AFTER 300 years of lutking
under one of the widest bridges in Europe, Rochdale's boggart is back and
ready to party.
Starting at 1.30 pm on Monday 28th August at the top of Yorkshire Street, the boggart will lead a procession Pied Piper-style down to The Butts where an imaginative and varied performance will dazzle and amaze.......
It was decided to use the boggart as the symbolic mythical creature to bring the community together because of the local myth that has been passed down generations of families in Rochdale....
Rochdale Observer Wednesday 9th
August 2000
Your article "Boggart is back"
seriously underestimates the number of boggarts in and around Rochdale.
While fewer in number than of late, Boggartii Rochdaliensis, still performs
a useful function.
The urban boggart lives in coal cellars as in:
"Doant goo in't cellar yon's mucky an't boggart'll get thi".
Told to little lads by mums who wanted to avoid extra washing and ironing.
or:
"Gi't Boggart a bit o leet"
(Translation, "Put this lit Kelly lamp in the outside lav so that it doesn't freeze up tonight").
The home early boggart ensured teenagers were in at a decent hour ready for work in the morning as in:
"There's nobbut bobbies an boggarts abroad after half past nine, so get thi whoam!"
In so far as there was a boggart (singular) this would refer to the King of Boggarts "Owd Nab" who held (or holds) court at Boggart Hole Clough.
P.K. Milnrow, Rochdale.
Reader's Postbag Rochdale Observer
Wednesday 16th August 2000
I feel further translation from
Lancashire dialect may be neccessary for our American cousins.
"Doant goo in't cellar yon's
mucky an't boggart'll get thi" =
Do not go into the cellar as it
is dirty and the boggart will get you.
"Gi't Boggart a bit o leet" = Give the boggart a bit of light
Kelly lamp = a small paraffin light used as a heater used to prevent outside lavatories freezing up in winter.
outside lav = outside lavatories are still present in quite a proportion of Lancashire terraced houses in addition to inside ones.
"There's nobbut bobbies an
boggarts abroad after half past nine, so get thi whoam!" =
There is no-one but officers of
the Police Department and boggarts out after half past nine at night so
get yourself back home.