Discover folklore books from across the UK and Ireland, from local legends and old customs to supernatural traditions and strange regional tales. These titles explore the beliefs, stories and traditions that have shaped communities for generations.
425 books found
Cover unavailableSupernatural Isle of Man
Supernatural Isle of Man gathers legends, reported encounters and present-day mysteries connected with the island. Jenny Randles considers stories of strange beings beneath a bridge, including customs associated with paying them respect, alongside an account…
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Cover unavailableSuperstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland
John Gregorson Campbell records Highland and island traditions gathered from oral sources, preserving beliefs about fairies, omens, animals, prophecy and everyday supernatural danger. The collection includes tales of fairy women and other encounters with the…
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Cover unavailableSurrey Folk Tales
Surrey Folk Tales gathers thirty stories linked to the county’s towns, villages and landscapes. Janet Dowling retells accounts of dragons near Guildford, a talking puma, fairies who spirit people away and horses that grow wings…
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Cover unavailableSussex Folk Tales
Sussex Folk Tales gathers stories rooted in the county’s hills, forests, marshes, coast and urban edges. Michael O’Leary’s retellings include dragons in bottomless ponds, demons in Wealden copses, ghosts, witches and wise women, alongside creatures…
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Cover unavailableSussex Folk Tales for Children
Sussex Folk Tales for Children gathers traditional stories and local legends from across the county, with tales linked to Wilmington, Mayfield, Rye, Lewes, Rottingdean, Ashdown Forest and the South Downs. The stories bring together chalk…
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Cover unavailableTales from the Towpath
Tales from the Towpath gathers stories and histories from the Cotswold canals, following the Stroudwater Navigation and the Thames and Severn Canal between Framilode and Inglesham. Its accounts span roughly 250 years, bringing canal workers,…
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Cover unavailableTales of the Irish Hedgerows
Tales of the Irish Hedgerows brings together the folklore, traditional beliefs and natural history associated with Ireland’s hedgerow plants and wildlife. Tony Locke organises the book by species, covering trees and flowers such as elder,…
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Cover unavailableTelling the Bees and Other Customs
Telling the Bees and Other Customs examines the folklore attached to rural crafts, showing how practical skills became surrounded by stories, rituals and superstitions. Mark Norman covers wool, thread and cloth, bees and beekeeping, blacksmithing…
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Cover unavailableTelling the Bees and Other Customs: The Folklore of Rural Crafts
Telling the Bees and Other Customs examines the folklore attached to traditional rural crafts, showing how skilled work became surrounded by customs, superstitions, stories and mythology. Mark Norman considers blacksmithing, brewing, beekeeping, baking, milling, spinning,…
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Cover unavailableTelling the Seasons
Telling the Seasons follows the turning year month by month, bringing together folklore, traditional stories, customs and celebrations from across the British Isles. Martin Maudsley connects seasonal change with the natural world, local landscapes and…
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Cover unavailableThe A-Z of Curious Wales
The A-Z of Curious Wales gathers stories from across the country, arranged alphabetically but ranging freely across folklore, history, crime, customs and eccentric personalities. Mark Rees considers fairy traditions, ghostly accounts, ancient sites, peculiar landscapes…
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Cover unavailableThe Anthology of English Folk Tales
The Anthology of English Folk Tales gathers stories from across England, bringing together material originally published in The History Press’s county-based Folk Tales series. Its contributors include professional storytellers such as Taffy Thomas, Hugh Lupton…
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Cover unavailableThe Anthology of English Folk Tales: Volume II
This second anthology gathers folk tales from counties across England, bringing together stories shaped by local customs, beliefs and dialects. Its contents range from Cornwall and Devonshire through the Midlands and northern counties, offering a…
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Cover unavailableThe Anthology of Irish Folk Tales
The Anthology of Irish Folk Tales gathers stories from across Ireland, arranging them around the island’s thirty-two counties. The collection draws on The History Press’s county-based Folk Tales series, bringing together accounts shaped by local…
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Cover unavailableThe Anthology of Irish Folk Tales: Volume II
This second volume gathers Irish folk tales from across the island, bringing together stories shaped by local customs, beliefs and dialects. The contributors are professional storytellers living and performing in Ireland, with each tale rooted…
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Cover unavailableThe Anthology of Scottish Folk Tales
The Anthology of Scottish Folk Tales gathers legends from across Scotland, bringing together stories shaped by regional customs, beliefs and dialects. Its selections include the Spaeman’s peculiar advice, a laird changed into a frog, and…
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Cover unavailableThe Anthology of Scottish Folk Tales: Volume II
This second anthology gathers folk tales from across Scotland, preserving stories shaped by regional customs, beliefs and dialects. The contributors are Scottish storytellers whose work forms part of The History Press’s Folk Tales series, bringing…
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Cover unavailableThe Arthurian Book of Days
The Arthurian Book of Days retells the legends of King Arthur across the turning year, assigning a story or part of a story to each day. The entries draw together Arthurian traditions associated with Britain,…
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Cover unavailableThe Atlas of Legendary Places
The Atlas of Legendary Places examines sites where geography, history and traditional storytelling overlap, ranging from imagined realms to monumental places with enduring legendary associations. Its worldwide scope includes Atlantis and Avalon alongside Stonehenge, Delphi,…
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Cover unavailableThe Beatles: Myths and Legends
Neil Nixon examines the rumours and modern legends surrounding the Beatles, from the Paul-is-dead story to claims of replacement band members and secret reunions. Chapters consider each musician before turning to tales about the group…
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Cover unavailableThe Boggart
Simon Young examines the boggart as a northern English supernatural being, tracing its meanings across folklore, dialect, place-names and local history. The book questions the familiar image of the boggart as a single kind of…
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Cover unavailableThe Book of Werewolves
Sabine Baring-Gould’s study of werewolf belief ranges from ancient Arcadian legends and classical writers to Norse sagas, medieval trials and European folklore. It considers wolf-skin transformations, berserkir traditions and stories associated with Icelandic literature, before…
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Cover unavailableThe Celtic Consciousness
The Celtic Consciousness brings together 55 essays on the Celtic world, ranging from prehistoric cultures to modern Ireland and the wider Celtic revival. Its contributors consider myth, music, history, literature, folklore, art and archaeology, placing…
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Cover unavailableThe Celtic Twilight
The Celtic Twilight gathers W. B. Yeats’s prose sketches of Irish folklore, presenting reported encounters with village ghosts, fairies, spirits and other beings from traditional belief. Its subjects range from enchanted woods and miraculous creatures…
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Cover unavailableThe Dark Spirit: Sinister Portraits from Celtic History
The Dark Spirit presents a selection of sinister figures, beliefs and episodes drawn from Celtic folklore and mythology. Bob Curran considers the darker side of Celtic tradition, bringing together portraits of beings, stories and historical…
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Cover unavailableThe Devil Is an Irishman
The Devil Is an Irishman gathers four Irish stories about encounters with the Devil, drawing on a tradition in which infernal figures appear amid ordinary rural life. Eddie Lenihan’s collection includes “Larry and the Devil”,…
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Cover unavailableThe Druids
The Druids examines the historical evidence for the religious, intellectual and social role of Druids in ancient Celtic society. Peter Berresford Ellis draws on archaeology, etymology and surviving written references to consider their origins, training,…
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Cover unavailableThe Druids: A History
The Druids: A History examines how Druids have been imagined, discussed and reconstructed in Britain from the 16th century onwards. Ronald Hutton follows the changing influence of antiquaries, historians, poets and religious thinkers, showing how…
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Cover unavailableThe Enchanted Land: Myths and Legends of Britain's Landscape
The Enchanted Land examines British folklore attached to the physical landscape, organising its material around seven types of land and water feature. Hills, rivers and springs provide the settings for stories that explain how particular…
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Cover unavailableThe English Year: A Month-by-Month Guide to the Nation's Customs and Festivals
The English Year records England’s customs and festivals in calendar order, moving from New Year celebrations through Easter, harvest traditions and the approach of Mischief Night. Steve Roud explains when customs occur, how they developed…
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Cover unavailableThe Exeter Companion to Changeling Lore: The West Eurasian and Mediterranean Tradition
The Exeter Companion to Changeling Lore brings together international scholarship on one of folklore’s most unsettling traditions: the belief that a human child could be taken and replaced by another being. Edited by Davide Ermacora…
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Cover unavailableThe Fabled Coast: Legends & Traditions from Around the Shores of Britain & Ireland
The Fabled Coast gathers legends, customs and superstitions from around the shores of Britain and Ireland. Sophia Kingshill and Jennifer Westwood range from pirates, smugglers and ghost ships to sea-serpents, fishermen’s prayers and sailors’ rituals,…
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Cover unavailableThe Folklore of Ancient Wiltshire
The Folklore of Ancient Wiltshire examines the legends and traditional beliefs attached to the county’s ancient landscape. Its main sections consider the folklore of round barrows, long barrows and barrow hills, linking burial mounds and…
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Cover unavailableThe Folklore of Devon
The Folklore of Devon examines how the county’s beliefs, customs and traditions have been recorded, interpreted and reshaped over more than a century. Mark Norman considers the collecting work associated with Devon, then turns to…
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Cover unavailableThe Folklore of Discworld
The Folklore of Discworld examines the real-world folklore behind Terry Pratchett’s imagined universe, pairing his comic observations with Jacqueline Simpson’s knowledge of British and European traditions. Legends, customs, superstitions and belief systems are considered alongside…
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Cover unavailableThe Folklore of Gloucestershire
Roy Palmer’s county study brings together Gloucestershire tales shaped by landscape, village life and local tradition. Its subjects include legends and superstitions, with reported encounters involving devils, fairies, witches and ghosts, alongside the customs that…
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Cover unavailableThe Folklore of Hereford & Worcester
The Folklore of Hereford & Worcester surveys the traditional culture of the former county through ten themed chapters. Roy Palmer covers places, people, churches, everyday life, supernatural beliefs, work, music, drama, sport and calendar customs,…
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Cover unavailableThe Folklore of Sussex
The Folklore of Sussex gathers traditional stories, customs and beliefs from across the county, linking local lore with its landscapes, villages and churches. Jacqueline Simpson discusses tales of lost bells, buried treasure, dragons, fairies and…
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Cover unavailableThe Folklore of the Cotswolds
Katharine Briggs examines the traditions, stories and beliefs associated with the Cotswolds, linking folklore to particular villages, towns, landscapes and historic sites. The book includes historical traditions, local tales and legends, customs, festivals, songs, dances…
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Cover unavailableThe Folklore of Warwickshire
Roy Palmer’s county study brings together Warwickshire traditions about celebrated figures, legendary characters and the places associated with them. Shakespeare, Charles I, Lady Godiva and Sir Guy of Warwick appear alongside accounts rooted in the…
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Cover unavailableThe Fylde Witch
Chris Newton retells the legends of Meg Shelton, the Witch of Woodplumpton, as a dark fairy tale rooted in Lancashire folklore. Following her from youth to old age, the novel brings together shapeshifting, boggarts and…
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Cover unavailableThe Golden Bough
James George Frazer’s The Golden Bough is a wide-ranging study of magic, ritual and religion, beginning with the priestly king of Diana’s grove at Nemi. From this starting point, Frazer compares beliefs and customs across…
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Cover unavailableThe Grail: Quest for the Eternal
John Matthews traces the Grail from the origins and development of its legend through its recurring Arthurian themes and spiritual meanings. The book considers Mary and the Grail, the stone vessel, alchemy, the temple of…
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Cover unavailableThe Green Man
Kathleen Basford’s study examines the Green Man as the leafy or foliate head found widely in medieval church carvings. It considers how medieval ideas about nature shaped the image, while tracing associated themes of death,…
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The Green Man: Myth and Reality
Imogen Corrigan explores the foliate heads carved into churches across Britain, comparing their many forms and the contexts in which they appear. Her illustrated guide looks closely at the history and interpretation of the figure…
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Cover unavailableThe Green Man: Spirit of Nature
The Green Man: Spirit of Nature examines the leafy figure as a symbol of nature, fertility and wildness, tracing his changing forms across folklore and art. John Matthews follows related traditions from ancient agrarian cultures…
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Cover unavailableThe Guide to Mysterious Aberdeen
The Guide to Mysterious Aberdeen surveys the Granite City through its folklore, historic curiosities and reports of unexplained events. Geoff Holder covers magic, witchcraft, superstitions and urban legends alongside gargoyles, graveyards, prehistoric burial sites, stone…
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Cover unavailableThe Guide to Mysterious Aberdeenshire
The Guide to Mysterious Aberdeenshire surveys the county’s uncanny places, old stories and reported mysteries, from ancient monuments to more recent events. Stone circles and castles appear alongside sites associated with witchcraft, fairy hills, eerie…
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