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Beware of Peg Powler!

Peter Lathan writes about the story of Peg Powler and other ghosts of Teesdale.

Peter LathanbyPeter Lathan
30-10-2022 14:00 - Updated On 14-02-2023 11:21
in North East
Reading Time: 4 mins
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"Grindylow" by Dark Dwarf is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

"Grindylow" by Dark Dwarf is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

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Published December 2021

“Beware o’ Peg Powler! Don’t tha go near to t’river bank!”

That’s what generations of Teesdale parents have told their children. But it’s not just children that should take heed. Peg will grab anyone who gets too near the water’s edge and will drag them to their death in the river. Some say Peg would eat them! In fact, she had something of a reputation for enjoying human flesh.

So who is this Peg Powler?

Sometimes she’s known as Jenny Greenteeth (evocative name!) or the High Green Ghost. A real hag, she has long green hair, long arms and sharp claws. She’s a Grindylow, a water spirit found throughout Yorkshire and Lancashire – typical of the antipathy between the counties that the only thing they share is something so evil!

The name Grindylow reminds us of Grendel, the antagonist whom Beowulf fought and killed (and then had to take on and kill the mother) in the Anglo-Saxon epic. In that poem Grendel’s mother is called “aglæc-wif” or “monster woman.” She was supposed to be a descendant of Cain, the first murderer, the elder son of Adam and Eve, who killed his brother Abel. Perhaps Peg Powler’s ancestry stretches all the way back to the Book of Genesis. Wouldn’t that be something?

Cow Green

What we do know is that Peg was first heard of haunting the area called Cow Green in Upper Teesdale (hence the name “The High Green Ghost”). Then rich in lead and the site of lead mines, now Cow Green is a large reservoir completed in 1971, swallowing up a much smaller natural lake called The Weel, which was described in 1833 by the mining engineer Thomas Sopwith as “a sullen lake”.

Photo by Paul White, Northumbrian Water from Creative Commons

Now she is said to have moved downstream to Darlington where the foam or froth which is often seen floating on the river is called “Peg Powler’s suds” or “Peg Powler’s cream”.

The singing lady and the monk

Thankfully Peg Powler is not the only haunter of the Tees. Just a little way down the river from Cow Green is the fast moving cascade of Cauldron Snout and there the Singing Lady sits, a Victorian farm girl who drowned herself when her affair with a Cow Green lead miner came to an end.

Further downstream, past Middleton and Mickleton, there’s a bridge which was built in 1450. A chapel was founded at the southern (Yorkshire, for the Tees forms the boundary between Yorkshire and County Durham) end of the bridge by Thomas Newleyne, Rector of Romaldkirk, but it was abandoned after the Reformation and demolished in the 17th Century. Now one of the monks is said to haunt the bridge.

What is he doing there? Is he held there by despair at the loss of the chapel? Or making penance for some sin? Or is he, perhaps, blessing the souls of those devoured by Peg Powler as their remains are carried beneath the bridge towards the sea? Who knows?

More North East ghost stories:

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4


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Peter Lathan

Peter Lathan

Peter Lathan first appeared on stage in a school play at the age of 13 in 1956 when he played Marion in Sean O’Casey’s Cock-a-Doodle-Dandy. He first directed a play – Chekhov’s The Anniversary – in 1966. He has been involved in theatre ever since. He has taught Drama in schools, youth theatres and stage schools, whilst also running drama classes for recovering addicts and adults with severe learning disabilities. He has written more than 35 plays and directed over 70 from site-specific Shakespeare to touring pantos, from new writing to classic plays, from Theatre in Education to corporate productions. He is the author of It’s Behind You: The Story of Panto. He has been, variously, artistic director of theatre company KG Productions (2000 – 2016), chairman of the board of the Wearabout Theatre Company of Sunderland, and a Trustee of the Customs House in South Shields (9 years) and of No Limits Theatre Company, a professional company for adults with a learning disability In 2001 he founded the online British Theatre Guide which he edited for 11 years. He remains its North East editor.

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