When Britain’s last deep coal mine closed, I found myself conflicted* between my environmentalist, folklorist and political identities, in all of which coal miners and their industry have played an important role. My overwhelming feeling in the end was one of sadness and loss, focussed on the communities and the values they represented. Folklore, they […]
The Last Shift: RIP Kellingley Coal Mine 2016 Read More »
Janet Bord considers the development of holy well research and interest through the lens of her work in Wales Davina Ware Little did I know what I was letting myself in for when I started researching the book which was published in 1985 as Sacred Waters: Holy Wells and Water Lore in Britain and Ireland. I
Researching saints’ wells in Wales Read More »
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 View from the Henge Bank: All is change Read More »
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
NE 173 coming soon Read More »
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
A sense of direction Read More »
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:
Megaliths and Lichenoglyphs Read More »