MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: COCKATRICE HALL- MACCLESFIELD/GIANT TURTLE- MAURITIUS

I have an account of Cockatrice Hall in Macclesfield and also a giant turtle in Mauritius in 1810, which may or may not be significant; I do not know.

The account of Cockatrice Hall is from Doug Pickford`s Macclesfield Mysterious and Macabre:

Hatched from a cockerel egg

'Just a little north of Pagan Wassail there used to be a building known as Cockatrice Hall. But information about this building is shrouded in mystery. Near to the former Town Mission ( which later became the Lorimar Studios and then, more recently, a nightclub) was, it is believed, an estate known as Cockatrice Estate.

It was mentioned in a deed dated 29 April 1754, when the estate and other considerations went to Joseph Hobson of Macclesfield and others in trust. Mr Hobson was a member of the Society of Friends, or Quakers.

Cockatrice is the name given to a fabulous serpent hatched from a cock`s egg. Little or nothing else is known about the building, or why it should have been given such a mysterious name - a pagan mythical beast`s hall almost adjoining a pagan site for drinking and fornication! Likewise, little or nothing is known about who was responsible for building it, or when….' (1)

A Giant Turtle

When Mauritius was ceded to Great Britain in 1810 there was a gigantic turtle in a court at the artillery barracks at Port Louis which is still there, although almost blind. It weighs 330 pounds, and stands two feet high when walking. Its shell is 81/2feet long, and it can carry two men on its back with ease. (2)

1 D.Pickford Macclesfield Mysterious and Macabre (2002) p. 29
2 Hopkinsville Kentuckian 29 Dec 1903

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