The Green Children of Woolpit
Picture the scene. England. Suffolk to be exact. It’s the 12th century during the reign of King Stephen. You’re a peasant living in the village of Woolpit (literally from the old english wulf-pytt, meaning a pit for trapping wolves).
England and Normandy are embroiled in civil war. This period of time was known as The Anarchy. But that seems a world away as you toil in the field.
As you go about your day harvesting crops, you notice two children in the distance near the wolf pit. Curiosity aroused, you walk towards them. As you close the gap you realise that not only are they green in colour, they are speaking in an unknown tongue.
This was a time rich in myth, legend and folklore. Stories of faeries, nymphs and magic are told and retold. Handed down across generations.
What would you make of it? It must have been a sight to behold!
Sir Richard de Calne
According to the writings of Ralph of Coggeshall in the Chronicon Aglicanum:
The children, brother and sister as it was later discovered, were considered a very strange curiosity. The villagers took them to Sir Richard de Calne’s home at Wilkes. Sir Richard was a Knight and had responsibility for the villages around there.
Sir Richard and his staff tried every food stuff to get the green children to eat. Everything was refused. The children wept uncontrollably. Until someone brought fresh green beans in from the garden.
At length, when some beans just cut, with their stalks, were brought into the house, they made signs, with great avidity, that they should be given to them.
Extract from Chronicon Aglicanum by Ralph of Coggeshall Abbey. Abbot there between (1207-1218)
Over time the children did adapt to normal food and started to lose their green tinge. However, the brother was very sickly and did not last long.
The sister fared much better. Not only did she grow in strength but she also learned to speak english. If you thought the story was a little strange up until now, read on.
She explained that they were from St Martins Land. A strange subterranean land where the sun never shone. And everything was green. They had no idea how they came to be near Woolpit. According to the girls story, they had been herding their fathers cattle when the heard a loud noise. Like the ringing of bells. And immediately found themselves by the wolf pit. Where they were found.
The girl was kept in the employ of Sir Richards household for many years. Where she was described as “very wanton and impudent”!
We know this because of the writing of William of Newburgh (1136-1198). He goes on to tell the reader that she eventually married a man from King’s Lynn, which is about 40 miles away from Woolpit.
The astronomer Duncan Lunan (born 1945) takes it even further. Based on his research into Sir Richards family, he asserts the girl was called Agnes and that she married a royal official named Richard Barre. Although he also speculated that the children were mistakenly transported to earth due to a malfunction in a matter transmitter. So make of that what you will.
The Green Children of Woolpit – What’s the Truth?
This story has persisted for over 800 years. It was first written down by two near contemporaries of the time. William of Newburgh and Ralph of Coggeshall. However, neither of those writers offer any explanation of where these children came from or how they came to be near Woolpit.
So what’s the truth?
Personally I love the folklore surrounding the story. Maybe it really does pertain to a story about the fairy otherworld as some writers have suggested. Maybe they were aliens from another planet. It’s always fun to suspend disbelief and think about the what-ifs.
Unfortunately the truth is usually much simpler.
These were probably the orphans of flemish immigrants that died during the cave in of a nearby complex. The girl even describes digging out of the cave as part of her story.
What about the green skin, I hear you cry!
Hypochromic Anemia explains that one. It is a form of iron deficiency and explains why they lost their tinge as they ate more varied foodstuffs. Historically speaking it is known as chlorosis or green sickness because of the distinct tinge it produces in people.
No matter the real explanation, it stands a marvellous story. One that has inspired people to write about it, study and debate it for nearly 1000 years.
It even had a small part in the Doctor Who universe. In the novel Spiral Scratch by Gary Russell (Amazon Affiliate Link). In the story the Lamprey children (green serpent like creatures that live in the time vortex and can shape shift) are pulled into our timeline and looked after by, yep you guessed it. Sir Richard de Calne.
Sources:
Green Children of Woolpit (Wikipedia)
Translation of the Chronicon Aglicanum as presented to Thomas Keightley in 1850 (Anomalyinfo.com)
The Green Children: A Cautionary Tale (Academia.edu)