Lancashire Legends, Traditions, Pageants, Sports, &c./Part 1/Tyrone's Bed, near Rochdale
TYRONE'S BED.
In a bend of the Roach, to the north of Morland or Merland, is Tyrone's Bed, a woody glen, admired for its picturesque scenery, which is said to have been the retreat of one of the Earls of Tyrone in the reign of Elizabeth. The craggy rocks on the one side of this lovely valley, and the steep wooded slopes on the other, with the rivulet in the channel below, are not inappropriately termed "the bed;" but the chief interest of this "romantic dell" centred in the ancient home of the Holts of Grizelhurst, but of which not a vestige now remains. At the period of the legend it was surrounded "by dark and almost trackless woods," which would furnish a refuge for the wanderer, "secure from hostility or alarm." The Earl of Tyrone who claimed to be a King in Ireland, by his rebellions harassed Queen Elizabeth and her armies for years during the latter period of her reign. His history would fill a volume. Hugh O'Neale was nephew to Shan (John) O'Neale, or "the great O'Neale," as he was more commonly called. He was well known for his great courage, a virtue much prized by the half-civilised hordes he commanded. He was created Earl of Tyrone by Queen Elizabeth; but disliking the allegiance this implied, and desirous to liberate his country from the English yoke, he entered into a correspondence with Spain, procured from thence a supply of arms and ammunition; and having united many of the Irish chiefs in a dependence upon himself, he soon proved himself a formidable enemy of English rule in Ireland. The first English commander that opposed him. Sir John Norris, after a war, and purposely protracted negotiations with Tyrone, died at length, it was said, of vexation and discontent. He was succeeded by Sir Henry Bagnall, who, going to the relief of Blackwater, was surrounded; fifteen hundred men and the general himself were slain on the spot, and the rest put to flight. This victory raised the renown of Tyrone, who was hailed as the deliverer of his country, and the restorer of Irish liberty. The unfortunate Earl of Essex was afterwards appointed to take command of the English army; but his troops were so terrified at the reputation of Tyrone, that many of them counterfeited sickness, and others deserted. Tyrone asked a conference, and Essex received from him a proposal of peace, in which Tyrone had inserted many unreasonable and exorbitant conditions. Essex, anxious to return to England, nevertheless accepted the proposal, which led to a suspicion that he had betrayed his high trust. From this time the beam of his royal mistress's favour was obscured, and the result was his disgrace and death. Meanwhile Tyrone broke the truce, and overran almost the whole of Ireland. Essex being recalled, the Queen appointed Mountjoy as Lord Deputy of Ireland. He defeated Tyrone in Ulster. Four thousand Spaniards, under Don Juan d'Aguila, landed and took Kinsale; Mountjoy besieged it; and on Tyrone and many other Irish chieftains marching to its relief, he intercepted them, and attacked and put them to flight, slaughtering twelve hundred men. Tyrone and other chiefs fled, and the Spaniards capitulated. It is supposed that at this period the outlawed Earl crossed the sea into England, and remained for some time concealed in the neighbourhood of Rochdale. The site of a few cottages in a romantic dell by the river Roach is still associated with the memory of the unfortunate Earl, and yet bears the name of "Tyrone's Bed." Upon this fact Mr Roby has based a fictitious love story,[1] there being a prediction that—
——"Woman's breast
Thou shalt darken o'er with woe;
None thou lookest on or lovest
Joy or hope hereafter know.
Many a maid thy glance shall rue:
Where it smites it shall subdue."
Tyrone is made to save from drowning Constance the daughter of Holt of Grizelhurst; they love; she conceals him from pursuit by the sheriff and posse in a hidden chamber, the entrance to which is from her own bedroom. He escapes, and she wastes away and dies, the victim of the prophecy. Tyrone eventually secured a pardon from Queen Elizabeth. One incident is related, illustrative of his character. Appearing in person to execute a treaty, immediately on the issue of some sanguinary engagement, Tyrone was requested to sign the terms. "Here is my signature," said he, laying his bloody hand on the deed; "'tis the mark of the Kings of Ulster." Hence, tradition gravely asserts, was the origin of "the bloody hand," the arms of Ulster, and, in heraldic shields, the badge of knighthood. It is scarcely necessary to add that this derivation for the arms is altogether a fable.
- ↑ It would be more correct to state that the tradition in Mr Roby's work is really derived from a ballad by Mr William Nuttall, of Rochdale, entitled "Tyrone and Constance, or the Outlaw in the Dell of Grizelhurst." The story was first told to Mr Nuttall, as he states, by a Mr Ralph Holt, formerly steward to the late William Bamford of Bamford, Esq. In his "notes" to the ballad, Mr Nuttall relates the story at considerable length.