Myth of Dirty Arch Katherine L Sugg November 2024
Behind every picture there is a story to be told. The only problem is that these stories are lost over time as the folk who recall them are no longer around and the stories fade away forever. So here is one of those stories for you to enjoy.
When we approach and enter into the countdown to the winter solstice old folklore and old wives tales tend to resurface time and time again, highly likely due to All Hallows’ Eve and the drawing-in of the long dark winter nights. Mostly I guess because the majority of people also tend to enjoy a good ghost or spooky story for Halloween.
Whilst most people are tucked up safe and sound in their cosy dwellings fast asleep they are so blissfully unaware of the connections around this area of Middlehill and the array of nightlife of wild creatures either flying, crawling, slithering or even running around outside, which, in all honestly when you think about it, probably isn’t actually a bad thing!
There is one particular site in Middlehill it is said that once darkness has fallen, the old stone half-circular building simply comes alive with wild creatures – some flap, some screech and some even croak whilst others slither and are silent but at the same time are totally deadly. It is said that this site is the Dirty Arch at Middlehill, formerly known as the site of where Cuttings Mill once stood and thrived. Many of the older folk from around this area from days gone by used to recall incidents which were described as hearing a cackle and low growling sounds coming from within the mouth and the walls of the Dirty Arch. Plus there were random reports of rare sightings of a mysterious black cat which, it is said, crosses over from one side of the wall of the Dirty Arch to the other wall and then quite simply appears to just vanish into thin air.
From the first sighting of this mysterious black cat back in the mid 1800s there was talk that this animal belonged to a local woman who it was understood used to live in this area of Middlehill around 1838. Not much was actually known about this woman but folk from years gone by thought that she had connections with an old mill that used to stand on this site which was known as Cuttings Mill. It was thought that her Christian name was Louisanna but this has never been confirmed in any way. As we have learned from the previous article concerning the Dirty Arch, Cuttings Mill was demolished in order to pave the way for Brunel’s Great Western Railway.
After the sad demolition of Cuttings Mill, two identical railway bridges were constructed by Brunel’s workers on the site of where the old Mill once stood. Both of these railway bridges were constructed using the stone from the demolished Mill. The first bridge stands proud whilst the Box By Brook gently flows underneath, whilst the second railway bridge now forms a railway underpass for folk to walk through and is nowadays fondly known as The Dirty Arch.
According to folklore legend it is said that this woman was most certainly a member of the family who resided at Cuttings Mill. It was understood at the time that she was extremely distraught about losing her beautiful home, her family’s business, her land and her collection of farm and waterfowl animals to this monstrosity and wickedness of steam and iron which she simply just did not understand. The folklore legend states that she was so utterly desperate to stop this that she sought solice in dark places to help to prevent the events from happening. It is strongly believed by many at the time, that she turned to witchcraft to learn the craft and to use her newly gained supernatural powers in order to try to save her home and the only life that she knew.
She dearly loved her home and the wildlife that surrounded her at the Mill and she would do anything that she could to help them. Sadly for some of the wildlife that she cared for so deeply they fell prey to her craft, for in creating her supernatural powers and in order for her to create and release her spells, their lives were sacrificed which absolutely broke her heart for she truly believed she was doing the right thing.
Sadly the folklore tale recalls how a range of different species of wildlife of bats, frogs, toads, newts, glow-worms and snakes not to mention owls all fell prey to her quest for finding that perfect spell to cast on that evil Brunel man and his plans to demolish her much loved home. According to the local folklore no-one ever really talked much about these goings-on at the time, possibly because they were just too scared to become involved for fear of retribution. So it was never actually proved as such – it was just talk but it was said and noted by many that the area slowly but steadily became a dark place and began to change over a period of time. It was described as the land was having the life sucked out of it and this talk became old folklore as the years passed by.
Perhaps in the end that’s all it was – just talk – because whatever may or may not have actually realistically taken place, Cuttings Mill was indeed demolished and Brunel’s Great Western Railway line was laid in the place where Cuttings Mill once stood and as mentioned earlier, two identical railway bridges using the stone from her old home were built. As we know one of the bridges stands in a corner over the By Brook whilst the other is nearby and is now well known as the Dirty Arch, the railway underpass.
So, I hear you asking “what became of the woman?” That, my friends, is indeed the sixty-four million dollar question as the expression goes because no-one really knew. She certainly was not ever reported or tried for practising witchcraft which was incredibly fortunate for her but some folk believed that she was so distraught that one dark dismal winter’s evening she threw herself in front of one of the monstrosity’s of steam and iron which she had grown to hate so much for everything it had done to her and the toll it had taken on everything she had grown to love which used to surround her.
The old folk used to believe that when a sad and tragic event like this unfolded, that the person’s spirit or their soul would become entrapped in that area and would therefore “haunt” that place causing it to be a bad and an unpleasant place to be.
It was further recalled that folk used to scurry like rats through that Dirty Arch at nightime because they were so scared of passing through it in case they were cursed or some other sort of harm came to them. However, according to the folklore this did not appear to be the case at all. In fact, curiously enough, quite the opposite occurred. It was almost as if the woman had been completely freed from her curse and gradually, in time, everything became good again. In fact it was better than good – it became great.
Incredibly enough over a period of time everything that had initially disappeared from the old Cuttings Mill site slowly but surely returned. The trees thrived and with the passage of time all the wonderful wildlife and much, much more returned back to the site that they had once loved and some of them even made homes in and around the stone building of the Dirty Arch. The old Cuttings Mill site thrived and is still thriving today.
Whether this is true or not has never been clarified by any source whatsoever but what is indeed most strange and rather curious is this last final twist in this very old mysterious tale. There was talk that on odd occasions folk had mentioned that they thought they had seen a glimpse of a figure lurking in the murky shadows just inside the mouth of the Dirty Arch, followed by what looked like a silhouette of a cat that one minute it was there and the next minute it was gone! Now – most of the time this was generally “poo-pooed”, if there is such a word, by most of the recipients to whom their story was told as the majority of the time, the person or the people who had “reported” seeing this “figure” were generally half cut or at least “three sheets to the wind” as they were normally in the process of staggering back across the fields from the local village pub so they were never taken seriously in their claims.
So this leads us to our final paragraph in this tale. A rare siting was captured on camera, it is believed that this was dated back to circa the early 1930s but of this no-one can be certain. We understand that a local resident took this picture. Sadly this resident is no longer here to confirm their story of how this came to be as when their photograph was shown to them they were so shocked by what they saw, they had a massive heart attack from which they did not survive. So next time you pass through that Dirty Arch come night-time, be sure to have your wits about you as you never know what you may encounter on your journey, especially if you have had a tipple or two!
When we approach and enter into the countdown to the winter solstice old folklore and old wives tales tend to resurface time and time again, highly likely due to All Hallows’ Eve and the drawing-in of the long dark winter nights. Mostly I guess because the majority of people also tend to enjoy a good ghost or spooky story for Halloween.
Whilst most people are tucked up safe and sound in their cosy dwellings fast asleep they are so blissfully unaware of the connections around this area of Middlehill and the array of nightlife of wild creatures either flying, crawling, slithering or even running around outside, which, in all honestly when you think about it, probably isn’t actually a bad thing!
There is one particular site in Middlehill it is said that once darkness has fallen, the old stone half-circular building simply comes alive with wild creatures – some flap, some screech and some even croak whilst others slither and are silent but at the same time are totally deadly. It is said that this site is the Dirty Arch at Middlehill, formerly known as the site of where Cuttings Mill once stood and thrived. Many of the older folk from around this area from days gone by used to recall incidents which were described as hearing a cackle and low growling sounds coming from within the mouth and the walls of the Dirty Arch. Plus there were random reports of rare sightings of a mysterious black cat which, it is said, crosses over from one side of the wall of the Dirty Arch to the other wall and then quite simply appears to just vanish into thin air.
From the first sighting of this mysterious black cat back in the mid 1800s there was talk that this animal belonged to a local woman who it was understood used to live in this area of Middlehill around 1838. Not much was actually known about this woman but folk from years gone by thought that she had connections with an old mill that used to stand on this site which was known as Cuttings Mill. It was thought that her Christian name was Louisanna but this has never been confirmed in any way. As we have learned from the previous article concerning the Dirty Arch, Cuttings Mill was demolished in order to pave the way for Brunel’s Great Western Railway.
After the sad demolition of Cuttings Mill, two identical railway bridges were constructed by Brunel’s workers on the site of where the old Mill once stood. Both of these railway bridges were constructed using the stone from the demolished Mill. The first bridge stands proud whilst the Box By Brook gently flows underneath, whilst the second railway bridge now forms a railway underpass for folk to walk through and is nowadays fondly known as The Dirty Arch.
According to folklore legend it is said that this woman was most certainly a member of the family who resided at Cuttings Mill. It was understood at the time that she was extremely distraught about losing her beautiful home, her family’s business, her land and her collection of farm and waterfowl animals to this monstrosity and wickedness of steam and iron which she simply just did not understand. The folklore legend states that she was so utterly desperate to stop this that she sought solice in dark places to help to prevent the events from happening. It is strongly believed by many at the time, that she turned to witchcraft to learn the craft and to use her newly gained supernatural powers in order to try to save her home and the only life that she knew.
She dearly loved her home and the wildlife that surrounded her at the Mill and she would do anything that she could to help them. Sadly for some of the wildlife that she cared for so deeply they fell prey to her craft, for in creating her supernatural powers and in order for her to create and release her spells, their lives were sacrificed which absolutely broke her heart for she truly believed she was doing the right thing.
Sadly the folklore tale recalls how a range of different species of wildlife of bats, frogs, toads, newts, glow-worms and snakes not to mention owls all fell prey to her quest for finding that perfect spell to cast on that evil Brunel man and his plans to demolish her much loved home. According to the local folklore no-one ever really talked much about these goings-on at the time, possibly because they were just too scared to become involved for fear of retribution. So it was never actually proved as such – it was just talk but it was said and noted by many that the area slowly but steadily became a dark place and began to change over a period of time. It was described as the land was having the life sucked out of it and this talk became old folklore as the years passed by.
Perhaps in the end that’s all it was – just talk – because whatever may or may not have actually realistically taken place, Cuttings Mill was indeed demolished and Brunel’s Great Western Railway line was laid in the place where Cuttings Mill once stood and as mentioned earlier, two identical railway bridges using the stone from her old home were built. As we know one of the bridges stands in a corner over the By Brook whilst the other is nearby and is now well known as the Dirty Arch, the railway underpass.
So, I hear you asking “what became of the woman?” That, my friends, is indeed the sixty-four million dollar question as the expression goes because no-one really knew. She certainly was not ever reported or tried for practising witchcraft which was incredibly fortunate for her but some folk believed that she was so distraught that one dark dismal winter’s evening she threw herself in front of one of the monstrosity’s of steam and iron which she had grown to hate so much for everything it had done to her and the toll it had taken on everything she had grown to love which used to surround her.
The old folk used to believe that when a sad and tragic event like this unfolded, that the person’s spirit or their soul would become entrapped in that area and would therefore “haunt” that place causing it to be a bad and an unpleasant place to be.
It was further recalled that folk used to scurry like rats through that Dirty Arch at nightime because they were so scared of passing through it in case they were cursed or some other sort of harm came to them. However, according to the folklore this did not appear to be the case at all. In fact, curiously enough, quite the opposite occurred. It was almost as if the woman had been completely freed from her curse and gradually, in time, everything became good again. In fact it was better than good – it became great.
Incredibly enough over a period of time everything that had initially disappeared from the old Cuttings Mill site slowly but surely returned. The trees thrived and with the passage of time all the wonderful wildlife and much, much more returned back to the site that they had once loved and some of them even made homes in and around the stone building of the Dirty Arch. The old Cuttings Mill site thrived and is still thriving today.
Whether this is true or not has never been clarified by any source whatsoever but what is indeed most strange and rather curious is this last final twist in this very old mysterious tale. There was talk that on odd occasions folk had mentioned that they thought they had seen a glimpse of a figure lurking in the murky shadows just inside the mouth of the Dirty Arch, followed by what looked like a silhouette of a cat that one minute it was there and the next minute it was gone! Now – most of the time this was generally “poo-pooed”, if there is such a word, by most of the recipients to whom their story was told as the majority of the time, the person or the people who had “reported” seeing this “figure” were generally half cut or at least “three sheets to the wind” as they were normally in the process of staggering back across the fields from the local village pub so they were never taken seriously in their claims.
So this leads us to our final paragraph in this tale. A rare siting was captured on camera, it is believed that this was dated back to circa the early 1930s but of this no-one can be certain. We understand that a local resident took this picture. Sadly this resident is no longer here to confirm their story of how this came to be as when their photograph was shown to them they were so shocked by what they saw, they had a massive heart attack from which they did not survive. So next time you pass through that Dirty Arch come night-time, be sure to have your wits about you as you never know what you may encounter on your journey, especially if you have had a tipple or two!