Dunnie

"Dunnies" redirects here. For the Canadian hockey team, see Whitby Dunlops.

A Dunnie is a small Brownie-like being in the folklore of the Anglo-Scottish borders, specifically Northumberland, the most famous being that of the Hazlerigg Dunnie of Hazlerigg in the parish of Chatton, Northumberland.^[1] The Dunnie has been known to take the form of a horse in order to trick a rider into mounting him before disappearing and leaving them in the muddiest part of the road. He also is said to disguise as plough-horses only to vanish when the ploughman takes him into the stalls.^[1]

The Dunnie was also said to wander the crags and dales of the Cheviots singing:

"Cockenheugh there's gear enough,

Collierheugh there's mair,

For I've lost the key o' the Bounders, (or "It is also "I've lost the key o' the Bowden-door.")

An' I'm ruined for evermair."^[1]

The Dunnie is thus thought to be a ghost of a reiver who hoarded his loot in the fells and guards his ill-gotten gains to this day.^[1]

In full the song of the dunnie goes:

"Cockenheugh there's gear enough,

Collierheugh there's mair,

For I've lost the key o' the Bounders"

"Ross for rabbits, and Elwick for kail,

Of a' the' towns e'er I saw Howick for ale:

Howick for ale, and Kyloe for scrubbers,

Of a' the towns e'er I saw Lowick for robbers;-

Lowick for robbers, Buckton for breed,

Of a' the towns e'er I saw Holy Island for need;-

Holy Island for need, and Grindon for kye,

Of a' the towns e'er I saw Doddington for rye:-

Doddington for rye, Bowisdon for rigs,

Of a' the towns e'er I saw Barmoor for whigs:-

Barmour for whigs, Tweedmouth for doors,

Of a' the towns e'er I saw Ancroft for whores:-

Ancroft for whores, and Spittal for fishers,

Of a' the towns e'er I saw Berrington for dishes."^[2]

References

1. Notes on the folk-lore of the northern counties of England and the borders By William Henderson, 1866, pages 227-228.
2. Folk-lore: or, A collection of local rhymes, proverbs, sayings, prophecies, slogans, &c. relating to Northumberland, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and Berwick-on-Tweed, Michael Aislabie Denham, 1858, pp. 136-137