Fake news in Cheshire in 1388? Or UFOs….?

The above painting does not illustrate the Cheshire event of 1388.

According to Jonathan Hughes in  his The Rise of Alchemy in Fourteenth Century England, on a day in August 1388, during Vespers, when Richard II was recovering his authority as king, two stars were observed hovering at Haulton, (Halton, Runcorn) Cheshire. They were in the southern sky, midway between the heavens and the earth, and angels were seen to float about the earth for an hour before returning to heaven, as if signifying RII’s recovered kingship.

But I wonder if they were something else entirely?

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson’s Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Halton as follows:-

“. . .An ancient barony of Halton, having its seat at the village, was, with the constableship of Chester, given by Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, to his cousin Nigel; continued, for several centuries, to be held by Nigel’s descendants; and passed, through John of Gaunt, to the duchy of Lancaster. A castle here, on the brow of a hill, was built about the time of the Conquest; was a favourite hunting seat of John of Gaunt; was dismantled in the civil war of Charles I.; and is now represented by inconsiderable ruins; but includes a habitable portion, rebuilt after the Restoration. . .” From http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/2114

So, in 1388, the area was ruled by Gaunt, who had become the 14th Baron of Halton in 1361. In 1388 he was still abroad on his unsuccessful quest to gain the throne of Castile. He was also the hugely powerful and much loathed uncle of King Richard II. There had been chaos in England since Gaunt’s departure, but Richard was beginning to claw back his kingly authority. One wonders if the strange stars and angels in the sky were indeed a political invention to warn Gaunt’s supporters that the crown was in the ascendant? Conversely, was it the work of Gaunt’s supporters, warning the king that the future of the crown was far from certain?

In other words, was the entire thing fake news? Such stories were widely believed in the superstitious, deeply religious medieval world, and, accordingly, carried great weight. Was there not the tale of Jacob’s Ladder in the Bible? With angels ascending and descending? Plus, communications weren’t the greatest, so telling people in Kent or Northumberland that something wondrous had happened way off in Land’s End…or Cheshire…would take some time to be disproved.

OR, have UFOs been haunting the Halton/Runcorn area for 600 years or more? Perhaps even longer? For instance:-

“1963, Runcorn – RAF veteran Dick Newby saw a ‘huge blue star-like object’ hurtle through the sky, just above the rooftops over Boston Avenue. He then watched as it burned a path over Halton Castle. He said: ‘I was very alarmed. I’ve seen plenty of shooting stars and airliners but this was neither. It looked nothing like a shooting star and was dead silent.’ ”

“1966, Runcorn – John Middleham of Runcorn saw a flying disc over Halton. From then on, armed with a cine camera, he constantly scanned the skies trying to capture UFOs on film. Three years later, he spotted a huge cigar shaped object with two smaller discs underneath the skies of Runcorn. 1968, Widnes: Police took chase in squad cars after a huge brightly lit flying cross was seen flying over Fiddlers Ferry power station. No explanation was given for the object which left the cars standing as it hurtled off at speeds in excess of 100 miles an hour.

“1969, Runcorn – Police received a report of a UFO landing on a playing field behind Pine Road.

“1972, Runcorn – Julie Robson, Joyce Baxter and son Paul saw an unusual flying object over Halton Brow during daylight. They described it as ‘resembling a flying teapot without a lid.’ ”

There’s more here … And here: http://www.historicalblindness.com/blogandpodcast//a-brief-history-of-unidentified-aerial-phenomena (from about halfway down the article, when the author gets to events from history).

All of which begs the question: What, if anything, was seen in Halton in 1388? Something that could be given a religious interpretation? Or something that began in the mind of an inventive medieval spin-doctor? Or, was it really a UFO incident…

 

 

 

 

 

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