Fairy Folk

There still to this day exists the belief in the Fairy Folk throughout the Three Shires (Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire). One such place that the Fairy Folk are said to have inhabited can be found at the Fairyhough at Fools Nook along the Macclesfield to Leek road. The word Hough is Old English from the word Hoh, this means ridge, and as you travel out of Fools Nook towards Leek look towards your left and you will see a ridge, where it drops steeply at the end this is known as the hough which used to be the abode of the Fairies, perhaps it still is!

The Fairy Hough outside Fools Nook. Photo by Gary Tacagni.

Belief in the Fairies is far stronger in rural areas, and in some places in the Peak district farmers still leave a bowl of milk outside at night for the Fairies, if they do not do this they run the risk of the cow drying up and not giving milk.

This rock I have been told has some connection with the Fairy Folk, it is found on the far side of the Roaches in the Staffordshire Moorlands. Photo by Gary Tacagni.

This is known as the Fairy stone which can be found next to the old road known as the Earlsway, which the Earls of Chester used when travelling to the now ruined Abbey known as Dieulacres. Photo by Gary Tacagni.

In the Dane valley it used to be tradition to leave food for the Fairies in a field the night before it was due to be ploughed by the farmer. Out on the Ashbourne road the other side of the town called Leek there is a place known as the Manifold valley, the high rocky sides of this valley make it difficult for sunlight to reach its bottom, it is said that Fairies light the way for the traveller through this ravine, perhaps these are Will O’ the Wisp known locally as Jenny Burnt Tail.

A view down into the Manifold Valley. Photo by Gary Tacagni.

At Ludchurch in the ancient Backforest which can be found on the far side of the Roaches in the Staffordshire Moorlands there is a legend there that the Fairies danced at dawn outside this natural chasm, also the cave which is at the southern end of the chasm but is now sealed up is said to be the entrance to the otherworld.