A folk memory from the Viking invasions

As I sit at my computer, I look out from my study window across the churchyard to the medieval tower of Holy Trinity church rising above the yew trees. My house is just south of the church, and the churchyard is in between. Like all medieval churches the churchyard is to the south of the church building – our ancestors believed the church provided a barrier between the departed in their graves and the devil. That was because the devil was in the north – probably a folk memory from the Viking invasions.  I have also noticed that for the last few months, ever since the pandemic first struck, the weather vane has been stuck – pointing to the north! Maybe our ancestors knew something after all!

David Roberts