If a bouquet of flowers arrives at our door, we’re more interested in who sent them. The Victorians were more concerned with what it meant. The Victorian language of flowers, also known as floriography, was a way to send messages using specific plants and flowers. Combining different flowers allowed them to send more complex or […]
Folklore
The Not So Holy Ghost: England’s Haunted Churches
Churches in England are often portrayed as quaint, picturesque centres of their community. But given they’re also often one of the oldest buildings in a town or village, it’s hardly surprising that we’d have so many tales of haunted churches too. Some of these tales immortalise previous parishioners, but more usually, the tales commemorate dark […]
For Whom the Bell Tolls: Folklore of Churches and Churchyards
Churches used to be a centre for the community. They were open to all classes of society, and through their association with births, marriages, and deaths, often had links to each stage in an individual’s life. Add to that their open commemoration of the dead, and churches became a clear focal point (Simpson 2003: 67). […]
Folklore About Pubs: Murderous Landlords, Famous Crimes & Ghosts
As we saw last week with the folklore of pub names, the pub is a familiar part of British life. As such a hive of activity, it stands to reason that there would also be plenty of folklore about pubs around Britain. After all, the more activity there is in a place, the more opportunity […]
The Last Drop & The Bucket of Blood: The Folklore of Odd Pub Names
The pub is well entrenched in the cultural life of Britain. As a hub of social contact and often a provider of decent food, pubs offer a central meeting point for many groups of people. Yet how often do we think about pub names and what they tell us about local history, famous figures, or […]
Elizabeth Bathory: Blood Countess or Framed Aristocrat?
When you say the name ‘Elizabeth Bathory’, a few things probably spring to mind. After all, she’s widely known as the Blood Countess, so you probably imagine a woman in a bath of blood. Indeed, while researching this post, I encountered a plethora of articles that described Bathory as “the infamous blood countess”, “the self-made […]
