The Gytrash was a legendary shape-changer known in parts of the

West Riding The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The lieutenancy at that time included the city of York a ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. It was said to haunt lonely roads awaiting travelers. Appearing usually in the shape of animals (

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey, and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two ...

s, and

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. ...

s among others), the Gytrash haunt solitary ways and lead people astray, but they can also be benevolent, guiding lost travelers to the right road. They are usually feared. The Gytrash is a shapechanging cousin of the Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire Shagfoal, of the Lancashire Skriker, of the Padfoot, also from the West Riding and of

Barguest In Northern English folklore, the Barghest or Barguest is a mythical monstrous black dog with large teeth and claws; This in turn cites: * Wirt Sikes, ''British Goblins'' (1880) *'' Notes and Queries'', first series, ii. 51. * Joseph Ritson, '' ...

of much of the

North Riding The North Riding of Yorkshire was a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point was at Mickle Fell at . From the Restoration it was used as a lieutenancy area, having b ...

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

and

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

. The most important gytrash references appear in the writings of the Brontës. The Gytrash's emergence as Rochester's innocuous dog Pilot has been interpreted as a subtle mockery of the mysteriousness and romanticism that surrounds his character and which clouds Jane's perception. Brontë's reference in 1847 is the earliest reference to the beast in print and forms the basis for subsequent citations.

Branwell Brontë Patrick Branwell Brontë (, commonly ; 26 June 1817 – 24 September 1848) was an English painter and writer. He was the only son of the Brontë family, and brother of the writers Charlotte Brontë, Charlotte, Emily Brontë, Emily, and Anne Bro ...

referred to the guytrash in his unpublished writing in December 1837, predating

Charlotte Brontë Charlotte Nicholls (; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855), commonly known as Charlotte Brontë (, commonly ), was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë family, Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novel ...

's reference: 'A Gytrash is a Spectre neither at all similar to the Ghosts of those who once were alive nor to fairys and silvan Creatures nor to Demons and the powers of the air It does not confine its forms to the Human and indeed most seldom appears in such a form A Black Dog dragging a chain a dusky calf nay even a rolling stone or a self impelled cart wheel are more commonly the mortal coil of the Sullen Spectre But the Darkwall Gytrash was known by the form of an Old Dwarfish and hideous Man as often seen without a head as with one and moving at dark along the naked feilds which spread round the Aged House its visits were connected in all mens minds with the fortunes of the family he hovered round and evil omens were always drawn on such occasions and if tradition spoke true fullfilled upon them.' This spirit is also known as Guytrash and Guytresh according to ''

The English Dialect Dictionary ''The English Dialect Dictionary'' (''EDD'') is the most comprehensive dictionary of English dialects ever published, compiled by the Yorkshire dialectologist Joseph Wright (1855–1930), with strong support by a team and his wife Elizabeth Mary ...

'' of Joseph Wright (1855–1930) where it is defined as a ghost that takes the form of an animal. These include a "great black dog" as well as "an evil cow whose appearance was formerly believed in as a sign of death."Wright, Joseph (1923)
''The English Dialect Dictionary (Vol. 2)''.
Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press. p. 770.

References

{{EngvarB, date=January 2024 English folklore English legendary creatures Legendary dogs Legendary horses Northumbrian folklore Supernatural legends Shapeshifting

See also

References