spriggan

{{short description|Legendary creature in Cornish faery lore}}

{{other uses}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox mythical creature

|name = Spriggan

|image = Spriggan sculpture by Marilyn Collins, Parkland Walk, Haringey.jpg

|caption = Sculpture by Marilyn Collins

|Grouping = Mythological creature
Fairy
Sprite

|Country = England

|Region = Cornwall

}}

A spriggan {{IPAc-en|s|p|r|ɪ|dʒ|ə|n}} is a legendary creature from Cornish folklore. Spriggans are particularly associated with West Penwith in Cornwall.Various folklore collections e.g. Craig Weatherhill and Paul Devereux, Myths and Legends of Cornwall, 1994, p. 23, Sigma Leisure, {{ISBN|978-1850583172}}

Etymology

Spriggan is a dialect word, pronounced with the grapheme as /d͡ʒ/, sprid-jan, and not sprigg-an, borrowed from the Cornish plural spyrysyon 'spirits'.Dr Ken George, An Gerlyver Meur, p. 600, Cornish Language Board, {{ISBN|978-1902917849}}

In folklore

Spriggans have often been depicted as grotesquely ugly, wizened old men with large childlike heads. They were said to be found at old ruins, cairns, and barrows guarding buried treasure.{{cite book|title=Piskies, Spriggans, Knockers, and the Small People – Traditional Tales from Cornwall|date=c. 1979|publisher=Tor Mark Press|isbn=978-0850250435|location=Truro|page=2}} Although small in stature, they have often been considered to be the ghosts of giants and retained gigantic strength, and in one story collected by Robert Hunt, they showed the ability to swell to enormous size.Robert Hunt, Popular Romances of the West of England, 3rd edition, 1916, p. 81, {{ISBN|978-1605064604}} Hunt associated these spirits with the hillfort known as Trencrom Hill in Cornwall.

Spriggans were notorious for their unpleasant dispositions, and delighted in working mischief against those who offended them. They raised sudden whirlwinds to terrify travellers, sent storms to blight crops, and sometimes stole away mortal children, leaving their ugly changelings in their place. They were blamed if a house was robbed or a building collapsed, or if cattle were stolen.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/englishdialectdi05wrig#page/690/mode/1up|title=The English Dialect Dictionary|publisher=Henry Frowde|year=1905|editor=Wright, Joseph|volume=V|page=690}} In one story, an old woman got the better of a band of spriggans by turning her clothing inside-out (turning clothing supposedly being as effective as holy water or iron in repelling fairies) to gain their loot.Robert Hunt, Popular Romances of the West of England, 3rd edition, 1916, The Old Woman Who Turned Her Shift, page 113-114

On Christmas Eve, spriggans met for a midnight Mass at the bottom of deep mines, and passersby could hear them singing.Robert Hunt, Popular Romances of the West of England, 3rd edition 1916, page 349 However, it was not spriggans but the buccas or knockers who were associated with tin mining, and who played a protective role towards the miners.Robert Hunt, Popular Romances of the West of England, 3rd edition, 1916, page 82

Based on the collections of Robert Hunt and William Bottrell, Katharine Briggs characterized the spriggans as fairy bodyguards.{{Cite book|last=Briggs|first=Katharine|title=A Dictionary of Fairies|publisher=Penguin|year=1976|isbn=978-0140176582|pages=300, 380–381}} The English Dialect Dictionary (1905) compared them to the trolls of Scandinavia.

Sculpture

A sculpture of a spriggan by Marilyn Collins can be seen in Crouch End, London, in some arches lining a section of the Parkland Walk (a disused railway line). The sculpture was installed in 1993.{{Cite web|last=Collins|first=Marilyn|title=Marilyn Collins|url=http://marilyncollins.moonfruit.com/see-my-work/4591770577|access-date=10 Aug 2020}} If walking along the Parkland Walk from Finsbury Park to Highgate station, the Spriggan is to the right just before the disused railway platforms of the former Crouch End station. To the left, on the southside of the Parkland Walk is Crouch Hill Park where Ashmount School has been located since January 2013. The sculpture is sometimes mistaken for the Green Man or Pan.{{cn|date=December 2023}}

See also

  • {{Portal inline|Cornwall}}

Citations

{{reflist}}

General sources

  • Briggs, Katharine. A Dictionary of Fairies. Penguin, 1976, {{ISBN|978-0140176582}}
  • [http://www.underground-history.co.uk/northernh3.php Underground History: "The Northern Heights"], Hywel Williams. Accessed 8 July 2007.

{{Culture of Cornwall}}

{{Fairies}}

Category:Culture of Cornwall

Category:Cornish legendary creatures