Churn Milk Joan, Midgley

 Churn Milk Joan is a stone stood upon Midgley Moor overlooking the Calder Valley. Also known as Churn Milk Peg and Nelmires Stoop it reaches a high of approx 7ft and is thought to have been erected as a boundary marker and has been recorded as early as the 17th century.

The stone is thought to have been given the name Churn Milk Joan in the early 19th century, as a tribute to a milkmaid who froze to death whilst crossing the moor from Peckett Well to Luddenden during a snow storm. Other legends said about the stone are that if you place a penny in the depression upon the the top of the stone it will bring you good luck, and the stone is said to spin 3 times on New Years Eve when the sound of St Michaels Church bells of Mytholmroyd can be heard around it. The stone predates the church by a couple of hundred years.

The picture was taken on the 5th April 2021.

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