Stop off at any English village or town or wander through the countryside and you will almost certainly brush up against some deep-rooted local legend - whether it's the pub that claims to have given lodgings to Dick Turpin, or the haunted stately home, or the hill that is supposed to contain buried treasure, or the grave that is said to mark the last resting place of Robin Hood. This magnificent new and lavishly illustrated survey looks at all these stories, county by county, explaining when they date from, how they arose and what basis - if any - they have in fact. If you want to know how Devil's Dyke in Sussex got its name, or why medieval stories link King Arthur with Lanercost Priory in Cumberland, or where Cornish legends about the evil Jan Tregeagle come from, then The Lore of the Land will provide the answers and show you at the same time just how deeply embedded in our culture these legends have become.
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Review
A real treasury...I'm sure I shall plunder it for years to come. -- Philip Pullman. 6th November, 2005
It appears to contain almost every myth, legend and ghost story ever told in England...a wonderful dipping book. -- Simon Hoggart, The Guardian, 12 November, 2005
It appears to contain almost every myth, legend and ghost story ever told in England...a wonderful dipping book. -- Simon Hoggart, The Guardian, 12 November, 2005
From the Author
Dear Readers,
Most people, when they read a book like this, are reminded of stories they know, about the places they live(d) in. We would love to hear these. Please send them to me*, telling me who you are, how long you lived in the place you are talking about, and who told you the tradition or where you read it. Send as much information as you can. It helps us build up background history. We can’t tell a lot from ‘our pub is haunted’ but we can from ‘my grandfather used to say …’ especially if you put in your grandad’s dates.
And if you’ve spotted anything we’ve got wrong please tell me that too.
Jennifer Westwood
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
37 of 37 people found the following review helpful
By Wordy
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Lore of the Land does exactly what it claims - it is a comprehensive A-Z of folklore, legends and ghost / paranormal tales organised by County. It's not in the right format to read in bulk, but is absolutely fascinating for local interest and research purposes.
Highly recommended - this is the most accurate and thorough book I have seen on the subject. Not cheap but worth it.
Highly recommended - this is the most accurate and thorough book I have seen on the subject. Not cheap but worth it.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By Harri
Format:Paperback
The Lore of the Land: A Guide to England's Legends, from Spring-heeled Jack to the Witches of Warboys
I chose this book for my prizegiving and I was certainly not disappointed. It is really interesting and logically laid out and the beautiful photos and the sheer amount of information contained within it are astounding. It is quite thick with small print in order to fit as much as possible in it. Great stuff x
I chose this book for my prizegiving and I was certainly not disappointed. It is really interesting and logically laid out and the beautiful photos and the sheer amount of information contained within it are astounding. It is quite thick with small print in order to fit as much as possible in it. Great stuff x
38 of 40 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
This book is not only perfectly designed for browsing, but clearly very well researched.
It works on various levels too. If you are touring or visiting England, or if you live here and want to delve into the legendary and curious aspects of England then just buy this book. It is also thorough enough to be an important source for researchers.
It's also dedicated to the wonderful Katharine Briggs.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By Peasant
TOP 100 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
This massive book - even in paperback - gives the reader a county-by-county reference to every folktale, legend and story the authors can track down. Each county starts with a map, keying the location and giving the type of tale with a series of symbols, making it extremely easy to pick out the tales of an area. Within the chapter, the arrangement is alphabetically by placename. Engravings and photos are embedded in the text; for example a photo of a real "hand of glory" from Whitby museum illustrates a tale about its use during a burglary in the 19th century at Old Spital Inn in Co Durham.
Digressions - printed on contrasting paper - are buried in the main text, Shakespeare for instance in Warwickshire. These mini essays, of which there are many, are picked out in the index with page numbers in bold type. However there some eccentricities which make the information harder to use than it might be; there is an excellent essay on the folklore of King Lear, as used by Shakespeare in his play, but this is indexed under "Leir, King" and placed in the chapter on Leicestershire because of a little-known suggestion that he is buried at Leicester. The essay on Shakespeare doesn't reference it, as it covers legends ABOUT Shakespeare. The Leir essay cross-refernces to the entry on KING LUD'S ENTRENCHMENTS but doesn't give the page number, so you have to go to the index again to find it. The type throughout varies from the very small to the incredibly tiny, and the book unwieldily thick, so this toing and froing is no small matter.
These are minor quibbles about an otherwise excellent book. The index does enable the reader - or at least the reader with preternaturally keen eyesight - to find legends by subject, which is a huge bonus.... Read more ›
Digressions - printed on contrasting paper - are buried in the main text, Shakespeare for instance in Warwickshire. These mini essays, of which there are many, are picked out in the index with page numbers in bold type. However there some eccentricities which make the information harder to use than it might be; there is an excellent essay on the folklore of King Lear, as used by Shakespeare in his play, but this is indexed under "Leir, King" and placed in the chapter on Leicestershire because of a little-known suggestion that he is buried at Leicester. The essay on Shakespeare doesn't reference it, as it covers legends ABOUT Shakespeare. The Leir essay cross-refernces to the entry on KING LUD'S ENTRENCHMENTS but doesn't give the page number, so you have to go to the index again to find it. The type throughout varies from the very small to the incredibly tiny, and the book unwieldily thick, so this toing and froing is no small matter.
These are minor quibbles about an otherwise excellent book. The index does enable the reader - or at least the reader with preternaturally keen eyesight - to find legends by subject, which is a huge bonus.... Read more ›
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I return to this book time and again. There are some amazingly unique stories, and as you flick through, there are some stories which have themes that are echoed around the country. Really reveals the rich history that our country has, a history which is usually held in the minds of local people. Being from a tiny village in the smallest county of England - Rutland - I know that there are many, many more stories out there, which have been handed down generation by generation - I beg the authors to create a Rutland and Leicestershire anthology!
Do note - this text is about an inch and a half thick - literally!
Do note - this text is about an inch and a half thick - literally!
45 of 49 people found the following review helpful
By Matryd
Format:Hardcover
I bought this as a birthday present for my mum but I'm going to have to get her another copy as I can't bring myself to part with it! The pictures are just fantastic: makes you realise just how many ghostly stories have built up around really famous places like Hampton Court and the Tower of London. But it's not just famous places that get a mention - really tiny villages like East Bergholt in Suffolk are in there too (the chirch was deprived of a steeple by the machinations of the devil, apparently). Highly recommended!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
At last, a treasury of local and historical legends to stand beside the classic English fairy tale collections
9 Sep 2011
Format:Paperback
My copy is the first printing paperback. It has a sewn binding, and the same high-quality paper as the hardback, and all the original colour photographs, too. It's just printed smaller than the hardback. This is worth it to have a volume that is so much easier to handle, because this is an inexhaustible book for constant use and dipping into - an ideal bedside book - and the hardback is quite unwieldy.
Until now the English tradition has lacked a popular, one-volume collection of local and historical legends that has the stature to stand alongside Joseph Jacobs' classic fairy tale collections, in the same way that the Grimms' fairy tales were matched with their great collection of German legends in 'Deutsche Sagen'. Maybe this is a fair reflection of their relative value. Fairy tales are told knowingly as fiction; they are deeply escapist, hence deeply moral. Local and historical legends tell what is believed to be true, shading into real history, so can at times depict life more cruelly closed in. I guess this is most apparent in the fear and superstition which underlies many witch-legends. A local legend might tell of a famous witch and her downfall, reinforcing the superstitions of those who persecuted her; but a fairy tale has the power to console, to show the possibility of a higher order of things, and comfort even a lonely outcast who is victimized as a witch!
But that's being gloomy about the matter: legendary tales deal with so many other things, too, and the sheer range of this book allows for no feelings of claustrophobia. Many share the same ingredients as fairy tales (the dividing line between the two types of folk tale is not absolute), and certainly have the same foundation of folklore.... Read more ›
Until now the English tradition has lacked a popular, one-volume collection of local and historical legends that has the stature to stand alongside Joseph Jacobs' classic fairy tale collections, in the same way that the Grimms' fairy tales were matched with their great collection of German legends in 'Deutsche Sagen'. Maybe this is a fair reflection of their relative value. Fairy tales are told knowingly as fiction; they are deeply escapist, hence deeply moral. Local and historical legends tell what is believed to be true, shading into real history, so can at times depict life more cruelly closed in. I guess this is most apparent in the fear and superstition which underlies many witch-legends. A local legend might tell of a famous witch and her downfall, reinforcing the superstitions of those who persecuted her; but a fairy tale has the power to console, to show the possibility of a higher order of things, and comfort even a lonely outcast who is victimized as a witch!
But that's being gloomy about the matter: legendary tales deal with so many other things, too, and the sheer range of this book allows for no feelings of claustrophobia. Many share the same ingredients as fairy tales (the dividing line between the two types of folk tale is not absolute), and certainly have the same foundation of folklore.... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very interesting book
The sheer volume of information in this book can be a bit daunting, but of course it is not meant to be read in one go - this is a book to browse and return to at leisure. Read more
Published 3 months ago by kaahaa
5.0 out of 5 stars
magic
lore of the land by westwood and spencer is not as detailed as the readers digest 1975 myth legends of britain -lore of the land is mainly a legends gazeeteer
it is... Read more
it is... Read more
Published 12 months ago by mark1000
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book for research and pleasure
Although I only got this book from my Uni library i feel it is that good that it is worth a review on here for others too see. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Peter T. Andrew
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Treasuretrove of information
This was an invaluable research tool for me in getting ideas for travel articles or for new stories to write. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Wayne Johnson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating and informative
This book contains a wealth of fascinating folklore and legends, with illustrations. Despite the 'England' of the title, it also includes Cornwall, and the material is divided on a... Read more
Published on 14 Aug 2010 by Lizzy Marsh
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