Trampshipman

[QUOTE=Trampshipman;290081]I lived in Formby throughout my childhood and teens, in fact from around 1935 `til 1960. I lived close to a road which was and still is called RAVEN MEOLS LANE , this was said to have been the route taken by marauding Viking bands making their way inland from where they had landed on the coast. It is well known that Viking banners usually figured a `Raven`. Also, the word `Meols` actually means `banner`. So, `fortinian` is quite correct about the Viking connection. However, about your `black dogs` and the one that `knowhowe` claims to have seen in the sandhills, it is certainly not for me to speculate on what `knowehowe`may or may not have seen, but the said `black dog` was unheard of or never mentioned in the Formby I grew up in. My Mum was widowed my Dad being lost at sea. Throughout my child hood I loved the sea and its ships, and I used to take every possible opportunity to go off to the shore simply to watch the ships go by. [They were very numerous in those days ]. Throughout many years I spent thousands of hours roaming the sandhills of Formby after school and late into the night completely alone in daylight and darkness. [and weekends of course]. Throughout all those years I never saw or even heard tell of any `black dogs`. Formby folk in those days were really country folk and many of them quite superstitious, yet I never ever heard a single mention of `black dogs`. There was an old hermit called Billy Tasker who lived for very many years in a shack amidst the Formby sand dunes completely isolated and alone. If there had been any `black dogs` around he certainly would have known. I spent many many hours with him and he never made mention of such things. I can only now leave you to draw your own conclusions.

Regards,
Ken.

PS:- I also roamed Freshfield sand dunes and those of Hightown and Hall Road extensively as well as Formby, and knew them all like the back of my hand, day or night. No `black dogs` in those places either !!![/QUOTE]

PPS:- It is a couple of years since `researchwriter` posted this topic so I`ve decided to blog my post. I don`t really know whether this is a correct procedure or whether I should have posted it as a new thread. Maybe someone could advise me on the correct action in such circumstances. ?