Oldham Historical Research Group

Scan and page transcript from:
Historical Sketches of Oldham by Edwin Butterworth
Pub. 1856

Historical Sketches of Oldham by Edwin Butterworth

extent. It is generally supposed that what was called being witched was what we now term epileptic fits. There was another order of persons (not yet quite extinct, even at this day, and in this locality) called wise men, or conjurors. They were believed to possess wonderful power, such as restoring stolen goods, and other equally astonishing feats. When any person applied to the wise man for information, it was necessary for him to reach home before midnight, as a storm was the certain consequence of the application, and the applicant ran great risk of being tormented by the devil all the way home. These superstitions are not even yet so completely exploded as some philosophers would persuade us. Whoever will investigate the state of the population with attention will find hundreds of equally improbable tales told and believed, both in towns and rural places. Retired woody recesses amongst the hills and valleys were deemed the haunts of fairies - a race of beings between men and spirits. They had marriages and reared children, followed occupations, and particularly churned their own butter; were capable of being visible or invisible at pleasure, and were generally of small stature. To the careless and superficial these matters will appear trifling, but to the man of research who seeks for a cause to every consequence, these hints may be of service. The uses to which they ought to be applied are, as to how these superstitious have arisen? Whence are they derived? In what do they differ from other countries? &c. &c.

"Relics of the ancient feasts, to a greater or less degree, remain in all parts of the country. More particularly on Christmas eve, the labourers and mechanics of the neighbourhood paid their annual visits to the kitchens of the gentry, yeomen, and principal manufacturers of their respective localities, where they could produce a claim, however weak - such as, ever having worked for the master - having opened a gate for him when hunting - being the son of some person who had

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