Black Annis: Leicester's very own bogey-person

This video is about Leicester’s best-known bogey person, Black Annis. It is a based on a much longer article:
'The making of a legend: Black Annis and her Bower', _Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society_, Vol. 80 (2006) p95-111 which can be downloaded for free from
www.le.ac.uk/l...
Note that my indications of the approximate location of Black Annis Bower are somewhat inconsistent as the owner of the property does not want the location to be identified.
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John Heyrick’s poem in full
On a Cave called Black Annis’s Bower
being an answer to a very young lady's enquiries about the story of Black Annis
Where down the plain the winding pathway falls,
From Glenn-field vill, to Lester's ancient walls,
Nature, or Art, with imitative power,
Far in the Glenn has plac'd Black Annis' Bower.
An oak, the pride of all the mossy dell,
Spreads his broad arms above the stony cell;
And many a bush, with hostile thorns array'd,
Forbids the secret cavern to invade;
Whilst delving vales each way meander round,
And violet banks with redolence abound.
Here, if the uncouth song of former days,
Soil not the page with Falsehood's artful lays,
Black Annis held her solitary reign,
The dread and wonder of the neighb'ring plain.
The Shepherd griev'd to view his waning flock,
And trac'd the fistlings to the gloomy rock.
No vagrant children cull'd the flowerets then,
For infant blood oft stain'd the gory den.
Not Sparta Mount* for infant tears renown'd,
Echo'd more frequently the piteous sound.
Oft the gaunt Maid the frantic Mother curs'd,
Whom Britan's wolf with savage nipple nurs'd;
Whilst Lester's sons behld aghast the scene,
Nor dar'd to meet the Monster of the Green.
'Tis said the soul of mortal man recoil'd
To view Black Annis' eye, so fierce and wild;
Vast talons, foul with human flesh, there grew
In place of hands, and features livid blue
Glar'd in her visage; whilst her obscene waist,
Warm skins of human victims close embrac'd.
But Time, than Man more certain, tho' more slow,
At length 'gainst Annis drew his sable bow;
The great decree the pious Shepherds bless'd,
And general joy the general fear confess'd.
Not without terror they the cave survey,
Where hung the monstrous trophies of her sway:
‘Tis said, that in the rock large rooms were found,
Scoop’d with her claws beneath the flinty ground;
In these the swains her hated body threw,
But left the entrance still to future view,
That the children’s children might the tale rehearse,
And bards record it in their tuneful verse.
But in these listless days, the idle bard
Gives to the wind all themes of cold regard;
Forgive, then, if in rough, unpolished song,
An unskilled swain the dying tale prolong.
And you, ye Fair, whom Nature’s scenes delight,
If Annis’ Bower your vagrant steps invite,
Ere the bright sun Aurora’s car succeed,
Or dewy evening quench the thirsty mead,
Forbear with chilling censures to refuse
Some gen’rous tribute to the rustic muse.
A violet or common daisy throw,
Such gifts as Maro’s lovely nymphs bestow;
Ten shall your Bard survive the critic’s frown,
And in your smiles enjoy his best renown.
Mount Taygetus, in a cavern near to which it was the Lacedoemonian custom to expose deformed and weakly children to perish.
From ‘First Flights’ by John Heyrick, junior. Published London 1797.
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Acknowledgements
My thanks to the June 2010 Black Annis Morris team, Jill Bourn, Jenny Clarke, Ben Fernee, Anna Franklin, Roberta Goldwater (née Twinn), Bill Griffiths, Ronald Hutton, Ernie Miller, Margaret Penfold, Anthony Roe, Aubrey Stevenson, Alby Stone, Ginny Westcott and especially the owner of the house on Westfield Road whose garden contains the site of Black Annis’ Bower.
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References
Billson, Charles J., 1895, _Leicestershire and Rutland: County Folk-lore_, Folklore Society.
Billson, Charles J., 1911,'Vestiges of paganism in Leicestershire' in Alice Dryden (ed.), _Memorials of Old Leicestershire_, George Allen.
Burton, William, 1622, _The Description of Leicester Shire_. John White. [Also incorporated into John Nichols’ _History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester_].
Heyrick, John jnr, 1797, ‘On a Cave Called Black Annis’s Bowers’, in _First Flights_, 1797.
Kelly, William, (writing under the pen-name F.R.H.S.), 1874, in Leicester Chronicle 3rd October; cited in Billson 1895 p8.
Palmer, Roy, 1985, _The Folklore of Leicestershire and Rutland_, Sycamore Press.
Read, Robert, circa 1882, _Leicester 1881: Jottings of personal experience and research Vol.3 Amusements old and new_.
Wall, J.C., 1907, 'Ancient Earthworks' in _Victoria County History: Leicestershire_, Vol.1.