Mother Shipton

 

While in Knaresborough we came across a couple of statues which raised some questions for us and naturally sent us down a rabbit hole. Sadly, we didn't get to visit the infamous Mother Shipton's Cave as it was too late in the trip for us, but the statue of Ursula Southeil was enough for us to want to form this post and do some research into the legendary woman.

Mother Shipton as she is better known, started out as Ursula Southeil, although her surname has also been listed as Southill, Soothtell, and Sontheil. It seems that, much like many figures of folklore, the name changes based on the story, as Soothtell must relate to Mother Shipton's role as a Soothsayer. Basically she could tell the future. She was born somewhere around 1486-1488 to a 15 year old mother in a cave, this cave happened to be in Knaresborough and we're sure you can put 2 and 2 together.

Now the legends surrounding Mother Shipton have been around pre-1667 but it was in this year that the tales of her birth and subsequent interesting life were first collected and it was Richard Head who did so. His sources claimed that she was born to her young mother, Agatha, in a violent thunderstorm and was deformed. It was said she was an ugly baby, with a hunchback and bulging eyes, the imagery of evil was heavily enforced as sources went as far as to state that the baby was born cackling and as she did the storm stopped.

Now firstly, why would a young teenager be birthing such an evil baby? Well Head's sources claimed that Agatha was a homeless orphan and as such had fallen under the influences of the Devil. She had an affair and Ursula was the result, obviously being the Devil's spawn she was bound to be that way inclined. Some versions of the legends beginnings even go as far as changing Agatha from a poor orphan down on her luck to a witch who summoned the Devil to have a child, regardless, young Agatha refused to reveal the identity of her babies' father and was even summoned before the local magistrate to divulge this information or else suffer the consequences.

Agatha refused and so she was exiled from the community as her way of life was scandalous and she was a single mother which was a huge no-no back then. So as she was ostracised from Knaresborough she returned to the cave in which she gave birth to her child and raised her daughter alone in the cave for the next 2 years. Meanwhile, vicious rumours about Agatha were circulating. She was a witch, she'd birthed the spawn of Satan, she was unnatural. It probably didn't help that the cave that they called home had a skull shaped pool that turned objects to stone which is part of the allure of the cave to this day.

For some reason, after baring it alone for two years by living in a cave and scrounging through the forest for sustenance, the abbot of Beverley took pity on the young woman and her daughter and so he secured Agatha a place in the Convent of the order of St Bridget. This was all the way in Nottinghamshire and meant she had to leave her daughter behind, but at least the town could settle as Agatha had 'found God'.

Ursula stayed in Knaresborough and was placed with a foster family, she'd never see her mother again. We can only assume that her foster family were not overly happy to be raising 'the child of Satan' as sources claim that the 2 year old was left home alone while her foster mother ran errands. When she returned she found her front door wide open which prompted her to seek assistance from her neighbours. The house was searched and the child's crib found empty, but a horrific wailing carried through the house, something described with more evil imagery, and after frantically searching for Ursula they found her perched on the iron bar above the fireplace where pot hooks were hung, cackling and naked. Despite this it seemed her foster family kept her, but her reputation of being a witch and the spawn of the Devil were firmly cemented.

This was further added to with a report that Ursula targeted the chief members of the parish after they mocked her. Reports state they yelled 'hag face' and 'Devil's Bastard' at her as she passed them while carrying out an errand for her foster mother. She ignored them, but when they turned back to their meeting the ruff on one of the men's necks turned into a toilet seat, then another's hat turned into a chamber pot. The remaining and unaffected members laughed at the men which caught the attention of the Master of the House. When he tried to come outside to see what all the hub-bub was he found he couldn't get through the door due to the large horns that had grown from his head. All of these events reverted back to normal shortly after, but it was enough to teach the town a lesson- do not publicly mock Ursula Southeil.

During her childhood and time with her foster family, Ursula tended over plants and this became an interest which her family came to support. Our guess is that herbology was more of a peaceful magic than what they had come to expect from the supposed witch. She spent a lot of times in the forest her mother had raised her in as the townsfolk still looked down on her due to her 'talents' and appearance. So when she grew into adulthood her knowledge of plants and herbs gave her the role of herbalist to the townsfolk, who ended up looking kindly on her thanks to her help.

Her newfound respect led her to meet the local carpenter Toby Shipton whom she married at 24 years old. Now Ursula was known for having a large crooked nose, a hunchback, and crooked legs, so when the townsfolk learnt of Ursula's and Toby's union they decided that the only explanation was witchcraft and the rumours flew that Ursula, who had taken her married name and become Mother Shipton, had bewitched her husband to marry her. 

A month into married life one of their neighbours came to the door where Ursula greeted her, and the neighbour asked her for help. She'd left her door open and someone had stolen her new smock and petticoat. Ursula calmed her down and stated she knew exactly who the thief was and would retrieve it for her the next day. The two women went to the market together the next morning to do just that and found that the woman who had stolen the items couldn't help but wear the smock and was still carrying the petticoat in her hand. Apparently she started dancing at the market cross and danced right up to Ursula and her neighbour and begun to sing of her thievery. She then took off the smock, handed the stolen items over, curtsied, and left.

In 1514, two years after the Shipton's marriage, Toby died. Naturally, the townsfolk who had never really taken to Ursula, decided that she was responsible for his death. Ursula for her part was absolutely distraught over the death of her husband and that mixed with the towns whispers of her having murdered him was enough for her to pack up and move into the cave she was born in. Despite now ostracising herself and obviously harbouring a distrust for her community, she still helped those who sought her out and created potions and remedies for those who asked. Word soon got around and people would come from all over to seek help from Mother Shipton. 

Before long, Mother Shipton had developed a band of regulars, and thus had learnt to trust the people who sought her out. So she decided to reveal another of her talents. Ursula Shipton could see the future. To prove this, she started making small prophecies regarding the people of Knaresborough, as they came true she grew bolder and went on to tell prophecies regarding the monarchy and the future of the world. The most famous of these prophecies, so the one that people really held onto, was Mother Shipton's prophecy of the end of times. 

'The world to an end shall come

In eighteen hundred and eighty one.'

Turns out this prophecy was a fake. Charles Hindley made it up alongside 10 others within the collection that was published in 1862. Ever since various outlets have used the rhyme to predict the end of the world with various dates.

So with this fakery so well embedded in the legend of Mother Shipton, was she real? Well historians have come to the conclusion that she was a real person thanks to various sources detailing her life and historical references to it. There are contemporary records referencing the birth of a child within a cave in Knaresborough in 1488 to an orphan named Agatha Soothtale who was only 15. These records go on to describe her with a crooked nose and a hunchback, but that she provided herbal remedies to the town. The rest of her 'witchy' appearance seems to be purely made up to fit in with the folklore surrounding her. It is also believed that the letter Henry VIII wrote to the Duke of Norfolk referencing a Witch of York was about Mother Shipton and is therefore the earliest evidence we have regarding the real woman. If the tales are true then she would have been creating prophecies regarding the king around the same time.

The folklore surrounding Mother Shipton that really stood out to us was regarding the Rollright Stones. For some reason this 'witch' from North Yorkshire has ended up being noted in some sources as the witch who cursed the king and his men and transformed them into the Rollright Stones. This became apparent in William Camden's rhyme from 1610, but we find this very far-fetched. Why on earth would a disabled (if you take into account her crooked legs) woman who had fled into a forest where she felt comfortable and spent her whole life, decide to travel down south to Gloucester to test a random king and his men? Not only that, these stones are Neolithic so far before Mother Shipton's time. She was born in 1488 and not 10,000BC.

It is interesting to note that the tales of Mother Shipton including her prophecies weren't published until 80 years after her death. Her life was supposedly chronicled by a young girl from in town on behalf of the woman, but what is true and what is simply legend is confused all these years later, but we certainly believe that Mother Shipton was real, and we sympathise with her.