Page:Cornish feasts and folk-lore.djvu/91

 Legends of Parishes, etc. 79 are some Druidical remains, which have the curious name of " Kerris roundago." Some stones taken from it to repair Penzance pier were fatal to the horses who drew them, although they were young and healthy. In the adjacent parish of Newlyn, a fishing village, the favourite resort of artists, a great deal of gossiping on summer evenings goes on around the small wells (here called peeths), whilst the women wait patiently for each in turn to fill her earthen pitchers ; some of the most industrious bring their knitting in their pockets with them. Opposite one of these wells, towering over St. Peter's church, is a striking pile of rocks, " Tolcarn." On the summit are some curious markings in the stones, which, when a child, I was told were the devil's footprints ; but the following legend, which I give on the authority of the Rev. W. S. Lach-Szyrma, Vicar of St. Peter's, is quite new to me : — "The summit of the rock is reticulated with curious veins of elvan, about which a quaint Cornish legend relates that the Bucca- boo, or storm-god of the old Cornish, once stole the fishermen's net. Being pursued by Paul choir, who sang the Creed, he flew to the top of Paul hill and thence over the Coombe to Tolcarq, where he turned the nets into stone." We have now reached the town of Penzance, and through its streets folks of the last generation often heard rumbling at midnight an old-fashioned coach drawn by headless horses ; or saw a pro- cession of coffins slowly wending its way to the churchyard. It was unlucky to meet this, as death was sure soon to follow, and tradition speaks of a woman who accidentally struck against one and died in the same night. A coach with headless horses and coachman, also just before Christmas, went through the streets of Penryn ; this coachman had the power of spiriting away people who met and stared at him, unless they turned their heads and averted the evil by some mystical signs. In Penzance town were many haunted houses, but space will only allow of my noticing a few. One in Chapel Street (formerly Our Lady's Street) was tenanted by the spirit of Mrs. Baines, an eccentric old lady. At the back of her house was a very fine orchard well stocked with fruit-trees, which