the hartlepool monkey hanger post

hi all this is my first proper post as an ats user and i have decided to share with you the legend/myth of the hartlepool monkey.

This is all set during the napoleonic wars .. (uk vs france) in a small town on the north east coast of hartlepool. Just a little fishing village at the time with nothing much going on lol.

Anyhow during these times the french armada sailed up and down the English coast all the time ...
The fishermen of Hartlepool fearing an invasion kept a close watch on the French vessel as it struggled against the storm but when the vessel was severely battered and sunk they turned their attention to the wreckage washed ashore. Among the wreckage lay one wet and sorrowful looking survivor, the ship's pet monkey dressed to amuse in a military style uniform.

so after being washed up on which i think was the headland beach the locals got a grip of it ... not knowing if it was a frenchman or not as they probably hadn't seen a frenchman that far up north in those days.
The people of Hartlepool at the time were largely simple fishing folk and had (probably) never seen a monkey either and so they assumed it was a French spy.

They then took it to the docks ... by this time quite a crowd had gathered as news spread around hartlepool that they had found a french spy. The monkey (obviously) couldnt speak a word of english during the questioning it recieved from the locals it could only jibber which strenghtened the thought of the locals that it was infact a french spy and its dialect was infact french.

Finally the monkey was put on trial found guilty of spying and sentanced to death by hanging for its crimes the monkey was hung on the fish sands a small beach on the headland of hartlepool. hence why we are called monkey hangers lol and hence my profile pic

There is a few poems about it on the internet ill post one here courtesy of wiki....

"The Monkey Song":

In former times, mid war an' strife,
The French invasion threatened life,
An' all was armed to the knife,
The Fishermen hung the Monkey O!
The Fishermen wi' courage high,
Seized on the Monkey for a spy,
"Hang him" says yen, says another,"He'll die!"
They did, and they hung the Monkey O!.
They tortor'd the Monkey till loud he did squeak
Says yen, "That's French," says another "it's Greek"
For the Fishermen had got drunky, O!
"He's all ower hair!" sum chap did cry,
E'en up te summic cute an' sly
Wiv a cod's head then they closed an eye,
Afore they hung the Monkey O!


this is a song about it too lol
www.youtube.com...

we also have a football (soccer for the americans) mascot called h'angus the monkey and after some years of being the football mascot for the club he ran for the post of mayor of hartlepool ... and subsequently won! so we not only hung a monkey we are now sort of governed by a monkey lol how wierd is that

so ill leave it upto you to decide if this is myth/legend or is it infact true ....

i hope that it is true as i am proud of my heritage and wouldnt have it any other way lol !!


hope you have enjoyed reading this as i have enjoyed posting and sharing it

can't beleive you posted this on ats and made no mention of the theories that it was a captured alien.

reply to post by Rikku


haha no it deffo was a french spy lol sorry to dissapoint no aliens here lol

reply to post by KARLOSS28


lmao good grief.

We've not progressed a lot, have we though...

I bet you on the docks there was someone saying "Question everything, lads, those foul French fiends will try and pull the wool over your eyes. Why this little man, he is French spy - you can tell by the way he doesn't speak English. Hang him !!!"

before whipping up the crowd into a mob style frenzy, and hoisting poor ol' Lancelot up by his wee little hnecca..

Ha ha, I have read this story and although it was a tragic ending for the monkey, it demostrates the ignorance when confronted by an alien species (that's the only reference to aliens I will make).

The people would never have come across a monkey previously and all the rhetoric against the French, undoubtedly clouded their judgement.

Didn't Hartlepool elect a monkey as Mayor?

reply to post by Cobaltic1978


haha yes we now have a monkey as mayor he was previously the mascot h'angus the monkey for hartlepool united lol mayor stuart drummond

reply to post by winofiend


haha i can imagine just the thing happening here just as you say lol looking back it is funny but obviously not for the monkey/spy lol

Originally posted by Cobaltic1978
Ha ha, I have read this story and although it was a tragic ending for the monkey, it demostrates the ignorance when confronted by an alien species (that's the only reference to aliens I will make).

The people would never have caome across a monkey previously and all the rhetoric against the French, undoubtedly clouded their judgement.

yes that is so very true ... at least this is somewhat amusing lol

Originally posted by KARLOSS28
reply to post by Cobaltic1978

 

haha yes we now have a monkey as mayor he was previously the mascot h'angus the monkey for hartlepool united lol mayor stuart drummond

Lmao, h'Angus.

Oh I'm laughing at an historical act of animal cruelty.

I'm going to monkey hell

worked there about 40 years ago cutting up a gas holder at the entrance of the docks and went to the pub at dinner time. heard about this from a local and one of our lads started taking the piss about Monkey hangers, the whole pub attacked us and we had to fight our way out of there. glad to hear that you Monkey Hangers are now proud of your history. Welcome to ats.

reply to post by delboy2424


lol times have changed here now we are still protective over our monkey lol more so over the area you worked in as that is near to where the hanging took place lol most of us are proud about it now and will gladly have some banter about it with locals and non locals alike

reply to post by KARLOSS28


I live just up north from you and this story has always fascinated me.
But I thought it was something not talked about much in Hartlepool people used to get pretty defensive about this topic down their... the town must have got some grief about that in the past

You should be proud I'm sure that little french spy would have spread a lot of important information about the local populace if given half a chance.

Your town played a vital role in keeping Britain safe
I'm proud of ya

I find this not funny at all, I'm afraid. It's too sad for the poor scared little fella you hanged.
Still, h'Angus is pretty awesome

also being from hartlepool . this is not the story i tell ...
at the time cannons where loaded by small children called "powder monkeys" so it was a small french boy sadly

reply to post by delboy2424


I was with a group of friends in a pub in Newcastle and we were introduced to a lad from Hartlepool, and I said ' alright monkey hanger' I couldn't help, it just slipped out. He knocked me out with one punch, the tetchy *****er