Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Country and County: Greater Manchester

Ancient Sites

Aiggin Stone (Aigin Stone), Blackstone Edge

Roughly 600 years old, the Aiggin Stone is thought to be a medieval marker on the boundary between Yorkshire and Lancashire on what may have been a Roman road. Now standing about 4 foot in height, it was said to have originally measured 7 foot. There a few carvings in the stone, a cross and the letters I and T.

Folklore / Hauntings

Lostock Tower

The Grade II listed Gatehouse, a private residence, is all that now remains of Lostock Hall, a moated manor house demolished between 1816 and 1824. Lostock Hall was the ancestral home of the Anderton family.

Other Mysteries

The Dead Hand

The "Dead Hand," or the "Holy Hand," as it is sometimes styled, alluded to in the foregoing tradition,is the centre around which quite a galaxy of marvellous tales have gathered. It is known to have belonged to Father Edmund Arrowsmith, a Jesuit, who suffered the extreme penalty of the law at Lancaster, on the 28th August 1628.

English Folktales / Folklore / Folktales

Tyrone’s Bed

A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5 (1911) explains that ‘On the north side of Marland, by the Roch, is a wooded clough known as Tyrone’s Bed, a story invented by Roby and William Nuttall (d. 1840) gaining currency that the Earl of Tyrone, outlawed by Elizabeth, took refuge there.’ Below is the story of Hugh O’Neill (Hugh The Great O’Neill) (Born c.

English Folktales / Folklore / Folktales / Hauntings

Ince Hall, Ince-in-Makerfield

John Roby in his ‘Traditions of Lancashire’ (1872) relates the following tale which he entitled ‘The Haunted Manor House’, which he identifies as being Ince Hall in Wigan. As Roby acknowledges, there are a few buildings known as Ince Hall which leads to confusion when trying to identify the exactly where this tale is said to be based.

Ancient Sites / English Folktales / Folklore / Folktales

Mab’s Cross

The remains of this 13th century (earliest known mention 1277) stone cross can be found on Standishgate and is thought to have been a medieval waymarker between Chorley and Wigan.  It was moved from its original position on the other side of the road in 1922 when the road was widened.  The cross’s name is derived from its legendary association with Lady Mabel Bradshaw.  T

Festivals / March

The Ashton Gyst-Ale

The gyst-ale, or guising feast, was an annual festival of the town of Ashton-under-Lyne. It appears from the rental of Sir John de Assheton, compiled a.d. 1422, that a sum of twenty shillings was paid to him as lord of the manor for the privilege of holding this feast by its then conductors.