Vernacular funeral paths in Upper Calderdale
By John Billingsley
48pp • Postage included in price
John Billingsley’s comprehensive study of local corpseways – traditional rural funeral routes – in the Upper Calder Valley addresses issues far beyond the local remit, ranging over local custom and belief, hauntings and liminal beings. He shows the vital role these routes played in folklife rituals of past generations, and the expectations of maintenance placed on local communities, such that these mediaeval paths persisted through other landscape changes, such as Enclosure. The books contains detailed route descriptions of four trails for readers to follow. These were essentially paths between the worlds for the souls carried on them, and for their companions on their last journey, and still possess an atmospheric presence for modern walkers.
