Spirit
Hob Hole
Shout, and the cough is gone.
Stand where it happened
- What's there
- A sea cave in the cliffs at the end of the bay
- Legend from
- Runswick tradition
- Best time
- Low tide
- Tone
- Quaint
Hob-hole Hob! My bairn's got kink-cough: take it off, take it off!
At Runswick Bay a cave in the rocks, filled by the sea at high tide, is called Hob Hole. Scarborough Maritime Heritage Centre quotes an old account saying it was thought to be the home of a spirit called Hob, believed able to cure whooping cough. Parents carried a sick child into the cave and called out loudly: 'Hob-hole Hob! my bairn's got kink-cough; take't off, take't off.' The account says the practice had been given up 'not many years' before. The cave was 70 feet long and 20 feet wide at the mouth. Wikipedia confirms Hob Hole was believed to house a hob.