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The Lore of the Land: A Guide to England's Legends, from Spring-heeled Jack to the Witches of Warboys
by: Jennifer Westwood, Jacqueline Simpson

List Price: £20.00

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Used Price: £12.00
Third Party New Price: £7.33

Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780141021034
ISBN: 0141021039
Label: Penguin Books Ltd
Manufacturer: Penguin Books Ltd
Number Of Pages: 928
Publication Date: September 28, 2006
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Studio: Penguin Books Ltd
Sales Rank: 89171

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Editorial Review:

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.

Philip Pullman. 6th November, 2005:
A real treasury...I'm sure I shall plunder it for years to come.

Synopsis:
Where can you find the 'Devil's footprints'? What happened at the 'hangman's stone'? Did Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street, ever really exist? Where was King Arthur laid to rest? Bringing together tales of hauntings, highwaymen, family curses and lovers' leaps, this magnificent guide will take you on a magical journey through England's legendary past. 'A fascinating county-by county guidebook to the headless horsemen, bottomless pools, immured adulteresses and talking animals that make up the hidden landscape of the country.' - "London Review of Books". 'Evokes an England terrified by screaming skulls, tantalized by hidden treasure, spooked by the unearthly clanging of bells, bewitched by fairies and hobgoblins' - "Country Life". 'Wonderful...Contains almost every myth, legend and ghost story ever told in England' - Simon Hoggart, "Guardian".

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

From the Inside Flap:
The Lore of the Land gathers together the stories, many of them hundreds of years old, that have been passed down from one generation to the next. With each retelling, fact and fiction, tradition and superstition have become ever more interwoven, and these tales have become an integral part of England's heritage. This magnificent new survey uncovers the real - and imagined - reasons why families such as the Berneys of Reedham and the Lytteltons of Hagley bore a red hand in their coat of arms, it explores the origins of the Cumberland story of the 'Luck of Edenhall', and it speculates whether Sweeney Todd, the 'Demon Barber of Fleet Street', ever really existed. It also sets out to explain why similar stories crop up so frequently in different places - whether accounts of supposedly bottomless lakes, or phantom coaches, or mysterious subterranean passages. And, from all over England, it brings together the legends that surround such figures as Oliver Cromwell, St !
George and the murderers of Archbishop Thomas à Becket.

From the Back Cover:
A magnificent county-by-county exploration of England's legendary past, from the field of the forty footsteps in London's Bloomsbury to the Derbyshire tale of Haddon Hall.

About the Author:
Dr Jacqueline Simpson has been an active member of the Folklore Society since the 1960s. She is particularly interested in local legends, both English and Scandinavian. She is a member of the Ghosts and Scholars Society and the Dracula Society. Jennifer Westwood is also a member of the Folklore Society, and has served as Editor of FLS Books and also the journal Folklore. She belongs to the Henry Doubleday Research Association, the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and the Society of Authors.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Lore of Poor Scholarship
Peppered with inaccuracies throughout, the entry on Highgate Cemetery serves as a pointer to just how poor the "scholarship" is in Lore of the Land.

The task befell Jacqueline Simpson to provide the entry on London's most famous graveyard which included more than a passing reference to its vampire. Simpson, according to Oxford University's Library Journal, is "an esteemed British folklore expert." This makes her coverage of the case of even greater concern.

"When the apparition was first discussed in the local press in 1970, it was merely called a ghost," she begins. It was called all manner of things when first discussed, but was already being described as a vampire locally; even from as early as 1965. What Simpson ... Read More:

Rating:

- Excellent....
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.

Rating:

- Beautiful and thorough
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.

Rating:

- Beautiful and fascinating!
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!

Books : The Lore of the Land: A Guide to England's Legends, from Spring-heeled Jack to the Witches of Warboys