The Lore of the Land: A Guide to England's Legends, from Spring-heeled Jack to the Witches of Warboys - Hardcover

Simpson, Jacqueline; Westwood, Jennifer

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0141007117 ISBN 13: 9780141007113

Publisher: Penguin, 2005

Synopsis

Stop off at any English village or town or wander through the countryside and you will almost certainly brush up against some deep-rooted local legend - whether it's the pub that claims to have given lodgings to Dick Turpin, or the haunted stately home, or the hill that is supposed to contain buried treasure, or the grave that is said to mark the last resting place of Robin Hood. This magnificent new and lavishly illustrated survey looks at all these stories, county by county, explaining when they date from, how they arose and what basis - if any - they have in fact. If you want to know how Devil's Dyke in Sussex got its name, or why medieval stories link King Arthur with Lanercost Priory in Cumberland, or where Cornish legends about the evil Jan Tregeagle come from, then The Lore of the Land will provide the answers and show you at the same time just how deeply embedded in our culture these legends have become.

About this title

About the Author

Jennifer Westwood was born in 1940 and studied English language at Oxford, followed by mediaeval Icelandic at Cambridge. A member of the Folklore Society, she has served as Editor of FLS Books and also the journal Folklore. Her books include Albion: A Guide to Legendary Britain (1985), Gothick Cornwall (1992), Lost Atlantis (1997) and On Pilgrimage (2003). She belongs to the Henry Doubleday Research Association, the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and the Society of Authors. She lives in rural Norfolk.

Dr Jacqueline Simpson was born in 1930, and studied English Literature and Medieval Icelandic at Bedford College, London University. She has been an active member of the Folklore Society since the 1960s, having served at various times as Editor, Secretary, and President. Her books include Icelandic Folktales and Legends (1971, 2004), The Folklore of the Welsh Border (1976, 2004), British Dragons (1980, 2000), and, jointly with Steve Roud, A Dictionary of English Folklore (2000). She lives in West Sussex.

From the Back Cover

A magnificent county-by-county exploration of England's legendary past, from the field of the forty footsteps in London's Bloomsbury to the Derbyshire tale of Haddon Hall.

From the Inside Flap

The Lore of the Land gathers together the stories, many of them hundreds of years old, that have been passed down from one generation to the next. With each retelling, fact and fiction, tradition and superstition have become ever more interwoven, and these tales have become an integral part of England's heritage. This magnificent new survey uncovers the real - and imagined - reasons why families such as the Berneys of Reedham and the Lytteltons of Hagley bore a red hand in their coat of arms, it explores the origins of the Cumberland story of the 'Luck of Edenhall', and it speculates whether Sweeney Todd, the 'Demon Barber of Fleet Street', ever really existed. It also sets out to explain why similar stories crop up so frequently in different places - whether accounts of supposedly bottomless lakes, or phantom coaches, or mysterious subterranean passages. And, from all over England, it brings together the legends that surround such figures as Oliver Cromwell, St !
George and the murderers of Archbishop Thomas à Becket.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0141007117
• ISBN 13: 9780141007113
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 928