I BLAME this collection of local stories on Rag, a friend for many years whose own nickname is rich in a legend.
“I know about the Marsden Cuckoo and the moonrakers of Slawit,” he said. “But what about the Linthwaite leadboilers. What did they do?”
Everyone knows the stories of the cuckoo that Marsden folk tried to capture to ensure they enjoyed perpetual spring. They built a tower to prevent its escape but forgot to put a roof on.
The moonrakers were a lot brighter and operated when Slawit was a thriving port. They would drop casks of rum into the canal to avoid paying duty and recover them in the dead of night. Until the time they were caught by the excise men. They explained they were raking for the moon which had fallen into the canal and pointed to its reflection on the water. The excise men shook their heads at the foolishness of country folk and the moonrakers dragged up the rum and made a fine profit.
Then we come to Golcar Lilies which is said to be the name given to the beautiful young women of that valley hamlet. It is said that preacher John Wesley even commented that the girls of Golcar were as beautiful as lilies. Or the name could have come from the influx of persecuted Huguenots from France in the 16th and 17th century who could have brought the lily emblem with them.
Which brings us to Linthwaite and the leadboilers. Who were they?
According to the Examiner archive the story started two or three hundred years ago when soldiers used the moors for musket practice. Villagers collected the lead balls and wanted to sell them for scrap but did not know how to melt them down – so they boiled them in water. Sadly it didn’t work.
Does anyone have any other, lesser known, legends?
