Eileen Roche dives into a folklore trope, and recommends ‘suspend disbelief here’ The subject of Treacle Mines has a long and interesting history, which I suspect will be of interest to some NE readers. I first became aware of their existence when some friends took me for a walk one hot summer’s day on …
Stuart McHardy introduces the idea of geomythography, with an example of the insights to which this process may lead. Geomythography is a process of analysing landscape and society over time through evidence from oral tradition, archaeology, place-names, ritual and belief and the landscape itself. Significantly shaped hills – ‘paps’ – in various parts of …
An Intriguing Find: Geomythography from Scarba and Jura Read More »
Bob Trubshaw unearths a more time-honoured terminology for earth mysteries research Should readers of Northern Earth be referred to as ‘earth mysterians’? Or as ‘neo-antiquarians’? Or what? Like Molière’s bourgeois gentilhomme, who discovers rather late in life that he has been speaking prose all along, it seems we have always been chorographers. No, not …
The View from the Henge Bank: Northern Earth or Northern Chorography? Read More »
Bob Trubshaw notes how culture requires imagined scenarios that reflect both the present and the past, while constructing alternative narratives On the one hand there’s the real world. And on the other there’s how we – or others – imagine the world to be. However, only in the Western world has the imagination been …
The September issue of Northern Earth will be finding its way to subscribers and shops by the end of August. Our lead article comes from Ceri Houlbrook, with an investigation of the attentions paid to the imaginary grave of Dobby, the house elf in the Harry Potter series. Other features address the fascinating appearance of …
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Our latest upload is a collection of articles written for NE by Mark Greener across a range of topics. Just put ‘Greener’ in our search box.
Mark Greener describes how research is pointing to humans’ own magnetic compass Every time I get close to certain Avebury stones, an area I know and love, I experience a definite, palpable sensation lurking on the edges of my perception. Sadly, I wasn’t thrown back like Roj Blake (OK, it was Adam Brake in …
Lichen growth is a perennial but rarely remarked feature of a megaltihic site visit. Mark Greener explains why we should take notice Lichens are easy to overlook: seemingly nondescript splodges on megaliths, insignificant against the scale of the stone let alone compared with the grandeur of the sacred landscape. Yet they’re integral to megalithic beauty: …
A homespun pharmacopeia was once more than simple folklore, as Mark Greener shows Folklore often contains kernels of truth. In 1568, for example, gardeners in England began cultivating Goat’s Rue (Galega officinalis). First recorded in the wild in 1640, Goat’s Rue (also called French Lilac or Italian Fitch) is now a common wildflower.1 Healers …
Britain’s herbal heritage: Folklore and a kernel of truth Read More »