Culloden Moor is perhaps one of the saddest sites in the British Isles, the battlefield that played host to a massacre. It was also the last battle to take place on mainland Britain. The Battle of Culloden took place on 16 April 1746. It marked the end of the Jacobite Rebellion. It’s also apparently given […]
#FolkloreThursday
Legends of Denbigh Moors: Ghosts, Snow and the Tylwyth Teg
The Denbigh Moors, or Mynydd Hiraethog, lie in north Wales. The area is home to two reservoirs, the Clocaenog Forest, and the Hafod Elwy Moor National Nature Reserve. At its highest point, it’s higher than Exmoor. The moors are a wild, desolate place, home to various types of wildlife. Yet if you believe the tales, […]
Exmoor Folklore: Witches, Ghosts, and Fantastic Beasts
The name ‘Exmoor’ conjures mental images of ponies, undulating moorland, and Lorna Doone, R D Blackmore’s 1869 novel. It crosses the Somerset and Devon border, hugging the north Devon coast, and takes its name from the River Exe. Like Kielder in Northumberland, Exmoor is an International Dark Sky Reserve, making it a perfect place to […]
Newcastle’s Town Moor: Fairs, Witches, and Common Land
If you say ‘moor’ to most people, they might think of Wuthering Heights, and Cathy wandering around looking for Heathcliff. Or they might think of Dartmoor, with its bizarre pools and strange legends of phantom hands. Maybe you think of Bodmin and its fantastic beast. You probably won’t immediately think of the Town Moor that […]
50 Berkeley Square: The Most Haunted House in London
If I asked you to name “the most haunted house in London”, you probably wouldn’t pick Berkeley Square as your location. Yet for almost a century, No. 50. Berkeley Square had quite the supernatural reputation. It’s part of the Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, built in the mid-18th century by architect William Kent. Famous residents of […]
Two London Ghosts and Messages from Beyond the Grave
There’s a particular branch of ghost stories that sees the dead appear to warn the living of their own impending death. They act as a form of death omen. It’s not the same as those ghosts of the living that appear to family at the point of their death. These ghosts appear to offer help […]