Hubble bubble toil and trouble!

[tobydog]

What a fantastic find.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-16066680

 

[vicky whitworth]

How interesting. Can't believe someone didn't know it was there.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Rather an over-reaction perhaps? For example it's not obvious how a cottage which (it's at least implied) has been lost since the Pendle witch trials of the 17th century should come to contain a 19th century range...

 

[Flyfisher]

Perhaps some 19th century yuppie bought it, ripped out the cauldron and installed the then-equivalent of an Aga. :wink:

But I do wonder how the cottage became completely covered with earth in the first place.

 

[Feltwell]

But I do wonder how the cottage became completely covered with earth in the first place.

Maybe it's an early example of one of those grass roofs that are so trendy right now!

 

[Penners]

May one be permitted to append a small correction to the headline quote, above?

Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Macbeth, Act IV, Scene 1

P. Edant

 

[tobydog]

Like I said the other day Penners, I only know Monty Python's Life of Brian!!

 

[Penners]

Stick with this forum, tobydog. We'll bash some culture into you! :wink:

 

[tobydog]

Having said that, I can find it when I need to :roll:

Enter the three Witches.

1 WITCH. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
2 WITCH. Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin'd.
3 WITCH. Harpier cries:—'tis time! 'tis time!
1 WITCH. Round about the caldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.—
Toad, that under cold stone,
Days and nights has thirty-one;
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot!
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble; <----------------
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
3 WITCH. Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
Witches' mummy; maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark;
Root of hemlock digg'd i the dark;
Liver of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,—
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingrediants of our caldron.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

 

[Penners]

Good luck sourcing the baboon's blood.

 

[tobydog]

I'm more concerned that you appear to think the rest of it is readily available!! I work in the City and there are some dodgy 'speciality' markets as you head out east so who knows. Baboon's blood is easy - Woburn Safari Park.

 

[fluffytail10]

mmmm 200 years under a mound of soil and it still appears to be only slightly more damp than my place :wink:

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Fascinating stuff here:

http://www.pendlewitches.co.uk/

 

[Penners]

Yes, very interesting, FW. Although some of it is, of course, quite familiar to me. Mrs P and Mrs M (our daughter) often cook Sunday lunch together.

 

[robgil]

Load of old pants if you ask me.

Carl Sanders, United Utilities' project manager, said: "It's not often you come across a fairytale cottage complete with witch's cat.

No Carl , it isn't, just as you haven't in this instance.

Simon Entwistle, an expert on the Pendle witches, said: "In terms of significance, it's like discovering Tutankhamen's tomb.

Erm no Simon, somehow I don't think it is.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Absolutely fascinating! I wondered about the 19thc range , but-- who knows?