Hob (folklore)

A hob is a type of small mythological household spirit found in the English Midlands, Northern England, and on the Anglo-Scottish border, according to traditional folklore of those regions. They could live inside the house or outdoors. They are said to work in farmyards and thus could be helpful; however if offended they could become nuisances. The usual way to dispose of hobs was to give them a set of new clothing, the receiving of which would make the creatures leave for ever. It could, however, be impossible to get rid of the worst hobs.

Etymology

‘Hob’ is a diminutive form of the name Robin, which is itself a diminutive form of the name Robert.
Hob is sometimes a generic term given to a goblin, bogle or brownie. The name Hob became associated with the mythical creature as ‘a piece of rude familiarity to cover up uncertainty or fear’; essentially, calling a mystical creature by a common nickname was a way to make the concept less frightening and the nickname eventually became the common term.
As well as the brownie, another cognate exists in the Scandinavian nisse or tomte; all are thought to be derived from the household gods of olden times, known in England as the cofgodas, of which the brownie and hob are indeed a survival.
The term 'hob' is also linked in the north of England to the Old English þyrs and Old Norse þurs, meaning 'giant' or 'monster’. These roots give rise to dialectal variants such as hob-thrush, hob-thrust and hob-dross, recorded across Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire.

Folklore

Yorkshire

Hobs have been described as small, hairy, wizened men. Hobs were viewed as kind but mischievous spirits, helpful to local people in need. One famous hob lived near Runswick Bay in a hobhole; this hob was believed to be able to cure young children of kink-cough. Parents would bring their ailing young to the hob's cave dwelling and recite the following:
Hobs are generally considered household spirits who preferred to be about at night. Hobs were not tied to a particular place but seemed to come and go as they chose. A hob would help the farmer in the field or the shopkeeper in his store. The householder had to be careful in dealing with a hob so as not to offend it. If a farmer were to speak poorly of a hob on his farm, the hob might retaliate by breaking dishes and turning loose livestock. Most importantly, a hob must not be given a gift of clothing, as this would be greatly resented and might cause a helpful hob to leave immediately.
A recurring motif in northern folklore is that when a hob is offered clothes—often a coarse shirt or hood—he vanishes, offended. This is often marked by a rhyme, such as: “Ha! a cap and a hood, / Hob’ll never do mair good.”
“Gin Hob mun hae nowght but a hardin’ hamp, / He’ll come nae mair nowther to berry nor stamp.”
These couplets often signal the end of a hob’s aid, linking him to the wider European motif of the departing brownie or tomte.

North York Moors

Farndale flit

Farndale in the North York Moors is separated from its neighbour Rosedale to the east by a high but relatively level moorland promontory known as Blakey Ridge. On the east side of that ridge is a topological feature known as Hobb Crag, overlooking the village of Rosedale Abbey. A local story relates how a farmer in Farndale was so troubled by a Hob that he decided to move to another farm – just to get rid of that Hob.
Note the local dialect word flittin
which may be derived from the Old Norse language.

Names and habitations

Names

Local name

It was customary for a local hob to have a local name and a local habitation.
Some "Hob" names may suggest their mischievous personality:

[|Jester]
[|Hobshaddow]

Hobbe Hyrste

The name Hob-thrush may be derived from Hobbe Hyrste or Hob o' t' hyrst – "Hob of the hurst".

Hob o' t' hyrst
Hob-t-hyrst
Hob-thyrst
Hob-thrust
Hob-thrush

See also WiKtionary : Old English < hyrst >..."hurst, hillock, eminence, height, wood, wooded eminence".
The following names may be derived from Hobbe Hyrste:

Name	Habitation	Location
"Hob-trush"	Hob-trush Cave	Mulgrave woods, North Yorkshire.
"Hobthrush"	Obtrush Rook	Farndale, North Yorkshire.
"Hobthrush"	Hobthrush's Isle	St Cuthbert's Isle (Hobthrush), Northumberland.
"Hob Hurst"	Hob Hurst's House	Hob Hurst's House, Beeley Moor, Derbyshire.

Similar names are found in disparate parts of the country – it is possible that these were introduced by migrant workers while moving between employments, especially those involved with mining and railway construction.

Habitations

The habitation was usually a topological feature, such as a hill, crag, hole, cave or island.
Often the feature would be within view of the farm or local settlement:

Habitation	Settlement
Hobb Hill	Bloxham near Banbury.
Hobb Crag	Rosedale Abbey
Hobthrush Isle	Holy Island

[|Hob Hole]

WiKtionary: The name element hole might relate to:

English < hole >..."A hollow place or cavity; an excavation; a pit; a dent; a depression; a fissure".
Old Norse < hóll >..."hill, hillock, knoll".

Habitation	Location
Hob Hole	Calais Beck south of Runswick Bay, North Yorkshire.
Hob Hole	Hob Hole Beck near Kempswithen, Kildale Moor, Eskdale, North Yorkshire.
Hobbs Hole	Hobbs Hole Farm near Great Tew, Oxfordshire.

Tumuli

It was common for Hob place names to be associated with tumuli:

Habitation	Location	Listed
Hobthrush Rook	Farndale, North Yorkshire.	Two round cairns
Hob on the Hill	Commondale Moor, North Yorkshire.	Wayside cross Round barrows
Hob Hurst's House	Beeley Moor, Derbyshire.	Square tumulus

Legacy

Place names

Yorkshire place names

Many topological features, especially in North Yorkshire, are named "Hobs". Dickins provides dozens of attested hob place-names across Northern England, many associated with barrows, springs, or moorlands.

Place name	Link	Location	Area	Feature	Map	Latitude N – S
Hob Hill		The Fairy Glen, Saltburn-by-the-Sea.	North Yorkshire	Hill		520200
Hob Hole	Hob Hole	Calais Beck south of Runswick Bay.	North York Moors	Hole		515500
Hob on the Hill	Tumuli	Between Guisborough and Commondale.	North York Moors	Cross		512420
Hob-trush Cave	Name	Mulgrave woods	North Yorkshire	Cave		511700
Hobshaddow Wood	Name	Between Hutton Rudby and Stokesley.	North Yorkshire	Wood		508300
Hob Hole Beck	Hob Hole	South of Kempswithen near Castleton, Eskdale.	North York Moors	Hole		507800
Hobb Crag	Habitat	West of Rosedale Abbey, Rosedale.	North York Moors	Crag		495400
Hobthrush Rook	Name	Farndale, North Yorkshire.	North York Moors	Tumulus		494400

Notable people

Hobhouse is a rare English family name, belonging originally to a Somerset family.
The Scottish national hero Robert the Bruce was known as King Hobbe by his English enemy.

Modern popular culture

The 1958 TV serial Quatermass and the Pit, and the later film version, centre around the fictional Hobbs Lane, the significance of the name becoming apparent as the plot unfolds.
In Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files, hobs are eyeless creatures who burn in light. They serve the Queen Mab of the Winter Court of the Sidhe.
In Lionhead Studios' video games Fable, Fable II, and Fable III some of the minor adversaries are creatures known as "hobbes". They are created from children who misbehave and are captured by hobbes.
In J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, house-elves appear to be a type of hob, doing household tasks for human masters and driven from their households if given gifts of clothing.
The Hob appearing in The Years of Longdirk by Ken Hood is considerably different from the traditional depiction, being a powerful spirit which is amoral, neither good nor bad, but which has considerable destructive powers it can use if provoked. In Hood's fantasy world, "Hob" and "Imp" are two names for much the same kind of being.
In The Hob's Bargain by Patricia Briggs, the Hob is a powerful creature, possibly the last of his kind, who bargains to help protect a local village from a necromancer in exchange for a mate. The heroine who brought the Hob to the village agrees to his bargain in exchange for his help.
In Moonshine, the second novel of the Cal Leandros novels by Rob Thurman, the villain is "Hobgoblin" or "the Hob", the oldest of the race of immortal creatures known as pucks. In this series, the pucks all look alike, with curly brown hair, green eyes, and "foxlike" faces. Unlike his fellow puck, Robin Goodfellow, the Hob sees humans merely as toys and tools, beings which are utterly beneath him.
In An Elder Scrolls Novel: The Infernal City, hobs are used as kitchen slaves.
In Richard Dawson's 2017 album Peasant, a song titled "Hob" tells the story of a family's encounter with a hobthrust.
In Travis Baldree's book Legends & Lattes, the main character hires a hob as a carpenter in her coffee shop, noting that they are disparagingly referred to as 'pucks' by humans and are not often seen in cities.

General and cited sources

Dickins, Bruce, ‘Yorkshire Hobs’, Transaction of the Yorkshire Dialect Society 7, 9-23.
Linked version is the 1977 second edition.