A.B.C. of FREEDOM
THE LEGEND OF THE LEYLAND CAT CREATURE AND THE BEAST OF BUCKSHAW VILLAGE.
Tucked away in a corner of Lancashire, North West of England is the quiet little town of Leyland.
The exact date of settlement in Leyland is unrecorded; however we can see that the town is listed in the Domesday Book.
The Domesday Book was a great survey of England, carried out for King William I in 1086.
The exact date of settlement in Leyland is unrecorded; however we can see that the town is listed in the Domesday Book.
The Domesday Book was a great survey of England, carried out for King William I in 1086.
IMAGE SOURCE
Nestled in the heart of Leyland is the beautiful and mysterious St Andrews church.
ST ANDREWS CHURCH: LEYLAND, LANCASIRE: IMAGE BY ROY H
St Andrews church is thought to have been built in the 12th century, but a strange story of the construction of the church has been handed down from generation to generation - a mysterious legend - the legend of the Leyland cat creature...........
THE LEGEND.
...In the small village of Whittle-le Woods (approximately 4 miles from Leyland) the villagers met and agreed that they would, between them, build a small church to benefit their community.
The local miller donated a plot of land, the Priest was appointed to oversee and organise the workforce in this construction project.
The first day of construction arrived and the builders placed their materials on the site and began to lay the stone.
When the builders arrived the following day to continue their work, they were stunned to discover that the stone had disappeared....
After much searching – the stone, without explanation, was discovered in the nearby village of Leyland....
Angry, the people of Whittle-le-Woods toiled to retrieve the stones; they returned them to their site and continued with the construction work.
Fearful that the materials may again be taken in the night, they appointed two men to stay on site, an overnight vigil. Unfortunately, tiredness got the better of the two men and they both fell asleep for a short time – they awoke to find that all the stone had again vanished.
Again, the stone was recovered from the same site in Leyland.
Determined to get to the bottom of the mystery and prevent the same thing form happening again, the Priest arranged a further night vigil and stayed on site himself until midnight. As soon as the priest left – one workman turned around and was terrified to see a huge black cat with enormous eyes and a barbed tail - the cat picked up one of the stones and, fast as lightening, ran off with it – returning almost immediately for another stone.
The two workmen watched the cat from the shadows until eventually, one of them gathered enough courage to try to stop the cat – he ran up to it and using all his strength, hit it over the head with a piece of wood - before he could raise the wood to deliver another blow, the cat turned and attacked him....his workmate, terrified, fled to get the priest, however, upon their swift return, the man was dead and the cat and all the stones were gone.
From that point on, it was deemed that the church would be build upon the site in Leyland where the cat had placed the stones....this is the site of Leyland St Andrew’s church.
Others attributed the movement of the stones to Leyland as the work of an Angel.....
"Here I have placed thee,
And here thou shalt stand,
And thou shalt be called
The Church of Leyland"
The local miller donated a plot of land, the Priest was appointed to oversee and organise the workforce in this construction project.
The first day of construction arrived and the builders placed their materials on the site and began to lay the stone.
When the builders arrived the following day to continue their work, they were stunned to discover that the stone had disappeared....
After much searching – the stone, without explanation, was discovered in the nearby village of Leyland....
Angry, the people of Whittle-le-Woods toiled to retrieve the stones; they returned them to their site and continued with the construction work.
Fearful that the materials may again be taken in the night, they appointed two men to stay on site, an overnight vigil. Unfortunately, tiredness got the better of the two men and they both fell asleep for a short time – they awoke to find that all the stone had again vanished.
Again, the stone was recovered from the same site in Leyland.
Determined to get to the bottom of the mystery and prevent the same thing form happening again, the Priest arranged a further night vigil and stayed on site himself until midnight. As soon as the priest left – one workman turned around and was terrified to see a huge black cat with enormous eyes and a barbed tail - the cat picked up one of the stones and, fast as lightening, ran off with it – returning almost immediately for another stone.
The two workmen watched the cat from the shadows until eventually, one of them gathered enough courage to try to stop the cat – he ran up to it and using all his strength, hit it over the head with a piece of wood - before he could raise the wood to deliver another blow, the cat turned and attacked him....his workmate, terrified, fled to get the priest, however, upon their swift return, the man was dead and the cat and all the stones were gone.
From that point on, it was deemed that the church would be build upon the site in Leyland where the cat had placed the stones....this is the site of Leyland St Andrew’s church.
Others attributed the movement of the stones to Leyland as the work of an Angel.....
"Here I have placed thee,
And here thou shalt stand,
And thou shalt be called
The Church of Leyland"
Stone masons recorded the legend of the cat within the stone of the church - look closely and you will see the embossed outline of the creature.
Can' see it? - let's take a closer look
ST ANDREWS CHURCH: LEYLAND, LANCASIRE: IMAGES BY ROY H
The legend is interesting in light of recent event and sightings in the area
In 2009 - after residents began moving in to a large new development "Buckshaw Village" (which was built on the site of an old MOD facility and old houses) strange events began to happen.....
The carcasses of animals were discovered, mauled and mutilated - gardens were ransacked and bins overturned - people reported sighings of a large strange black beast prowling in the shadows, residents were terrified!
Eventually, the story of the "Buckshaw Beast" hit the local....... then national news -
http://www.leylandguardian.co.uk/news/local/beast_of_buckshaw_caught_on_film_1_2012565
Quote from the Leyland Guardian
"This was no boar. I saw it move and it had a feline movement. They say it's to blame for the recent deer slayings."
No photographs or film was captured of the beast (despite one resident trying to hoax the press with a bogus photograph) http://www.lep.co.uk/news/local/beast_of_buckshaw_revealed_as_a_fake_1_163339
Sightings of large cats in Leyland and the surrounding areas of large cats (see link above for detals of the other sightings) have now subsided - For now !