Churches used to be a centre for the community. They were open to all classes of society, and through their association with births, marriages, and deaths, often had links to each stage in an individual’s life. Add to that their open commemoration of the dead, and churches became a clear focal point (Simpson 2003: 67). […]
Folklore About Pubs: Murderous Landlords, Famous Crimes & Ghosts
As we saw last week with the folklore of pub names, the pub is a familiar part of British life. As such a hive of activity, it stands to reason that there would also be plenty of folklore about pubs around Britain. After all, the more activity there is in a place, the more opportunity […]
The Last Drop & The Bucket of Blood: The Folklore of Odd Pub Names
The pub is well entrenched in the cultural life of Britain. As a hub of social contact and often a provider of decent food, pubs offer a central meeting point for many groups of people. Yet how often do we think about pub names and what they tell us about local history, famous figures, or […]
Elizabeth Bathory: Blood Countess or Framed Aristocrat?
When you say the name ‘Elizabeth Bathory’, a few things probably spring to mind. After all, she’s widely known as the Blood Countess, so you probably imagine a woman in a bath of blood. Indeed, while researching this post, I encountered a plethora of articles that described Bathory as “the infamous blood countess”, “the self-made […]
Lady Godiva: The Naked Horseback Rider of Coventry
Lady Godiva has been immortalised in some strange ways, giving her name both to a brand of chocolates and a line in Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’. Yet it’s fascinating that the star of an 11th-century story continues to have an impact even now. For some, she’s simply the woman who rode naked through the […]
Dick Whittington: The Real Man Behind the Pantomime
Every year, panto season rolls around again, and amid the usual mixture of fairy tales and family favourites, we often find several versions of Dick Whittington and His Cat around the country. Unlike Sleeping Beauty or Snow White, Dick Whittington professes to be based on a real person. Indeed, Richard Whittington was a real historical […]
