Lil
speaker
737 appearances
4 recordings
2 series
first heard Oct 2024
last heard Apr 2025
Lil’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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The name Kettleness likely comes from the Old Norse language, kettle meaning pot or cauldron, and thought to refer to the cauldron of water around the point, whilst ness means headland, or more literally, nose, very appropriate for the rocky, jutting nose of Kettleness Nab.
This reminds us of the Danish invaders we encountered in our first episode of the series, who landed at Whitby and sacked the Abbey. But before that, the shore was at risk of invasion from Saxons, and we touched on this too when we explored the possibility of Whitby's East Cliff once being the site of a Roman signal station.
Sturdy, defensive lighthouses built in chains along the sections of the English coastline exposed by the North Sea to raiders as well as traders.
We may never know if one of these signal stations existed at Whitby, but we do know that a Roman signal station did stand at Kettle Ness, just inland between the Knab and the small hamlet of Goldsborough, likely surviving due to its more inland location having saved it from disappearing off the cliff edge and into the sea via coastal erosion, as may have happened at Whitby.
From discoveries at nearby Ravenscar in the 18th century, antiquarians realised that there was probably a string of these forklets all up the Yorkshire coast. And in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, historians and early archaeologists set about hunting them down.
After a systematic search of likely sites, the antiquarians William Hornsby and John Laverick discovered the ruins of a fortlet on Goldsboro Pasture in 1918. And, thankfully for us, they wrote about their discoveries in the Antiquaries Journal in 1932.
Interestingly though, even in these academic pursuits, it seems that the darkness of the area's legends somehow managed to seep through, as this quote from the write-up in the Antiquaries journal hints. The impression left from the outset by the loveliness of the situation is unforgettable. In front extends the ever-changing sea. To the left lies Runzik with its glorious bay.
To the right is Whitby with Abbey and Harbour, while behind stretches the moorland, black and lonesome, still reputed the abode of evil spirits. But it gets really interesting when the men explain the findings of their excavations within the fort, as they made a truly extraordinary discovery. It's not unusual, of course, for archaeologists to find human remains during excavations.
Uncovering burials and cremations is quite common, and they can often tell us a story about the lives of people that once lived on the site being examined. But the bodies that were found on this excavation were somewhat of a rarer find. And what a story they told, as this quote from the journal demonstrates.
In the southeast corner, we made discoveries which can only be described as sensational discoveries. A short, thick-set man had fallen across the smouldering fire of an open hearth, probably after having been stabbed in the back. His skeleton lay face downwards, the left hand on which was a bronze ring behind the back, the right touching the south wall.
Another skeleton, that of a taller man, lay also face downwards near the feet of the first, his head pointing south-west. Beneath him was the skeleton of a large and powerful dog, its head against the man's throat, its paws across his shoulders. Surely a grim record of a thrilling drama. Perhaps the dog one of the defenders, the man an intruder.
However exciting a discovery as this must have been for the excavators, it's just as exciting for us. To find a record of a skeleton of a large, powerful dog in such a remarkable context, right in the area of the bar guest sightings, is incredible.
This excavation took place in 1918, and Reverend Omond, who was born in 1903, grew up hearing about apparitions of a large black dog in the area of Cattle Ness, finally seeing the spectre for himself in the 1950s. Did the excavations of the Roman signal station awaken the spirit of the great dog who died there when its remains were uncovered?
If so, this paints a very different picture to the ominous hellhound that Oman felt the need to exercise. The antiquarians wrap up their report with the following words, elaborating on what they think may have happened at the fort on that final, fateful day. The life of the station would seem to have been short, approximately 370 to 395 AD.
and there were many indications that its end had been sudden and violent. If conjecture be necessary, it would appear likely that the destruction was wrought by intruding angles, whose numbers and the swiftness of their attack enabled them to overwhelm the garrison.
Usually these marauders arrived when they were least expected, often no doubt in the dead of night, or in the din of storm, or perhaps during a fret, one of those thick mists from the sea which are so prevalent in the area.
The completeness of the destruction, when it did come, seems to us to be shown by the position and excellent condition of the skeletons found in the southeast corner of the tower. the covering necessary for their preservation would be most simply provided by the early and entire collapse of the structure. If the excavators were correct, then the skeleton of the dog was a protector.
A faithful hound struck down in the line of duty and buried where he fell under the collapsed tower, telling the story of his last desperate attempt to protect the station and his people.
With such a dramatic ending, and no doubt some unfinished business with the invaders, it isn't a stretch to imagine this faithful dog continuing his guard duties along the shoreline of Kettle Ness, even in the afterlife. So, did the Reverend Omand exercise a terrifying hellhound, or did he encounter the goodest boy of Kettle Ness? Just a faithful doggo doing a heckin' protec,
from beyond the grave.
Showing 681–700 of 737 · page 35 of 37
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