Spriggan
 Sculpture by Marilyn Collins
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| Grouping |
Mythological creature Fairy Sprite |
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| Country | England |
| Region | Cornwall |
A spriggan, a singular borrowed from the Cornish plural spyryjyon 'spirits') is a legendary creature known from Cornish faery lore. Spriggans are particularly associated with West Penwith in Cornwall.
According to The English Dialect Dictionary (1905), spriggans were apparently related to the trolls of Scandinavia. Spriggans were depicted as grotesquely ugly, wizened old men with large child-like heads. They were said to be found at old ruins, cairns and barrows guarding buried treasure. Although small, they were usually considered to be the ghosts of giants, with the ability to swell to enormous size. They were also said to act as fairy bodyguards.
Spriggans were notorious for their unpleasant dispositions, and delighted in working mischief against those who offended them. They raised sudden whirlwinds to terrify travellers, sent storms to blight crops, and sometimes stole away mortal children, leaving their ugly changelings in their place. They were blamed if a house was robbed or a building collapsed, or if cattle were stolen. In one story, an old woman got the better of a band of spriggans by turning her clothing inside-out (turning clothing supposedly being as effective as holy water or iron in repelling fairies) to gain their loot. They were sometimes associated with the underground spirits called knockers who could often be heard working in tin mines.
A sculpture of a spriggan by Marilyn Collins can be seen in Crouch End, London, in some arches lining a section of the Parkland Walk (a disused railway line). If walking along the Parkland Walk from Finsbury Park to Highgate station the Spriggan is to the right just before the disused railway platforms of the former Crouch End station. To the left, on the southside of the Parkland Walk is Crouch Hill Park where Ashmount School has been located since January 2013. The sculpture is sometimes mistaken for the Green Man or Pan.
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Wikipedia