Moonraking

Slaithwaite Yorkshire 2005
Originally uploaded by Georgei Mabee.

Despite being busy recently one of the things I have been doing that has been a pleasure is reading about the village where I'm getting married. The idea being that because I have friends and relatives coming up from the south I wanted to gather some information about what happens and what there is to do in the area.

In doing so I have come across some 'interesting' festivals that take place either in Marsden or the Colne Valley. Possibly the most,...erm...shall we say 'interesting', is Moonraking. Before going of to find out about it I had heard of it but knew nothing of it. Talking to friends in the pub it was explained to me in one particular way, reading about it later showed in in another light. Both versions say a lot about the power of local rivals.

What you need to know is that Slaithwaite (I think pronounced Slou'wit) is a typical industrial Pennine valley village with the Huddersfield Narrow canal running through it. The story I was first told was that in the 19th century late at night someone walking along the banks of the canal came across a man slightly under the influence of a few beers using a garden rake on the canal. When asked what he was doing he said that the moon had fallen in the water and he was trying to use the rake to get it out. To an outsider this was simply further proof of the lack of any intelligent life in the Slaithwaite.

After doing some looking around on the web I discovered arkingback.org. This explains the story slightly differently. In this version of the story the man doing the raking was a smuggler who confronted by the local militia had the enough wits to act witless.

Which is the true story? I haven't a clue.