A Tale of Old Buckley by Neville Dunn: Fig. 1870 O.S. Map of the Padeswood Area "

Padeswood, Buckley

1870

The topics in this tale which have referrals elsewhere in the archive are highlighted.

Fig. 15. (The Cover Picture for the Article)

My most prized map is an original print of Christopher Saxton's map of Flintshire that was drawn by William Kip in1607 and was a wedding gift from Bob and Gwyn Harvey.

A TALE OF OLD BUCKLEY

In 1971, when I had designed a new fire station for Buckley to be built on the site of the old Duke of York Inn, I researched the background to the legend of the tunnel leading from the cellar of the inn. This story is recorded elsewhere under the title of the Duke of York tunnel.

I was greatly helped in my research by an elderly, retired miner, Mr Williams, who lived on The Bannel and came up with his explanation for the route of the tunnel that I had found that which later proved to be correct. He had lived in Buckley for most of his life but his family originally came from Leeswood. In our various discussions he started to tell me stories about Buckley that had been told to him by his grandfather who lived in Leeswood and had been born about 1850.

Old Mr Williams had told his grandson of the wild reputation Buckley had in the middle of the 19^th century. Buckley was the centre of the Flintshire coal mining industry and it was in Buckley that the headquarters of the Mineworker's Club was situated. This Club was a precursor to the National Health Service in that miners paid in a weekly contribution to the Club's funds and in return received financial assistance when members' illness, injury or death created problems for the family.

Mr Williams' grandfather, as a youngster, had had to walk regularly from Leeswood to Buckley to pay the Club 'dues' as the contributions were called. He had been threatened however by his parents, who were staunch nonconformists, to pay the money and quickly get out of Buckley because of the lawless nature of the place. Apparently according to old Mr Williams, there were a great many drinking dens and sporting activities included cockfighting in a cockpit on Etna Road at the Wheatsheaf Inn, bare fist fighting on The Common and bear baiting in the coachyard of the Duke of York Inn.

His story included the tale of the public hangman on his way to an execution at Ruthin Goal staying at the Duke of York Inn and demonstrating to customers how he hanged people, almost killing himself by accident in the process. This latter tale of a faulty demonstration is common to many parts of Britain but it is possible that the hangman used the turnpike road from Chester through Broughton and Buckley on his way to Mold and eventually to Ruthin.

The strangest tale however came one day when he told me of a story passed on to him concerning some young men in the middle of the 1800's who set out one day to go down to Padeswood Hall. As they walked down the footpath across the fields between Meg's Lane and Padeswood, something had descended from the sky issuing a brilliant light and had settled in the next field to them. The young men cowered behind the hedge separating the field in great fear of what they had seen. Some time later, the object rose in the air from the field and, with a great noise, sped off into the clouds leaving a ring of burnt grass in the field.

The story was kept secret by those involved for many years but, when it eventually became known, the young men were asked why they had not told anyone of this extraordinary event before. They said it was their intention to go poaching for game and rabbits on Padeswood Hall land and they thus dare not admit why they had been where they were at the time. At the time, prosecution and conviction for poaching could end up with severe punishments, including transportation to Australia if there were previous convictions.

There would have been serious doubters of the story's truth but, according to Mr Williams, one of the participants was a young William Catherall, a member of the family of Jonathon Catherall II. Jonathon Catherall II was known to have very high moral convictions in a staunch nonconformist family as set by his father, Jonathon Catherall I. It was therefore thought that no member of the Catherall family would tell a blatant lie in disclosing such a weird story.

Was this the first siting of a UFO in North Wales or was it simply an elaborate story invented by four young men?

Author: Dunn, Neville

A Tale of Old Buckley by Neville Dunn: Fig. 1870 O.S. Map of the Padeswood Area "

Padeswood, Buckley

Tags