‘Want to come and give the Reverend Derek Alton a lift back to Withens?’
‘Why not?’
Derek Alton didn’t seem to want to talk on the way home. He sat in the car staring out of the window at the passing scenery as they descended into Longdendale.
‘Will you be blessing the well dressing this weekend?’ said Ben Cooper.
‘Yes, of course.’
‘I always thought well dressings were pagan. Water worship. But the church has taken them over these days, hasn’t it?’
‘The Church of England is nothing if not pragmatic,’ said Alton. The early missionaries were told not to destroy the pagan holy places and beliefs but to incorporate them into the new religion. The spring festival of the fertility goddess Oestre became the date of the resurrection. They still name it Easter, which I always think is a bit of a giveaway, myself. And death and resurrection have symbolized the beginning of spring for thousands of years. Winter and spring, death and life, the dark and the light. The natural cycle.’
‘Like the mummers’ play tradition. The Fool is killed, then brought back to life again.’
‘Of course. It’s a resurrection play.’
‘Except they didn’t save a part for Jesus.’
Alton decided not to take the bait. He went back to the scenery as they approached the road over the reservoirs.
‘And you’re interested in the Border Rats,’ said Cooper.
They’re based on Border morris, which was the real work ingmen’s tradition. It was a way of getting a bit of money during the winter, when their families might have starved otherwise. Since begging was illegal, they blacked their faces up as a disguise. But in Withens, the tradition has developed in its own way. That’s the nature of genuine traditions. They’re not preserved in aspic, they develop naturally and mean whatever people want them to mean.’
‘Some of them told me the dance symbolized killing the rats in the old railway tunnels where the navvies worked.’
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‘That could be so,’ said Alton. ‘Nobody can know for sure now. It’s passed down from one generation to the next, and it gets changed along the way, because nothing is ever written down. Each year it changes a bit more, depending on the people involved.’
‘How is it you know so much about these traditions, sir?’
‘I’m a morris man myself, I have to admit,’ said Alton. ‘I danced Cotswold morris in a previous parish.’
‘With the bells and hankies?’
‘Yes.’
‘Pagan origins again?’
‘Pagan or not, every dance has its own meaning. A spiritual dimension. The rituals are important, of course. Dressing up, setting aside a special day, learning the words and the movements. All part of the ritual. There’s even a sacred space for the dancers to perform in. In religion, it’s called the “temenos”. But ritual isn’t quite enough. If the moments of spiritual connection are going to happen, you have to commit, you have to invest belief in it.’
Cooper noted that the Border Rats seemed to have sparked a bit more interest than a mention of Jesus.
‘But this is very limited. It seems to be entirely members of the Oxley family.’
‘Not really,’ said Alton. ‘These days, some of the Border Rats live in Hey Bridge. The two groups hardly speak to each other outside rehearsals, but when they’re performing, they hardly seem to know who’s who. There’s never any shortage of volunteers to join. Lucas Oxley’s rule is to give places to those who live nearest to Withens, but as long as they’re willing to give everything when they’re Border Rats, Lucas doesn’t care. If they treat the Rats as a joke, they’re out.’
‘Thank you,’ said Cooper. ‘That was very interesting.’
‘And no earthly use to you at all, I’m sure.’
‘Well
‘The thing to remember is that morris isn’t really terribly, terribly old. And there’s no inherent mystical meaning, only what the individual puts into it. But it has grown out of our own culture and history, and it belonged to generations of our own ancestors. That’s why it’s important.’
Ben Cooper looked at his watch as he and Tracy Udall turned back on to the A628 towards Longdendale. There were several active lines of enquiry that he could be helping out with now. But as
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she drove along the reservoirs, Udall was still thinking about cholera.
‘Do you know, there was a notorious murder here around the time of that cholera outbreak/ she said. ‘It was a case that would have defeated even Derbyshire Constabulary, if it had existed in those days.’
‘What was that?’
‘The Woodhead Tunnel Murder. Not heard of it?’
‘No.’
‘It was in 1849.’
‘Oh, well. The Constabulary wasn’t formed until 1857. Besides, Longdendale was in Cheshire until 1974. There might have been a petty constable or something, but a magistrate would have taken charge in a murder case. Where did it happen?’
‘In the shanty town where the navvies lived. The place had already became notorious, but this was just after the cholera outbreak. One of the big problems the navvies faced was the contract system. In fact, it was a complicated process of subcontracting, called “truck”. At every level, there was someone who creamed off some of the money for themselves by reducing supplies, buying the cheapest food, cutting corners. You can imagine.’
