Tag: folklore
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Where the Devil lives: Britain’s Devil place names, mapped
I mapped 107 Devil place names in Britain. 31% lie within 1 km of a prehistoric monument, against 19% of comparable places; saint-named places sit by churches and holy wells instead.
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Did fairy belief protect Ireland’s ringforts?
Ireland’s 31,431 ringforts are fairy forts that it was unlucky to disturb. I set them against barrows, enclosures and moated sites: the fairies left few fingerprints.
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Haunted, or just old? What Britain’s ghost stories say about its buildings
I set 260 reportedly haunted places against Britain’s 40,409 most important listed buildings. Haunted buildings are barely older than their kind, but castles are 9 times and inns 9 times as common among them, and churches almost vanish.
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Giants in the landscape: did people explain big things with big people?
I gathered 331 giant places in Britain and Ireland, from Giant’s Graves to Gog Magog. Giants own graves, not mountains, and Ireland’s 212 Giant’s Graves are no bigger or more prominent than the tombs around them.
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Here be dragons: do Britain’s dragons live by the church?
I put 26 named dragon legends and 135 Dragon, Drake, Worm and Serpent place names on the map. The legends cling to the parish church (77% within 1 km, against 55% of comparable places); barrows, hillforts and rivers barely matter.
