The Green Children of Woolpit
Woolpit (Old English wulf-pytt) is an ancient Suffolk village named after a pit used for trapping wolves. One day around 1150, the villagers found two young children next to the pit. They wore unusual clothes and spoke an unfamiliar language. More than that, they had green skin.
The children were taken to the house of Sir Richard de Calne, the local lord, who took them in and offered them food which they refused, although they were obviously hungry. In the garden they found some green beans, which they devoured. It is believed that they lived with Sir Richard for several years and gradually he persuaded them to eat other foods and as they did so their skin lost its green pallor.
They also learnt to speak English and when they were sufficiently adept they were asked where they had come from. They said they came from ‘the land of St Martin’ where the sun never shone and everyone was green.
It may be a folk tale of otherworldly beings or else the basic story has become garbled through the years. One theory suggests that they were the descendants of Flemish immigrants but doesn’t explain how they arrived in Woolpit.
The green skin may have been caused by the ‘green sickness’, a form of anaemia caused by a lack of iron in the diet, which was alleviated by the introduction of good food.
Soon after the children were baptised the boy died but his sister, known as Agnes, continued to live with Sir Richard and later married the archdeacon of Ely, Richard Barre.
I wonder if Sue from ‘My Quiet Life in Suffolk’ can throw some light on this age-old legend.
Indeed I have heard that related somewhere else and it would be interesting to know if there are any other valid theories. You would have thought that if there were flemish immigrants about, someone would have consulted them about the language.
ReplyDeletePerhaps there were not any Flemish people in the vicinity.
DeleteI read that story myself, and have always wondered.
ReplyDeleteIt's not at all clear, is it?
DeleteI remember reading a bit about these children many years ago and would love to know the truth about it.
ReplyDeleteThe trouble with legends is that they are very difficult to corroborate.
DeleteIf Agnes continued to live with Sir Richard and later married the archdeacon of Ely, Richard Barre, she must have become a very well known figure in a respectable society.
ReplyDeleteThe operative word here being 'If'.
DeleteI lived just two villages away from Woolpit and we grew up knowing the story. I wrote about it on my Woolpit church post. Woolpit used to have many sand and gravel pits all around and produced Woolpit Bricks for many years. The story seems to have grown and got more detailed over the years which is suspicious!
ReplyDeleteI looked on your labels for Woolpit - didn't think about churches! I suppose the truth or otherwise will never be known.
DeleteIt's said that elderly people should look into the future and not into the past and you go back to 1150, a record ! Maybe Shrek is the last one from the green people !
ReplyDeleteLooking back and looking forward are two sides of the same coin.
ReplyDeleteI think I remember a movie about these children, or what hollywood thought they should be. But I'm talking early '60's and it may have been made many years before. I remember being scared when my mom had it on TV. Now I realize I should have felt sympathy for people so sick.
ReplyDeleteWe often fear what we don't understand or is unfamiliar.
ReplyDeleteHi Janice - these myths and stories make our land (cultural) what it is - fascinating story though - the subject woolpit I wouldn't have guessed ... I'd have thought wool - in that part of East Anglia. Really interesting though - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteYes, wool would be the obvious conclusion. It's interesting to wonder how and where legends originate, but impossible to unravel some of them.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fascinating story, whatever its origins. I can assure you, though, that as far as I know there are no green people here in Flanders :-) xxx
ReplyDeletePhew - that's a relief! :-) x x x
ReplyDeleteIt has always been believed that they were the children of Flemish weavers which explained the language and that the colour of the skin came from the dye used in weaving. There was a Flemish weaving centre a few miles from Woolpit from where the children probably came. I have frequently given this explanation on blogs, probably also on Sue's.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting.
DeleteFascinating story. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteLots of explanations but no actual proof:-)
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