Few figures loom as large in British legend as King Arthur. Noble king, fair-minded monarch, mighty warrior – Arthur ends up taking on all of these roles at various points, and often a few more besides. His first appearance that can be dated is in the 9th-century Historia Brittonum by Nennius. He also pops up […]
The Folklore of Hill Figures: White Horses and Naked Giants
The hill figures of southern England are enigmatic artworks, standing out with their stark white lines against the green grass of their home slopes. They’re mostly found on chalk hills, where the chalk provides the white outlines. People hotly debate their ages, with many keen to see them as pre-Christian landmarks that somehow survived over […]
Folklore of Barrows: Tales of Fairies, Gods, Ghosts, & the Devil
Whether we’re looking at barrows, cromlechs, or dolmens, ancient burial sites hold a certain fascination. Folklore about these monuments is often linked to graves, which is right, but the graves are set in the wrong era, such as Vikings, medieval period, or Civil War (Simpson and Roud 2003: 18). Sometimes people believed giants rested in […]
Folklore of Stone Circles: Petrified Dancers and Countless Stones
Mention stone circles to many people, and they’ll think of people gathering at Stonehenge to watch the sunrise. Or hulking megaliths looming out of the mist on a lonely moor, the sheep being careful to only graze outside the circle. They’re certainly evocative, if nothing else. As with the standing stones that we covered last […]
The Folklore of Standing Stones, Megaliths, and Menhirs
There’s something awesome yet eerie about encountering standing stones in the landscape. Why are they there? Who put them there? And how did they put them there? The fact we can’t often answer these questions helps add to their mystery. Standing stones go by a range of names, such as lith (i.e. megalith) or menhir. […]
The Folklore of Wells: Healing, Wishing, Divining, and Cursing
Archaeological evidence reveals a close relationship between people and the spiritual world back to the Bronze Age. Springs often reveal ritual deposits, such as those found at the head of the Seine. It’s unsurprising that humans would continue this water-based relationship via wells. For some scholars, wells had either a patron deity or a guardian […]
