ee-wick, "VVe-ee-wick, We-ee- 

 wick ! " Then, taking up a stone in his mouth, he 

 carried it to the spot sanctified by the death of 

 St. Oswald, and thus employing himself through 

 the whole night, succeeded in removing all the 

 stones which had been laid by the builders. The 

 founder, feeling himself justly reproved for not 

 liaving chosen that sacred spot for the site of his 

 church, unhesitatingly yielded to the wise counsel 

 of the pig. Thus the pig not only decided the 

 site of the church, but gave a name to the parish. 



In support of this tradition, there is the figure 

 of a pig sculptured on the tower of the church, 

 just above the western entrance ; and also the fol- 

 lowing Latin doggerel : 



" Hie locus, Oswaldo, quondam placuit tibi valde ; 

 Northanhumbrorum fueras Ilex, nuncque Polorum 

 Regna tenes, loco passus Marcelde vocato." 



May not the phrase "Please the pigs" have 

 originated in the above tradition, since the founder 

 of Winwick Church was obliged to succumb to the 

 pleasure of his porkish majesty ? 



Instances of equally marvellous changes in the 

 sites of buildings are recorded in Bcde, and other 

 monkish writei's. Perhaps it would not be difli- 

 cult to unravel the mystery of such changes. 



W. H. K. 



Burning the Bush. — While in Herefordshire 

 last spring, I noticed a singular custom in the 

 agricultural districts. When the wheat is jusfc 

 springing out of the ground, the farmer's servants 

 rise before daybreak, and cut a branch of thorn of 

 a particular kind. They then make a large fire in 

 the field, in which they burn a portion of it ; the 

 remaining part is afterwards hung up in the house. 

 They do this to prevent the smut, or mildew, af- 

 fecting the wheat. J. B. Eobinson. 



Belper. 



Essex Superstition. — An uncle of mine, who has 

 a lai'ge fiirm near Ilford, tells mo, that observing . 

 a horse-shoe nailed to the door of one of his cow- 

 houses, he asked the cow-keeper why he had fixed 

 it there. The lad gravely replied, " Why, to keep . 

 the wild-horse away, to be sure." This is, to me, 

 a new reason for the practice. 



I have learned that the superstition about the 

 bees deserting their hives on the death of one of 

 their owner's family, is common in the same county. 

 A lady tells me, that calling upon some poor people 

 who lived at Hyde Green, near Ingatestone, she 

 inquired after the bees. The old woman of the 

 house replied, " They have all gone away since the 

 death of poor Dick ; for we forgot to knock at the 

 hives, and tell them he was gone dead." 



C. MANSflEiD ISGLEBY. 



OLD SONG, NOT LONG AGO I DRANK A FULL POT. 



I send another old song ; and, as in the case of 

 the " Cuckold's Cap," I would ask is it known ? 



Not long ago I drank a full pot, 



Full of sack up to the brim, 

 I drank to my friend, and he drank his pot, 



Thus we put about the whim. 

 Six bottles at a draught he pour'd down his throat ; 



But what are such puny sips as these ? 

 I laid me all along, with my mouth unto the bung, 



And I drank up a hogshead to the lees. 



I have heard of one who drank whole tankards, 

 And styl'd himself the Prince of Sots ; 



But what are such poor puny drunkards ? 

 Melt their tankards, break their pots. 



