hobhurst

   , hobthrust, hobthrush.

   A variant name for a hob, whether in his capacity as domestic helper or out-of-doors trickster, found in Yorkshire, Westmorland, and Lancashire. It is uncertain whether the second syllable comes from Old English thurs, 'giant, demon', or Middle English hurst, 'grove, clump of trees'.

   A note in The Lonsdale Magazine or Kendal Repository for the Year 1822 (iii. 254) defines him well:

   Hobthrust, or as he was more generally called, Throb-Thrush, was a being distinct from fairies. He was a solitary being who resided in Millom and had his regular range of farm houses. He seems to have been a kind spirit, and willing to do anything he was required to do. His only reward was a quart of milk porridge, in a snipped (chipped) pot. The servant girls would regularly put the cream in the churn, and say, 'I wish Throb would churn that', and they regularly found it done He left the country at last, through the kindness of a tailor, who made him a coat and a hood to keep him warm during the winter. He was heard singing at night in his favourite haunts,

   'Throb-Thrush has got a new coat and a new hood, And he'll never do more good.'