The term “needfire” seems to be a corruption of “neatfire,” neat cattle being an old and common term.
Once a year the needfire was so lighted, and all the hearths of the village were rekindled from the blaze thus obtained.
I never heard of the use of the needfire in the Marsh, though it was, I believe, used on the wolds not many miles off.
As thou knowest, it seemed to me that I was watching two sparkles from the extinguished Needfire wheel.
The last time the “needfire” was used in the Keswick neighbourhood, Mr. William Wilson says, was in 1841.
