A Gazetteer of British Folklore
Giants, ghosts, fairies & dragons, and where to find them
The old stories of Britain, retold from the books that first wrote them down, and pinned to the stones, hills, rivers and inns where they happened. Every tale names its source.
- Madam Dudley's Ghost, Oxfordshire
- The Barguest of the Oxwells, Yorkshire
- Once Burned, Twice Burned, Edinburgh
- Captain Bell and the Old Man in White, London
- Scratching Fanny of Cock Lane, London
- The Devil's Quoits, Oxfordshire
- The Dragon of Dragon Hill, Oxfordshire
- The Phantom Armies of Edgehill, Warwickshire
- Fair Rosamund and the Silken Thread, Oxfordshire
- The Unjust Judge of Great Tew, Oxfordshire
- Hob Headless and the Stone by the Road, County Durham
- Hobhole Hob of Runswick Bay, Yorkshire
- The Earl in the Gilt Room and the Lady Who Met Herself, London
- The Just Devil of Woodstock, Oxfordshire
- Major Weir and the Burning Staff, Edinburgh
- The Night of Wonders in Mary King's Close, Edinburgh
- Mr Bonnell Walks Out, Oxfordshire
- The King Who Became a Stone, Oxfordshire
- St Frideswide and the Blinded King, Oxfordshire
- Wayland, the Invisible Smith, Oxfordshire
Plates I & II
First, two tales from Oxfordshire
How we tell the tales
Told from the old books
We retell each tale in our own words from the collectors who first wrote it down, and we name them at the foot of every page, with a link to a free copy wherever there is one.
Legend, not fact
We tell you what people said and believed. Where the history differs, we say so. If we can't find a detail in a source, we leave it out.
Go and see
Every legend is pinned to a real place, with how to visit, how long to allow, and whether the tale suits young children.
Know a local legend we're missing? Send it to us. Or invent your own with The Name Generators.