A number of authors have retailed the legend of the Easington Hare. The version of it provided in "Folk Tales of the North Country" by F. Grice, published in 1944, places part of the story very firmly in the Dene.
Once the men of Castle Eden were fond of coursing. They bred and trained their own greyhounds and had rare sport. The carpenter would match his dog against the blacksmith's and the thatcher would challenge the shepherd, and on the first fine holiday they held their coursing matches in the fields around the village.
One year, however, they began to be troubled by a strange h