Earth Rites: Fertility Practices in Pre-Industrial Britain

Earth Rites examines fertility beliefs and customs associated with pre-industrial Britain, placing them within a landscape marked by standing stones, holy wells and sacred trees. Janet and Colin Bord consider how communities understood the earth’s powers and expressed those ideas through ritual practice, seasonal observance and local tradition.

The book also considers the survival of older earth-centred beliefs in later folklore, suggesting that traces of these practices remained visible after the societies that shaped them had changed. Its focus ranges across Britain’s sacred landscape and the customs linked to fertility, offering historical context for traditions surrounding ancient sites, springs, trees and the continuing folklore attached to them.