I've started my Witches Ring.

dreamdaisy
dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
edited 24. Oct 2016, 17:39 in Community Chit-chat archive
I moved to Suffolk in 1997 and the following year visited Walberswick. I noted that many houses had stone rings hanging next to their front doors and was told that they were stones from the beach with natural holes in them, strung and hung to protect the householders from witches. I thought that was a quirky idea so began my hunt for said stones. In all the years I've looked I never found one. No. 10 had a splendid one hanging by the front door - I crossed my fingers that the vendor would forget it but she didn't.

Last week was astonishing because I found six, all in the gravelled and pebbled garden of the house we rented in Rye, East Sussex. I need a helping hand with one because a very small stone has lodged in the hole but maybe I can by-pass it with the wire.

Do you have a similar superstition in your area? DD
Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben

Comments

  • barbara12
    barbara12 Member Posts: 21,281
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Nothing here DD..but my GD look for pebbles with holes in ..I did think there wanted to make a very heavy necklace :lol: but no they just like to look for them..we have 5 I think... :)
    Love
    Barbara
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,764
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    No, we're all witches here :mrgreen: Yorkshire is where all the other witches go to when they can't get into houses further south owing to those bleeping stones :lol: Don't tell mig about them or she'll be confiscating them lest they spoil the forum hallowe'en celebrations :wink:

    It's a lovely idea, DD. I shall keep my eyes peeled.
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • mig
    mig Member Posts: 7,154
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Too late Sticky I've already seen it,a pox on them.

    Note to self must check this years potion.

    What a fascinating idea,not heard of anything similar in this area.
  • Slosh
    Slosh Member Posts: 3,194
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I grew up on the South Coast in Portsmouth and my Mother told me that if you found a stone with a hole all the way through it was lucky. I have one that lives on my dressing table and my daughter also has one. Mine is especially special as I found it on the beach after scattering my Dad's ashes.

    Rye is lovely isn't it , but very hilly!
    He did not say you will not be storm tossed, you will not be sore distressed, you will not be work weary. He said you will not be overcome.
    Julian of Norwich
  • frogmorton
    frogmorton Member Posts: 30,026
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I hadn't heard of it either mig.

    You have had a delivery to the café by the way...it smells foul and keeps moving.....
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,764
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Sorry, frog. I'll leave straight away and get a bath :wink:
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • mig
    mig Member Posts: 7,154
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I will talk to you Sticky Ive had antibiotics 8) Will check it out Frog.
  • frogmorton
    frogmorton Member Posts: 30,026
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    stickywicket wrote:
    Sorry, frog. I'll leave straight away and get a bath :wink:


    c080.gif
  • bubbles
    bubbles Member Posts: 6,508
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    well, living a mile from Pendle Hill, we are really in witch territory. Witch trails, withway buses, statues, etc. There is a strange draw on Pendle Hill and it has many moods. Fabulous place, we love it. The history of the so callled Pendle Witches is very interesting.
    Not heard of the stones with holes in, I will keep an eye out........ k040.gif
    XX Aidan (still known as Bubbles).
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,764
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Oh me too, Aidan. Pendle Hill always has a weird, dark attraction even in sunlight. I've read The Lancashire Witches and the easier Mist Over Pendle. I've often thought about how, in another era, my arthritic body would probably have had me labelled as a witch. In fact, many,many, MANY years ago, Mr SW used to call me his 'little green-eyed witch' :D

    Did you know that Pendle Hill actually means Hillhill Hill? Pen was the ealy Middle English(?) word for Hill, 'dil'(?) was a language that came later and 'hill' we all know. A fascinating place - even for a Yorkie :wink:
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • bubbles
    bubbles Member Posts: 6,508
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    It is a wonderful place SW. Fancy being called a witch, I don't know. I am sure I would have been rounded up in the famous witch trials. The poor folks were only practicing herbalism, it was the nasty little daughter that dropped them all in the pot so to speak.

    Pendle is not far off being the height of a mountain, just short by 100 foot or so. Pendle Mountain would not sound the same. We have blue skies over Pendle at the moment, which is very nice. xxx
    XX Aidan (still known as Bubbles).
  • mellman01
    mellman01 Member Posts: 5,306
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I had a witches ring once, the ointment worked a treat!.
  • daffy2
    daffy2 Member Posts: 1,636
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hagstones they are. I have a collection of small ones and keep an eye out for more when I'm gardening. Looking for interesting flints helps to distract from the sheer quantity of them in the soil.
    One tradition is that they are hung up over stable doors to stop witches getting in and riding the horses to exhaustion during the night.
  • applerose
    applerose Member Posts: 3,621
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I love traditions like this. I don't usually believe in them but would still do it. Hope you find enough stones.
    Christine

Categories