THE HORNGARTH.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 1600, 31 May 1924, Page 20 (Supplement)

THE HORNGARTH.

OR PENNY KSDQE. (Compiled by E. Breckon). About -half a dozen miles south west of Whitby, in Yorkshire, lies Arncliffe. Wood. In this one-time Royal forest, was enacted, in the year 1159, a tragedy that has had farreaching consequences, in, be it said, a ceremonial way. The ceremonial part of the narrative herein set forth, though covering a period of over seven and a half centuries, is but the perpetuation of a still earlier custom of like nature reaching away back into the dim and misty earlier centuries. What appears to be reliable proof of the more ancient custom is available. On the eve of Ascension (i.e. the day before the holy day), a party of nobles entered Arncliffe Woods, followed by a goodly pack of boar hounds, in quest of wild boar, and presently, as quaintly described in an ancient document of the time, "and there found a great wild boar.'' What joyous recollections, with what thrilling of every fibre, the quoted words will recall to the memory of those readers, who, like the writer, have indulged in the glorious sport of wild pig hunting, amid the beautiful bushclad ranges of New Zealand. Inslead of the old-lime, carefully bred and well-trained boar, accompanied by hounds. a pack of nondescript mongrels perhaps, of all sorts and sizes and of exceedingly vague ancestry: hi.il, whose medley of yaps, barks and yells make, the forest resound as with sweetest harmony, while heralding the fact "they have pot on a pig." when the crowd, armed with perhaps a solitary sheath knife in- lieu of the boar-staves of medieval and earlier times, sprint with incredible speed considering the many obstacles, to the source of the hubbub. A Stirring Scene. Such will be aide lo visualise the stir and impetus of the moment and subsequent movement of the hunting party in Arncliffe Forest. The loud baying of Ihosc great hoar hounds springing to the chase ami quickly out-distancing the hunting party, whose progress is hindered by having to pick their way through the labyrinth of trees, and so forth.

At a distance of possibly a mile from the commencement of the chase, was a stone-built chapel at Eskdale-side; the roofless four walls I still saw standing while on a visit to England in 1911- In the building was a Hermit Monk engaged in prayer and meditation. "The hounds did run the boar very well, and being wounded yet holly pursued, and dead run the hoar look in at the chapel-door and there laid him down and presently died." The hermit shut the hounds forth of the, chapel and kept himself within, at his meditation and prayer." Tim hunting part;-', doubtless guided by the baying of the dogs, soon readied the door, of the chapel and holly demanded admission. This the .Monk refused, wishing to avoid desecration; but at length he unbarred the door, when the hunting parly savagely attacked the holy man, beating him severely With their boar-slaves, from which he died several weeks later. The aggressors, fearing the rule of "death for death." sought sanctuary at Scarbro, but were recalled to appear before the dying man. by the Abbot of his order. "The gentlemen came and Urn hermit being s ore sick and at the point of death., .-aid, 'I am sure lo die of these wounds-' The Abbot answered, 'they shall die for thee,' hut the hermit said, 'not so, for I freely forgive them for my death, if "they be content to be enjoyned to this penance, for the safeguard of their souls.' The gentlemen being present ami being terrified with the fear of death, hid him enjoin what lie would, so provided, he saved their lives." The Penance. The penance, was briefly, as follows;—The murderers were not to forfeit their Jives, nor their property, which would revert to the successors of I lie holy man, if on the eve of Ascension Day they, or their representative repair to Arncliffe Wood at sunrise on the eve of Ascension and there me el an officer of the Abbot, "who will blow his horn, to the intent that you may know- how to find him." They were to cut a given number of hazel sticks with a knife, to cost one penny (a sum equal to a labourer's day wage in those days) and to cut so many Tedders <, to wattle the • Penny Hodge') and carry some on their backs, "so to be at Whitby Harbour before 0 of the clock," "and each of you shall set your stakes at the brim of the water" 'i.e. at low water mark;. "If the sea is full" i the tide in) they were not. to fix the Horngarih that year. Minute directions were enjoined as to distance apart the stakes were to be fixed and to be driven with a hammer costing a penny, if ihe hedge failed to stand three tides the properties of Ihe murderers were, to be forfeited to the hermit's appointee or successors.

The Horngarth while being fixed attracts thousands of people to witness the unique spectacle including press representatives anl photographers from widely separated parts of England. The function has been considerably modified from the elaborate affair of very ancient times. When I witnessed the ceremony in 1011, Mr Isaac Hullon, a magnificent specimen o.'" a. yeoman farmer, brother of the lady lessee of the 2a acres of land nominally depending (re ownership) on the penny hedge withstanding the onslaught of three North Sea tides, drove the slakes and wattled the "Tedders," assisted by Mr (Jockrill—a descendant of Thomas (Jockrill, who was the man in charge of the Hazel and Yeddcr cutting operations when tho'sc undergoing penance cut their material for ihe ' llornsgarth hedge 760 oild years ago. As these commenced the hedge, Mr W. Conyers, .organist of Thorpe Church, near Robin Hood's Bay, blew three blasts on a copper horn, used for the ceremony for over five centuries. He then in a loud voice called, in time-honoured fashion, "Out on ye," three times. The same form was cone through when the hedge was half-completed, and again on completion of Ihe Horngarih Hedge (Garth Hedge, or enclosure). It may" be of interest to the thoughtful reader to mention thai the last, letter in the sentence "(Jut on ye" has exactly the "a" sound.in the alphabet, thus "ye" is, or rather was, spoken as if spelled " ya " by Mr Conyers, and having been exclaimed yearly through so many centuries may safely be taken as an indication that such was the way our remote ancestors expressed the word.

NOTE. —The dying hermit, or perhaps the Abbot on his behalf, must surely have been a humourist and scientist combined, for in ihe records, which I have quoted sparingly for

consideration of .space, the culprits are frequently admonished not to fix the Penny Hedge " if the sea is full" (i.e., if the tide is in). Ascension Day is determined toy Easter, which is regulated by the moon, which regulates the tides, consequently by fixing the hedge at 9 a.m. on Holy Thursday the tide is always out.