David Bower relates a case of a concealed ‘witch bottle’ in West Yorkshire I read with interest John Billingsley’s article about witch bottles [1]. It reminded me of a discovery I came across when researching for a book on local Quaker history [2]. A lead plaque was discovered during the late 1980s, concealed in […]
The Curse of John Wood Of Newhouse Read More »
Readers may recollect NE’s debate about the ‘blackface’ tradition in British folk performance. NE in general supports established or revival traditions that can be understood as maintaining an element either of disguise necessary in a historical social context, or liminality. Sometimes, however, customs arise where people see things as ‘fun’ and do not realise the
Discussions on ‘Blackface’ issues Read More »
Mumming plays, like so much of British folklore, have been subject to questionable assumptions as to their age and meaning, but today research has shed a clearer light on their origins and functions, as Eddie Cass describes. Easter! Once again, hundreds of people from miles around – and further – will come into Hebden
What is the Pace-Egg Play? Read More »
Michael Haslam muses on the Easter mumming play, to make an important observation concerning its age It’s done because it’s done This much, I believe, is agreed: Pace-Egg, a variant of the St. George Play, is a Folk Play and a Calendar Custom. It was once widely distributed across Britain. Two of its most
Pace-Egg: Notes for a history of doggerel Read More »
One of the harbingers of spring in the north country was Spaw Sunday. John Billingsley reports on a recent revival in Cragg Vale, in W Yorkshire’s Calder Valley About 100 people turned up at Cragg Spa, in Cragg Vale, W Yorkshire, last Spaw Sunday (1st Sunday in May – in 2010 falling on Saturday
Spaw Sunday in the Calder Valley: Cragg Spa Read More »
A new ‘tradition’, or a new artefact? Members of the NEReaders subscribers’ e-group in 2005 discussed what appears to be an increasingly ubiquitous feature of country parks, especially along paths near rivers. The topic – ‘coin trees’, or, more accurately, ‘coin logs’ – involves what seems to be an example of evolving folklore – or
Richard Thornhill delves into Emily Bronte’s dark and secret places Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is one of the world’s most powerful and perennially popular novels. However, I think that it has been misunderstood. I am not a literary critic, and I read the book for the first time only recently, but I am familiar
Wuthering Heights and the fairy cave Read More »
North Yorkshire’s West Witton, home to the quasi-sacrificial ‘Burning Bartle’ ceremony every August 24, is certainly an atmospheric village, as Jan Reese recalls In the late 1960s, when I was in my teens, I spent most of my holidays at a hotel in Wensleydale. My aunt, Renee Stansfield, was landlady of the Fox and
Recent research on the role of caves in funerary ritual around prehistoric Britain is here summarised by Mike Haigh From the earliest times, caves have held a fascination for humans. During the Ice Ages, they were both a sheltered dwelling place and an arena for ritual. However, in spite of the art produced by our
Cave Ritual in the Peak Read More »
Mike Haigh draws our attention to a group of monuments in North Yorkshire A curious archaeological group stands half-hidden in the bracken on the edge of Great Ayton Moor in Cleveland. Unfortunately, it has been extensively damaged over the millennia, but enough has survived to allow a reasonable interpretation of the complex. At its centre
The Tailed Cairn of Great Ayton Read More »