moorland-folk of this district, as late as the first twenty years of the
nineteenth century, one can only rejoice that influences arose
sufficiently powerful to destroy them. Along with the revolting practises,
however, it is extremely unfortunate to have to record the disappearance
of many picturesque, and in themselves, entirely harmless customs. The
roots of the great mass of superstitions have their beginnings so far away
from the present time, that to embrace them all necessitates an
exploration of all the centuries that lie between us and the pre-historic
ages, and in the pages that follow, some of these connections with the
past may be discovered.



CHAPTER II

_The Forest and Vale of Pickering in Palæolithic and Pre-Glacial Times._

The Palæolithic or Old Stone Age preceded and succeeded the Great Glacial
Epochs in the Glacialid.


In that distant period of the history of the human race when man was still
so primitive in his habits that traces of his handiwork are exceedingly
difficult to discover, the forest and Vale of Pickering seem to have been
without human inhabitants. Remains of this Old Stone Age have been found
in many parts of England, but they are all south of a line drawn from
Lincoln to Derbyshire and North Wales. In the caves at Cresswell Craggs in
Derbyshire notable Palæolithic discoveries were made, but for some reason
these savage hordes seem to have come no further north than that spot. We
know, however, that many animals belonging to the pre-glacial period