Irish Charms in Northern England

FROM about i8oo to 1850, it was a popular belief in Tyneside and the surrounding countryside that a stone brought from Ireland possessed the virtue of curing cattle that had been bitten by an adder or similar reptile. Not only were Irish stones held in high regard as charms, but so were sticks, and indeed many other things imported from Ireland. For example, a farmer who lived in a valley infested with adders considered himself fortunate if he possessed an Irish horse or cow; a tooth of the former would as effectually neutralize a sting as an Irish stone or stick, and a touch from the cow was equally efficacious. If a native of Ireland made a circle with his finger round a reptile, it died. It was commonly believed in Devonshire about a hundred years ago that a serpent could not escape from a circle drawn round it with an ash-rod. In Germany, the sap of the ash-tree was drunk as a remedy for snake-bites, whilst in Sweden it was believed that the touch of a hazel-rod was sufficient to deprive a serpent of its venom. The Irish charm-stone was, however, the most popular remedy for snake-bite throughout the North of England and Scotland, and it is recorded that belief in its virtue lingered on in the secluded dales north of the Humber until the turn of the

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• Healing Charms in Use in England and Wales 1700–1950

  Owen Davies•Folklore•1996

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• Charmers and Charming in England and Wales from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century

  Owen Davies•Folklore•1998

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