Lost cities, mermaids, haunted houses and a whole swathe of superstition! This episode is Cornish Feasts and Folklore from Margaret Ann Courtney, published in 1890.

'The pellars wore formerly magical rings, with a blue stone in them, said to have been formed by snakes breathing on hazel-twigs. Our country-people often searched for these stones.'

Tales From Antiquaria is a podcast dedicated to exploring the legacy of work published regarding folklore and local history during the golden age of antiquarian writing in the nineteenth century.

For show notes and links, visit talesfromantiquaria.com

Episode written, produced and presented by Eli Lewis-Lycett. All source material taken directly from the stated publication. Main theme music by Humanoid Media. Incidental music from Restum-Anoush.

Find Tales From Antiquaria on Facebook and Bluesky.

Tales From Antiquaria launches with episode 1 later this October, subscribe today to make sure it hits your feed.

About the podcast...

One of the most useful and wondrous tools available in the world of folklore research and history writing is the library of books written by antiquarian writers in the 1800s. These collections are full of folklore, legends and general historical observations from a time when the writers were often collecting things first hand, out in the villages and countryside, recording the tales they heard in regional collections.

Most of their content, however, isn’t widely circulated, but they’re full of absolute gems, and so that’s where the idea for the podcast came from; finding an outlet for all of these oral histories, and a place where I can dive into them and share them with other like minded history fans. No filter, no revisionism. No need to tether a piece of folklore to 21st century themes.

Just the pure folklore, in the form it was on the day it was first written down.

Looking forward to getting started!

Eli