Myths and Legends

PuckleWeb

Local Myths and Legends....

Holy Springs and Wells are abundant in the parish. St. Aldham's Farm has a well in its yard which is supposed to have healing properties for the eyes. There is evidence for this well going back to the 8th. Century.

The yard behind the Fleur de Lys Inn used to have a well in it to make it easier to water the horses when carriages used to pull into the yard overnight, and there will probably still be a spring there today.

The now demolished cottage that was behind the Fleur de Lys Inn used this well in its yard during the 19th. century.

The yard at Cranbrook Farm has a well in it that has been filled in, possibly on the ancient site of King Edmund's Palace. There is also a spring at the bottom of a field on the Cranford Farm property. There is a spring in the field at Kings Lane, near where the moat ends on the Moat House property, and Yew Tree Cottage in the village centre had a well in its vicinity, used in the 19th. Century for water for the village.

Myths and Legends abound in the village......

On the Feltham Road is a house built at the end of the 1700's. It lies near a brook which is the parish boundary. Thirty years ago the two daughters of the present owner, were playing near the brook and the youngest of them cowered as a black horse jumped over her head. However, the elder daughter saw nothing, although she was warned by her sister to watch out for it. Saxon mythology states that parish boundaries or the edges of tribal territories were protected by black horses or black dogs.

The small archway in the Fleur de Lys Inn façade to the north used to go through into a courtyard and an old cottage. Hearsay has it that there was a well outside the cottage and someone drowned in it in the 19th. Century bringing the yard bad luck.

Dennisworth Farm was lived in by a Mr Beamish. As a child the granddaughter of Mr Beamish was told of a ghost story whereby an old farmer in the 18th. Century had farmed sheep for their fleeces but had kept the fleeces in his attic until the price of wool went up. One day he checked them in the attic and found they had been eaten by moths. In a rage he stormed downstairs and attacked his wife; sometimes the farmer's ghost can now be heard running up and down the stairs of the farm in his rage.

There have been UFO sightings on the old Bridge near Siston. Two members of Pucklechurch village saw a flying saucer hovering near Siston Court (built by the Dennis family in 1585) on the same evening. Local hearsay also has it that if a Pucklechurch boy is looking for a wife, he should look no further than Shortwood Hill; that is not from outside the parish!