History

[allan.g0ias]

Where in Geordie Land did they hang a monkey... and what for ?

[Peter Pedant]

oh, in Middlesbrough.

(correct spelling although i am not sure it is really in geordie land)

in around 1795. for spying. It was a pet on a shipwrecked ship, in French uniform, and the townsfolk mistook it for a spy and hanged it.

The mascot for Middlesbrough is now a monkey

[Philtaz]

 From what I can vaguely remember the people of Hartlepool believed a monkey from a French ship that had run aground was actually a spy so they hung him!

 

The team mascot of Hartlepool is a chimp called H'Angus!(True!) and that is why people from Hartlepool are known as Monkey Hangers.

[Philtaz]

Must have posted at the same time Peter.  It's definitely Hartlepool.

[archbishop]

Hartlepool

[Quizmonster]

Re the Geordie Land example, Hartlepool - and sometimes Wallsend - seems to be the most commonly mentioned place where a monkey aboard a French (ie enemy) ship was mistakenly believed to be a Frenchman by locals who had never actually seen either a Frenchman or a monkey before.  Being an �enemy alien', so to speak, the poor creature was summarily hanged as a spy!

However, this sort of story exists in various places around the British coast, including as far up the coast as the village of Boddam in the north-east of Scotland. People from neighbouring villages used to chant: "The Boddamers hanged the monkey-o!" The idea is that it is just a 'friendly' insult, usually bandied about between rival communities.  Some believe it to be a true story and others just an urban legend.  Given how many places it is supposed to have �actually' happened in, I would tend to opt for the latter explanation.

[Cetti]

A few of the same from a previously asked Q:

 

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Search/Question55104-6.asp?Page=1&SearchText=monkey

 

 

[Peter Pedant]

yes sorry Hartlepool

How could I confuse the two?

[gazzawazza]

Thanks Peter Pedant for pointing out the correct spelling of my hometown, so many people put in the extra "O," making it Middlesborough. 

Even mapmakers and signmakers occasionally get it wrong prompting outraged headlines in the local press and local councillors jumping on the bandwagon demanding "action!"

It definitely was Hartlepool according to local legend but as Quizzie says there are probably other accounts around the country.

You're also right about us not being geordies, to us that's Newcastle and Gateshead, (way up North), although they might even have their own local qualification in the same way that a true ****-er-nee has to be born within the sound of the Bow Bells.