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| Peter's Stone |
Today we took advantage of the sunshine for a short walk starting
from Eyam, the plague village. A very quiet walk it was too. While eating lunch on a grassy spot
overlooking Silly Dale all we heard were the curlews overhead. Yes there really
is a Derbyshire dale called Silly Dale but sadly there isn’t one nearby called
Sensible Dale.
As we turned back towards Eyam we could see Peter’s Stone in
the distance. Local legend has it that this is where the last gibbeting in Derbyshire took place, although this link suggests there were one or two more. Old habits I suppose.
7 comments:
Lucky man. I find the sound of curlews to be really thrilling. I haven't heard one for years. We're off to the Cheviot Hills in the summer, so I hope to get lucky then.
This may seem odd but I embiggened your lovely picture and saw no curlews. Is this a post-modern trope? Just adding that Yeats was profoundly depressed by the calls of curlews and that leached into the masterpiece of Peter Warlock - the song-cycle called "The Curlew"
What "silly" means now and what it meant in the past is different, so there.
See https://www.etymonline.com/word/silly
Always an enjoyable day visiting a plague village.
Sam - we see and hear them fairly often but only in certain upland areas such as the countryside around Eyam. You should have a fair chance of seeing them in the Cheviots I imagine. Lovely area.
Graeme - no curlews in that view, the curlews were about half a mile from there. I wasn't quick enough to take a photo of them. I like their call but there is something a little eerie about the sound.
Demetrius - yes the older meaning is how its name will have arisen, although why that should be I'm not sure either because there is nothing special about it.
James - as long as you don't start sneezing.
Their calls certainly appealed to Yeats
I curlew, cry no more in the air,
Or 9nly to the waters in the West,
Because your crying brings to mind
Passion-dimmd eyes and long heavy hair
That was shaken out over my breast :
There is enough evil in the crying of wind
A few typos there... Sorry
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