66 T.ITTLE HUCKLOW : ITS CUSTOMS AND OLD HOUSES. 



north side is also a pair of cross scythes, with the blades 

 turned inwardly. The handles of the scythes are about three 

 inches in length. Taverns have often been called " Cross 

 Scythes." On the west jamb of the south window in the hall 

 is a representation of the swastika. No marks of this kind 

 have been discovered in other parts of the house ; they are 

 only found on the jambs of the upper east window and the 

 lower south window, and they are in such a position that 

 the light of the morning and mid-day sun would fall upon them. 

 In Derbyshire the sign of the cross is still made to attract the 

 sun. Thus it is said that " if it rains hard and j'ou wish it to 

 be fine, lay two straws across and the rain will cease.* 

 Moreover, it is well-known that the swastika was intended to 

 be a representation of the sun. It may be, therefore, that 

 these marks are not symbols used by masons to distinguish 

 their own work, but magical devices intended to attract sun 

 and light to- the building. 



I have now to compare this house at Little Hucklow with 

 a much larger and much older house called Padley Hall, near 

 Hathersage. The comparison will show that the two houses, 

 separated as they are in time by an interval of perhaps three 

 hundred years, are examples of the same type of building, 

 and closely resemble each other. 



1. In the first place each house consists of a larger and 

 a smaller room on the ground floor with corresponding rooms 

 above.! 



2. In both houses the best \vindows are in the east gable 

 end, one in the upper room, and one in the lower. In the 

 photograph the east window of the lower east room at Padley 

 is concealed from view. 



3. If the photographs of the two houses, printed on the same 

 page, be compared, it will be seen that at Padley as well as 

 at Little Hucklow a winding stair, built against the wall, 



* Addy's Household Tales, etc., p. 85. 



t I have given plans of the house at Padley in Evolution of the English 

 House, pp. 136, 141. 



