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The Folklore of Warwickshire

@warksfolklore.bsky.social

590 followers 370 following 410 posts

Exploring the folklore and folk life of Warwickshire. I can also be found at @hilaryrsparkes.bsky.social

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The Folklore of Warwickshire @warksfolklore.bsky.social · Dec 17

For years I’ve felt that the folklore of Warwickshire has been rather overlooked compared to that of regions. This account aims to go some way to rectifying this.
#folklore

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Reposted by The Folklore of Warwickshire

Annie Brassey @anniebrassey.bsky.social · 1d

"...sent him off on his "journey round the universe."
"Leo Greenhill's Journey" from
"The Mysterious Cobbler, Being the Story of Arthur Spray of Bexhill who has natural magnetic powers; told by himself." 1935.
#WyrdWednesday #Bexhill #Sussex #ArthurSpray #MysteriousCobbler #Hypnotism #Journey #1930s

Pages from "The Mysterious Cobbler, Being the Story of Arthur Spray of Bexhill who has natural magnetic powers; told by himself." 1935. "Leo Greenhill's Journey.

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The Folklore of Warwickshire @warksfolklore.bsky.social · 21h

😀

The Folklore of Warwickshire @warksfolklore.bsky.social · 1d

Image: via Wikimedia Commons

The Folklore of Warwickshire @warksfolklore.bsky.social · 1d

A cave in a hill near Haselor was believed to contain an iron chest full of treasure secured by 3 locks and guarded by a cockerel. One intrepid treasure-seeker found his way to the chest only to be ripped apart by the guardian before he could open the 3rd lock.
#WyrdWednesday

Drawing in monochrome of a grumpy-looking cockerel

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The Folklore of Warwickshire @warksfolklore.bsky.social · 2d

Dammit! I thought following you on here meant hand-delivered wax-sealed missives written in blood-red ink with a quill pen.🙂

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The Folklore of Warwickshire @warksfolklore.bsky.social · 3d

📷 by me

The Folklore of Warwickshire @warksfolklore.bsky.social · 3d

October weather lore seen at Marton Museum of Country Bygones 👇

#WeatherLore #HareCheck

Weather lore on museum wall: "if the hare wears a thick coat in October, lay in a good stock of fuel"

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The Folklore of Warwickshire @warksfolklore.bsky.social · 4d

Must have been unsettling for your friend - time slip maybe? Would be cool to know why a well-dressed Victorian gent was with the 2 children.

The Folklore of Warwickshire @warksfolklore.bsky.social · 4d

Source: George Morley, Shakespeare’s Greenwood: The Customs and the County (1900)

📷 by David Zhang via Wikimedia Commons

The Folklore of Warwickshire @warksfolklore.bsky.social · 4d

Some Warwickshire moon lore:
When the first moon of each lunar month appears, men should bow to it 9 times and women curtsey 9 times. This ritual was believed to bring good luck.
#FolkloreSunday

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Reposted by The Folklore of Warwickshire

missscarlett2024.bsky.social @missscarlett2024.bsky.social · 6d

Leeds' City Varieties Hall #ghosts: a red-haired woman who brings good luck, a White Lady, a man in a bowler hat, disembodied legs climbing the stairs,a man in a WWI trench coat,slamming doors,cold spots,invisible touches & the feeling that someone is breathing over your shoulder. #PhantomsFriday

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Reposted by The Folklore of Warwickshire

Mary B @beesincampanula.bsky.social · 6d

Hags and water spirits abound in English folklore; in Suffolk we have a tale of a pond in Rendlesham said to be haunted by a ghostly woman in white who has been seen gliding on its surface or rising from its depths…
#PhantomsFriday

View of a pond reflecting trees in green leaf…

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The Folklore of Warwickshire @warksfolklore.bsky.social · 5d

I rather like her style 🙂

The Folklore of Warwickshire @warksfolklore.bsky.social · 6d

📷 by me. St Gregory's church. Despite circumnavigating the church before taking this pic, no spectral witches were spotted 🧙‍♀️

The Folklore of Warwickshire @warksfolklore.bsky.social · 6d

The ghost of Betty, a reputed witch, was reported to sit on the churchyard wall of St Gregory’s, Tredington, smoking a pipe. In life, she would sit on top of a willow tree in Honington slowly putting on her stockings.
#PhantomsFriday #witches

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The Folklore of Warwickshire @warksfolklore.bsky.social · 6d

Limited book-buying budget but lucky enough to live near a good public library.

Current reading: The beautifully illustrated 'The Folkore of Birds' by Alison Davies
#libraries #books

Reposted by The Folklore of Warwickshire

🦇Caz🦇 @themightycaz.bsky.social · 7d

A spooky #FolkloreThursday wouldn't be complete without a traditional Cornish Spriggan. The rock-throwing, mischief making menaces that haunt ancient ruins, cairns, and barrows.
Caught this one in the act!*

*made by me for a folklore art challenge back in 2021

An art doll of a Spriggan. A creature from Cornish myth. Here depicted as a small being with orange eyes and an elogated nose and mouth, covered in black fur, leaning out of a tree with a pebble in its clawed hand, ready to throw at anyone that gets too close.

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The Folklore of Warwickshire @warksfolklore.bsky.social · 8d

Source: Meg Elizabeth Atkins, Haunted Warwickshire (London: Robert Hale, 1981).

📷 by X by The Folklore of Warwickshire intern, Simon

The Folklore of Warwickshire @warksfolklore.bsky.social · 8d

The ancient of St Lawrence, Napton on the Hill, has a long reputation of being haunted by two women in Elizabethan dress who kneel in prayer in the front pew.
In ‘Haunted Warwickshire’, Meg Atkins noted how church attendance would drop off after sightings of the women.
#LegendaryWednesday

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The Folklore of Warwickshire @warksfolklore.bsky.social · 9d

That sounds lovely. Used to occasionally hear an owl here when I first arrived but haven't for some years now.

The Folklore of Warwickshire @warksfolklore.bsky.social · 11d

To hear an owl hoot near one's house is one of the myriad of bad luck omens associated with Warwickshire's flora and fauna.

I love owls so it's a shame they don't have a better rep in folklore.
📷 by me

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Reposted by The Folklore of Warwickshire

Rosalind Ahmed @21rosa.bsky.social · 11d

To mark this weekend's 200th anniversary celebrations of the Stockton & Darlington Railway (S&DR) here's a reminder of a brilliant #postboxtopper in Yarm
#railway #PostboxSaturday #locomotive @folkloresociety.bsky.social

Rosalind Ahmed @21rosa.bsky.social · 26d

A twofer on #PostboxSaturday
A GR box celebrating the Stockton & Darlington railway with this #PostBoxTopper @folkloresociety.bsky.social on Yarm high street.

S&DR operated from 1825-1863 and was first public railway to use steam locomotives to transport passengers

A knitted steam engine and coke worker with the name of the railway emblazoned on the topper. Cobbled streets and Georgian buildings behind

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Reposted by The Folklore of Warwickshire

C.W. Reeve @cwreeve.bsky.social · 13d

‘It would make Chairs, Tables, Trunks & all moveables walk up and down the Rooms. And often come tumble down the stairs, some times like a bowl & other times as if it drew a Chain.’

John Mompesson, describing the poltergeist activity later known as 'The Drummer of Tedworth' in 1661

#PhantomsFriday

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The Folklore of Warwickshire @warksfolklore.bsky.social · 13d

It does have the John Farleigh pics and they add to the eeriness.

Tbh I can't remember how I found out about 'Haunted England' but it wasn't until fairly recently that I found out that CH had done books on witchcraft and folklore.

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