British Folklore

From the dark centuries of British prehistory to the ninth century AD, comes tales of giants and fairy-folk of druids and saints. From King Lear and King Arthur, to Fingal, Beowulf, Gwendolen, and Guinevere legendary characters have shaped the making of the nation. But who were they? In Mythology of the British Isles, Geoffrey Ashe explores how each of these stories are inter-connected, and how they have taken on fresh significance and meaning as historical and archaeological research has uncovered the truth behind each legend.

Ben Edge is a rising star of both the art world and the current folk renaissance. This first trade book of Edge's art, featuring over 200 artworks, is a unique insight into his creative process as well as the first mainstream book to explore the amazing and wildly popular folk customs of the British ritual year. Ben Edge has travelled the length and breadth of Britain recording the weird and wonderful folk customs alive in communities all over the country.

Dive into the enchanting world of Irish folklore in this captivating compendium of fairy tales, songs, and poems compiled and co-written by Nobel Prize-winning Irish wordsmith W. B. Yeats.

Discover the world's greatest myths and legends - from Greek mythology to Norse mythology - in this comprehensive guide. What did Japanese mythology say about the beginning of the Universe? How did Oedipus become the classic tragic hero in Greek mythology? Who brought about the origin of death...

From the ancient tales of the Tuatha Dé Danann, to the iconic events of the Easter Rising, this book takes you on a journey through the ages. Learn about the major events in Ireland's history, including the Viking invasions, the Tudor conquests, and the Great Famine. You'll gain a deep understanding of the events that have shaped this unique and vibrant country.

Nathaniel Hawthorne masterfully grabs the imagination of children with these timeless tales of adventure based on the incomparable Greek mythological heroes' escapades. Children will enter a world of magic and intrigue as they face ferocious beasts, clever enchantresses, and tricky gods, alongside the greatest heroes of all time.

The Supernatural World of the Anglo-Saxons covers all aspects of Anglo-Saxon Paganism and folklore, including the Anglo-Saxon calendar. It is written with great knowledge and passion, exploring the Pagan Roots of Christmas and Halloween, of Wōden, the Wild Hunt and all the ancient Yule traditions. The Anglo-Saxons gave their name to England. Learn who they were, what they believed, who their Gods and Goddesses were. Discover the mythological beings found in Bēowulf and all across England's ancient landscape, and learn about the Pagan roots of Morris Dancing, along with other dances and ...

The fire is warm. The house is rich. The chimney is hungry. London, 1888. The fog tastes of coal and the frost is thick enough to stop a heart. For twelve-year-old Thomas, a masterless chimney sweep with a dying sister, the holiday season isn't a celebration. It is a death sentence. Desperate for the coin to buy medicine, Thomas accepts a contract at Bentree Manor. The estate is a fortress of Gothic opulence, isolated on the edge of the frozen Heath. Lord Bentree demands the Master Flue be cleared before the Yule Log is lit at midnight, and he pays in gold. But the chimney at Bentree Manor ...

Brought to you by Penguin. Travel along with actor and podcaster Tim Downie as he explores the strange and beautiful places that have shaped British folklore. Tim brings to life the mystical stories that shape the character of our isles. Push through the bramble and briar to embark on a journey...

This fascinating audiobook is the first volume in a projected cultural history of the United States, from the earliest English settlements to our own time. It is a history of American folkways as they have changed through time, and it argues a thesis about the importance for the United States of having been British in its cultural origins. While most people in the United States today have no British ancestors, they have assimilated regional cultures which were created by British colonists, even while preserving ethnic identities at the same time.

Jaimie can’t breathe. Jaimie can’t speak. Other patients are sick. Other patients can’t help him. On his chest struts a raven who says ‘the devil is coming’. Doctors say he is delusional after weeks spent lying in the Intensive Care Unit of his local hospital, having survived Covid-19. Next night he sees the bird’s prophecy come true: someone dressed in full PPE and crow-mask attacks a young woman called Ivona in the bed opposite… When Detective Sergeant Alison Ellis arrives to search the wards, she finds no violent intruder. Surely Jaimie’s superstitious talk of crime and ...

Great Britain is an ancient land steeped in history and tradition. Its rolling countryside is dotted with prehistoric burial mounds and stone circles. Brooding castles hold tales of bloodshed and honor. Medieval churches have elaborate stained glass windows and gruesome carvings, reflecting a mixture of hope and darkness.

Beneath the familiar streets of the United Kingdom lies another world—one rarely seen, quietly feared, and never explained. Urban Legends: Short Stories from Mysterious UK Cities is a chilling collection of atmospheric tales drawn from Britain’s oldest cities and darkest corners. From fog-drenched alleys and abandoned underground tunnels to forgotten buildings that should not exist, each story explores what lingers after midnight—when history refuses to stay buried. These short stories blend folklore, modern urban myth, and psychological unease, capturing the eerie mood of cities like...

A stunning narrative from one of the most powerful young writers at work today, and the director of the Oscar-nominated documentary, Sugarcane, We Survived the Night interweaves oral history with hard-hitting journalism and a deeply personal father-son journey into a searing portrait of...

Morris dancing, maypoles and…murder As the picturesque village of Upper Outwell buzzes with anticipation for its May Day festivities—complete with Morris dancers, flower garlands, and enough Victoria sponge cakes to require emergency reinforcement of the trestle tables—a shadow falls over the celebrations. A man is discovered dead in the vicarage library, his identity as enigmatic as the circumstances of his murder. Who was he? Why was he killed? Kit and Mary Aston, a sharp-witted husband-and-wife duo with an uncanny talent for uncovering trouble, investigate. Alongside them is ...

Enter a world where the veil grows thin… …and the creatures are stirring..... The True Origins of Christmas and Halloween is two books in one, an epic journey into the dark, enchanted roots of the year's most magical and mysterious winter festivals. From the shadowed rites of ancient Samhain to the blazing Yule fires of midwinter, travel through time and myth: from ancient Britain and Ireland to the Roman Empire, medieval Europe, and colonial America. Uncover a world of forgotten customs and fearsome folklore, where Gods and monsters walked among mortals. In Book One, learn all about ...

This volume contains all 22 of the fictional ghost stories previously published by H.E. Bulstrode between 2016 and 2022, although it omits his occult fiction. Drawing heavily upon British folklore, legend and history, these stories tap into a deep and shadowy past which seeps, sometimes erupts, into the present, whether that ‘present’ should be eleventh-century England, or today. These are ghost stories with a twist written in the ‘classic’ vein, which is to say that they contain not so much gore as a sense of the uncanny, often steeped in antiquarianism. Others possess a distinctly...

A short look at mythology and folklore connected with Stonehenge, the world's most famous stone circle, and with other megalithic monuments. Who is the sinister 'Bowed One' and what relationship do the bones of a silver-handed saint have to an Irish deity of healing, mist and dogs? Did a Man in the Moon stare down at Stonehenge, and a female sun ride across the skies in a chariot with spoked wheels...or was it the reverse? Howling blue hags with single eyes bleary as the setting Midwinter Solstice sun; dancing stones drinking at the river; petrified women, wedding guests and hurlers; ...

This omnibus brings together seven of H.E. Bulstrode’s ghost stories originally published between 2016 and 2018. These are: The Ghost of Scarside Beck A newly-wed Cumbrian vicar and his wife experience a night like none they could ever have foreseen. He may have answered his calling, but who, or what, is calling her? Old Crotchet The year is 1920, and it's Twelfth Night by the old reckoning. Festivities are about to commence at Hinton St Cuthbert Manor when something sinister stirs from its protracted dormancy, awakened, it would seem, by the arrival of two young guests. The old ways, ...

Something ancient stirs beneath the soil... and it's hungry. Step beyond the veil of time with Dead Men Still Walk, a chilling collection of ten folk horror short stories rooted in forgotten rites, cursed bloodlines, and the dark mythologies of the Old World. These tales are where superstition meets survival, where twisted rural legends still breathe, and where the dead don’t rest — they wait. From moss-covered graveyards to fog-bound villages, from cursed forests to crumbling stone circles, this anthology will drag you deep into a world of haunting folklore, ancient pacts, and unspoken...