English folklore
English folklore is the folk tradition which has developed in
England over a number of centuries. Some English legends can be traced back to their roots, even predating the
Roman invasion of Britain, while the origin of others is uncertain or disputed. England abounds with folklore, in all forms, from such obvious manifestations as the traditional
Arthurian legends and
Robin Hood tales, to contemporary
urban myths and facets of
cryptozoology such as the
Beast of Bodmin Moor.
Morris dance and related practices such as the
Abbots Bromley Horn Dance preserve old English folk traditions, as do
Mummers Plays.
Pub names may preserve folk traditions.
Some of the characters such as
Jenny Greenteeth,
The Black Shuck and
Black Annis have all made an appearance in comic
2000AD, in the short story
London Falling by
Simon Spurrier and
Lee Garbett.
Most folklore traditions are no longer widely believed. Whereas some folklore legends were once believed across the whole of England, most belong to specific regions:
*
Black dog*
Brownie (elf)*
Chime hours*
Corn dolly*
Cunning folk*
English Country Dance*
Flibbertigibbet*
Green Man*
Hag Stone*
Lob*
May Queen*
Maypole dance*
Maypole*
Oak Apple Day*
Parish Ale*
Petrifying well*
Robin Goodfellow is a troublesome elf or
hobgoblin*
Saint Swithun - English
weather lore*
Sites and places associated with Arthurian legend*
Standing stones and
chalk figures in the United Kingdom are the focus for folk tales and beliefs.
*
Well dressing*
Wild HuntFolklore of East Anglia
*
Babes in the Wood at Wayland Wood*
The Black Shuck*
St. Edmund of East Anglia*
Hereward the Wake*
Molly dance*
Old King Cole and
St Helena*
Caxton GibbetFolklore of London and the South East
*
Bran the Blessed's Head at the
Tower of London*
Brutus of Troy, the legendary founder of
London*
Gog and Magog, legendary giants and guardians of the
City of London*
Herne the Hunter*
Hoodening*
London Bridge is falling down*
Mallard Song*
Legend of the Mistletoe Bough*
Oranges and Lemons*
Rollright Stones*
Spring Heeled Jack*
Swan Upping*
Saint Swithun, patron of English
weather lore*
Uffington White Horse*
Wayland the SmithFolklore of the Midlands
*
Black Annis*
Alkborough Turf Maze*
Border Morris*
Dun Cow*
St. Frideswide*
Fulk FitzWarin*
Godiva*
Guy of Warwick*
Haxey Hood Game*
Lincoln Imp*
Major Oak*
Robin Hood*
Royal Shrovetide Football*
Wise Men of Gotham*
The Wizard of Lincoln*The Giant of
the Wrekin*
Eyre legendFolklore of Yorkshire and the North East
*
The Barghest*
The Cauld Lad of Hylton*
The Devil's Arrows*
Jack-In-Irons*
Kilburn White Horse*
The Lambton Worm*
Long Sword dance*
Rapper sword*
Red Cap*
Ursula Southeil*
Peg Powler*
Jenny Greenteeth*
Jingling Geordie's HoleFolklore of the North West
*The Wizard of
Alderley Edge*
Folklore of Lancashire*
Long Meg and Her Daughters*
Pendle Witches*
EachyFolklore of the South West
*
Abbotsbury Garland Day*
Barber surgeon of Avebury*
King Bladud, legendary founder of
Bath*
Bowerman's Nose*
Cerne Abbas giant*
Cheese rolling*
Childe's Tomb*
Corineus, legendary founder of
Cornwall*
St. Dunstan is the origin of the lucky horseshoe
*
Glastonbury and
its abbey*
Hunky Punk*
Jay's Grave*
Lyonesse*
The Obby Oss of Padstow*
Pixies and
Piskies*
The Reynardine is a
werewolf of
Dartmoor*
Jan Tregeagle*
The Great Thunderstorm, Widecombe*
Widecombe Fair*
The Witch of Wookey Hole*
Jack the Giant Killer and
Galligantus*
Rabbit rabbitFolklore of the South Coast
Iannic-ann-ôd, the spirits of those drowned and lost at sea, are said to haunt all Celtic coastlines, especially in the South of England and Northern France.
*
And did those feet in ancient time*
Green grow the rushes, O*
Uncle Tom Cobley*
Merry England*
English mythology*
Sabine Baring-Gould*
Cecil Sharp*
Nursery rhyme*
Once upon a time*
Anglo-Saxon mythology*
Scottish folklore*Hutton, Ronald,
The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in England, 1999
*Opie, Iona, and Peter Opie,
The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren, 1959
*Opie, Iona, and Peter Opie,
The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, (2nd edn) 1997
*Opie, Iona, and Moira Tatem,
A Dictionary of Superstitions, 1989
*Roud, Steve,
The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Great Britain and Ireland, 2004
*Simpson, Jacqueline, and Steve Roud,
A Dictionary of English Folklore", 2000
*Vickery, Roy, A Dictionary of Plant Lore
, 1995
*Westwood, Jennifer, and Jacqueline Simpson, The Lore of the Land: A Guide to England's legends'', 2005
*
Weather and Folk Lore of Peterborough and District, by Charles Dack, 1911, from Project Gutenberg
*
Project-IONA a repository of folk tales from England and the islands of the North Atlantic
