Folklore - The Legend of Trollers Gill.
Trollers Gill - beware…
In North Yorkshire, England, not far from the village of Skyreholme, is a limestone gorge or gill, known locally as Trollers Gill. The name Trollers comes from troll and ears 'arse', so the name can be translated as Trolls Arse (very cheeky.) Arse was usually used to descibe a buttock shaped hill. The Gorge is about half a mile long and has a few caves, the deepest of which is ominously named ‘Hell Hole.’
With a name like Trollers Gill, one would expect there to be stories of Trolls haunting the region, and you would not be disappointed. Local Folklore tells of a clan of these monsters making their home here - an unpleasant lot - they would push boulders down onto any unsuspecting travellers journeying through the gorge.
But there is another even more sinister legend attached to this landmark, for it is also said to be the dwelling place of a mythical Black dog (Barghest.) This terrifying creature is capable of turning any unsuspecting person to stone with one look. He is described as having long hair, big eyes, as large as saucers, which burn flaming red in the darkness.
The following tale about the spectral Black dog was said to have been recorded in 1881.
The story runs that a man who lived in the area decided to spend a night in the Gill to witness the barghest for himself. One windy moonlit night he set off down the winding ravine, as he crept into the dark depths of the ravine he heard the shout” Forbear”. This did not daunt him and he walked on until he came to a huge Yew tree, where no light penetrated. Under the tree he drew a circle on the ground, chanted charms of protection and kissed the damp ground three times. He then called on the fearsome beast to appear. At once a howling wind blew up and fire flashed from the rocks as the barghest appeared and attacked the unfortunate man – his protective circle having no power to repel the creature. His body was discovered later by a shepherd with mysterious marks on his breast that had not come from the hand of man.
Devil dogs are present throughout the United Kingdom, with many places having stories about these terrifying creatures, each area has its own name for the beast, in Lancashire it is called ‘Striker’, and in East Anglia it is known as ‘Black Shuck’. I will most certainly be visiting a few more of these canine terrors in the future.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post my friend, I will leave you with a link to an old folksong about this legend. Stay Spooky.
