| Boggart Hole Clough |
The clough was in former times, said to be haunted by a boggart, and there are a number of stories attached to it. Some of these tales probably became attached to the area after they had been written about other similar boggart infested places.
The tale that is most often told about it mentions a Boggart infested farm, which became so haunted that the farmer and his family were forced to leave. As he was passing his neighbours house with a loaded cart his neighbour asked if they were leaving, the farmer replied "Aye we're flitting" only to have the words repeated out of thin air. The farmer, realising that the boggart was following them had no choice but to return to the house.
Jennifer Westwood in her book Albion suggests that the story originated in a book by Croften Croker (Fairy legends) who tells the same story about an Irish Leprechaun. Croker gave the story to J. Roby who included it about Boggart Hole Clough in his book Lancashire Traditions, probably to have a good story to go with the name of Boggart Hole.
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So what is a Boggart? A boggart is a mischievous spirit mainly found in Lancashire and Yorkshire, they were thought to be responsible for poltergeist activity, and there are many other folk tales about their mischievous pranks. Often lonely places were thought to be haunted by them and other supernatural creatures, and were avoided by the local populace as places of superstition and magic.
There is a similar Boggart Hole in Oldham - not far from Manchester - (now occupied by Henshaw Street and St Mary's Way), which was also thought to be haunted. There was also a haunted building here now long gone although no record of the haunting survives. It is likely that many northern towns had these haunted places in the 18th century - where the old spirits were still thought to reside as the rapid urbanisation of the booming mill towns smothered the green fields.
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| Map ref: SD 8602 |
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