English folklore is the folk tradition which has developed in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 over a number of centuries. Some stories can be traced back to their roots, while the origin of others is uncertain or disputed. England abounds with folklore, in all forms, from such obvious manifestations as the traditional Robin Hood

Robin Hood

Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....

 tales, the Brythonic

Brythonic languages

The Brythonic or Brittonic languages form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family, the other being Goidelic. The name Brythonic was derived by Welsh Celticist John Rhys from the Welsh word Brython, meaning an indigenous Briton as opposed to an Anglo-Saxon or Gael...

-inspired Arthurian legend

King Arthur

King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...

, the poetry tale of Beowulf

Beowulf

Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...

, to contemporary urban legend

Urban legend

An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...

s and facets of cryptozoology

Cryptozoology

Cryptozoology refers to the search for animals whose existence has not been proven...

 such as the Beast of Bodmin Moor.

Morris dance

Morris dance

Morris dance is a form of English folk dance usually accompanied by music. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers. Implements such as sticks, swords, handkerchiefs and bells may also be wielded by the dancers...

 and related practices such as the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance

Abbots Bromley Horn Dance

The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance is an English folk dance involving reindeer antlers and a hobby horse that takes place each year in Abbots Bromley, a small village in Staffordshire, England.-Origins:...

 preserve old English folk traditions, as do Mummers Play

Mummers Play

Mummers Plays are seasonal folk plays performed by troupes of actors known as mummers or guisers , originally from England , but later in other parts of the world...

s. Pub names

Pub names

Pub names are used to identify and differentiate each public house. As many public houses are centuries old, many of their early customers were unable to read, and pictorial signs could be readily recognised when lettering and words could not be read.Modern names are sometimes a marketing ploy or...

 may preserve folk traditions.

English Folklore is largely drawn from Germanic

Germanic peoples

The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...

, Celtic and Christian sources.

Whereas some traditions were once believed across the whole of England, most belong to specific regions:

Folklore found throughout much of England

• Black dog
  Black dog (ghost)
  A black dog is the name given to a being found primarily in the folklores of the British Isles. The black dog is essentially a nocturnal apparition, often said to be associated with the Devil, and its appearance was regarded as a portent of death. It is generally supposed to be larger than a normal...
  
   - The black dog is essentially a nocturnal apparition, often said to be associated with the Devil, and its appearance was regarded as a portent of death. It is generally supposed to be larger than a normal dog, and often has large, glowing eyes. It is a common feature of British Isles and Northern European folklore.
• Boggart
  Boggart
  In Englishfolklore, a boggart is a household fairy which causes things to disappear, milk to sour, and dogs to go lame. Always malevolent, the boggart will follow its family wherever they flee...
  
   - In English folklore, a boggart (or bogart) is a household fairy which causes things to disappear, milk to sour, and dogs to go lame. Always malevolent, the boggart will follow its family wherever they flee. In Northern England, at least, there was the belief that the boggart should never be named, for when the boggart was given a name, it would not be reasoned with nor persuaded, but would become uncontrollable and destructive.
• Brownie - In folklore, a brownie is a type of hob, similar to a hobgoblin. Brownies are said to inhabit houses and aid in tasks around the house. However, they do not like to be seen and will only work at night, traditionally in exchange for small gifts or food. Among food, they especially enjoy porridge and honey. They usually abandon the house if their gifts are called payments, or if the owners of the house misuse them. Brownies make their homes in an unused part of the house.
• Chime hours
  Chime hours
  According to English folklore, those born at certain hours could see ghosts. The crucial time was generally said to be midnight. In Irish folklore, those born in the chime hours would have the second sight....
  
   - According to English folklore, those born at certain hours could see ghosts.
• Corn dolly
  Corn dolly
  Corn dollies or corn mothers are a form of straw work made as part of harvest customs of Europe before mechanization.Before Christianisation, in traditional pagan European culture it was believed that the spirit of the corn lived amongst the crop, and that the harvest made it effectively homeless...
  
   - Corn dollies are a form of straw work made as part of harvest customs of Europe before mechanization.Before Christianisation, in traditional pagan European culture it was believed that the spirit of the corn (in modern American, "corn" would be "grain") lived amongst the crop, and that the harvest made it effectively homeless.
• Cunning folk
  Cunning folk
  The cunning folk in Britain were professional or semi-professional practitioners of magic active from the Medieval period through to the early twentieth century. As cunning folk, they practised folk magic – also known as "low magic" – although often combined with elements of "high" or ceremonial...
  
   - The term "cunning man" or "cunning woman" was most widely used in southern England and the Midlands, as well as in Wales. Such people were also frequently known across England as "wizards", "wise men".
• Drake's Drum
  Drake's Drum
  Drake’s Drum is a snare drum that Sir Francis Drake took with him when he circumnavigated the world. Shortly before he died he ordered the drum to be taken to Buckland Abbey, where it still is today, and vowed that if England was ever in danger someone was to beat the drum and he would return to...
  
   - Shortly before he died, Drake ordered the drum to be taken to Buckland Abbey, where it still is today, and vowed that if England was ever in danger someone was to beat the drum and he would return to defend the country. According to legend it can be heard to beat at times when England is at war or significant national events take place.
• Dwarves
• Elves
• Ettin
  Ettin
  Ettin, an obsolete English cognate to the Old Norse Jötunn from the Old English Eoten, meaning "giant", may refer to:*Bogle , a survival of the term in Northumbrian folklore*Ettin , a two-headed giant...
  
  
• English Country Dance
  English Country Dance
  English Country Dance is a form of folk dance. It is a social dance form, which has earliest documented instances in the late 16th century. Queen Elizabeth I of England is noted to have been entertained by "Country Dancing," although the relationship of the dances she saw to the surviving dances of...
  
   - English Country Dance is a form of folk dance. It is a social dance form, which has earliest documented instances in the late 16th century.
• Flibbertigibbet
  Flibbertigibbet
  Flibbertigibbet is a Middle English word referring to a flighty or whimsical person, usually a young woman. In modern use, it is used as a slang term, especially in Yorkshire, for a gossipy or overly talkative person. Its origin is in a meaningless representation of chattering...
  
  
• Green Man
  Green Man
  A Green Man is a sculpture, drawing, or other representation of a face surrounded by or made from leaves. Branches or vines may sprout from the nose, mouth, nostrils or other parts of the face and these shoots may bear flowers or fruit...
  
   - A Green Man is a sculpture, drawing, or other representation of a face surrounded by or made from leaves.
• Hag Stone Hag Stone is a type of stone, usually glassy, with a naturally occurring hole through it. Such stones have been discovered by archaeologists in both Britain and Egypt.
• Havelock the Dane
• Legend of the Mistletoe Bough
  Legend of the Mistletoe Bough
  The Legend of the Mistletoe Bough is a ghost story which has been associated with many mansions and stately homes in England.The tale tells how a new bride, playing a game of hide-and-seek during her wedding breakfast, hid in a chest in an attic and was unable to escape. She was not discovered by...
  
   - The Legend of the Mistletoe Bough is a ghost story which has been associated with many mansions and stately homes in England.

The tale tells how a new bride, playing a game of hide-and-seek during her wedding breakfast, hid in a chest in an attic and was unable to escape. She was not discovered by her family and friends, and suffocated. The body was allegedly found many years later in the locked chest.

• Lob
  Lubber fiend
  The lubber fiend, Lob, lubberkin, lurdane or Lob Lie-By-The-Fire was a legendary creature of English folklore that was similar in attributes to the "brownie" of Scotland and northern England, the "hob" of northern England and the Scottish Borders, the Slavic "domovoi" and Scandinavian "tomte"...
  
   - The lubber fiend, Lob, lubberkin, lurdane or Lob Lie-By-The-Fire was a legendary creature of English folklore that was similar in attributes to the "brownie". He is typically described as a large, hairy man with a tail, who performs housework in exchange for a saucer of milk and a place in front of the fire. One story claims he is the giant son of a witch and the Devil.
• May Queen
  May Queen
  The May Queen or Queen of May is a term which has two distinct but related meanings, as a mythical figure and as a holiday personification.-Festivals:...
  
  
• Maypole dance
  Maypole dance
  Maypole dancing is a form of folk dance from western Europe, especially England, Basque Country, Sweden, Galicia, Portugal and Germany,- History :...
  
  
• Maypole
  Maypole
  A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, particularly on May Day, or Pentecost although in some countries it is instead erected at Midsummer...
  
  
• Oak Apple Day
  Oak Apple Day
  Oak Apple Day or Royal Oak Day was a holiday celebrated in England on 29 May to commemorate the restoration of the English monarchy, in May 1660...
  
  
• Ogres (or Trolls)
• Parish Ale
  Parish Ale
  The Parish ale was a festival in an English parish at which ale made and donated for the event was the chief drink. The word "ale" was generally used as part of a compound term. Thus there was the leet-ale ; the lamb-ale ; the Whitsun-ale , the clerk-ale, the church-ale etc...
  
  
• Petrifying well
  Petrifying well
  -Nature:If an object is placed into such a well and left there for a period of months or years the object acquires a stony exterior. At one time this property was believed to be a result of magic or witchcraft, but it is an entirely natural phenomenon and due to a process of evaporation and...
  
  
• Redcap
  Redcap
  A Red Cap or Redcap, also known as a powrie or dunter, is a type of malevolent murderous dwarf, goblin, elf or fairy found in Border Folklore. They are said to inhabit ruined castles found along the border between England and Scotland...
  
   a groups of trolls, gobins, and even ugly elves with a red caps.
• Robin Goodfellow is a troublesome elf or hobgoblin
• Robin Hood
  Robin Hood
  Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
  
   – a legendary English hero.
• Saint Swithun - English weather lore
  Weather lore
  Weather lore is the body of informal folklore related to the prediction of the weather.It has been a human desire for millennia to make accurate weather predictions. Oral and written history is full of rhymes, anecdotes, and adages meant to guide the uncertain in determining whether the next day...
  
  
• Standing stone
  Standing stone
  Standing stones, orthostats, liths, or more commonly megaliths are solitary stones set vertically in the ground and come in many different varieties....
  
  s and chalk figures in the United Kingdom are the focus for folktales and beliefs.
• Tom Thumb
  Tom Thumb
  Tom Thumb is a character of English folklore. The History of Tom Thumb was published in 1621, and has the distinction of being the first fairy tale printed in English. Tom is no bigger than his father's thumb, and his adventures include being swallowed by a cow, tangling with giants, and becoming a...
  
  
• Wandering Jew
  Wandering Jew
  The Wandering Jew is a figure from medieval Christian folklore whose legend began to spread in Europe in the 13th century. The original legend concerns a Jew who taunted Jesus on the way to the Crucifixion and was then cursed to walk the earth until the Second Coming...
  
  
• Well dressing
  Well dressing
  Well dressing is a summer custom practised in rural England in which wells, springs or other water sources are decorated with designs created from flower petals...
  
   – An ancient practice of decorating wells in the Peak District
  Peak District
  The Peak District is an upland area in central and northern England, lying mainly in northern Derbyshire, but also covering parts of Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, and South and West Yorkshire....
  
   and surrounding areas.
• Wild Hunt
  Wild Hunt
  The Wild Hunt is an ancient folk myth prevalent across Northern, Western and Central Europe. The fundamental premise in all instances is the same: a phantasmal, spectral group of huntsmen with the accoutrements of hunting, horses, hounds, etc., in mad pursuit across the skies or along the ground,...
  
  
• Will-o'-the-wisp
  Will-o'-the-wisp
  A will-o'-the-wisp or ignis fatuus , also called a "will-o'-wisp", "jack-o'-lantern" , "hinkypunk", "corpse candle", "ghost-light", "spook-light", "fairy light", "friar's lantern", "hobby lantern", "ghost orb", or simply "wisp", is a ghostly light or lights sometimes seen at night or twilight over...
  
   A folk explanation of strange lights seen around marshes and bogs.
• Wyrms – Anglo-Saxon serpents / Dragons similar to the Chinese representation ofdragons.

Folklore of East Anglia

• St. Audrey
• Babes in the Wood at Wayland Wood
  Babes in the Wood
  Babes in the Wood is a traditional children's tale, as well as a popular pantomime subject. It has also been the name of some other unrelated works. The expression has passed into common language, referring to inexperienced innocents entering unawares into any potentially dangerous or hostile...
  
  
• The Black Shuck
  Black Shuck
  Black Shuck, Old Shuck, Old Shock or simply Shuck is the name given to a ghostly black dog which is said to roam the coastline and countryside of East Anglia...
  
   – A Black Dog
  Black dog
  Black dog may refer to:* Black dog , a ghostly dog in the folklores of the British Isles* Black dog , a coin in the Caribbean, starting under the reign of Queen Anne* Black Dog , a 1998 film...
  
  
• Caxton Gibbet
  Caxton Gibbet
  Caxton Gibbet is a small knoll on Ermine Street in England, running between London and Huntingdon, near its crossing with the road between Oxford and Cambridge. There are tales of murderers being hanged and displayed at the nearby village of Caxton in the 1670s, and records in a court case that...
  
  
• St. Edmund of East Anglia
  Edmund the Martyr
  St Edmund the Martyr was a king of East Anglia, an Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.D'Evelyn, Charlotte, and Mill, Anna J., , 1956. Reprinted 1967...
  
  
• Green children of Woolpit
  Green children of Woolpit
  The green children of Woolpit reportedly appeared in the village of Woolpit in Suffolk, England, some time in the 12th century, perhaps during the reign of King Stephen. The children, brother and sister, were of generally normal appearance except for the green colour of their skin. They spoke in an...
  
  
• Hereward the Wake
  Hereward the Wake
  Hereward the Wake , known in his own times as Hereward the Outlaw or Hereward the Exile, was an 11th-century leader of local resistance to the Norman conquest of England....
  
  
• Molly dance
  Molly dance
  Molly dancing is a form of English Morris dance, traditionally done by out of work ploughboys in midwinter in the 19th century.-History:Molly dancing has been recorded in many parts of the English Midlands and East Anglia. It died out finally in the 1930s, the last dancers seen dancing in Little...
  
  
• King Cole
  King Cole
  King Cole is a figure of British folklore.King Cole may also refer to:*"Old King Cole", nursery rhyme* Old King Cole , a 1933 Disney cartoon about Old King Cole*King Cole , Major League Baseball pitcher...
  
   and St. Helena
  Helena of Constantinople
  Saint Helena also known as Saint Helen, Helena Augusta or Helena of Constantinople was the consort of Emperor Constantius, and the mother of Emperor Constantine I...
  
  
• The Pedlar of Swaffham
  Pedlar of Swaffham
  The Pedlar of Swaffham is an English folktale from Swaffham, Norfolk. The following text is taken from English fairy and other folk tales, 1906, which in turn refers to the Diary of Abraham dela Pryme, 1699:-Source:The Pedlar of Swaffham...
  
  
• Religious visions at Walsingham
  Walsingham
  Walsingham is a village in the English county of Norfolk. The village is famed for its religious shrines in honour of the Virgin Mary and as a major pilgrimage centre...
  
  
• Tom Hickathrift
  Tom Hickathrift
  Tom Hickathrift is a legendary figure of East Anglian English folklore — a character similar to Jack the Giant Killer. He famously battled a giant, and is sometimes said to be a giant himself, though normally he is just represented as possessing giant-like strength.Various stories of his...
  
  
• Turpin's Cave
  Turpin's Cave
  Turpin's Cave is an area of Epping Forest in Essex which has been attributed as a hiding place of the highwayman Dick Turpin.Dick Turpin knew Epping Forest well and organised many criminal activities from a base between the Loughton Road and Kings Oak Road, which in legend became known as 'Turpin's...
  
  
• The three crowns that guard East Anglia (One in Norfolk, one in Suffolk and one in Essex)

Folklore of London and the South East

• Sir Bevis of Hampton
  Bevis of Hampton
  Bevis of Hampton is a legendary English hero and the subject of Anglo-Norman, French, English, Venetian and other medieval metrical romances that bear his name...
  
  
• Biddenden Maids
• Bran the Blessed
  Bran the Blessed
  Brân the Blessed is a giant and king of Britain in Welsh mythology. He appears in several of the Welsh Triads, but his most significant role is in the Second Branch of the Mabinogi, Branwen ferch Llŷr. He is a son of Llŷr and Penarddun, and the brother of Brânwen, Manawydan, Nisien and Efnysien...
  
  's Head at the Tower of London
  Tower of London
  Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
  
  
• Brutus of Troy
  Brutus of Troy
  Brutus or Brute of Troy is a legendary descendant of the Trojan hero Æneas, known in mediæval British legend as the eponymous founder and first king of Britain...
  
  , the legendary founder of London
  London
  London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
  
  
• Clapham Wood
  Clapham Wood Mystery
  The Clapham Wood Mystery is the name given to a collection of unusual events which are associated with Clapham Wood, West Sussex, England, resulting in the area developing its own lore in popular culture. Events have included reports of people making unusual sightings or experiencing unusual...
  
  , an area of strange activity
• Devil's Jumps, Churt
  Devil's Jumps, Churt
  The Devil's Jumps are a series of three small hills near the village of Churt in the county of Surrey in southern England. In the 18th century the hills were known as the Devil's Three Jumps. The Devil's Jumps are linked to a body of folklore relating to the surrounding area. The highest of the...
  
  
• Devil's Jumps, Treyford
  Devil's Jumps, Treyford
  The Devil's Jumps are a group of five large bell barrows situated on the South Downs south-east of Treyford in the county of West Sussex in southern England. The Devil's Jumps site is listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument and as a Local Nature Reserve...
  
  
• Gog and Magog
  Gog and Magog
  Gog and Magog are names that appear primarily in various Jewish, Christian and Muslim scriptures, as well as numerous subsequent references in other works. Their context can be either genealogical or eschatological and apocalyptic, as in Ezekiel and Revelation...
  
  , legendary giants and guardians of the City of London
  City of London
  The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
  
  
• Hengest
  Hengest
  Hengist and Horsa are figures of Anglo-Saxon, and subsequently British, legend, which records the two as the Germanic brothers who led the Angle, Saxon, and Jutish armies that conquered the first territories of Great Britain in the 5th century AD...
  
   and Horsa, legendary founders of Saxon England
• Herne the Hunter
  Herne the Hunter
  In English folklore, Herne the Hunter is a ghost associated with Windsor Forest and Great Park in the English county of Berkshire. His appearance is notable in the fact that he has antlers upon his head....
  
   – a related to the Wild Hunt
  Wild Hunt
  The Wild Hunt is an ancient folk myth prevalent across Northern, Western and Central Europe. The fundamental premise in all instances is the same: a phantasmal, spectral group of huntsmen with the accoutrements of hunting, horses, hounds, etc., in mad pursuit across the skies or along the ground,...
  
  
• Hoodening
  Hoodening
  Hoodening, also called Hodening, is an East Kent, England tradition vaguely related to Mumming and the Morris dance, and dating back at least to the mid-18th century. Related traditions also exist in Wales and Lancashire...
  
  
• Kit's Coty House
  Kit's Coty House
  Kit's Coty House or Kit's Coty is the name of the remains of a Neolithic chambered long barrow on Blue Bell Hill near Aylesford in the English county of Kent. It is one of the Medway megaliths....
  
  
• Lady Lovibond
  Lady Lovibond
  The Lady Lovibond was a schooner that was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands, off the Kent coast of south-east England, on 13 February 1748, and is said to reappear there every fifty years as a ghost ship....
  
  
• London Bridge is falling down
  London Bridge is Falling Down
  "London Bridge Is Falling Down" is a well-known traditional nursery rhyme and singing game, which is found in different versions all over the world. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 502.-Lyrics:...
  
  
• King Lud
  Lud son of Heli
  Lud , according to Geoffrey of Monmouth's legendary History of the Kings of Britain and related medieval texts, was a king of Britain in pre-Roman times. He was the eldest son of Geoffrey's King Heli, and succeeded his father to the throne. He was succeeded, in turn, by his brother Cassibelanus...
  
  , connected with the City of London
  City of London
  The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
  
  
• Mallard Song
  Mallard Song
  The Mallard Song is an ancient tradition of All Souls College, Oxford. It is sung once a century in a ceremony in which the Fellows parade around the College with flaming torches, led by a "Lord Mallard" who is carried in a chair, in search of a giant mallard that supposedly flew out of the...
  
  
• Oranges and Lemons
  Oranges and Lemons
  "Oranges and Lemons" is an English nursery rhyme and singing game which refers to the bells of several churches, all within or close to the City of London. It is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index as #3190.-Lyrics:Common modern versions include:...
  
  
• Rollright Stones
  Rollright Stones
  The Rollright Stones are a complex of three Neolithic and Bronze Age megalithic monuments located near to the village of Long Compton on the borders of Oxfordshire and Warwickshire in England...
  
  
• Spring Heeled Jack
  Spring Heeled Jack
  Spring-heeled Jack is a character in English folklore of the Victorian era who was known for his startling jumps. The first claimed sighting of Spring-heeled Jack was in 1837. Later sightings were reported all over England and were especially prevalent in suburban London, the Midlands and...
  
  
• Swan Upping
  Swan Upping
  Swan Upping is an annual ceremonial and practical activity in Britain in which mute swans on the River Thames are rounded up, caught, marked, and then released....
  
  
• Uffington White Horse
  Uffington White Horse
  The Uffington White Horse is a highly stylised prehistoric hill figure, 110 m long , formed from deep trenches filled with crushed white chalk...
  
  
• Wayland the Smith

Folklore of the Midlands

• Black Annis
  Black Annis
  Black Annis, also known as Black Agnes, is a bogeyman figure in English folklore. She is imagined as a blue-faced crone or witch with iron claws and a taste for human flesh...
  
  
• Black Lady of Bradley Woods
  Black Lady of Bradley Woods
  The Black Lady of Bradley Woods is a ghostly figure of a woman supposed to haunt the woods near the village of Bradley, Lincolnshire, England. She is described by alleged eyewitnesses as being a young and pretty woman around 5"6 inches tall, dressed in a flowing black cloak and a black hood...
  
  
• Alkborough Turf Maze
• Border Morris
  Border Morris
  The term Border Morris refers to a collection of individual local dances from villages along the English side of the Wales-England border in the counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire. They are part of the Morris dance tradition.- History :...
  
  
• Bottle-kicking
  Bottle-kicking
  Bottle-kicking is an old Leicestershire custom that takes place in the village of Hallaton each Easter Monday. Records of bottle-kicking date to the late 18th century, but the custom is thought to originate much earlier, from before the Christian era....
  
  
• Byard's Leap
• The Derby Ram
• Dun Cow
  Dun Cow
  The dun cow is a common motif in English folklore. "Dun" is a dull shade of brownish grey.-Dunsmore Heath:The Dun Cow of Dunsmore Heath was a savage beast slain by Guy of Warwick...
  
  
• St. Frideswide
  Frideswide
  Saint Frithuswith was an English princess and abbess who is credited with establishing Christ Church in Oxford.-Life:...
  
  
• Fulk FitzWarin
  Fulk FitzWarin
  Fulk FitzWarin was an English nobleman turned outlaw from Whittington Castle in Shropshire. The historical Fulk, or Fulk III FitzWarin, was a Marcher Lord who rebelled against King John from 1200 to 1203 over his familial right to the estate of Whittington...
  
  
• Godiva
• Guy of Warwick
  Guy of Warwick
  Guy of Warwick is a legendary English hero of Romance popular in England and France from the 13th to the 17th century. The story of Sir Guy is considered by scholars to be part of the Matter of England.-Plot:...
  
  
• Haxey Hood Game
• Jack of Kent
• Lincoln Imp
  Lincoln Imp
  The Lincoln Imp is the symbol of the City of Lincoln, the county town of Lincolnshire, England.According to a 14th-century legend two mischievous creatures called imps were sent by Satan to do evil work on Earth. After causing mayhem in Northern England, the two imps headed to Lincoln Cathedral...
  
  
• Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln
  Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln
  Hugh of Lincoln was an English boy, whose death prompted a blood libel with ramifications that reach until today. Hugh is known as Little Saint Hugh to distinguish him from Saint Hugh, otherwise Hugh of Lincoln. The style is often corrupted to Little Sir Hugh...
  
  
• Major Oak
  Major Oak
  The Major Oak is a huge oak tree near the village of Edwinstowe in the heart of Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, England. According to local folklore, it was Robin Hood's shelter where he and his merry men slept. It weighs an estimated 23 tons, has a girth of 33 feet , and is about 800–1000 years...
  
  
• Madam Pigott
  Madam Pigott
  Madam Pigott is the local ghost story in the market town of Newport, Shropshire-The Tale:Squire Pigott lived at the Chetwynd Park estate; he took himself a wife. He was a harsh uncaring husband who simply needed an heir to his wealth and estates...
  
  
• Nanny Rutt
  Nanny Rutt
  Nanny Rutt is a character in a cautionary tale associated with Nanny Rutt's well, an artesian spring in Math Wood, near Northorpe, in the parish of Thurlby, Lincolnshire...
  
  
• Robin Hood
  Robin Hood
  Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
  
  
• Royal Shrovetide Football
  Royal Shrovetide Football
  The Royal Shrovetide Football Match occurs annually on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday in the town of Ashbourne in Derbyshire, England. It has been played since at least the 12th century, though the exact origins of the game are unknown due to a fire at the Royal Shrovetide Committee office in the...
  
  
• Tiddy Mun
  Tiddy Mun
  Tiddy Mun was a bog spirit worshipped in Lincolnshire, England, who supposedly had the ability to control the waters and mists of the Fens.-Legend:...
  
  
• Wise Men of Gotham
  Wise Men of Gotham
  Wise Men of Gotham is the early name given to the people of the village of Gotham, Nottinghamshire, in allusion to their reputed simplicity. If tradition is to be believed, the people of Gotham were not so very simple.- Legend :...
  
  
• The Giant of the Wrekin
  The Wrekin
  The Wrekin is a hill in east Shropshire, England. It is located some west of Telford, on the border between the unitary authorities of Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin. Rising to a height of above the Shropshire Plain, it is a prominent and well-known landmark, marking the entrance to Shropshire...
  
  
• Yallery-Brown

Folklore of Yorkshire and the North East

• The Barghest
  Barghest
  Barghest, Bargtjest, Bo-guest, Bargheist, Bargeist, Barguist, Bargest or Barguest is the name often given in the north of England, especially in Yorkshire, to a legendary monstrous black dog with huge teeth and claws, though in other cases the name can refer to a ghost or Household elf, especially...
  
  
• The Cauld Lad of Hylton
  Cauld Lad of Hylton
  The ruins of Hylton Castle are reputed to be haunted by the ghost of a murdered stable boy Robert Skelton, known locally as the Cauld Lad of Hylton...
  
  
• St. Cuthbert
  Cuthbert of Lindisfarne
  Saint Cuthbert was an Anglo-Saxon monk, bishop and hermit associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of Northumbria, at that time including, in modern terms, northern England as well as south-eastern Scotland as far as the Firth of Forth...
  
  
• The Devil's Arrows
  Devil's Arrows
  The Devil's Arrows are three standing stones or menhirs in an alignment erected near where the A1 road now crosses the River Ure at Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire, England .-Site:...
  
  
• Duergar
• The Hedley Kow
  The Hedley Kow
  "The Hedley Kow" is an English fairy tale. It was collected by Joseph Jacobs in More English Fairy Tales in 1894.-Synopsis:A poor woman finds a pot on the road. She thinks it must have a hole for it to be discarded, but optimistically decides she might find a use for it as a flowerpot. Looking...
  
  
• Jack-In-Irons
  Jack-In-Irons
  Jack-In-Irons is a mythical giant of Yorkshire lore who haunts lonely roads. He is covered with chains and wears the heads of his victims. He wields a large, spiked club...
  
  
• Jenny Greenteeth
  Jenny Greenteeth
  Jenny Greenteeth is a figure in English folklore. A river hag, similar to Peg Powler, she would pull children or the elderly into the water and drown them. She was often described as green-skinned, with long hair, and sharp teeth...
  
  
• Jingling Geordie's Hole
  Jingling Geordie's Hole
  Jingling Geordie's Hole is a cave that has inspired a legend in Tynemouth, England.The cave is between King Edward's Bay and Tynemouth Castle. It was originally known as "Jingling Man's Hole", the "Geordie" being a later addition. The cave is between King Edward's Bay and Tynemouth Castle...
  
  
• Halifax Gibbet
  Halifax Gibbet
  The Halifax Gibbet was an early guillotine, or decapitating machine, used in the town of Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. It was probably installed some time during the 16th century as an alternative to beheading by axe or sword...
  
  
• Laidly Worm
  The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh
  The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh, also known as The Laidly Worm of Bamborough, is a Northumbrian ballad about a princess who changed into a dragon .-Synopsis:...
  
  
• Kilburn White Horse
  Kilburn White Horse
  The Kilburn white horse, , is a hill figure formed in the hillside near the village of Kilburn, in North Yorkshire, England. The horse is long by high and covers about and is said to be the largest and most northerly in England....
  
  
• The Lambton Worm
• Legend of Upsall Castle
  Legend of Upsall Castle
  Upsall Castle is a fourteenth century ruin, park and manor house in Upsall, in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England.The earliest extant building on the site is the ruin of a quadrangular castle, probably begun in 1327 by Geoffrey Scrope, which was reputedly demolished in the Civil...
  
  
• Long Sword dance
  Long Sword dance
  right|YorkshireThe Long Sword dance is a hilt-and-point sword dance recorded mainly in Yorkshire, England. It is related to the rapper sword dance of Northumbria, but the character is fundamentally different as it uses rigid metal or wooden swords, rather than the flexible spring steel rappers used...
  
  
• My Own Self
  My Own Self
  Me A'an Sel, Ainsel or My Own Self is a Northumbrian fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs. A version of the tale appears in Scottish Folk Tales by Ruth Manning-Sanders. It is Aarne-Thompson type 1137 Self Did It, similar to the encounter between Odysseus and Polyphemus.-Synopsis:A widow lived...
  
  
• Peg Powler
  Peg Powler
  The Peg Powler is a hag from English folklore with a green skin, long hair and sharp teeth who is said to inhabit the River Tees. She grabs the ankles of those who wander too close to the water's edge, especially naughty children, and pulls them under the water and drowns them; in Middleton In...
  
  
• Rapper sword
  Rapper sword
  Rapper sword is a kind of sword dance associated with the North-East of England.-History:The rapper sword tradition was traditionally performed in the mining villages of the Northumberland and Durham coalfield in North East England, especially in Tyneside...
  
  
• Red Cap
• Robin Hood
  Robin Hood
  Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
  
  
• Sedgefield Ball Game
  Sedgefield Ball Game
  Shrove Tuesday Football still takes place in Sedgefield in County Durham; locally it is known as the Ball Game.According to the old custom, the parish clerk is obliged to furnish a football on Shrove Tuesday, which he throws into the market place, where it is contested for by the mechanics against...
  
  
• Ursula Southeil
  Ursula Southeil
  Ursula Southeil , better known as Mother Shipton, was an English soothsayer and prophetess...
  
  

Folklore of the North West

• The Wizard of Alderley Edge
  Alderley Edge
  Alderley Edge is a village and civil parish within the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 4,409....
  
  
• Eachy
  Eachy
  An Eachy is a name given to a species of lake monster from a variety of locations in Northern England and Scotland. An Eachy is typically a large humanoid being of gruesome and slimy appearance seen to occasionally emerge from the lake. An Eachy was reported from Windermere in 1873 and...
  
  
• Folklore of Lancashire
  Folklore of Lancashire
  Lancashire, like all other counties of England, has historically had its own peculiar superstitions, manners, and customs, which may or may not find parallels in those of other localities. The following list of folklore of Lancashire was collected in 1851 by one T.T...
  
  
• Gytrash
  Gytrash
  The Gytrash , a legendary black dog known in northern England, was said to haunt lonely roads awaiting travellers. Appearing in the shape of horses, mules, or dogs, the Gytrash haunt solitary ways and lead people astray...
  
  
• Long Meg and Her Daughters
  Long Meg and Her Daughters
  Long Meg and Her Daughters, also known as Maughanby Circle, is a Bronze Age stone circle near Penrith in Cumbria, North West England. One of around 1,300 stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany, it was constructed as a part of a megalithic tradition that lasted from 3,300 to 900 BCE, during...
  
  
• Pendle Witches
• Samlesbury Witches
  Samlesbury witches
  The Samlesbury witches were three women from the Lancashire village of Samlesbury Jane Southworth, Jennet Bierley, and Ellen Bierley accused by a 14-year-old girl, Grace Sowerbutts, of practising witchcraft. Their trial at Lancaster Assizes in England on 19 August 1612 was one in a series of...
  
  
• Wild Boar of Westmorland
  Wild Boar of Westmorland
  The Wild Boar of Westmorland is a legend concerning Richard de Gilpin and the villagers and pilgrims visiting the ruins of the Holy Cross at Plumgarths, and the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin on St...
  
  

Folklore of the South West

• Abbotsbury Garland Day
  Abbotsbury Garland Day
  Held on 13 May each year, the Abbotsbury Garland Day celebrations have taken place in the Dorset village of Abbotsbury since about the early 19th century. They were first described in Hutchins' History of Dorset published in 1867. The custom involves the making of garlands by the children of the...
  
  
• Barber surgeon of Avebury
  Barber surgeon of Avebury
  The story of the Barber surgeon of Avebury is one that most visitors to the prehistoric site of Avebury Henge in the English county of Wiltshire will have heard.The traditional story goes as follows:...
  
  
• Tom Bawcock
  Tom Bawcock
  Tom Bawcock is a legendary character from the village of Mousehole, Cornwall. He appears to have been a local fisherman in the 16th century. According to the legend, one winter had been particularly stormy, meaning that none of the fishing boats had been able to leave the harbour...
  
  
• Belas Knap
  Belas Knap
  Belas Knap is a neolithic chambered long barrow, situated on Cleeve Hill, near Cheltenham and Winchcombe, in Gloucestershire, England. It is a scheduled ancient monument in the care of English Heritage but managed by Gloucestershire County Council. "Belas" is possibly derived from the Latin word...
  
  
• Bowerman's Nose
  Bowerman's Nose
  Bowerman's Nose is a stack of weathered granite on Dartmoor, Devon, England. It is situated on the northern slopes of Hayne Down, about a mile from Hound Tor and close to the village of Manaton at...
  
  
• Cerne Abbas giant
  Cerne Abbas giant
  The Cerne Abbas Giant, also referred to as the Rude Man or the Rude Giant, is a hill figure of a giant naked man on a hillside near the village of Cerne Abbas, to the north of Dorchester, in Dorset, England. The high, wide figure is carved into the side of a steep hill, and is best viewed from...
  
  
• Cheese rolling
• Childe's Tomb
  Childe's Tomb
  Childe's Tomb is a granite cross on Dartmoor, Devon, England. Although not in its original form, it is more elaborate than most of the crosses on Dartmoor, being raised upon a constructed base, and it is known that a kistvaen is underneath....
  
  
• Corineus
  Corineus
  Corineus, in medieval British legend, was a prodigious warrior, a fighter of giants, and the eponymous founder of Cornwall.According to Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain , he led the descendants of the Trojans who fled with Antenor after the Trojan War and settled on the coasts...
  
  , legendary founder of Cornwall
  Cornwall
  Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
  
  
• Dorset Ooser
  Dorset Ooser
  The Dorset Ooser is the name of a horned mask that has been a part of folklore in the town of Dorchester, in the county of Dorset in southern England, for several centuries...
  
  
• St. Dunstan
  Dunstan
  Dunstan was an Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, a Bishop of Worcester, a Bishop of London, and an Archbishop of Canterbury, later canonised as a saint. His work restored monastic life in England and reformed the English Church...
  
   is the origin of the lucky horseshoe
• Glastonbury
  Glastonbury
  Glastonbury is a small town in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,784 in the 2001 census...
  
   and its abbey
  Glastonbury Abbey
  Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. The ruins are now a grade I listed building, and a Scheduled Ancient Monument and are open as a visitor attraction....
  
  
• Glastonbury Thorn
  Glastonbury Thorn
  The Glastonbury Thorn is a form of Common Hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna 'Biflora' , found in and around Glastonbury, Somerset, England. Unlike ordinary hawthorn trees, it flowers twice a year , the first time in winter and the second time in spring...
  
  
• Goblin Combe
  Goblin Combe
  Goblin Combe is a valley in North Somerset which stretches from Redhill, near Bristol International Airport on the A38 through to Cleeve on the A370. The combe is located at , and is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest originally notified in 1999, with being managed as a nature...
  
  
• Hunky Punk
  Hunky Punk
  Hunky Punk is Somerset dialect for grotesque carvings on the side of buildings .By definition, a hunkypunk is an architectural feature that serves no purpose. Therefore, a true gargoyle is not a hunkypunk because it serves to drain water through its mouth...
  
  
• Jay's Grave
  Jay's Grave
  Jay's Grave is supposedly the last resting place of a suicide victim who is thought to have died in the late 18th century...
  
  
• Lyonesse
  Lyonesse
  Lyonesse is a country in Arthurian legend, particularly in the story of Tristan and Iseult. Said to border Cornwall, it is most notable as the home of the hero Tristan, whose father was king...
  
  
• Moonrakers
  Moonrakers
  Moonrakers is the colloquial name for people from Wiltshire, a county of South West England in the West Country.-Legend:This refers to a folk story set in the time when smuggling was a significant industry in rural England, with Wiltshire lying on the smugglers' secret routes between the south...
  
  , the story of how the inhabitants of Wiltshire got their nickname
• The Obby Oss of Padstow
• Pixie
  Pixie
  Pixies are mythical creatures of folklore, considered to be particularly concentrated in the areas around Devon and Cornwall, suggesting some Celtic origin for the belief and name.They are usually depicted with pointed ears, and often wearing a green outfit and pointed...
  
  s and Piskies
  Pisky
  Pisky is a village in Ukraine.The name in Ukrainian can be interpreted literally as "the Sands". The village is famous for being the location where one of the most influential Ukrainian poets of the 1920s, Pavlo Tychyna, was born.-External links:...
  
  
• Punkie Night
  Punkie Night
  Punkie Night is an English custom practiced on the last Thursday of October, in Somerset in England. Children will march around with a jack o'lantern, singing a song which goes :It's Punkie Night tonightIt's Punkie Night tonightAdam and Eve would not believe...
  
  
• The Reynardine
  Reynardine
  Reynardine is a traditional old English ballad; in versions most commonly sung and recorded today, Reynardine is a werefox who attracts beautiful women to him so that he can take them away to his castle...
  
   is a werewolf
  Werewolf
  A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
  
   of Dartmoor
  Dartmoor
  Dartmoor is an area of moorland in south Devon, England. Protected by National Park status, it covers .The granite upland dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history. The moorland is capped with many exposed granite hilltops known as tors, providing habitats for Dartmoor wildlife. The...
  
  
• Jan Tregeagle
  Jan Tregeagle
  The historical Jan Tregeagle was a magistrate in the early 17th century, a steward under the Duchy of Cornwall, and was known for being particularly harsh; darker stories circulated as well, that he had murdered his wife or made a pact with the Devil...
  
  
• The Great Thunderstorm, Widecombe
  The Great Thunderstorm, Widecombe
  The Great Thunderstorm of Widecombe-in-the-Moor in Dartmoor, Kingdom of England, took place on Sunday, 21 October 1638, when the church of St Pancras was apparently struck by a ball lightning during a severe thunderstorm. An afternoon service was taking place at the time, and the building was...
  
  
• Widecombe Fair
  Widecombe Fair
  Widecombe Fair takes place annually on the second Tuesday in September, attracting thousands of visitors to the tiny Dartmoor village of Widecombe-in-the-Moor...
  
  
• The Witch of Wookey Hole
• Jack the Giant Killer
  Jack the Giant Killer
  "Jack the Giant Killer" is a British fairy tale about a plucky lad who slays a number of giants during King Arthur's reign. The tale is characterized by violence, gore, and blood-letting. Giants are prominent in Cornish folklore and Welsh Bardic lore, but the source of "Jack the Giant Killer" is...
  
   and Galligantus
• Rabbit rabbit
  Rabbit rabbit
  "Rabbit rabbit" is a common British superstition. The most common modern version states that a person should say "rabbit, rabbit, white rabbit", "rabbit, rabbit, rabbit", "rabbits, rabbits, rabbits", "rabbit, rabbit" or simply "white rabbits" upon waking on the first day of each new month, and on...
  
  

Folklore in song

• And did those feet in ancient time
  And did those feet in ancient time
  "And did those feet in ancient time" is a short poem by William Blake from the preface to his epic Milton a Poem, one of a collection of writings known as the Prophetic Books. The date on the title page of 1804 for Milton is probably when the plates were begun, but the poem was printed c. 1808...
  
  
• Green Bushes
  Green Bushes
  Green Bushes is an English folk song which is featured in the second movement of Ralph Vaughan Williams' English Folk Song Suite, in Percy Grainger's Green Bushes , and in George Butterworth's The Banks of Green Willow...
  
  
• Greensleeves
  Greensleeves
  "Greensleeves" is a traditional English folk song and tune, a ground of the form called a romanesca.A broadside ballad by this name was registered at the London Stationer's Company in September 1580 as "A New Northern Dittye of the Lady Greene Sleeves". It then appears in the surviving A Handful of...
  
  
• Green grow the rushes, O
  Green Grow the Rushes, O
  Green Grow The Rushes, Ho , is a folk song popular across the English-speaking world. It is sometimes sung as a Christmas carol...
  
  
• Singing Vicar of Bray
  The Vicar of Bray (song)
  "The Vicar of Bray" is a satirical songrecounting the career of the Vicar of Bray and his contortions of principle in order to retain his ecclesiastic office despite the changes in the Established Church through the course of several English monarchs...
  
  
• Uncle Tom Cobley
  Uncle Tom Cobley
  The phrase Uncle Tom Cobley and all is used in British English as a humorous or whimsical way of saying et al., often to express exasperation at the large number of people in a list. The phrase comes from a Devon folk song "Widecombe Fair", collected by Sabine Baring-Gould...
  
  

Remnants of paganism in English Folklore

In common with most other regions of Europe, some aspects of past Pagan religions survive in English Folklore.

Examples are this include the Wild Hunt

Wild Hunt

The Wild Hunt is an ancient folk myth prevalent across Northern, Western and Central Europe. The fundamental premise in all instances is the same: a phantasmal, spectral group of huntsmen with the accoutrements of hunting, horses, hounds, etc., in mad pursuit across the skies or along the ground,...

 and Herne the Hunter

Herne the Hunter

In English folklore, Herne the Hunter is a ghost associated with Windsor Forest and Great Park in the English county of Berkshire. His appearance is notable in the fact that he has antlers upon his head....

 which relate to the Germanic

Germanic

Germanic may refer to* The Germanic languages, descended from Proto-Germanic.* The Germanic peoples**List of Germanic peoples**List of confederations of Germanic tribes* German people* Germanic mythology...

 deity Woden

Woden

Woden or Wodan is a major deity of Anglo-Saxon and Continental Germanic polytheism. Together with his Norse counterpart Odin, Woden represents a development of the Proto-Germanic god *Wōdanaz....

.

There is also the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance

Abbots Bromley Horn Dance

The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance is an English folk dance involving reindeer antlers and a hobby horse that takes place each year in Abbots Bromley, a small village in Staffordshire, England.-Origins:...

 which may represent a pre-Christian festival and the practice of Well dressing

Well dressing

Well dressing is a summer custom practised in rural England in which wells, springs or other water sources are decorated with designs created from flower petals...

 in the Peak District

Peak District

The Peak District is an upland area in central and northern England, lying mainly in northern Derbyshire, but also covering parts of Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, and South and West Yorkshire....

 which may date back to Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...

 or even Celtic times.
May Day

May Day

May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....

 celebrations such as the Maypole

Maypole

A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, particularly on May Day, or Pentecost although in some countries it is instead erected at Midsummer...

 survive across much of England and Northern Europe

Northern Europe

Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. Northern Europe typically refers to the seven countries in the northern part of the European subcontinent which includes Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden...

.

Many parts of English and British

British Isles

The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...

 folklore still contain evidence of Europe’s

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 pre-Christian past.

English folklore in other media

English folklore crops up in books, films and comic books and these appearances include:

• Some of the characters such as Jenny Greenteeth
  Jenny Greenteeth
  Jenny Greenteeth is a figure in English folklore. A river hag, similar to Peg Powler, she would pull children or the elderly into the water and drown them. She was often described as green-skinned, with long hair, and sharp teeth...
  
  , The Black Shuck
  Black Shuck
  Black Shuck, Old Shuck, Old Shock or simply Shuck is the name given to a ghostly black dog which is said to roam the coastline and countryside of East Anglia...
  
   and Black Annis
  Black Annis
  Black Annis, also known as Black Agnes, is a bogeyman figure in English folklore. She is imagined as a blue-faced crone or witch with iron claws and a taste for human flesh...
  
   have all made an appearance in comic 2000 AD
  2000 AD (comic)
  2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction-oriented comic. As a comics anthology it serialises a number of separate stories each issue and was first published by IPC Magazines in 1977, the first issue dated 26 February. IPC then shifted the title to its Fleetway comics subsidiary which was sold...
  
  , in the short story London Falling
  London Falling
  London Falling is a strip in 2000 AD, created by comic book writer Simon Spurrier and Lee Garbett the artist. It explores bogeymen from English folklore and mythology wreaking havoc in a modern day setting....
  
  by Simon Spurrier
  Simon Spurrier
  Simon Spurrier is a British comics writer, who has previously worked as a cook, a bookseller and an art director for the BBC.Getting his start in comics with the British small press, he went on to write his own series for 2000 AD, like Lobster Random, Bec & Kawl, The Simping Detective and Harry...
  
   and Lee Garbett
  Lee Garbett
  Lee Garbett is a British comic book artist born in the West Midlands. He has worked on British comics. As of February 2011, he is working freelance after a period of exclusivity with DC Comics.-Career:...
  
  .
• Herne the Hunter
  Herne the Hunter
  In English folklore, Herne the Hunter is a ghost associated with Windsor Forest and Great Park in the English county of Berkshire. His appearance is notable in the fact that he has antlers upon his head....
  
   and other references to English folklore and Arthurian
  King Arthur
  King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
  
   legend can be found in Susan Cooper's
  Susan Cooper
  Susan Mary Cooper is an English author best known for The Dark Is Rising, an award-winning five-volume saga set in and around England and Wales. The books incorporate traditional British mythology, such as Arthurian and other Welsh elements with original material ; these books were adapted into a...
  
   books, The Dark Is Rising.
• The name Springheel Jack is used in the Bethesda Softworks
  Bethesda Softworks
  Bethesda Softworks, LLC, is an American video game company. A subsidiary of ZeniMax Media, the company was originally based in Bethesda, Maryland and eventually moved to their current location in Rockville, Maryland...
  
   game Oblivion
  The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
  The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a single-player action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks and the Take-Two Interactive subsidiary 2K Games...
  
   in a Thieves Guild Quest Line*
• There are several mentions of British folklore creatures in the Harry Potter
  Harry Potter
  Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
  
   series by J.K Rowling such as Boggarts and Redcaps.

See also

• Merry England
  Merry England
  "Merry England", or in more jocular, archaic spelling "Merrie England", refers to an English autostereotype, a utopian conception of English society and culture based on an idyllic pastoral way of life that was allegedly prevalent at some time between the Middle Ages and the onset of the Industrial...
  
  
• English mythology
• Sabine Baring-Gould
  Sabine Baring-Gould
  The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould was an English hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist and eclectic scholar. His bibliography consists of more than 1240 publications, though this list continues to grow. His family home, Lew Trenchard Manor near Okehampton, Devon, has been preserved as he had it...
  
  
• Cecil Sharp
  Cecil Sharp
  Cecil James Sharp was the founding father of the folklore revival in England in the early 20th century, and many of England's traditional dances and music owe their continuing existence to his work in recording and publishing them.-Early life:Sharp was born in Camberwell, London, the eldest son of...
  
  
• Nursery rhyme
  Nursery rhyme
  The term nursery rhyme is used for "traditional" poems for young children in Britain and many other countries, but usage only dates from the 19th century and in North America the older ‘Mother Goose Rhymes’ is still often used.-Lullabies:...
  
  
• Once upon a time
  Once upon a time
  "Once upon a time" is a stock phrase that has been used in some form since at least 1380 in storytelling in the English language, and seems to have become a widely accepted convention for opening oral narratives by around 1600. These stories often then end with ".....
  
  
• Anglo-Saxon mythology
• Scottish folklore
• Matter of Britain
  Matter of Britain
  The Matter of Britain is a name given collectively to the body of literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and its legendary kings, particularly King Arthur...
  
  
• Thunderstone (folklore)
  Thunderstone (folklore)
  Throughout Europe, Asia, Polynesia, in fact in almost all parts of the world where their use had been forgotten, flint arrowheads and axes turned up by the farmer's plow are considered to have fallen from the sky, are often thought to be thunderbolts and are called "Thunderstones".It was not until...
  
  
• St George's Day in England
  St George's Day in England
  Saint George is the patron saint of England and as such is celebrated on his death each 23 April. This is also celebrated as the day of birth and death of William Shakespeare...
  
  

Reference Books

• Hutton, Ronald, The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in England, 1999
• Opie, Iona, and Peter Opie
  Peter and Iona Opie
  Iona Archibald Opie and Peter Mason Opie were a husband-and-wife team of folklorists, who applied modern techniques to children's literature, summarized in their studies, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes and The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren...
  
  , 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
• Paynter, William H. and Jason Semmens, The Cornish Witch-finder: William Henry Paynter and the Witcher, Ghosts, Charms and Folklore of Cornwall, 2008
• 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

External links

• Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales (1849), by James Halliwell, a discussion on the origin of English folk tales and rhymes.
• 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
• Website of the Folklore Society (UK)
• Pretanic World - Folklore and Folkbeliefs
• Dartmoor Legends