Humphrey Head, Cumbria, UK

"Humphrey Head, Cumbria, UK**"     pastel    10" x 15"

It's actually a very MYSTERIOUS place!   I didn't know this, just liked the simplicity of the scene and the huge expanse of sand.   For those in the UK, the sands are part of the Morecombe Sands.

And there's a LEGEND!   "The Wolf of Humphrey Head" which dates back to the 1300's.   So read on...or leave...or OOOOOOoooooooOOOOOOoooooooo.....

PS  I really enjoyed doing this pastel.  Different paper.   

The Legend tells of Sir Edgar Harrington of Wraysholm, a violent, impulsive man, and his ward and orphan niece, the beautiful Adela. Before the tale begins, Sir Edgar's estranged son John, who was Adela's beloved, has departed for the Crusades and is believed dead. Adela's one comfort, apart from an old priest, is her younger cousin Margaret of Arnside, a dark and feisty girl.

The land around is ravaged by a wolf, which has its den at Humphrey Head, and Sir Edgar has promised half his lands and Adela's hand to whichever knight will dispatch the beast. On the evening before the big hunt, the contenders gather for a feast, among them the Knight of Leyburne, who loves Adela, though knows that she  herself loves another (are you following this?). Earlier that day, Margaret has noticed a strange knight, visored and silent, who has arrived alone to join the hunt. Approaching him, she discovers that he is John Harrington, returned unscathed from the Crusades, and determined not to reveal his identity until he has killed the wolf and won Adela's hand. Later, under pressure, Margaret reveals to Adela that her true love has returned.

On the day of the hunt, the wolf is chased round a vast circuit, and finally back to its lair at Humphrey Head. Two riders have survived the hunt, Leyburne and the visored Knight. Both, on horseback, perch at the edge of the precipice down which the wolf has plunged. Adela and Margaret watch from the beach.  Margaret calls out to Leyburne to be careful, and he shies back, but John Harrington, on his Arab steed, plunges down.

The wolf dashes towards Margaret and Adela. Adela swoons, but Margaret, a true heroine, picked up a stone from the shore and threw herself between her cousin and the wolf. At the same moment, she heard a rush, a fall, a groan upon the shingle, and in another second a spear transfixed the wolf, and he rolled writhing in the sand. John Harrington has killed the wolf, and can now marry Adela. By coincidence both his father, Sir Edgar, and Adela's old priest, appear on the beach. There is reconciliation between the old man and his son, and Sir Edgar orders the priest to marry them then and there, before he changes his mind. The story ends with Adela and John wed and with a baby, and Margaret being courted by the Knight of Leyburne.

Enjoy!

**Original Photo
© Copyright Dave Dunford and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.