The Witches and the Grinnygog is a children's novel by the writer Dorothy Edwards

Dorothy Edwards

Dorothy Edwards was a British children's writer.Born as Dorothy Violet Ellen Brown into a working-class family, her father taught her to read at an early age, enabling her to write her first story at four years of age...

, published in 1981 and shortlisted for that year's Whitbread Prize for a children's book.

The Witches and the Grinnygog is a story of pre-Christian

Pre-Christian

Pre-Christian may mean:*before Christianization**historical polytheism *BC**Classical Antiquity**Iron Age...

 traditions, considered in the middle ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 to be witchcraft

Witchcraft

Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...

, surviving into the modern world, and deals with various themes related to English folklore

Folklore

Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...

, ghosts and time slip

Time slip

A time slip is an alleged paranormal phenomenon in which a person, or group of people, travel through time via unknown means...

s.

Plot summary

When an ancient English church is moved to a new site, one stone – a strange statue, the Grinnygog of the title – is found to be missing. Its accidental rediscovery (by a woman who, not realising its significance, gives it to her elderly father as a pseudo garden gnome

Garden gnome

A garden gnome or lawn gnome is a figurine of a small humanoid creature, usually wearing a pointy hat, produced for the purpose of ornamentation and protection from evil sorcery, typically of gardens or on lawns....

) coincides with the arrival in the same town of three eccentric old women who seem to be looking for something lost or hidden many years before, and a nervous, "other-worldly" child. The townsfolk find themselves looking into their collective past but it takes a group of children to put the pieces of the puzzle together and make amends for an ancient injustice.

The story is notable in modern popular culture for its portrayal of witches as something other than evil old hags.

Adaptation

The story was adapted as a six-episode television miniseries produced by Television South

Television South

Television South was the ITV franchise holder in the south and south east of England between 1 January 1982 and 31 December 1992. The company operated under various names, initially as Television South plc and then following reorganisation in 1989 as TVS Entertainment plc, with its UK...

 in the UK in 1983 and subsequently broadcast in the US, Canada New Zealand and Israel.

The TV series featured Patricia Hayes

Patricia Hayes

Patricia Lawlor Hayes, OBE was an English comedy actress.Hayes was born in Streatham, London. As a child Hayes attended Sacred Heart School in Wandsworth....

 as Miss Bendybones, Adam Woodyatt

Adam Woodyatt

Adam Brinley Woodyatt is an English actor and media personality, best known for his role as Ian Beale in the long-running BBC soap opera EastEnders...

 and Anna Wing

Anna Wing

Anna Eva Lydia Catherine Wing, MBE is an English actress. She has had a long career in television and theatre.-Personal life:...

 and was filmed in and around Titchfield

Titchfield

Titchfield is a village in southern Hampshire, by the River Meon. The village has a history stretching back to the 6th century. During the medieval period, the village operated a small port and market...

 and Bishop's Waltham

Bishop's Waltham

Bishop's Waltham is a small town in Hampshire, England situated at the head of the River Hamble. It is home to the ruins of Bishop's Waltham Palace, an English Heritage monument.-History:...

, Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

. It was adapted by Roy Russell and directed by Diarmuid Lawrence

Diarmuid Lawrence

Diarmuid Lawrence is a British television director.Born in Westcliff-on-Sea in Essex, Lawrence began his career in 1978 as a production assistant on the BBC television drama Pennies from Heaven...

, with music by James Harpham. It was shown on Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon (TV channel)

Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...

 in the United States as part of the anthology series The Third Eye.