Stiperstones Poem

THE STIPERSTONES

T’was long ago the Ludlow people vexed the Devil very sore
He vowed to stone their homes and steeples until they were no more
On Cranberries Hill he then collected his apron full of rocks and stones
With these missiles he expected he could break the peoples bones

Swiftly crossing roads and rivers past the peasant peoples homes
Through the land of peaceful livers till he reached the Stiperstones
O’er the mountain dark and dreare hurried satan on his way
Vowing war and strife and riot on the people miles away

Suddenly the strings were broken in a heap the stones all fell
And he left them as a token of his presence there to tell
Then cursed he Ludlow and it’s tower from the top of Stiperstones
In the fury of the hour built a chair of rocks and stones

And tis said at midnight hour when the moon is rising high
Satan sits in state and power while the ghosts of dead men cry
Then the spirits gather round him as the moonbeams light the sky
And rejoyce that they have found him sitting in his royal chair


I have just been sent this by my cousin whose family and mine used to live there, and she says that her Dad used to recite her this poem in the 1950's. I've never heard it before but I wasn't born in Shropshire . Wonder if anyone else has ?