ROBERT Staff, who formerly kept the Maid's Head Inn at Stalham Norfolk, opposite the churchHe and two other menwatched the church porch, opposite to the house, on St Mark's Eve

The above passage, recorded in 1849, is one of many accounts of a macabre ritual carried out by brave parishioners who wished to gain knowledge of who would die or be married in the next twelve months. In this article I would like to explain more about this practice; consider the significance of the church porch and the lych gate and attitudes to the dead in the past; and finally look at a modern homage to death customs in the form of the Lyke Wake Walk.

From at least the seventeenth century until the latter part of the nineteenth, and particularly on St Mark's Eve (April 24) at many parishes around the country, the village seer (or ghost-seer, wise-woman or man, witch, wizard or fortune teller) would hold a night vigil either in the church, the church porch, the lych gate, or even from a nearby lane or window, between the hours of eleven and one. They may have fasted prior to the ritual and they may have been required to walk round the church a number of times before watching. The consistent point is that they would be required to look in silence for the wraiths (spirits) of those who would die (and in some cases, those who would marry) during the following twelve month period.

During the ritual (which in some places was carried out on All Hallow's Eve, or on the eves of New Year, Midsummer or Christmas) and which is similar to ones found in Brittany and Holland, the wraiths (sometimes called "doubles") of living members of community would be seen by the observer as a procession which went under the lych gate, through the church porch and then into the church. After a short time, the procession would re-appear and disperse into the night.

Ordinary people also tried the ritual and the folklore record contains a number of stories warning of the danger, including the experience of Robert Hallywell, a tailor, and Edward Vicars, a curate at Haxey in North Lincolnshire in the 1600s. The men intended to carry out the St Mark's eve ritual, but when the tailor called on his friend he told him to go on ahead and that he would join him later. Hallywell went to stand in the church porch but Vicars remained in his chamber where he had unintentionally fallen asleep. That night Hallywell saw the wraiths of 40 of his neighbours, but what shocked him most was the appearance of the spirit of Vicars among the procession.

All of the villagers seen by Hallywell on that fateful night did pass away during the year including his friend Vicars, and with each death the tailor became more and more disturbed, particularly when he heard that the Lord of the Manor wished to hear his account of the proceedings. Fearing that he would be asked to carry out the porch watch again, he went to hide in the Cars, an area of undrained and treacherous fen and marsh, where, knowing little perhaps of living on wild food (he was after all a tailor), he almost starved.

Hallywell may have believed, as they did in many areas, that once a seer had carried out the church-porch watch they would be expected to continue with it until they saw their own wraith. In other places it was believed that visions of wraiths would not appear until the vigil had been carried out for three years.

The time of the ritual was also extremely symbolic, and while many watched on St Mark's Eve, which is quite close to May eve, (known as Beltane in Celtic areas), the alternative dates were times of the year when supernatural influences could affect our world and the spirits were particularly active. May Eve is opposite in the calendar to All Hallow's Eve, (the ancient Celtic fire festival of Samhain) and Christmas and Midsummer are both at the times of the Solstice. Shakespeare in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" has Puck mention the appearance of spirits at this time:
"Now it is the time of night,
That the graves all gaping wide,
Every one lets forth his sprite,
In the church-way paths to glide."

The consistent thing with the church-porch watches is that the procession went along the church-way path, through a lych gate and/or a porch and into the church. The researcher Paul Devereux has attempted to explore the location and significance of these sites where spirits were, and are still reported, to be seen. "Lych" is believed to be related to the German leich which means "corpse" and the lych gate, like many church porches, often had benches so both the coffin and the coffin bearers could rest before going into the church. Devereux has found evidence of pathways and tracks from outlying parts of parishes to the churches along which funeral processions would travel. Many of these routes date back to medieval times when coffins would be carried by the mourners.

In the days before good roads, in many parts of the country funeral processions could find the way extremely difficult especially if there were steep hillsides. Consequently along the corpse-ways there would be stopping points, often large stones, on which the coffin, or the shrouded body, would be placed while the bearers rested. The length of the journey could not easily be calculated and so often the procession would be forced to rest either in the lych gate or the porch until the time of the funeral. It is theorised that the emotional energy of the mourners added to the potential for ghostly apparitions.

The most famous corpse-way is probably the path from Rydal to Grasmere in Cumbria, as this is one walked by William Wordsworth. Rydal, though it had a chapel from 1824, did not have burials as the ground was too rocky. The deceased had to be carried to Grasmere about 3 km away and about half way along the track there was a two-tiered coffin stone - the lower section being a brick built seat for the bearers and the upper, a large rock for resting the coffin on.

There is no evidence for a corpse way across the Cleveland Moors of North Yorkshire, but the thought of such a journey which would have passed many ancient burial mounds, combined with the medieval Lyke Wake Dirge, led one man to invent a relatively new tradition - the Lyke Wake Walk, a popular long distance walk, sometimes carried out by people dressed in black mourning clothes or carrying empty coffins. So that I do not leave you with your head full of thoughts of the macabre, I would now like to explore the origins of this eccentric walk.

In 1955 a farmer called Bill Cowley, wrote a piece in "The Dalesman" on the prospect of walking 40 miles across the untracked heather with only grouse and sheep for company, and issued a challenge to anyone who could cross from Scarth Wood Moor, the most westerly point of the Cleveland range near the village of Osmotherley, to Wyke Point at Ravenscar, the most easterly point where the Cleveland Hills fall to the sea.

A few months later the first party, which included Bill Cowley himself, set off and completed the journey in 13 hours in actual walking time. In those days it was over rough country without good footpaths and anyone who could complete the walk within 24 hours was by definition a trooper and a very good hiker.

Looking for a name for his walk Bill decided that the Lyke Wake Dirge, which describes the journey made by the dead to their final resting place, was appropriate. "Lyke" is derived from the same root as "lych", and "Wake" is the watching over of a corpse, though in some places it has come to mean a party after the funeral to celebrate the life of the deceased. A Lyke Wake Club was formed which issued a "Certificate of Condolence" to any hiker who could prove he or she had completed the walk.

Today the Lyke Wake Walk is seen as a challenge for many people both young and old. Thousands attempt it each year and for many it is used as an opportunity to raise money for charity. There is no longer the requirement to physically prove completion of the walk, it is taken on trust and the walker can purchase the Certificate and other memorabilia.

Sadly, Bill died in 1994 and his original Lyke Wake Club folded 50 years after the first walk. A new club has since been formed which supports reducing moorland erosion; defining the Lyke Wake Walk as a right-of-way; marking the Lyke Wake Walk on Ordnance Survey maps; discouraging excessively large groups on the Lyke Wake Walk and creating and implementing a programme for path repair and waymarking.

  • Further information on the Lyke Wake Walk particularly up to date and essential information for people who wish to attempt it can be found via the website: http://www.lykewake.org/ or in the book "The Lyke Wake Walk Guide" by Brian Gordon Smailes. And for those who are wondering, yes I do intend to make the walk. I have purchased the book and a good pair of walking boots. Now I just need to build up from the usual 2-3 miles of flatland to 40 miles of much rougher, tougher terrain.