Stowe - Jack, Mary the Devil and the Rabblewouldbegone - Philippa Tipper

At the Pebble Grotto and the PalladianBridge

Jack, Mary the Devil and the Rabblewouldbegone

Jack and Mary were travellers. They had tramped the highways and byeways all of their lives and finally Mary had had enough, “It’s time to find somewhere to live, to put down roots and make our own.”

They came to a broken down house, by a river, with a small town a mile or two away.

“This will do. Let’s find out who owns it and settle on a rent”. But no matter who they asked they could not find who owned the house and its land.

They set out fixing the house up and then turning the soil ready to plant seeds for lots of food to eat and sell.

Just as Jack was digging some rich manure into the soil, there was a terrible, sulphurous stench that wafted towards him. Looking up he saw a fine, green velvet be-suited creature, not quite man not quite monster. It had hooves where there should have been feet and boots and on its green bearded head was a tall green velvet top hot with horns sticking through the brim.

The Devil looked at Jack, “What are you doing in my house and on my land?”

“Why I’ve fixed up the house and I’m preparing the land for our first crop. It’s been hard work.”

“If you want to stay here,” laughed the Devil, “You must pay me rent!”

“But I have no money, only this penny to buy seed to grow our own food.”

“I will take your harvest in that case, so you’d  better work hard!”

“Ah,” said Jack, thinking fast, as he knew they would need as much of the food that they could grow to survive the year for themselves, “ Let’s split the harvest? We keep half and you have half? Would you be wanting the top half or the bottom half of the harvest?”

“What? why, why, why...the TOP half. Yes. That’s what I’ll have and I’ll be back after the Harvest to collect the rent. Work harder!” and in a puff of stinky smoke, the Devil was gone.

With the ground prepared and the deal struck with Devil, Jack and Mary went into the small town to buy seeds to grow.

They sowed the seeds, watered, weeded and worked hard all through the summer. Come the harvest they had a fine harvest of potatoes, turnips, carrots, radishes, beetroots, swedes, onions, sweet potatoes, celeriac.

They were sitting enjoying a delicious baked potato with butter oozing over it when the stinky stench announced the Devil’s arrival.

“Ah ha! Good. Looks like loads. Give me my half!”

“Certainly. Your half was the TOP half of the harvest. It’s over there,” and Jack pointed to a big pile of twisted stems and yellowing leaves.

“WHAAAAT? Right next year I’ll have the bottom half of the harvest. You won’t trick me again” and with a puff he’d gone.

Next year Jack and Mary set off to the town and bought seeds, sowed, watered and weeded and worked hard. Come the harvest they had a bumper crop of cabbages, celery, lettuce, spinach, pumpkins, courgettes, marrows, chard, asparagus, cauliflower.

They were sitting enjoying a sumptuous pumpkin soup  when the pongy puff of smoke heralded the Devil’s arrival.

“Ah ha! Even better. Looks like loads more this year. Give me my half!”

“Certainly. Your half was the BOTTOM half of the harvest. It’s over there,” and Jack pointed to a big pile of rotting roots and wiggly worms.

“WHAAAAT? Right next year I’ll have the top half AND the bottom half of the harvest. You can have what’s inbetween. You DEFINTELY won’t trick me again” and with a puff he’d gone.

Next year Jack and Mary set off to the town and bought seeds, sowed, watered and weeded and worked hard. Come the harvest they had a bumper crop of tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, beans, brussel sprouts, corn on the cob, and lots of berries and fruit. Everything that dangled inbetween root and tip!

They were sitting enjoying a colourful salad and juicy fruit  when the whiffy wind declared the Devil’s arrival.

“Ah ha! Soooo much better. Looks like even more this year. Give me my top half and my bottom part of the crop!”

“Certainly. Your top and bottom part of the harvest. It’s over there,” and Jack pointed to a huge pile of rotting roots and wiggly worms, twisted stems and yellowing leaves.

“WHAAAAT? No, no, no, no, no! You have tricked me out of my rent three times. Enough! Tonight is the final test. We shall meet at midnight on the bridge. I shall bring a creature and you will bring a creature. Who so ever can not name the other’s creature forfeits the right to the house and land. See you at midnight.” and with a puff of smoke he’d gone.

“What will do? The Devil can travel anywhere in this world and others. There is no way we will be able to name his creature or present him with a creature that he does not know. Better get packing now Mary,” said Jack.

“Wait a moment,” said Mary. Jack watched in amazement as his wife took out a great pot of honey, smothered herself in it, split open the feather pillow and rolled herself around in the flurry. Then she smeared soot on her face from the fireplace, made a skirt of clanking pans round her waist, fixed a broom behind her as a tail and fixed a carrot on her nose. She was the most extraordinary creature that Jack had ever seen. “The Devil will never be able to name me,” said Mary.

“Now put this garland of garlic on the end of the bridge. You can be sure that the Devil will bring some creature from the underworld and they are terrified of garlic”.

Just before midnight Jack and Mary hid behind the bushes by the bridge. The town clock struck midnight and the clouds parted from in front of the moon and there, silhouetted against the sky was a great leathery winged, three tailed, clawed creature with the Devil riding on its back.

As it got closer to the bridge it swirled one, twice then reared up back into the clouds screeching. The Devil kicked it on again, trying to land on the bridge. But again it flew round and round and screeched refusing to go anywhere near the bridge.

The Devil was getting furious, “Come on you stupid Rabblewouldbegone, land or else there will be trouble!”

The creature landed on the far side of the bridge to where the garlic and Jack and Mary were hidden.

“Right Jack. Tell me, what is this creature? If you can”, the Devil stood proudly with the vast monster towering above him.

Jack plucked up all his courage and strolled casually towards the Devil. “Why it’s a Rabblewouldbegone. I’ve not seen one for a while, but I think that’s one of the smaller ones.”

“WHAAAAAAT??? Ah, but you’ve not won yet, you have to bring me a creature that I cant name and I have been everywhere and seen everything, there cant be a single thing that you could show me that I couldn’t name....” the Devil’s voice trailed off as the most peculiar creature appeared on the far side of the bridge.

Jack led the “Mary creature” onto the bridge.

“Yes, that’s a....of course it’s a....why I know that it’s....OOOOOOHHHH PAH!” and with that the Devil leapt on the back of the Rabblewouldbegone, rose up steeply into the sky, the clouds closed behind him and Jack and Mary never saw him again

Stowe - At the Temple of Venus - The Land Dispute - a tale told by Philippa Tipper

At theTemple of Venus

The Land Dispute

One day a man who owned a field left it in the care of another man. He took good care of the land, ploughing, weeding, planting and harvesting it. When the owner came back he said to the man who had been taking care of it, 'Give it back now. The land belongs to me.'

" 'No,' said the other man, 'I won't. The land belongs to me. You are the owner, but I am the one who has taken care of the land all this time. The land is mine.'

They began a fight, until the neighbours brought them to a judge to settle the dispute. The judge happened to be Hodja Nasrudin. Each man said, 'The land is mine! The land belongs to me!'

Hodja walked to the field, lay down in the dirt, and put his ear to the ground. 'What are you doing, Nasrudin?' they asked.

 'I'm listening.' 
'What are you listening to?'
 'The land.'

Both men laughed at him. 'Listening to the land? Listening to the land? What does the land have to say?'

Hodja looked up and said. 'The land says it does not belong to either of you. It belongs to no one. It says you belong to the land.' "

Being statues

The Picnic

About Nasreddin Hodja

Nasreddin Hodja is Turkey's (and perhaps all of Islam's) best-known trickster. His legendary wit and droll trickery were possibly based on the exploits and words of a historical imam. Nasreddin reputedly was born in 1208 in the village of Horto near Sivrihisar. In 1237 he moved to Aksehir, where he died in the Islamic year 683 (1284 or 1285). As many as 350 anecdotes have been attributed to the Hodja, as he most often is called. Hodja is a title meaning teacher or scholar. He frequently is compared with the northern European trickster Till Eulenspiegel.

The many spelling variations for Nasreddin include: Nasreddin, Nasrettin, Nasrudin, Nasr-id-deen, Nasr Eddin, Nasr-eddin, Nasirud-din, Nasr-ud-Din, Nasr-Eddin, and Nasr-Ed-Dine.

The many spelling variations for Hodja include: Hodja, Hodscha, Hoca, Chotza, Cogia, Khodja, and Khoja.

A Walk Along the Line

We were curious to know more about the NLR and Gordon Titmuss the Chairman & General Manager was on hand to give us some more information. You can find out more about travelling, visiting or volunteering on the NLR Website and read all the latest news on the Pitsford - Rail Blog. You can also follow them on Twitter

Designed and built by George R Stevenson, the Northampton to Market Harborough line was opened in 1859. It had eight stations, Northampton, Pitsford & Brampton, Spratton, Brixworth, Lamport, Kelmarsh, Clipston and Market Harborough and two tunnels; Kelmarsh at 322 yards long and Oxendon at 462 yards long on the down line (to Market Harborough) and the other bore at 453 yards long on the up line (to Northampton). 

Maureen and Charlie in the Waiting Room

The line had a staggered history, particularly in its final years. It was first closed to passenger traffic on 4^th January 1960 but was reopened to through traffic on the 6^th January 1969. It was closed again on 1^st May 1969 and reopened on 10th July 1972. The passenger service was finally withdrawn on 26^th August 1973. The complete history up to the present day can be found here 

Link to Map of the Line

Gordon giving us a tour of the Ticket Office 

Mr Bright - Stationmaster at Pitsford during the 1930s

Link to clearer image of Brixworth Station 

Link to history of the Line

Link to 1964 photograph of Pitsford Station Northamptonshire by Charlie Verrall

From John Evans Photostream

Link to Pitsford and Brampton Station 1965

Link to Pitsford and Brampton Station 1965

Pitsford Ironstone Quarries 1966

Pitsford Ironstone Quarries 1966

Link to Pitsford Quarries

Link to Pitsford Quarries

There are many tantalising photographs of bygone stations that were already in ruins in the '60's, how many still remain? You can see glimpses of the sturdy Victorian Station building in the three stations in Northampton, the station that remains today is so dull and depressing. There are very few traces left along the Valley Way, making the work done by the members and volunteers of the NLR extra special.  There will be a host of Autumn and Winter events at the station which will give people the opportunity to buy an ticket and hop on board!

The Best Laid Plans

There are times when plans and projects hit bumps in the road. Here you see us in March, at Brixworth Country Park, planning a Storytelling day for Beanfield Primary School as part of On the Right Track

We found a beautiful tree lined space to hear stories in, lush grass, blue sky - we were even worrying in case the children got too hot! A kind friend of Philippa's had come too, to see if we could use his portable marquees. We met a lovely Park Ranger on a small truck who was sure we'd be able to get the marquees to the space without too much trouble.

We had followed the Little Green Man Trail

Found this lovely carved sculpture

Passed by a dipping pond

Followed the curving paths 

and looked at the very distant waters of Pitsford Reservoir. We were busy discussing stories and picnics and an up-cyling activity for the day. Carole went to the office to return the permission forms only to find that none of us had enough Public Liability Insurance to enable the visit to take place. We went away dejected but determined to find a way forwards, only to discover that the school was not able to bring the children to the park as it was near water and the County Council judged it to be a Category 3 risk. To make matters even more complicated it was two days before half term and the bus would need to be booked or cancelled as we were holding the event the Tuesday after half term. The teacher Carole was liaising with wondered if we could bring the event to the school instead, but it would defeat the purpose of the project. We wanted to share the Brampton Valley Way and surrounding areas with participants.  It would have been a beautiful day, a wonderful walk with fabulous stories but alas, it was just not possible. We would have to find a different group and another setting.

Earlier in the year Carole had been back to see the textile students who had taken part in the New Vistas project and had asked them design a series of accessories inspired by a set of photographs she had taken of the textures found along the Brampton Valley Way. They created a lovely set of artefacts   using up-cycled / recycled fabrics and to thank them for their inspired designs Back To Books invited them to come on a walk, with stories and a picnic. There was good communication between all parties and Philippa and Allan came out on another planning walk.

The meeting point was where the Kelmarsh Station had once been

It was very grey and damp for June and whilst waiting for the Storytellers to arrive Carole to the opportunity to do a little more exploring.

Just beyond the bridge there is an unusual building with horses, chickens, geese and even a turkey in the yard, There are many intriguing out buildings and collections of things that may, at some time be useful. There are guard dogs who are very good at their job.

On the band above the window at the from of the house there are remnants of writing which possibly says Kelmarsh Arms 1910, but it had the look of a railway building.

Carole saw the owners and called to them to see if they could tell her more about the history of the house. They were very helpful, telling her that it had been a railway house but later it became a Public House, they thought it may have been run by the Grandmother of one of the local Farmers. They said that they had been there almost 16 years and when they bought the house it was almost derelict, the roof was gone, as were the internal fittings.

They said that the land by the road on the other side of the bridge had once been railway workers allotments. This link mentions allotments along the Kelmarsh Road near Clipston the photograph gives a very vague impression of what the land in the picture below may also have looked like.

Once Philippa and Allan arrived Carole took them to the spot she thought would be perfect for the stories and picnic, just inside the grounds of Kelmarsh Hall and close to the second of the Kelmarsh tunnels. There were picnic tables and a soft green canopy of leaves, a perfect spot for some Midsummer tales and traditions.

The group were unable to resist the lure of the tunnels themselves, the day was overcast but not particularly cold, however on approaching the second gated tunnel the temperature dropped and there was definitely a very different atmosphere. They decided to clamber up the embankment, traverse the top of the first tunnel and come back down to investigate.

There is something almost Egyptian about the shape and presence of the tunnels, the walls are still encrusted with soot, the space is dark and the surface quite badly rutted, most and ferns have made themselves at home on the ledges at the entrance.

It was tempting to make our voices as loud as possible and to stay quite close together as walking in  such a dark, dripping space was strange.

The shaft in the middle of the tunnel was a wonderful piece of engineering and although it wasn't raining water dropped on us from above

We would love to know about the rail line, it's buildings, and workers so if anyone has images or information to share, we would be delighted to hear from you!

Planning for the storytelling / picnic in The Bull at Kelmarsh

But  as with the best laid plans, unforeseen events conspired to thwart us, the students were caught up in a whirl of end of year activities and decided, two days before the event that they would not be joining us after all. Other members of Back to Books were working or on holiday so we were down to a very small group. We decided, yet again that it would be more prudent to cancel the event and are hugely grateful to the wonderful Word In Edgeways team for bring so understanding. It was very disappointing but possibly a blessing in disguise as the heavens opened on the Thursday and it has pretty much kept raining ever since!

Kelmarsh High Street in 1930 / 39

On The Right Track Upcycling Projects October / November

Recycled fabrics were used for this sweet little project with Year 4 children who created Christmas inspired stencils to screen print onto vintage Horrocks flannelette fabric. There is a different image on each side, which has been embellished with sequins, sewn together and given a ribbon tie in order to make a gift bag. The bags are going to be filled with something home made and will be given to members of the audience when the children sing carols at a home for the elderly. The fabric had been given to Carole by a friend's mother, there is always something satisfying about giving something someone might have thrown away a new lease of life and fabrics have such a power to connect us with people, time and place.

Another winter project was to create a story sack inspired by the The Very Hungry Caterpillar book by Eric Carle, once again most of the fabrics were recycled - Carole has a lot of tiny scraps of fabric kept for projects like these and the calico bags were from a local scrap recycling store. They have printing on one side but applying a fabric panel over this soon disappears the problem areas. As some people had no experience with textiles and were worried about using pins at home with small children around, Carole suggested using small dots of fabric glue to keep things in place before sewing. Once the bags were completed participants could find other online resources to use in conjunction with their Very Hungry Caterpillar books. Link 1 , Link 2, Link 3, Link4, Link 5

,