The Folklore of Warwickshire
@warksfolklore.bsky.social
Exploring the folklore and folk life of Warwickshire. I can also be found at @hilaryrsparkes.bsky.social
John Barleycorn, the anthropomorphic personification of the harvest, is ritualistically "killed" each year to produce beer and whiskey, only to rise again. The earliest mentions of him date back to 15th and 16th century Scots language ballads. #WyrdWednesday
The last Squire Newsham (d. 1760) is reputed to haunt the grounds of Chadshunt Hall. Sometimes he is seen riding in a coach pulled by 4 horses which vanishes when it reaches a certain point in the avenue. At others, he is on horseback, accompanied by hounds.
The UB-65 was a WW1 German U boat well known for being cursed and said to be haunted by the Second Officer who was killed by an exploding torpedo whilst being loaded. He was seen on deck by a terrified seaman. A second seaman said he was being chased by him and jumped into the sea. #SpookySunday
One of Ilmington’s phantom coaches is pulled by headless horses and carries the ghost of a local man who murdered his neighbour. Its route is a lane that leads from an ancient earthwork #SpookySunday
Time to hitch your headless horses to your spectral carriage as this month’s theme is Phantom Coaches. I’ll begin with the one which travels past Kenilworth Castle once every 100 years. #SpookySunday
Some Warwickshire loaf law for Lammastide: If an ear of corn is kept in a house for 7 years, the inhabitants will never want for bread. #Lammas
#WyrdWednesday Horned Things The very strange myth of Herne The Hunter as told on a cigarette card from 1936
Charlecote Park had the reputation of being the haunt of witches including one called Diana who rode on the back of a stag. The Charlecote witches were believed to have the ability to turn people into cattle. #WyrdWednesday
Thank you all for another phantasmagorically fabulous #PhantomsFriday. The feed has now disappeared into the ether and been replaced (easily, which amazed me) as #SpookySunday. I was going to take a break but I'm being confusing enough already - so the hauntings will begin again Sunday August 2.
After Robert de Marmion evicted the nuns of Polesworth Abbey, the ghost of its first abbess, St Editha, threatened Marmion with a painful death & the fires of Hell if the nuns could not return. Stabbing him with her crozier she vanished. 🧵 #FolkloreSunday
Warwick Folk Festival Day 3: Some of the sides in today's Morris procession thru the town centre
The two distinctive towers of ruined St Andrew's Cathedral, #Fife, are haunted. Indeed the tallest is known as The Haunted Tower: a White Lady wanders round it. The other has a very polite Ghost Monk. He once offered to help someone struggling up the stairs but, rebuffed, vanished! #PhantomsFriday
The church of St Denys, Little Compton, is haunted by the ghost of a Victorian curate who took his own life after conducting the wedding of a woman he was in love with. She had chosen another suitor but insisted the curate take the ceremony. 🧵 #PhantomsFriday
Blimey, I forgot to plug #PhantomsFriday. Well you know the drill - tomorrow, posts, ghosts etc.There'll be a break over August, but up again in September when theoretically the hot unghostly days will be behind us (but who can be sure of that in the UK this year?). I'll enjoy your manifestations!
Gorgeous sunset for the first night at Warwick Folk Festival
With Warwick Folk Festival starting tomorrow, I thought it would be a good time to post this photo of Ilmington Morris side from the early 1900s featuring Sam Bennett as musician. #MorrisDancing
Queen Guinevere is often reduced to a love triangle, but medieval texts portray her as far more complex. She is a queen navigating politics, expectation, loyalty, and impossible choices in a kingdom already beginning to fracture beneath the weight of prophecy. #FairyTaleTuesday (Rackham)
#FolkloreSunday One option in a heatwave is to invite one of the desert dwelling Sciapodes to stay; using their one oversized foot to shield themselves from the midday sun, they generously offer shade to other lost desert travellers ... 🎨Book of Prodigiorum ac Ostentorum Chronicon Basileae
Forget checking out forecasts and meteorological reports. Look to weather lore for predications of challenging weather. For example, in Warwickshire, a full moon on a Sunday is seen as a portent of hot weather
A cursed Elizabethan chest in Whittington Castle, Shropshire, is said to result in the death of anyone who opens it. Ghostly faces seen at the castle windows are said to be those of two young children who inadvertently opened the chest and subsequently died ... #PhantomsFriday
One winter’s night in the 1950s a major accident occurred on the A45 between Coventry & Rugby. Despite bonfires being lit to warn other motorists & the shouts of those at the scene, a large lorry still hurtled straight towards the collision, but then it suddenly vanished. 🧵 #PhantomsFriday
You can run - but you can't hide from #PhantomsFriday tomorrow. Maximum spookiness will ensue with posts on the SUBJECT OF GHOSTS: words, art, #folklore, history, popular culture, haunted locations; anything ghost-related will be most welcome. #BookChatWeekly #poetry #art #ghost #supernatural
When John Wood surveyed Stanton Drew in 1740, ‘A storm accidentally arose just after, and blew down Part of a Great Tree near the Body of the Work, the People then thoroughly satisfied that I had disturbed the Guardian Spirits of the metamorphosed Stones.’ #WyrdWednesday 🎨 William Stukeley
A woodcut showing a rain of frogs in Scandanavia. From 'Prodigiorum ac Ostentorum Chronicon,' one of the first modern books about strange phenomenon, published in 1557. #WyrdWednesday
Tempestarii were weather making witches and/or wizards who possessed the power to raise or prevent storms at will. Anyone reputed as a 'weather maker' was the subject of both respect and fear in rural areas. #wyrdwednesday #weather art: John William Waterhouse
Got myself a second-hand copy of this classic of British folklore studies 👇 I think the cover’s quite eerie. I know it’s an image of druid but at first glance I thought it was a spectral monk.
If you’re thinking of buying a horse this weekend, here’s some helpful advice seen at Marton Museum of Country Bygones 👇
