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IX.
A WORK, by Mr. C. H. Poole, entitled "The Customs, Superstitions, and Legends of the County of Stafford" is well worth reading by Wednesbury people, for we readily recognise many old local sayings and doings which have been handed down to us from our "rude forefathers ;" and now as they are being trampled into desuetude by the march of intellect, we feel a grateful sense of satisfaction that they are at least deemed worthy of preservation in the pages of tradition. Trivial and nonsensical as folk-lore is now reckoned, it is only as a lamp by which to read the inner workings of the social life of our remote ancestors, and more particularly the usages and customs of different localities in by-gone ages, that they are at all valuable in the present. As such they are carefully collected, sifted, and arranged by the venerating hands of the antiquarian. From the labours of Mr. Poole, whose are of operations has embraced the whole county, selections are here made of those that more intimately belong to Wednesbury ; and these are supplemented by others which have not found a place in this gentleman's collection.
Three very venerable superstitions connected with Wednesbury have been deemed worthy of preservation at the hands of eminent writers, The Wednesbury Comberfords had their chief seat at Comberford Hall, near Tamworth ; it was a family superstition with them that three knocks were always heard there as death-warnings, before the demise of any member of the family, "though he die at never so great a distance." Another superstition, whose age may also be reckoned by centuries, was that of the Wednesbury colliers, who at certain times professed to hear at the "cole-pits" a noise in the air like that of a pack of hounds, which they called "Gabriel's Hounds." A similar superstition of the Cornish miners has been worked up into a novel by that eminent novelist, Mrs. Henry Wood - who, by the way, is related by marriage to the Mills' family, of Darlaston. In the year 1667 a strange superstition was confessed to by "William Hopkins, of Wedgebury." In making a deposition before Sir R. Holte, of Aston Hall, relative to certain treasonable utterances made by one Edward Dolphin, he said he had "Pythagoras' Wheel" (whatever instrument of divination that may have been) "and could tell when an untruth was spoken." Before giving examples of more modern, and more generally accepted superstitions, it is worth recording that there was a time, and very recently too, when Wednesbury miners would not work on Good Friday, or Old Christmas day, under any circumstances ; and after a fatal accident in a pit, till the dead man was buried nothing could tempt the survivors to work in the mine. "If the smoke incrusts the bars of the grate, and then gets loosened and hangs in a flake, it is said that a stranger will come, provided it does not blow into the fire," and when such a "stranger" is seen on the bar, it is usual to clap hands near to it to create a wind, saying at each clap "Monday, Tuesday," &c., &c., and the "stranger" is supposed to fly off at the name of the day on which he or she is to come. If a knife falls off the table, a male visitor may be expected ; and a female if a fork falls off. It is unlucky to turn a chair all the way round on one leg, and it is a sign of a quarrel if two knives get crossed on the dinner table. If a dog howls in front of a house, it is a sign of death in the family ; and if a person gives a sudden shiver, somebody is walking over the person's future grave. If the ear tingles, it is caused by some person not present speaking of one at that identical moment, the nature of the remarks, as to praise or blame, being denoted by the situation of the tingling, in the right or left ear respectively. The proverb "Helping to salt, helping to sorrow" may be traced to the emblematical use of salt for sorrow, as the "sowing with salt" mentioned in the Bible. The Wednesbury housewife is careful to mix her pudding with a spoon, for "..Mix with a
knife, A belief in dreams had a firm hold upon Wednesbury people at one time. But if a dream was "made out" nothing disastrous would ensue. For instance, a dream was "made out," - i.e., falsified - if the subject of it was supposed to be dead or ill, or in danger in some way, and the dreamer immediately after, or within a few days, saw or heard from the person affected by the foreboding. In fact, if it was a "bad dream" great anxiety would be manifested to "make it out" or reasonably account for it by establishing a connection, however remote, between absolute facts and the purport of the ominous vision.
The customs of Wednesbury, which recur at stated seasons of the year, will be better considered in chronological order, beginning with the "New Year" celebrations. The first of January is generally ushered in by the pealing of the church-bells, and in several churches and chapels a "watchnight service" is held at midnight, and the New Year discovers the congregation at their devotions. On New Year's Eve and New Year's Day the lads seize another opportunity of levying black-mail, and go around singing a peculiar ditty, which is chiefly remarkable for being as incomprehensible as it is appropriate. It runs :- "The cock sat up in the yew
tree, These lads who sing this go round to "let the New Year in," for it is considered unlucky if a female should be the first to enter a house after the New Year has commenced.
On Shrove Tuesday it was long a custom for the inn-keepers of the town to give away to their customers, and nearly to every other applicant who brought a jug or a basin, ample portions of steaming soup, usually called from the nature of its principal ingredients, "grey-peas-and-bacon." Pan-cake eating is of course universal, and at 11 o'clock in the morning good housewives receive a reminder from the church bells, which seem to clang out "Pan on ! The milkman, on this one day of the year, is evidently by the way he is sought after, an important tradesman ; and after his milk has been converted into pancakes (which, when chimneys were more extensive in their dimensions, it was the ambition of every growing girl to "toss" without breaking) and the pan-cakes have been largely consumed by the children, a spirit of jovial independence seems to seize the youngsters, whose next cry is "Pan-cake day is a very happy
day, In the Church Schools, however, this defiant disposition receives a severe check on the following day, which, being Ash Wednesday, finds the day-school children the most important portion, both numerically and intellectually, of a congregation assembled in the Church to curse their neighbours, with the true unction of Christian charity. The fourth Sunday in Lent is called Midlent or Mothering Sunday, and the occasion is celebrated by the younger branches of a family repairing with children and servants to spend the day with their mothers at the old home. Among the well-to-do class the usual dinner consists of a loin of veal, followed by a laid-pudding, so-called from the fruit, custard, and other ingredients being carefully baked in layers. The custom of mothering has been connected with the lesson read in Church for that day, but how this connection arises it is difficult to say, for it was Jacob who went down into Egypt to his son, and not Joseph who went to his father, much less to his mother.
Years ago when railway cheap trips did not empty the towns of their population at every holiday-time, and when the Mounts was a green and inviting tract of undulating land, all Wednesbury turned out into this Recreation Ground, and despite the fact that it was, as now, the private property of the Holden family, all kinds of games and sports were indulged in without let or hindrance. These pastimes were renewed on Easter Monday and Tuesday, which were commonly called "heaving days ;" on the Monday the men lifted the women, and on the Tuesday the women lifted the men ; and the forfeit in payment of these pleasurable exertions was a chaste salute of the lips. This ceremony of lifting is supposed to have been a type of the resurrection, and long after the Mounts had been given over to mining operations, a survival of it was met with in the streets. Twenty or thirty years ago, for instance, it was scarcely safe on Easter Tuesday for a man to pass along the High Street near the Lamp Tavern, for a band of brawny women were generally lying in wait to "h'ave" him, and to mulct his pockets to the utmost extent of his liberality ; or more probably, as it frequently happened, the victim would offer the bribe of a quart of ale to escape the hustle and caress of the gentle crew. Rogation week occurs at a critical period for the growing crops, and from the earliest times of the Christian era it was long a custom for the clergy and inhabitants to perambulate their parish and to invoke the blessing of the Almighty upon their fields and lands. This practice was succeeded by the analogous one of "processioning" or "beating the bounds;" in which the ecclesiastical element still lingered in the custom of having the gospel read under certain trees along the boundary line of the parish, as at Gospel Oak, Wednesbury Oak, &c. To within the last sixty or seventy years it was the custom to beat the bounds of Wednesbury every year, on which occasion bread and cheese and beer were always dispensed to the performers of the ceremony at the Bull's Head Inn, on the confines of the parish at Tame Bridge.
May-day has never been celebrated amongst us beyond the occasional visit of the Parish School children to the Delves, or to Friar Park, when the weather has permitted. Whitsuntide, however, was a great summer festival. On the Sunday, collections were made for the Schools ; and the hymns, which were sung by the children, had been the subject of preparation for many weeks previous. On the Monday the various Friendly Societies formed processions through the streets, headed by bands, flags, and banners, and displaying all their badges, ribbons, decorations, and paraphernalia, and not unfrequently they held a feast at their respective lodges. The Tuesday was the gala day of the Sunday School children, who attended church for examination in the scriptures and the church catechism (after the ancient manner of the Catechumens), the boys being ranged on one side, and the girls on the other. After the "chapters" had been repeated, and the prizes awarded, the children were marched in procession to the Market Place, headed by the Beadle, and sometimes accompanied by bands of music ; here they met the other schools of the town, and a hymn was sung, followed by the National Anthem. The whole body then adjourned to their respective rooms to partake of buns and tea, provision having been made for the latter refreshment by each youngster having a cup suspended by a tape round his neck, the size of the said cup being more frequently gauged by the greediness than by the capacity of the bibulous juvenile. St. Clements', or Bite-Apple day, was once observed by the youngsters of the town, but of late it has been quite neglected. With us St. Thomas's day is the usual Dole-day, for it is appropriate that on "The longest night and the shortest day" we should be "pleased to remember St. Thomas's day" ; Hopkins' Charity, and several other doles are distributed on this day, in order, no doubt, that Christmas may not find the poor unprovided for.
Christmas is observed with us, as it is universally throughout the length and breadth of the kingdom ; the "Waits," are, however, not specially organised bodies of musicians, as is generally the case in most places ; but the recognised Brass Bands of the town, of which we generally boast two or three good ones. This is a great advantage over many towns where the ears are tortured by the miscellaneous and chance groupings of instrumentalists who claim indulgence through the kindly medium of their name of "Waits" ; but why our Wednesbury bands should discourse all the dismal tunes in their repertory to make a cheerful season doleful, is beyond the ken of ordinary mortals. Morrice dancing (a name derived through Spain from the Moors) has not been seen in Wednesbury for many years, and was never indulged in at any set season. At the great strike of the colliers, some twenty years ago, bodies of them paraded the streets, decked out with gaily coloured papers, and with their staves streaming with ribbons, kept time to a clattering and well executed morisco. No other local custom or superstition calls for particular mention, and of the foregoing very few now prevail.
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