English folklore is the folk tradition which has developed in England 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 tales, the Brythonic-inspired Arthurian legend, to contemporary urban legends and facets of cryptozoology such as the Beast of Bodmin Moor.
Morris dance and related practices such as the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance preserve old English folk traditions, as do Mummers Plays. Pub names may preserve folk traditions.
Most folklore traditions are no longer widely believed. Whereas some traditions were once believed across the whole of England, most belong to specific regions:
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Folklore of England
- Black dog
- Brownie
- Chime hours
- Corn dolly
- Cunning folk
- Drake's Drum
- Dwarves
- Elves
- Ettin
- English Country Dance
- Flibbertigibbet
- Green Man
- Hag Stone
- Havelock the Dane
- Legend of the Mistletoe Bough
- Lob
- May Queen
- Maypole dance
- Maypole
- Oak Apple Day
- Ogres (or Trolls)
- Parish Ale
- The Pedlar of Swaffham
- Petrifying well
- Robin Goodfellow is a troublesome elf or hobgoblin
- Saint Swithun - English weather lore
- Standing stones and chalk figures in the United Kingdom are the focus for folktales and beliefs.
- Tom Thumb
- Well dressing
- Wild Hunt
- Will-o'-the-wisp
- Wyrms
Folklore of East Anglia
- Babes in the Wood at Wayland Wood
- The Black Shuck
- Caxton Gibbet
- St. Edmund of East Anglia
- Green children of Woolpit
- Hereward the Wake
- Molly dance
- King Cole and St. Helena
- Religious visions at Walsingham
- Tom Hickathrift
Folklore of London and the South East
- Sir Bevis of Hampton
- Bran the Blessed's Head at the Tower of London
- Brutus of Troy, the legendary founder of London
- Clapham Wood, an area of strange activity
- Gog and Magog, legendary giants and guardians of the City of London
- Hengest and Horsa, legendary founders of Saxon England
- Herne the Hunter
- Hoodening
- London Bridge is falling down
- King Lud, connected with the City of London
- Mallard Song
- Oranges and Lemons
- Rollright Stones
- Spring Heeled Jack
- Swan Upping
- Uffington White Horse
- Wayland the Smith
Folklore of the Midlands
- Black Annis
- Alkborough Turf Maze
- Border Morris
- Bottle-kicking
- Dun Cow
- St. Frideswide
- Fulk FitzWarin
- Godiva
- Guy of Warwick
- Haxey Hood Game
- Lincoln Imp
- Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln
- Major Oak
- Madam Pigott
- Robin Hood
- Royal Shrovetide Football
- Wise Men of Gotham
- The Giant of the Wrekin
- Yallery-Brown
- Tiddy Mun
Folklore of Yorkshire and the North East
- The Barghest
- The Cauld Lad of Hylton
- St. Cuthbert
- The Devil's Arrows
- Duergar
- Jack-In-Irons
- Jenny Greenteeth
- Jingling Geordie's Hole
- Halifax Gibbet
- Laidly Worm
- Kilburn White Horse
- The Lambton Worm
- Legend of Upsall Castle
- Long Sword dance
- My Own Self
- Peg Powler
- Rapper sword
- Red Cap
- Robin Hood
- Ursula Southeil
- Wibbly Woo
Folklore of the North West
- The Wizard of Alderley Edge
- Eachy
- Folklore of Lancashire
- Gytrash
- Long Meg and Her Daughters
- Pendle Witches
- Wild Boar of Westmorland
Folklore of the South West
- Abbotsbury Garland Day
- Barber surgeon of Avebury
- Bowerman's Nose
- Cerne Abbas giant
- Cheese rolling
- Childe's Tomb
- Corineus, legendary founder of Cornwall
- Dorset Ooser
- St. Dunstan is the origin of the lucky horseshoe
- Glastonbury and its abbey
- Hunky Punk
- Jay's Grave
- Lyonesse
- Moonrakers, the story of how the inhabitants of Wiltshire got their nickname
- The Obby Oss of Padstow
- Pixies and Piskies
- The Reynardine is a werewolf of Dartmoor
- Jan Tregeagle
- The Great Thunderstorm, Widecombe
- Widecombe Fair
- The Witch of Wookey Hole
- Jack the Giant Killer and Galligantus
- Rabbit rabbit
Folklore in song
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, The Black Shuck and Black Annis have all made an appearance in comic 2000 AD, in the short story London Falling by Simon Spurrier and Lee Garbett.
- Herne the Hunter and other references to English folklore and Arthurian legend can be found in Susan Cooper's books, The Dark Is Rising.
- The name Springheel Jack is used in the Bethesda Softworks game Oblivion in a Thieves Guild Quest Line*
See also
- Merry England
- English mythology
- Sabine Baring-Gould
- Cecil Sharp
- Nursery rhyme
- Once upon a time
- Anglo-Saxon mythology
- Scottish folklore
- Matter of Britain
Reference Books
- Hutton, Ronald, The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in England, 1999
- Opie, Iona, and Peter Opie, 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
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