Heart of Albion
Publishing frighteningly good books since 1989
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Heart of Albion
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Heart of Albion
Alternative Albion
Explore Books
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NEW
HOW PLACE-NAMES GROW: A handbook of toponymy
This book is for anyone who has ever wondered how places get their names.
How Place-Names Grow reveals the subtle language behind the names on maps and how they have evolved over thousands of years. The erudite aspects of name-studies are brought to life in a landscape of wolves and wildcats, gold and kings, mock beggars and giddy fools. Comprehensive but accessible, the author traces all the ways in which we create, change, move, imitate and translate names. He reveals names' historic value and explains how to avoid the many pitfalls when studying them.
How Place-Names Grow is the starting point for anyone who wants to more fully understand place-name dictionaries.
The prelims and initial eleven pages are available as a free PDF.
ISBN 978-1-905646-38-8. April 2022.
235 x 155 mm, 108+ vi, paperback.
£9.95
ENGLISH HOLY WELLS: A sourcebook
What happens if you track down the earliest known reference to every holy well in England? The vivid traditions of these sites, many of them hitherto unknown, cast a new light on whether holy wells were taken over from pagan precursors, and what the Reformation meant for sacred landscapes. Colourful tales of saints, sprites and charlatans reveal the lively side of medieval popular religion.
With this book the study of English holy wells moves out of the realms of romanticism and myth-making into the light of history. Jeremy Harte draws on maps, miracles, legends and landscapes to present his detailed discussions in a readable and often witty manner.
Jeremy Harte is a folklorist with a particular interest in sacred places and supernatural encounters. His other books include Explore Fairy Traditions, Cuckoo Pounds and Singing Barrows, The Green Man, Research in Geomancy and Alternative Approaches to Folklore. He is curator of Bourne Hall Museum in Surrey.
'… an invaluable source of information and a damn good read. 9/10'
Janet Bord Fortean Times
'The value of English Holy Wells as an authoritative publication is threefold. Firstly it is a gazetteer of sources and their recording over the centuries and as such is a prime reference point for anyone wishing to locate and conduct further research on particular sites. The bibliography in particular gives students of Holy Wells a substantial guide with regard to source material. Secondly through distribution analysis, clarity is given to regional variations and origins although in spite of the substantial database of over 900 sites, sub samples are inevitably in danger of falling below levels where significance is indicative rather than totally reliable. Thirdly this publication debunks many theories that have been postulated over time about individual sites and general history of Holy Wells and as such sets a new standard and framework for scholarly research into the subject.'
Dr Bruce Osborne Spas Research Fellowship
See full review
'It is difficult to exaggerate the service Jeremy Harte has done the study of hydrolatry in English Holy Wells.'
James Rattue author of The Living Stream See full review
'… recommended reading for anyone who has an over-romantic, New Agey view of holy wells.'
The Hedgewytch
'Very highly recommended' Mike Howard The Cauldron
'Highly recommended' Jerry Bird Merry Meet
English Holy Wells comprises three volumes. Volume One is supplied with a CD-ROM of Volumes Two and Three to make the complete work available at an affordable price.
Volume One (includes CD-ROM of Volumes Two and Three): ISBN 978-1-905646-10-4, 245 x 175 mm, 168 + xvi pages, 24 b&w line drawings, paperback, 2008. £14.95
N.B. Volumes Two and Three are no longer available as print copies.
Holy Wells in Britain
A guide
The secrets of Britain's most evocative sacred sites
Holy wells were once widespread throughout Britain. They were often dedicated to local saints and were important features in the medieval sacred landscape. Over many centuries, pilgrims sought the healing powers of their waters, and many left votive offerings in the form of bent pins, coins and rags.
Interest in this aspect of our sacred heritage has been growing since the publication of Janet Bord's first book on holy wells over twenty years ago. Many holy wells have now been restored, and the modern visitor may still experience a quiet communion with the spirit of the place, and come away spiritually uplifted.
For this book Janet Bord has sought out three hundred of the surviving holy wells of England, Wales and Scotland that are most rewarding to visit, and she recounts their histories and traditions in the light of current historical research.
Holy Wells in Britain is the first guidebook to British holy wells to draw upon the extensive research of recent decades. Up-to-date practical information for visitors is also provided to inspire readers to seek out these evocative sacred sites for themselves.
This guide is a companion to Janet Bord's book, Cures and Curses: Ritual and cult at holy wells and Jeremy Harte's book English Holy Wells: A sourcebook.
'This is a splendidly presented and illustrated book... and is a very worthwhile addition to the burgeoning literature on this fascinating aspect of our history and folklore. Recommended'
Jerry Bird Merry Meet
Another lovely and fascinating book for those of us drawn to wells and watery sources generally. Broken down into Wales, Scotland, or regions of England, the book features a selection of over three hundred especially rewarding to visit wells. There are many black and white photographs, directions, and Ordnance Survey references. The book features an excellent index and details of the author's sources, paper and web-based.
There's a sense of wonder throughout, of tapping into something old and mysterious in our heritage. It was almost lost, but the last few decades have seen a revival of interest in such wells. This book forms a part of our increasing knowledge base about them and encourages us to get to know them more. I am inspired to visit more wells, especially those local to me, and to begin to really get to know them much better than I do now.
A useful and stimulating reference book that is a pleasure to read.
Hawthorn Druid Network
Originally published 2008. Now available only as a free PDF.
CURES AND CURSES:
Ritual and cult at holy wells
Understanding the mysteries of sacred springs
Why are some wells said to be miraculously created by saints?
Why are the rituals associated with them sometimes about divination
or cursing? What evidence is there for the water curing illnesses?
Do the wells have guardians? If so, are they humans, fairies, or even
dragons? Is there treasure hidden there? What should be left there –
rags, pins, coins, pebbles or even votive offerings?
Until recently the answers had been almost entirely forgotten.
However a revival of interest in holy wells started in 1985 with the
publication of Janet and Colin Bord's book Sacred Waters and in
recent years research has gathered pace. In this entirely new book Janet
brings together the latest understanding of such lore as 75 topic-by-
topic descriptions, including their links to pre-Christian practices.
There is also a list of 25 recommended wells to visit. The 135
illustrations include historic photographs of wells and rituals.
Cures and Curses provides an enticing overview for those looking for an introduction to holy wells and a source of reliable but little-
known information for those already seduced by the allure of sacred springs.
Janet Bord lives in North Wales. She and her husband Colin have written more than 20 books on folklore and mysteries since their first successful joint venture, Mysterious Britain (1972).
The book contains not only a plethora of illustrations, but also a very full bibliography, referring to many unusual items. But Janet Bord's style is blessedly unacademic. All in all, like the author's other books, this is a synthesis of imagination, poetry and scholarship, a must-have-read for all interested in the ancient traditions of these islands. Peter Costello Irish Catholic
'Charming and comprehensive dip into well folklore' Richard Alexander Fortean Times
'… an invaluable book.' Carl Merry Facts and Fiction
'Highly recommended.' Michael Howard The Cauldron
'A wealth of material has been gathered here, and it has been well digested before being compiled into this book. It is a very useful reference book for those of us who are interested in the water element in general and in wells in particular. I found it both inspirational and interesting [… ] an excellent book'
This is an excellent book, consisting of seventy-five short essays (in alphabetical order) discussing different aspects of Holy Wells, from Ampullae to Witches, looking at topics such as Dragons, Healing, and Rituals along the way. It is satisfyingly well researched and easy to use - many of the essays are cross-referenced, full details are provided of sources and there is a good index. It is well illustrated, too, with photos and drawings on most pages.
Originally published 2006. Now available only as a free PDF.
Hawthorn The Druid Network
The essays explore both historical and current day responses to wells, considering how they have changed. Clouties, or rags, are, for example, are now more frequently left at wells as compared to twenty years ago. Nowadays, people are less likely to leave pieces of fabric ripped from their clothing, but do still tend to leave clothes or coins or (increasingly, it seems) other items. Our purpose in leaving these items has shifted as well- the author suggesting that whereas in the past it arose from a desire to seek a cure for an ailment, it has changed into the making of an offering to the spirit of the place. We may no longer hope that holy wells will cure our problems, but do wish to respond to the atmosphere and energy of the wells with honour and respect.
The author does not just cite beliefs about wells uncritically, being unafraid to say when there is no evidence for stories about a particular well. She argues, for example, that there is no real evidence that Holy Wells predated the Romans coming to Britain.
A wealth of material has been gathered here, and it has been well digested before being compiled into this book. It is a very useful reference book for those of us who are interested in the water element in general and in wells in particular. I found it both inspirational and interesting. The author well conveys her enthusiasm and love for wells. The book's format means that it can be just dipped into and read in small self-contained chunks.
The final section of the book lists twenty-five Holy Wells that the author recommends visiting in England and Wales - here each is accompanied by a photo. The addition of a map would have been an added bonus. I have felt stimulated to visit some of those which are closer to me very soon.
DAYS AND RITES: Popular customs of the Church
People go to church to worship and, as is often quipped, to be 'hatched, matched and dispatched'. Yet these quintessential rites have been adapted in all sorts of ways by parishioners and clergy up and down the country, while a great number of 'blessings' and other services that are quite specific to individual churches are performed annually. Collectively, they create a rich variety of traditions, many of which are only known about locally.
Some of these liturgical traditions have survived unbroken over many centuries, others have been revived after a break during the twentieth century while yet more continue to be invented. Some of these more recent traditions – such as Harvest Festivals and Christingle – are now so ubiquitous that many churchgoers are unaware of a time when they were not part of the yearly cycle of customs.
By drawing together, for the first time, detailed information about these popular customs of the church, Mark Lewis hopes to stimulate further interest, research and recording of these remarkable events.
ISBN 978-1-905646-23-4 April 2013
245 x 175 mm, 195 + viii pages, 59 b&w photos and 3 line drawings; paperback.
£14.95
THE PRINCESS WHO ATE PEOPLE
The psychology of Celtic myths
Childhood, adolescence, courtship and death. Personal identity and madness. These are the key themes of many myths in traditional Celtic literatures. Although written many centuries ago, their narratives still reflect and define our essential humanity.
Many Celtic tales of exile and loss anticipate modem dilemmas of alienation but offer ways of understanding such difficulties without pathologising them. Individuals are seen in their social context and, in contrast, madness is identified with loneliness and isolation. The traditional stories describe how appropriate narratives help restore integrity and identity. These life-cycle narratives and concepts of identity are more complex and less fixed than psychoanalytic narratives which, by comparison, seem contrived or impoverished.
Psychotherapy assists people to construct a narrative which makes sense of their lives. However psychoanalysis too often relies on outdated and limited assumptions. By learning from the poets who created the Celtic myths, therapists can help their patients develop more appropriate personal narratives.
However this is not a book written only for psychotherapists. The stories considered here speak to all of us. McMahon helps us to fully understand these life cycle narratives and thereby helps us to understand ourselves. We need these myths now more than ever before.
Brendan McMahon is a practising psychotherapist in Derbyshire who has written many articles and papers on therapy and Celtic myth. He is also a poet and university teacher.
'I loved this book, with no reservations. I loved the discussion, the focus on myth and the author's ability to look at Freud in particular with a critical eye.'
Geoff Brennan Mental Health
ISBN 978 1872 883 885. 2006.
Demy 8vo (215 x 138 mm), 102 + viii pages, 5 specially commissioned illustrations from Ian Brown, paperback
£9.95
CROSSING THE LINE
Trespassing on railway weirdness
This is a book about railways such as has never been told before. Wonders and blunders, supernatural experiences, ritual customs, and a wealth of weird tales that sound as if they might be true. But surely they aren't? Or are they?
A lifelong interest in both trains and folklore, a willingness to sit sharing a pint or three with fellow enthusiasts, plus the practised ear of a professional journalist. All these have given Paul Screeton the unique ability to collect and write about this wonderful web of weirdness and ever-evolving lore.
Crossing the Line provides a wealth of tales to make even the delays on a train journey enjoyable. Then take an active role in keeping these tales alive by recounting the more perturbing ones to fellow passengers or unsuspecting 'gricers'…
Curiosity about railway folklore has created chapters ranging from ghosts and fairies to prophecy and inspiration; commuters' trials; crimes by the Krays, Great Train Robbery and mythical 'Maniac on the Platform'; legends surrounding locos and the strategic steam reserve; fortean phenomena; trainspotters and pedants; traditional folklore and contemporary legends.
The result is entertaining and erudite, broad and iconoclastic, scholarly but frequently nicely naughty. The range is stunningly eclectic and the style easy, evocative and witty.
As Hunter S. Thompson liked saying, 'buy the ticket, take the ride.'
Paul Screeton is a prolific writer and editor. He re-founded The Ley Hunter magazine in 1969 and in 1974 wrote Quicksilver Heritage, a pioneering overview of 'earth mysteries'. He currently edits Folklore Frontiers which he founded in 1985. For many years Paul combined working for the Hartlepool Mail with his interest in railways, contemporary folklore and local pubs.
'This is a book such as has never been written before. [… ] For those seeking a railway book with a difference, this is it. It's surprisingly thought-provoking.' The Railway Magazine
'… a surprisingly good book, weird but rather wonderful.' Mike Amos Northern Echo
'… a truly fascinating book for everyone, not just railway enthusiasts.' D.J. Tyrer The Supplement
'A book for people who didn't know they liked railway books. 8/10'
Fortean Times
'lively, wide-ranging, well-delivered and idiosyncratic in the most positive sense – well worth the price of the ticket.'
Mick Goss Folklore Frontiers
ISBN 978-1-872883-96-0. 2006.
245 x 175 mm, 210 + vi pages, 13 b&w photos, 3 line drawings, paperback.
£14.95
SACRED PLACES
Prehistory and popular imagination
Sacred Places asks why certain types of prehistoric places are thought of as sacred, and explores how the physical presence of such sacred sites is less important than what these places signify. So this is not another guide book to sacred places but instead provides a unique and thought-provoking guide to the mental worlds the mindscapes in which we have created the idea of prehistoric sacred places.
Recurring throughout this book is the idea that we continually create and re-create our ideas about the past, about landscapes, and the places within those landscapes that we regard as sacred. For example, although such concepts as 'nature', 'landscape', 'countryside', 'rural' and the contrast between profane and sacred are all part of our everyday thinking, in this book Bob Trubshaw shows they are all modern cultural constructions which act as the 'unseen' foundations on which we construct more complex myths about places.
Key chapters look at how earth mysteries, modern paganism and other alternative approaches to sacred places developed in recent decades, and also outline the recent dramatic changes within academic archaeology. Is there now a 'middle way' between academic and alternative approaches which recognises that what we know about the past is far less significant than what we believe about the past?
Bob Trubshaw has been actively involved with academic and alternative approaches to archaeology for most of the last twenty years. In 1996 he founded At the Edge magazine to popularise new interpretations of past and place.
Watch an interview with Bob Trubshaw about Sacred Places on YouTube. Filmed at Megalithomania 2012, Glastonbury UK by Pentos TV.
'Sacred Places … is a very valuable addition to the small body of thoughtful work on the spiritual landscapes of Great Britain and therefore recommended reading.'
Nigel Pennick Silver Wheel
'One of the best books in the field I have ever read.'
D J Tyrer Monomyth Supplement read more of this review
'Altogether a very worthwhile book with some genuinely original insights… '
Jerry Bird Merry Meet
'I recommend it to anyone interested in archaeology, popular culture, contemporary mythology or "alternative archaeology".' 8/10
Richard Alexander Fortean Times
'This finely-constructed and very informative text is for all Pagans who give time and space to positively thinking about our relationships with the sacredness of our prehistoric landscapes.'
Five pentacles
Francis Cameron Pentacle
'Highly recommended.'
Michael Howard The Cauldron
ISBN 978 1872 883 670. 2005.
245 x 175 mm, 203 + xiv pages, 43 b&w illustrations and 7 line drawings, paperback
£14.95
Also available as a free download (2.8M PDF)
FOOTPRINTS IN STONE
The significance of foot- and hand-prints and other imprints
left by early men, giants, heroes, devils, saints, animals,
ghosts, witches, fairies and monsters
Shortlisted for the Folklore Society Katharine Briggs Award 2005
From the earliest humans to the present day, there has always been a compulsion to 'leave one's mark': early cave art includes thousands of hand outlines, while many churches in Britain have foot outlines inscribed in lead and stone. These two extremes span almost 30,000 years during which time all kinds of persons, real and legendary, have left visible traces of themselves. But 30,000 years ago seems almost recent, when compared with the finding of some (admittedly controversial) fossilized human footprints in rocks apparently contemporary with dinosaur footprints that are tens of millions of years old.
Most of the footprints – and hand-prints, knee-prints, and impressions of other body parts – are clearly not real, having allegedly been impressed into rocks around the world by such high-profile figures as the Buddha, Vishnu, Jesus Christ, and the Virgin Mary, as well as a vast panoply of saints, whose footprint traces and associated stories occupy two chapters. Their horses also left hoof-prints, and other animals are represented too. Not surprisingly, the ubiquitous Devil has a whole chapter to himself – but giants, villains and heroes, such as King Arthur, also feature strongly. Witches, fairies, ghosts and assorted spirits have made their mark: there are many modern instances of phantom hand- and foot-prints, the latter often bloodstained and indelible. Modern mysterious footprints are rarely graven in stone, but are rather more ephemeral, being left on the earth by monsters such as Bigfoot, or aliens who have briefly stepped out of their spacecraft. All these tales, old and new, may have some deeper meaning, and there is a chapter on the significance of footprints, as revealed in customs and folklore.
Hundreds of imprints are described in this book, which concludes with location details for more than 100 imprint sites all around the world.
'[This] is a tremendous source-book, which… also has plenty of stories, full bibliographies, and many wise comments on issues of interpretation. It is an engrossing read, and the photographs are marvellous.'
Daithi O hOgain Folklore
'A delightful exploration of a truly mysterious subject. 9 out of 10'
Bob Rickard Fortean Times
'… a very interesting read, well-researched, well-written and lavishly illustrated and I have really enjoyed reading it!'
A.J. Veldmeijer www.PalArch.nl
'Fascinating stuff and highly recommended.'
Mike Howard The Cauldron
'… a good and wide-ranging first step into investigating the significance of the foot imprint.'
John Billingsley Northern Earth
ISBN 978 1872 883 731. 2004.
245 x 175 mm, 263 + x pages, 112 b&w photos, 26 line drawings, paperback.
£14.95
One of Heart of Albion's
best selling titles
A USER-FRIENDLY DICTIONARY OF OLD ENGLISH
5th edition with Old English reader
One of Heart of Albion's best selling titles!
This dictionary contains some 3,500 of the commonest words in Old English. Beginners will be able to translate simple passages of prose and verse from the rich variety of Old English texts. Advanced students will find it a rapid reference aid.
Words are listed by order of the consonants they contain, rather than by the usual strict alphabetical order of all letters in the word. The variation in Old English in stressed vowels at different times and in different dialects, plus many variants of spellings, can make it tricky to look up words in conventional Old English dictionaries as you are repeatedly referred to another entry. This problem is largely eliminated here and the user should find this dictionary offers an easy and speedy way to locate Old English words.
For the fifth edition the Introduction has been fully revised and a selection of representative Old English texts included. These will start you on the path of appreciating a very special literature and the way the language works.
ISBN 978 1872 883 854. 2005.
A5, 108 + viii pages, paperback.
SPECIAL OFFER! Usually £9.95 but only £7.95 if ordered as a result of visiting this on-line site (quote 'on-line offer' when ordering).
YMIR'S FLESH:
North European creation mythologies
In isolation the pre-Christian north European creation myths appear fragmented and confused, but a thematic cohesion is apparent when they are taken as a whole and compared to their counterparts in Vedic India, ancient Greece and Rome, medieval Ireland, ancient and medieval Iran, and so on. From this arises a wider significance that would not otherwise be apparent.
This wider significance includes the recognition of a distinctive social structure, formally defined in the institutions, myths and religion. The myths of creation have a pivotal r le in the construction of this system. A vast and complex mythical scenario describes the spontaneous generation and subsequent dismemberment of a primal humanoid being and the manufacture of the features of the cosmos from parts of his body.
As a system, it is nearly all-encompassing: it gives form and meaning to the social structure, both the human and the divine; to the features and phenomena that constitute the physical world and its surroundings; to the sacrifices and observances involved in nearly all the major religious themes; to the beliefs underlying the early stirrings of science and medicine; and to the theory and practice of magic.
The first stirrings of Western rationalism were founded on the poetry of these creation myths, thanks largely to the reiteration of archaic principles in the works of Plato and Aristotle. Like the Big Bang so dear to modern astrophysics, the north European cosmological myths have echoes that can still be detected today.
Ymir's Flesh gathers together the distorted fragments of this mythology and provides an original and inspiring insight into the complex inter-weaving of mythological themes.
Reviews of Ymir's Flesh:
'Alby writes in a clear way about a complex subject, injecting an occasional glimpse of humour. For anyone interested in Germanic mythology, Indo-European culture and shamanism this book is an essential addition to your reading lists.' White Dragon
'Fascinating seems too simple a word to describe this book; yet it is, and partly because it has a style that makes the content easy to read - no small achievement with densely interwoven material like this. Northern Earth
'The scope of research and analysis in the book would at first appear to beckon an extremely dense read, however the style and verve of the text does much to enliven the highly involved subject matter.' 3rd Stone
'Alby Stone write in clear and concise English, with a minimum of jargon and an occasional twinkle of humour.' Withowinde
'This is a major study of mythic themes in Northern European paganism and it is highly recommended.' The Cauldron
'[a] marvellous book with its panoply of reflections . . . ' Talking Stick
ISBN 978 1872 883 458. 1997, A5, 240 pages including index, full-page illustrations by David Taylor, paperback.
£12.95
YOU DON'T JUST DRINK IT!:
What you need to know – and do – before drinking mead
Mead is the oldest-known alcoholic drink and familiar to a great many traditional societies throughout the world. For Druids it is the appropriate ritual offering to the ancestors. In medieval legends it is the source of poetic inspiration. In the British Isles mead-making may go back as far as five thousand years ago, to the time of the prehistoric henges.
Every bottle of mead is part of this unbroken tradition. So, as Beatrice Walditch explains, You Don't Just Drink It! In this informative yet light-hearted book she tells you what you need to know and do before drinking mead. She also includes recipes and practical advice for brewing mead, based on her own experience.
Above all, You Don't Just Drink It! reveals why sharing a bottle of mead with friends needs to be done at the full moon
ISBN 978-1-905646-24-1 November 2012
Demi 8vo (215 x 138 mm), 73 + iv pages, 18 b&w photos, 4 line drawings, plus vignettes, paperback.
£9.95
Explore Books imprint
EXPLORE GREEN MEN
Revised and expanded second edition
From reviews of the first edition:
'A friendly and intriguing work of architectural scholarship.'
The Guardian
'The enigmatic silence of the Green Man has been broken in the last decade by a flood of books, with a new study coming out pretty much every year since 1990. Most of them were lavishly illustrated, which is just as well, since much of the commentary was nonsense. [Explore Green Men] features new photographs from Ruth Wylie's superb archive, and it has a text which makes sense. Mercia MacDermott comes to this myth-laden territory with a cool head… '
Jeremy Harte 3rd Stone
A must-have future classic!
David Taylor White Dragon
Explore Green Men is the first detailed study of the history of this motif for 25 years. Dr MacDermott's research follows the Green Man back from the previous earliest known examples into its hitherto unrecognised origins in India about 2,300 years ago.
The book starts by discussing the 'paganisation' of Green Men in recent decades, then follows backwards through the Victorian Gothic Revival, Baroque, Rococco and Italianate revivals, to their heyday in the Gothic and the supposed origins in the Romanesque. As part of this discussion there is background information on the cultural changes that affected how Green Men were regarded. The author also discusses the comparisons that have been made with Cernunnus, Robin Hood, Jack-in-the-Green, woodwoses, Baphomet, Al Khidr and Bulgarian peperuda. She also investigates which pagan god Green Men supposedly represent.
The second edition contains a summary of independent confirmation of the links with Asia together with nine more illustrations.
Explore Green Men is illustrated with 118 photographs and drawings, mostly of Green Men who have never before showed their faces in books.
This book will appeal to all with an interest in Green Men and to art historians looking for a reliable study of this fascinating decorative motif.
Published by Explore Books, an imprint of Heart of Albion Press.
EXPLORE FOLKLORE
'A howling success, which plugs a big and obvious gap'
"Highly Recommended" by the Folklore Society's Katharine Briggs Folklore Award 2003
There have been fascinating developments in the study of folklore in the last twenty-or-so years, but few books about British folklore and folk customs reflect these exciting new approaches. As a result there is a huge gap between scholarly approaches to folklore studies and 'popular beliefs' about the character and history of British folklore. Explore Folklore is the first book to bridge that gap, and to show how much 'folklore' there is in modern day Britain.
Explore Folklore shows there is much more to folklore than morris dancing and fifty-something folksingers! The rituals of 'what we do on our holidays', funerals, stag nights and 'lingerie parties' are all full of 'unselfconsious' folk customs. Indeed, folklore is something that is integral to all our lives it is so intrinsic we do not think of it as being 'folklore'.
The implicit ideas underlying folk lore and customs are also explored. There might appear to be little in common between people who touch wood for luck (a 'tradition' invented in the last 200 years) and legends about people who believe they have been abducted and subjected to intimate body examinations by aliens. Yet, in their varying ways, these and other 'folk beliefs' reflect the wide spectrum of belief and disbelief in what is easily dismissed as 'superstition'.
Explore Folklore provides a lively introduction to the study of most genres of British folklore, presenting the more contentious and profound ideas in a readily accessible manner.
Published by Explore Books, an imprint of Heart of Albion Press.
Available only as a free PDF download (1.3M PDF)
EXPLORE PHANTOM BLACK DOGS
The folklore of phantom black dogs is known throughout the British Isles. From the Black Shuck of East Anglia to the Moody Dhoo of the Isle of Man there are tales of huge spectral hounds 'darker than the night sky' with eyes 'glowing red as burning coals'.
The phantom black dog of British and Irish folklore, which often forewarns of death, is part of a world-wide belief that dogs are sensitive to spirits and the approach of death, and keep watch over the dead and dying. North European and Scandinavian myths dating back to the Iron Age depict dogs as corpse eaters and the guardians of the roads to Hell. Medieval folklore includes a variety of 'Devil dogs' and spectral hounds. Above all, the way people have thought about such ghostly creatures has steadily evolved.
In the last hundred years East Anglia and Dorset have received the greatest attention from folklorists interested in such canine apparitions. This book includes a detailed study of the lore in Norfolk, showing how oral tales become interwoven with published accounts and the heritage of historic places.
But are phantom black dogs nothing more than myths and tales? There is also an assessment of the psychology of phantom black dog sightings. Another chapter quotes emails from various people in America and Canada who have been terrified by phantom black dogs without any prior awareness of such folklore.
The concluding part of this book is a comprehensive annotated bibliography of phantom black dog literature, including listings by geographical area.
This book will appeal to all those interested in folklore, the paranormal and fortean phenomena.
Contributors: Jeremy Harte, Simon Sherwood, Alby Stone, Bob Trubshaw and Jennifer Westwood.
'9/10'
'I think this must be the best entry in the Explore series I have seen so far… '
'… a very important contribution to the literature… highly recommended.'
'This is an excellent work and is very highly recommended.'
Published by Explore Books, an imprint of Heart of Albion Press.
Winner of the
EXPLORE FAIRY TRADITIONS
Winner of the Folklore Society's Katharine Briggs Award 2005 More details…
We are not alone. In the shadows of our countryside there lives a fairy race, older than humans, and not necessarily friendly to them. For hundreds of years, men and women have told stories about the strange people, beautiful as starlight, fierce as wolves, and heartless as ice. These are not tales for children. They reveal the fairies as a passionate, proud, brutal people.
Eexplore Fairy Traditions draws on legends, ballads and testimony from throughout Britain and Ireland to reveal what the fairies were really like. It looks at changelings, brownies, demon lovers, the fairy host, and abduction into the Otherworld. Stories and motifs are followed down the centuries to reveal the changing nature of fairy lore, as it was told to famous figures like W.B. Yeats and Sir Walter Scott. All the research is based on primary sources and many errors about fairy tradition are laid to rest.
Jeremy Harte combines folklore scholarship with a lively style to show what the presence of fairies meant to people's lives. Like their human counterparts, the secret people could kill as well as heal. They knew marriage, seduction, rape and divorce; they adored some children and rejected others. If we are frightened of the fairies, it may be because their world offers an uncomfortable mirror of our own.
'… this is the best and most insightful book on fairies generally available… '
'An erudite and well-referenced guide… 9/10'
'Explore Fairy Traditions is an excellent introduction to the folklore of fairies, and I would highly recommend it.'
'Explore Fairy Traditions is a very good book, both an entertaining read and useful source of information. [… ] newcomers to the subject will be impressed… [and] An excellent primer that has much to recommend it to more advanced students of the field… Highly recommended.'
First published in 2004. Now available only as a free PDF.
The PDF includes a seven page update summarising fairy literature published between 2004 and 2022.
THE MYTHS OF REALITY
Simon Danser asks us to think of myths as like the lenses in spectacles
– we see the world through them, but rarely see them in their own
right. He then systematically focuses on the myths at the core of the
belief systems which create every aspect of what we take to be
reality: religion, politics, commerce, science, knowledge,
consciousness, self-identity, and much else that we take as 'given'.
This book reveals how reality is culturally constructed in an ever-
continuing process from mythic fragments transmitted by the mass
media and adapted through face-to-face and Internet conversations.
'There is much here to ponder on, to chew over, to debate and to reconsider. It's a way to understanding ourselves, our beliefs and our desires, the ways in which we create our own realities – and, therefore, how we shape our own future.'
'Overall, a very thought-provoking book that, by showing the way that contemporary myths work, effectively deconstructs the world-view that leads to fanaticism.'
Also available as a free download (1 megabyte PDF)
STONEHENGE
"This is a fine book in every way, well written, carefully researched and with a remarkable story to tell."
"... the classic history of the [Stonehenge] festival..."
This innovative social history looks in detail at how the summer solstice
celebrations at Stonehenge have brought together different aspects of British
counter-culture to make the monument a 'living temple' and an icon of
alternative Britain. The history of the celebrants and counter-cultural leaders
is interwoven with the viewpoints of the land-owners, custodians and
archaeologists who have generally attempted to impose order on the shifting
patterns of these modern-day mythologies.
The story of the Stonehenge summer solstice celebrations begins with the Druid
revival of the 18th century and the earliest public gatherings of the 19th and
early 20th centuries. In the social upheavals of the 1960s and early 70s, these
trailblazers were superseded by the Stonehenge Free Festival. This evolved from
a small gathering to an anarchic free state the size of a small city, before its
brutal suppression at the Battle of the Beanfield in 1985.
In the aftermath of the Beanfield, the author examines how the political and
spiritual aspirations of the free festivals evolved into both the rave scene and the
road protest movement, and how the prevailing trends in the counter-culture
provided a fertile breeding ground for the development of new Druid groups,
the growth of paganism in general, and the adoption of other sacred sites, in
particular Stonehenge's gargantuan neighbour at Avebury.
The account is brought up to date with the reopening of Stonehenge on the
summer solstice in 2000, the unprecedented crowds drawn by the new access
arrangements, and the latest source of conflict, centred on a bitterly-contested
road improvement scheme.
'Stonehenge Celebration and Subversion contains an extraordinary story. Anyone who imagines Stonehenge to be nothing but an old fossil should read this and worry. [This book is] ... the most complete, well-illustrated analysis of Stonehenge's mysterious world of Druids, travellers, pagans and party-goers'.
NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK LOCAL HISTORY
NEW
SHUCKLAND
Haunted Landscapes series Volume One
The Waveney valley is full of history. Along with the ruined castles, soaring church towers and attractive market towns there are many legends and much folklore – some ancient, some relatively modern – as to give the place an air of intriguing weirdness.
Old traditions, ghosts of avenging kings, highwaymen, headless queens, ancient buried treasures, demonic entities, notorious villains, treacherous barons, murderous earls, ley-lines, paganism, yew-shrouded churchyards, old ivy-covered houses, witchcraft, strange fearsome beasts – including the notorious Black Shuck who gives his name to Shuckland frequently involve incidents linked to the landscape.
Charles Christian is an English barrister and Reuters correspondent turned writer, award-winning tech journalist, and podcaster with a soft spot for history. He was born a 'chime child' with a caul so, according to legend, cannot drown at sea but can see and talk to ghosts and fairy folk without fear of coming to harm – superpowers he didn't need to employ while writing this book.
ISBN 978-1-905646-35-7. July 2021.
Sadly there will not be a Haunted Landscapes series Volume Two or whatever as Charles Christian died suddenly at the end of September 2022.
SOMERSET LOCAL HISTORY
HUNKY PUNKS
High up on the famous church towers of Somerset, almost lost to the eye except for their silhouettes, are an amazing series of grotesque stone figures. Carved in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, to ornament corners and break up straight sections of masonry, these figures are known in some rural areas as hunky punks.
This book combines a fascinating historical and architectural study with a stunning collection of photographs. Peter Poyntz-Wright's research provides the first thorough account of the hunky punks and gives us a direct insight into the medieval mind. He examines the techniques and influences of the medieval masons, and considers methods of attachment and the effects of weathering.
The author has recorded a host of hitherto unknown and inaccessible medieval carvings the first time and possibly for the last. They include such creatures as dragons, griffins, hounds, stags, heraldic creatures, a basilisk, the devil, a woman in childhood, and many others. However many of the hunk punks are suffering seriously from the effects of wearing, and some, without costly restoration, may not survive for many more years.
ISBN 978 1872 883 755. 2004.
LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND LOCAL HISTORY
NEW
SAPCOTE AND THE FIRST WORLD WAR
Sapcote Heritage Group
In 1914 the outbreak of war caused many men from Sapcote to enlist in the armed services. More were to follow over the next four years. One of the consequences was that women were required to do many jobs that had previously been done by their menfolk.
The schoolchildren were affected by the war, although by 1916 this included the benefit of having half-day holidays to attend victory parades in Sapcote itself and in Hinckley. All the details are recorded in the school's day books which have survived.
Twenty-four men from Sapcote died during First World War conflicts. A much greater number came back to Sapcote at the end of the war. We have a 'snapshot' of who they were from the Absent Voters Lists compiled in 1918. This lists eighty-two men from Sapcote were in the forces at that time. But we know that a far greater number of village men served during the First World War. Several members of the Sapcote Heritage Group have researched the lives and military records of the men who died during the conflict. This book, the third compiled and published by the Group, brings together what we know of Sapcote around the time of the First World War.
ISBN 978-1-905646-39-5. October 2023.
Distributed by Heart of Albion on behalf of Sapcote Heritage Group
SAPCOTE – more snapshots in time
Keith B. Hextall
Keith Brian Hextall, the author of this book, sadly passed away in 2020 at the age of seventy-nine. His widow, Margaret, arranged for his extensive local history research to be published as a fitting memorial to all Keith's hard work gathering information and images to create a lasting archive for the villagers of Sapcote.
The first volume Sapcote: some snapshots in time was published in September 2021. This second volume Sapcote: more snapshots in time features streets not included in the first, such as Bassett Lane, Stanton Road and also the old Church School, work in agriculture and quarrying, Brown's buses plus celebrations and carnivals. Together these reveal much about the life and times of Sapcote's residents about fifty to a hundred years ago.
ISBN 978-1-905646-37-1. August 2022.
Distributed by Heart of Albion on behalf of Sapcote Heritage Group
SAPCOTE – some snapshots in time
Keith B. Hextall
These 'snapshots' include old maps and photographs which reveal the history of the growth of Sapcote, especially the buildings – many of which have since been demolished or greatly modified. Some are still standing – including the twelfth century parish church, the former Rectory and an early twentieth century Wesleyan chapel built in the Arts and Crafts style. A great many others – from substantial farmhouses to modest thatched cottages – survive only in the photographs reproduced in this book.
Additional information is included about the original route of the Fosse Way and bridges – and a little-known ford – over the River Soar.
The illustrations and information were collected by Keith Hextall over many years and have been prepared for publication posthumously by members of the Sapcote Heritage Group.
ISBN 978-1-905646-36-4. September 2021.
Distributed by Heart of Albion on behalf of Sapcote Heritage Group
PEOPLE AND PLACES OF THE WOLDS
edited by Bob Trubshaw
There is much to discover about the villages of Burton on the Wolds, Cotes, Hoton, Prestwold, Walton on the Wolds and Wymeswold. This collection of essays and biographies starts with pagan Anglo-Saxon settlers and continues to within living memory. Or least living memory for the contributors, if not everyone living in the Wolds now.
A great many of the contributions are about the people who were born or lived in this part of north Leicestershire. Herein are the 'great and the good' and all types in between. They include a locally- famous schoolmaster-cum-antiquarian; two men who both collected plants and climbed mountains; asoldier involved in the Charge of the Light Brigade; a man transported to Australia; the 'gentry' who built Burton Hall; all the owners and occupiers of one of the manor farms; a Second World War airman who miraculously survived; a once-famous speedway rider; and a girl with a passion for riding horses.
ISBN 978-0-9517343-7-7. September 2020.
Distributed by Heart of Albion on behalf of Wolds Historical Organisation
DISCOVERING THE WOLDS
edited by Bob Trubshaw
Discovering the Wolds offers new insights into the history in the western half of the Leicestershire Wolds. Starting about 1500 years ago, the twenty-four chapters steadily moved closer to modern times, discussing a wide variety of topics. Although we do not always know the names of the people involved, the history of the Wolds – as indeed anywhere – is the sum total of how people for dozens of generations have lived their lives and the changes, minor or major, which they brought about. The Wolds is how it is because of those living before us, just as we too will leave a rich legacy for those who follow after.
ISBN 978-1-9517343-4-0. September 2017.
Distributed by Heart of Albion on behalf of Wolds Historical Organisation
BRINGING THEM HOME Ivor J. Perry
Over a hundred years have passed since the 'Great War' engulfed thousands of small communities. Around eighty men from Wymeswold, out of a total population of under eight hundred, are known to have served with the army during the hostilities.
The tide of history has receded, leaving thirty names on memorials to the fallen. Who were these 'lost sons'? What was the story of their lives and deaths? The numbers of deaths as a proportion of those who served is almost three times the national average. How did the village react?
Most people assume that villages were composed of families that had lived locally for generations. This book shows that then, as now, 'old' families and 'incomers' lived and worked side by side. As well as discovering the stories of these 'lost sons', Ivor Perry brings to life the diverse community of people who lived in Wymeswold around the start of the twentieth century.
Ivor Perry's first loves were History and then English – the subject he read at Jesus College, Cambridge. Two more degrees and several careers later he has returned to those first passions. He now researches and gives lectures about the First World War and its literature. He has lived in Wymeswold for seventeen years.
ISBN 978-1-951734-35-0. Nov 2014.
Distributed by Heart of Albion on behalf of Wolds Historical Organisation
LITTLE-KNOWN LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND
Drawing upon nearly twenty-five years of research, Little-known Leicestershire and Rutland provides a unique source of information on the counties' holy wells, standing stones, ancient crosses and medieval carvings, arranged as twelve bicycle or car tours, with introductory information. The second edition is fully revised with entirely new illustrations and maps.
Second edition originally published 2010. Now available only as a free PDF.
LEICESTERSHIRE LEGENDS
retold by Black Annis
'Let's you and I get a thing or two straight. The name's Black Annis, but you may call me 'Cat Anna' between yourselves but not to my face, if you value the appearance of yours. There've been days when the aches and pains make me a bit awkward at times, I'll admit as much myself. I've been known to get a bit upset when silly little kids used to play around outside my cave and shout rude remarks like me being an old witch.'
But is she or isn't she? Just an old woman with an attitude problem or actually more of a witch? Herself one of Leicester's best-known legends, Black Annis never quite lets on if she really knows more than she is prepared to say about the Old Ways. But in her direct manner, and with a bit of help from some of her friends, she retells some of the tales of Leicestershire in a way they've never been heard before, with local phrases and dialect rather than written out all posh.
Phantom black hounds, weird goings on where saints were murdered, very odd ways of finding water, pipers who enter underground tunnels and are never seen again, stories about stones, strange lights in the sky, and any number of ghosts – it's all happened in Leicestershire and much more besides, at least if these legends are to be believed.
Black Annis's engaging way of telling of these Leicestershire legends will appeal to all ages and especially to those who think they've heard all this old stuff before.
Specially illustrated by Jenny Clarke, one of Britain's leading tattoo designers.
'I really enjoyed reading this collection. The stories are so well told and the printing is so well done that you can feel you are actually there listening to conversations about ghosts, UFOs, old Leicestershire witch trials, phantom hounds, silent sentinels, and so much more. There's just enough of local dialect to add to the reality… Highly recommended.'
'… a rattling good read… '
'Although seemingly light-hearted with its glorious cover art, whimsical storytelling manner and presentation as the ramblings of an old witch, Leicestershire Legends has the same serious intent as the other books produced by Heart of Albion Press. Whilst the form may belie it, the content is an important work recording both local lore and its likely interpretation… all told in marvellous prose.'
'A bit of fun, and a good selection of local curiosities… '
ISBN 978 1872 883 779. 2004.
GOOD GARGOYLE GUIDE
Grimacing gargoyles adorn many of the churches in Leicestershire and Rutland. Alongside them are a wide range of imaginary beasties, foliate faces and Green Men, face-pulling heads, contortionists, and other imaginative figurative carvings. While those on the outside of the churches may be badly weathered, their counterparts inside are usually near-perfect examples of the medieval mason's skills.
Leicestershire and Rutland is fortunate in having more such carvings than in adjoining counties, although this wealth of medieval art has been unjustly overlooked by church historians. These depictions provide a unique insight into the often rather disturbing thinking of the craftsmen who carved them many hundreds of years ago, people who are otherwise almost entirely invisible from historical records.
The aim of the Good Gargoyle Guide is to encourage people who would not normally take an interest in church architecture to get out and about hunting further examples of these extraordinary sculptures.
ISBN 978 1872 883 700. 2004.
UNDERSTANDING LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND PLACE-NAMES
We take for granted the names we use for places. Yet these names are a valuable part of our cultural heritage, providing a detailed insight into the early history of the region. Place-names reveal the otherwise lost voices of our forebears who settled here.
Understanding Leicestershire and Rutland Place-names analyses the whole range of place-names which occur in Leicestershire and Rutland, most of which were coined between 1,000 and 1,500 years ago. These place-names describe, often in fine detail, the landscape, geology, rivers, buildings, flora, fauna, boundaries, meeting places, roads and track-ways. This book also looks at the distribution of the names, the languages from which they are derived, the successive waves of conquerors and migrants who fought and settled here, and the society they created.
is an historian, archaeologist and museum professional who has specialised in the area of place-name studies and landscape history for over 20 years.
'... this will surely be the standard reference work on its subject for many years to come.'
'... a useful little handbook... '
ISBN 978 1872 883 717. 2003.
RUTLAND VILLAGE BY VILLAGE
A guide to the history of all the villages in Rutland, with the emphasis on places that can be seen or visited. Based on the author's sixteen years of research into the little-known aspects of the county.
Bob Trubshaw's Heart of Albion Press has made a significant contribution to local history publishing in the East Midlands and this latest offering maintains the publisher's reputation for informative books, attractively produced and, importantly, at an affordable price. This A to Z account of the villages of Rutland – a county unsurpassed, in the words of W.G. Hoskins, for its 'unspoiled, quiet charm' – is both readable and very easy to use. Introductory material includes a short outline of Rutland's history and a brief glossary: very useful if you need to check the meaning of architectural terms...
ISBN 978 1872 883 694. 2003.
TALES FROM THE RAILWAY
something somewhat contrary to usual Heart of Alion fare
Welcome to the tales from an imaginary heritage railway in the top left-hand corner of Norfolk with rolling stock inspired by Rowland Emett's cartoons of the 1940s and 50s.
Truth to tell the author doesn't get overly excited by locomotives or station buildings, although wagons and carriages occasionally arouse curiosity. His real interest is in the bigger picture of railways: why they were created, how they dealt with the local terrain, what influence they had on local farming, industry and settlements, and so forth. And that extends to 'heritage' railways: how they acquire funding, how they promote themselves as places of interest, and how they interact with other tourist attractions in the vicinity.
The Whittlecreek and Eaton St Torpid Heritage Railway employs a General Manager (who does not like being called 'The General'), a formidable Property Manager (who does likes to be referred to as 'The PM'), a witticism-infested Operations Manager who socialises each week with the neophobic Workshop Manager, and a Gift Shop Manager (deemed 'nice but useless').
The railway staff interact with the somewhat overbearing Curator of the nearby Arts Centre, her talented Curatorial Trainee on a year's placement, and several of the artists exhibiting in the gallery.
On the banks of the Creek River, close to the railway's trackbed, is a partial-restored tide-mill which unexpectedly evolves into a Daoist retreat offering 'Secret and Sublime' weekends.
The author's soft spot for the Socratic Method ensures a wide variety of topics – most of them decidedly arcane – emerge during numerous evening discussions in the Le Strange Arms, or between 'The PM' and 'The Management' as they go about their day-to-day business.
First published February 2020. Available as a free PDF download only.
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TALES FROM THE EMPORIUM
The sequel to Tales from the Railway
The railway staff continue to interact with the somewhat overbearing curator of the nearby Arts Centre and two young sisters who create and sell pots at the Wonky Pot Emporium – when not chatting to customers or learning about some arcane aspects of Daoism.
Paranormal vigils in the ruins of a twelfth century castle, the creation of a heritage museum focused on the former sand mining in the area, sightings of inexplicable big cats – or are they phantom black dogs? – in the fields nearby, and the preparations for a Viking festival all unknowingly converge on the dodgy dealings of the proprietor of the local canoe hire facility (named after a one-time local lass called Pocahontas). An exciting evening awaits all the protagonists…
First published January 2021. Available as a free PDF download only.
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Saints and Sinners in Dark Age England
There are already a number of quite dense PDF booklets about Anglo-Saxon England to download for free from the Heart of Albion website. This is not another one. Well it's a PDF booklet about Anglo-Saxon England to download for free. But it's not 'dense'. Indeed, the Introduction claims to 'put the sex back into Wessex'. Allow the author to describe:
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Alternative Approaches to Folklore 1969–1996
Think of these three works as annotated bibliographies of a wide-range of 1990s publications relating to folklore, 'Geomancy' or 'Earth Mysteries' or 'Neo-Antiquarianism'. All have very insightful introductions.
Available as a free downloads only.
Alternative Approaches to Folklore 1969–1996
Research in Geomancy – Readings in Sacred Space 1990–1994
NEW! Research in Geomancy – Readings in Sacred Space 1995–1999
MEDIEVAL CARVINGS IN COLOUR
Although we are accustomed to seeing Romanesque and later medieval carvings as bare stone, this is not how they would have been envisaged by their makers and patrons. Before the nineteenth century Gothic Revival such sculpture would have been painted, often in ways which now might seem rather garish. Medieval Carvings in Colour is a response to requests for information about how Romanesque and later medieval carvings would originally have been painted.
Providing plenty of examples from the twelfth century onwards, the final section inspires readers to 'have a go' – at least by colouring in photographs or sketches.
First published October 2019. Available as a free PDF download only.
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THINKING ABOUT PLACES
Thinking About Places pivots around Bob Trubshaw's observation that "… because we spend our lives in a variety of different types of places means we are about as oblivious to the nuances of 'theory of place' as a fish is to the water it swims in. Which also means 'theory of place' is as important to archaeologists as water is to fishes."
What is a 'theory of place'? Outside the realms of geography most academics see no need to consider such a question. Sadly, this is especially true of the linguists who study the names of places. Those that do venture, such as Tim Ingold, reveal just what a wonderful 'garden of delights' awaits.
This collection of essays contains reworked versions of previous articles and chapters from books, along with newly-written material. The opening chapter starts from the observation that a place is the sum total of all the functions and activities in a given locality. This makes places more like verbs than nouns. If that sounds odd then think about the core reason for place-names: to distinguish one place from other places. Places – and their names – are not so much inanimate 'things' as ongoing 'differentiations'. Subsequent chapters look at the invention of prehistoric sacred places, the English rural idyll, prehistoric wayfaring and modern-day notions of psychogeography.
First published May 2019. Available as a free PDF download only.
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The Twilight Age Volume One
Considerable new scholarship in recent decades has shed much light on Anglo-Saxon England. In this pioneering study Bob Trubshaw approaches the history and archaeology of the era from the perspective of the underlying worldviews – the ideas that are 'taken for granted' in a society rather than consciously chosen.
By looking at the linguistic and iconographical evidence for these worldviews he shows that there is a surprising continuity from the pre-Christian era until about the tenth century. This viewpoint provides a new way of thinking about both early Christianity in Britain and the religion which it – to some extent – superseded.
First published September 2013; substantially revised January 2016. Available as a free PDF download only.
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SOULS, SPIRITS AND DEITIES The Twilight Age Volume Two
Modern Western ideas about souls, spirits and deities are seemingly materialistic and rational. Yet, when looked at closely, these seemingly-secular ideas rather too clearly betray their origins in Christian doctrines. By looking closely at ethnographical parallels together with recent 'Dark Age' scholarship Bob Trubshaw starts to strip away these more recent ideas. This begins to reveal how pre-Christian Anglo-Saxons might have thought about the differences between souls and spirits – and the similarities of spirits and deities.
First published January 2012; substantially revised January 2016. Available as a free PDF download only.
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CONTINUITY OF ANGLO-SAXON ICONOGRAPHY
The Twilight Age Volume Three
Continuity of Anglo-Saxon Iconography is an attempt to understand what pre-conversion 'idols' – the weohs and stapols might have looked like. More especially, this study aims to establish what the meaning and significance of these carvings might have been, based in large part on evidence from early Christian stone crosses.
In the process this study sheds light on the way these motifs would have been understood by people at the time which is not necessarily how such imagery
came to be regarded a few centuries later.
As none of the wooden weohs and stapols have survived there is, clearly, considerable speculation involved. However these suggestions fit within a plausible 'underlying' worldview established in the first two volumes of The Twilight Age. The fifth volume of this series looks in more detail at the locations of such carvings.
Published January 2016. Available as a free PDF download only.
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MINSTERS AND VALLEYS The Twilight Age Volume Four
Although contemporary documentary sources for the earliest churches are now non-existent, and the archaeological evidence scant, in contrast the topography of their locations is usually little changed, and offers hitherto-ignored insights.
All such early churches favour waterside locations, often quite dramatic ones in loops or on cliffs. This pioneering investigation looks in detail at Leicestershire and Wiltshire and reveals that the earliest churches favour the upper reaches, often at places on trade routes and with fords. In these counties there seems to have been one such early church for every upper valley. In contrast in Sussex, Surrey and Radnorshire the early churches, while still favouring river banks, but not located in the upper reaches. Only in the valleys of the Thames and other large rivers are these early churches predominately situated at confluences. The reasons for these regional differences are consistent with the topography and agricultural potential of these regions.
The possible significance of the loops and 'S'-bends is also explored, bringing in dragon legends and their Anglo-Saxon precursors, the wyrmas.
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RETHINKING ANGLO-SAXON SHRINES The Twilight Age Volume Five
There are three recognised Old English words for shrines. Neither hoh nor hlaw are among them as these words have so far been thought to simply describe specific-shaped hills and burial mounds. This study looks beyond these accepted interpretations and provides substantial evidence that hohs were shrines to boundary-defending deities, and hlaws should be thought of as shrines to ancestors. Not only are they both shrines, but ancestors could be thought of as boundary-defenders too. And hohs look like giant-sized hlaws. And all this overlapping complexity makes even more sense when looked at from the perspective of the underlying worldviews set out in early volumes making up The Twilight Age series.
revised December 2020
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HOW ANGLO-SAXONS FOUND THEIR WAY
Before maps were commonplace people had been getting from place to place successfully for many millennia. How did they find their way?
In this innovative study Bob Trubshaw looks at how place-names may have sufficiently descriptive to have acted as route markers. He then looks at how legends could be used to create mnemonics to remember places in the correct order. Perhaps not too surprisingly there is direct evidence for such 'narrative cartography' in the records of Anglo-Saxon England.
An appendix by Wade Tarzia looks at place-lore in early Irish literature, especially in the Tαin Bσ Cϊailnge or 'The Cattle-raid of Cooley'.
How the Anglo-Saxons Found Their Way develops ideas first published in Bob Trubshaw's book Singing Up the Country.
Published February 2012. Revised and published as Volume Six of The Twlight Age March 2016. Available as a free PDF download only.
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THE ESPECIALLY SACRED GROVE:
Little is known about the Roman small town on the Leicestershire:Nottinghamshire borders except its name: Vernemetum. This means the 'Great or Especially Sacred Grove' and tells us there was a regionally – or perhaps even nationally – important Iron Age ritual site in the vicinity.
In trying to understand more about this Iron Age site Bob Trubshaw also looks at the likely Anglo-Saxon successor, the hundred moot site at Six Hills a mile or so to the south.
This detailed look at these places is based on current academic research combined with twenty-five years of fieldwork and personal research. By looking closely at these places he also helps us to understand more clearly Anglo-Saxon ritual sites elsewhere.
The Especially Sacred Grove both draws upon and supercedes Bob Trubshaw's previous publications about Six Hills and the Leicestershire Wolds.
Published March 2012. Revised and published as Volume Seven of The Twlight Age March 2016. Available as a free PDF download only.
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PILGRIMAGE IN ENGLAND
On the face of things medieval pilgrimage seems straightforward. People set out, usually along well-established routes, to visit the shrines of saints. The significance of the saints were retold in legends. The routes themselves linked together secondary shrines, suitable resting places and hostelries, and as such would have their own 'legends' – both secular and sacred.
Everything about pilgrimage was about recalling previous events and people, emphasising their meaning and significance for people who were making the pilgrimage. In consequence little about pilgrimage is straightforward. Instead we should think of a great complexity of interwoven ideas.
In England pilgrimage was effectively killed off in the late 1530s when Henry VIII destroyed all the shrines which had been the pilgrims' destinations. However a combination of circumstances led to revival during the twentieth century and pilgrimage is once again part of both religious practice in England, straddling denominations and faiths.
A substantial number of academics have looked at many aspects of medieval Christian pilgrimage and also at traditional pilgrimages by followers of other major faiths. A few academics have also taken an interest in modern Christian pilgrimage. The published research covers a surprisingly broad range of specialisms and, inevitably, older ideas and assumptions are challenged by more recent thinking. This overview attempts to summarise this academic interest, focussing mostly on pilgrimage in England. Inevitably most of the attention is devoted to how pilgrimage develops and the heyday in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries.
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DREAM INCUBATION
Bob Trubshaw has been researching dream incubation temples since the mid-1990s. This latest 'instalment' of his studies is in two parts. The first attempts to offer an overview of the
known history and archaeology of places associated with dream incubation. The second part is more speculative, looking at the geology of dream incubation temples in Britain and the Mediterranean and to what extent this might make them places most suited to 'inspiring' dreams.
Revised April 2017; minor additions 2020.
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MEET THE DRAGON
In the days before TV screens mediated between man and animal, no encounter inspired more terror than coming eyeball-to-eyeball with a dragon. Its fiery, poisonous, crushing power seemed to guarantee victory.
Yet, paradoxically, no real or imagined creature could be more inactive or peacable. The dragon's primary role was to guard underground treasure and as such was pictured as a large earth-bound snake. Only slowly did the dragon evolve into an air-born, fiery symbol of aggression, a war-banner and national symbol.
Meet the Dragon is a study of how that evolution came about. Central to the development is the major role of the dragon in the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf.
This PDF edition of Meet the Dragon was prepared in 2015 by kind permission of Bill's literary executor, Joanne Harman. Several typing mistakes and inconsistencies with punctuation in the printed edition have been amended. However the wording and pagination remains the same as the 1996 booklet.
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THE MYTHS OF REALITY
Simon Danser asks us to think of myths as like the lenses in spectacles
– we see the world through them, but rarely see them in their own
right. He then systematically focuses on the myths at the core of the
belief systems which create every aspect of what we take to be
reality: religion, politics, commerce, science, knowledge,
consciousness, self-identity, and much else that we take as 'given'.
This book reveals how reality is culturally constructed in an ever-
continuing process from mythic fragments transmitted by the mass
media and adapted through face-to-face and Internet conversations.
'There is much here to ponder on, to chew over, to debate and to reconsider. It's a way to understanding ourselves, our beliefs and our desires, the ways in which we create our own realities – and, therefore, how we shape our own future.'
'Overall, a very thought-provoking book that, by showing the way that contemporary myths work, effectively deconstructs the world-view that leads to fanaticism.'
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ENCHANTMENT IS ALL ABOUT US
In Enchantment is All About Us Beatrice Walditch reveals that much of the what we often think of a real in the modern world is an enchantment woven by profit-driven businesses and nefarious politicians. Drawing upon a wide range of traditional worldviews, she sets out ways of mentally 'banishing' such pervasive enchantments and empowering the reader to create their own enchantments. Many of the suggestions develop and weave together ideas discussed in her previous books.
Enchantment is All About Us is the fifth book in the Living in a Magical World series. These books will challenge you to recognise the traditional magic still alive in modern society, and empower you with a variety of skills and insights.
download Enchantment is All About Us for FREE (5 megabyte PDF)
EVERYTHING IS CHANGE
In Everything is Change Beatrice Walditch shows how contemporary ideas of an ever-emergent cosmos are also part of the traditional worldview in places as far apart as Greece and China. This understanding of how the world works is in complete contrast to Christian concepts and the various successors – including supposedly secular science as well as modern paganism.
Seeing the world as ever-emergent provides a clearer understanding of divination and enchantment as they were practised in northern Europe before Christianity. It also stimulates new ways of thinking about modern day life, including how our self-identities are also in a continual state of renewal and creation.
Everything is Change is the fourth book in the Living in a Magical World series. These books will challenge you to recoergnise the traditional magic still alive in modern society, and empower you with a variety of skills and insights.
download Everythting is Change for FREE (6.5 megabyte PDF)
LEARNING FROM THE ANCESTORS
In almost every traditional culture throughout the world, including Europe until comparatively recent times, there have been ways of 'honouring' at least some of the dead, those who were regarded as key founders and ancestors. Learning from the Ancestors shows how such traditional ways of thinking and doing are of benefit in the modern Western world.
Beatrice Walditch mostly explores the ancestors of England, although also shows how similar ideas and concepts are found elsewhere in Britain and beyond. She explains how 'listening' and learning from the ancestors should be done in a ritual manner, not necessarily in ways which would be appropriate in other situations.
Learning from the Ancestors is the third book in the Living in a Magical World series. These books will challenge you to recognise the traditional magic still alive in modern society, and empower you with a variety of skills and insights.
download Learning from the Ancestors for FREE (3 megabyte PDF)
KNOWING YOUR GUARDIANS
Knowing Your Guardians provides advice and inspiration to help understand the various ways of thinking about protective guardians. Beatrice Walditch mostly explores the traditional 'spirits of place' in Britain, although also shows how similar ideas and concepts are found elsewhere in Europe and beyond. She shows how these guardians have long been thought to have a 'potency' or 'luck'. The final sections of the book explain how to make amulets and 'charge' them so that they act as personal guardians.
This is the second book in the Living in a Magical World series. These books will challenge you to recognise the traditional magic still alive in modern society, and empower you with a variety of skills and insights.
download Knowing Your Guardians for FREE (6 megabyte PDF)
LISTENING TO THE STONES
Listening to the Stones teaches you to 'listen' with all your senses to revered places. Beatrice Walditch uses the prehistoric henge and stone circles at Avebury as her main examples, but wants you to explore and 'listen' to sacred sites near to where you live.
This is the first book in the Living in a Magical World series. These books will challenge you to recognise the traditional magic still alive in modern society, and empower you with a variety of skills and insights.
"… a book to recommend to those who are newly interested in our ancient places, and with some interesting suggestions for those who have been to many sites already, and who may be in need of finding ways to enlarge their experiences."
download Listening to the Stones for FREE (7 megabyte PDF)
Runes and Clog Almanacs
This unique account of 'clog almanacs' and runic inscriptions was first published as one chapter of The Danes in Lancashire and Yorkshire, published by Sherratt and Hughes in 1909.
This was S.W. Partington's only published book. His interpretation fails to distinguish between runes used in Scandinavia and England from the unrelated symbols used on the perpetual almanacs inscribed in wood and somewhat derogatorily termed 'clog almanacs'. However the information on understanding the symbols on these almanacs is not readily available elsewhere so I have prepared this PDF version. Howver treat all Partington's attributions for these signs with moderate amounts of caution, and do not take his interpretations of runes and other symbols to be more than pioneering.
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Runebok
Sometime in the early 1990s Beatrice Walditch compiled various translations and interpretations of the Anglo-Saxon rune poems into a personal 'work book'. Only three copies were ever printed and two of those are lost, presumed destroyed. However the final copy has been scanned and made available as a free PDF. Beatrice makes no claims for this being a definite book about runes, but offers it for those who might want to make a first acquaintance or simply be inspired by the ideas and worldview which it offers.
And, no, the title is not a spelling mistoke – 'bok' is Old English for 'book'.
Download Runebok for FREE (1.3 megabyte PDF)
EXPLORE FOLKLORE
'A howling success, which plugs a big and obvious gap'
"Highly Recommended" by the Folklore Society's Katharine Briggs Folklore Award 2003
There have been fascinating developments in the study of folklore in the last twenty-or-so years, but few books about British folklore and folk customs reflect these exciting new approaches. As a result there is a huge gap between scholarly approaches to folklore studies and 'popular beliefs' about the character and history of British folklore. Explore Folklore is the first book to bridge that gap, and to show how much 'folklore' there is in modern day Britain.
Explore Folklore shows there is much more to folklore than morris dancing and fifty-something folksingers! The rituals of 'what we do on our holidays', funerals, stag nights and 'lingerie parties' are all full of 'unselfconsious' folk customs. Indeed, folklore is something that is integral to all our lives it is so intrinsic we do not think of it as being 'folklore'.
The implicit ideas underlying folk lore and customs are also explored. There might appear to be little in common between people who touch wood for luck (a 'tradition' invented in the last 200 years) and legends about people who believe they have been abducted and subjected to intimate body examinations by aliens. Yet, in their varying ways, these and other 'folk beliefs' reflect the wide spectrum of belief and disbelief in what is easily dismissed as 'superstition'.
Explore Folklore provides a lively introduction to the study of most genres of British folklore, presenting the more contentious and profound ideas in a readily accessible manner.
Published by Explore Books, an imprint of Heart of Albion Press.
Also available as a free download (1.3M PDF)
HORN DANCE OR STAG NIGHT?
Why is a stag night or an office in-joke as good an example of folklore as morris dancing or a fairy tale? Why does the rhetoric of eco-politics seem like the recycling of myths dating back well over 2,000 years? How often have American presidents imitated Hollywood action movies? How do the mass media successfully construct the 'deep structures' of modern society?
Apart from a few people in universities studying folklore or mythology these questions may seem strange. In this booklet Bob Trubshaw suggests that, far from being strange, folklore and mythology at least as understood by academics are key to understanding the processes by which we create our all-encompassing 'social reality'.
At a time when Western 'social reality' is increasingly contrived by the vested interests of global commerce, and shaped by the media magnates within that cartel, the folkloric transmission of ideas via emails, blogs and personal Web pages has increasing importance. The ability to consciously recognise the way myths or, more accurately, 'mythic fragments' are used by the media is also key to understanding how 'spin' attempts to delude us all.
This short booklet does not claim to offer a detailed understanding of the construction of social reality. Instead it suggests some fruitful directions for further thinking. The result is both enlightening and empowering.
'A fascinating and thought-provoking read.' Mike Howard The Cauldron
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MOTHERS' UNION BANNERS: A neglected British 'folk art'
In Explore Folklore Bob Trubshaw includes a chapter on British folk art, noting how little this has been studied compared to, say, American folk arts and crafts. Sadly a decade later, despite a handful of projects, this is still broadly true.
Mothers' Union Banners: A neglected British 'folk art' is provisional publication encouraging people to document the Mothers' Union banners which can be found in most parish churches, and discover how they fit into the broader social history of the Church of England, the Arts and Crafts Movement and women's suffrage. While some are commissioned from specialist ecclesiastical needlework providers, most were designed and made by the members of the Mothers' Union branch. They seem to make up a body of work where 'folkloric transmission' dominates the designs and motifs.
Published June 2014. Available as a free PDF download only.
Download Mothers' Union Banners: A neglected British 'folk art' for FREE (1 megabyte PDF)
SACRED PLACES
Sacred Places asks why certain types of prehistoric places are thought of as sacred, and explores how the physical presence of such sacred sites is less important than what these places signify. So this is not another guide book to sacred places but instead provides a unique and thought-provoking guide to the mental worlds the mindscapes in which we have created the idea of prehistoric sacred places.
Recurring throughout this book is the idea that we continually create and re-create our ideas about the past, about landscapes, and the places within those landscapes that we regard as sacred. For example, although such concepts as 'nature', 'landscape', 'countryside', 'rural' and the contrast between profane and sacred are all part of our everyday thinking, in this book Bob Trubshaw shows they are all modern cultural constructions which act as the 'unseen' foundations on which we construct more complex myths about places.
Key chapters look at how earth mysteries, modern paganism and other alternative approaches to sacred places developed in recent decades, and also outline the recent dramatic changes within academic archaeology. Is there now a 'middle way' between academic and alternative approaches which recognises that what we know about the past is far less significant than what we believe about the past?
Bob Trubshaw has been actively involved with academic and alternative approaches to archaeology for most of the last twenty years. In 1996 he founded At the Edge magazine to popularise new interpretations of past and place.
Watch an interview with Bob Trubshaw about Sacred Places on YouTube. Filmed at Megalithomania 2012, Glastonbury UK by Pentos TV.
'Sacred Places … is a very valuable addition to the small body of thoughtful work on the spiritual landscapes of Great Britain and therefore recommended reading.'
'One of the best books in the field I have ever read.'
'Altogether a very worthwhile book with some genuinely original insights… '
'I recommend it to anyone interested in archaeology, popular culture, contemporary mythology or "alternative archaeology".' 8/10
'This finely-constructed and very informative text is for all Pagans who give time and space to positively thinking about our relationships with the sacredness of our prehistoric landscapes.'
'Highly recommended.'
download Sacred Places: Prehistory and popular imagination (2.8M PDF)
BEYOND THE HENGE: Exploring Avebury's World Heritage Site
The Neolithic henge and stone circle at Avebury are well-known to many people. But few visitors explore the other prehistoric sites nearby in the World Heritage Site. Beyond the Henge is a guide to four different walks of between one and six miles which take in all the significant surviving archaeological sites. Three of the walks focus on the Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments while the fourth walk explores Avebury's Anglo-Saxon and medieval origins.
Along the way Bob Trubshaw introduces ideas about the changing lifestyles and beliefs of the prehistoric people who built the monuments. The variety of such ideas currently being proposed by prehistorians are presented using a unique conversational style of writing.
Join Bob Trubshaw and his fictional friend Simon as
they set forth from the henge to its precursors on Windmill Hill and West Kennett long barrow, then
to later monuments such as Silbury Hill. And
afterwards visit where the pagan Anglo-Saxons celebrated their rituals and the first evidence
for Christianity in the parish.
'If ancient stone-circles are your thing, not one to miss!' Nicholas Redfern
'a happy, jargon-free and eminently accessible guidebook' Geoff Ward
'This is an excellent guide to the landscape of Avebury. The instructions for movement are clear and precise and the dialogue format stops if from becoming a dry description of the route. It can be recommended to anyone with an interest in the area… '
download Beyond the Henge for free (11 M PDF)
SINGING UP THE COUNTRY: The songlines of Avebury and beyond
Singing Up the Country reveals that Bob Trubshaw has been researching a surprising variety of different topics since his last book six years ago. From Anglo-Saxon place-names to early Greek philosophy – and much in between – he creates an interwoven approach to the prehistoric landscape, creating a 'mindscape' that someone in Neolithic Britain might just recognise. This is a mindscape where sound, swans and rivers help us to understand the megalithic monuments.
Continuing from where scholarship usually stops and using instead the approaches of storytelling, the final chapter weaves this wide variety of ideas together as a 'songline' for the Avebury landscape. This re-mythologising of the land follows two 'dreamtime' ancestors along the Kennet valley to the precursors of Avebury henge and Silbury Hill.
Few writers have Bob Trubshaw's breadth of knowledge combined with a mythopoetic ability to construct a modern day story that re-enchants the landscape. Singing Up the Country will be an inspiration to all those interested in prehistory, mythology or the Neolithic monuments of the World Heritage Site at Avebury.
'This is a book with enormous appeal for anyone with an interest in prehistory, megalithic sites, mythology and folklore,
and indeed for anyone who enjoys the countryside, and who can recognise the mystery and magic it holds in its secret past. Highly recommended'
'This is a fascinating book written from an unusual perspective.'
'Trubshaw writes with practised and confident ease. His entertaining and sometimes jocular style makes for very easy reading; the experience is rather like sitting in a comfortable pub with a pint, listening to a seasoned storyteller.'
'Bob answers questions Id never even thought of asking, yet throughout he is at pains to point out that his theory is only that, a theory. Refreshingly, he doesnt claim to have all the answers, but he does make you think about the ones he offers for consideration.'
'Bob Trubshaw is back in print with a new book with an overall aim to inspire us to widen the way we think about the past, particularly the Neolithic monuments of the Avebury landscape.'
'This is a book that will appeal greatly to anyone with an interest in prehistory, mythology, and the Avebury area in particular, which goes beyond the standard academic tracts into a feel for the spirit of place and a veneration for the ethos of our distant forebears.'
download Singing Up the Country for free (13M PDF)
Watch the start of a talk by Bob Trubshaw about Singing Up the Country on YouTube. Filmed at Megalithomania 2012, Glastonbury UK by Pentos TV.
THROUGH THE EYE OF THE SKULL
Literature as diverse as Old English poems and the tales of Scottish Travellers uses the first-person to give a voice, and personality, to a diverse range of non-human artefacts. By using this device for the metaphysical relocation of self, the author's identity may become conflated with the artefact – or even a deity.
Although the direct evidence is lacking, plausibly this use of the first-person was used by Scandinavian seeresses before the Christian era. Their rites included something unmentionably 'bawdy'. Could this have been the original 'vagina monologues'? If so, this might account for the distinctive so-called 'sheela na gig' carvings on Romanesque churches.
This essay is intended to be both an investigation of Anglo-Saxon worldviews and also to offer inspiration for modern day rituals.
Published September 2013. Available as a free PDF download only.
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THE PROCESS OF REALITY
For nearly forty years Bob Trubshaw has been deeply influenced by the worldview of Chinese Taoism. Although Taoism has been a major part of Chinese culture for over two millennia, and as such is one of the more important world religions, Western awareness of Taoism is mostly through distorted and over-popularised interpretations. Fortunately, in recent years new scholarship has shed more light on exactly what early Taoists living nearly 2,500 years ago were thinking. Intriguingly these seem to be very similar to ideas being put forward at almost the same time by pre-Socratic Greek philosophers such as Heraclitus. By looking at well-established trade routes there was almost certainly contact between ancient Greece and China, via the Middle East and India.
The opening chapters of The Process of Reality look in detail at this curious continuity that defies a simple explanation of 'East meets West' and instead suggests roots going back well into prehistory. The final chapters consider what 'reality' looks like when seen from a Taoist rather than Western perspective. And this is not simply an academic exercise as Bob Trubshaw also discusses how, for him, it is also a 'lived experience' of 'emergent creativity' pervaded by something known to the Chinese as ch'i and to medieval clergy as potentia.
The second edition adds a preface discussing the influence of the Western zodiac on Chinese divination and ontology about two centuries prior to the era of Heraclitus and early Taoism.
First published July 2012. Second edition July 2019. Available as a free PDF download only.
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CREATING THE PARANORMAL
Creating the Paranormal brings together recent cognitive science with the 'social uses' of the paranormal, especially the way in which encounters are retold. To all intents and purposes such narratives are how must of us are aware of the paranormal – and all of us create the meaning and significance of such stories.
Someone who 'believes in ghosts' as well as someone who sceptically dismisses them are equally imposing prior assumptions onto a diverse spectrum of anomalous experiences. In Creating the Paranormal Bob Trubshaw challenges every easy dismissal of anomalous phenomena and makes us question more deeply what it is we think was experienced.
Published April 2012. Available as a free PDF download only.
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PHANTOM BLACK DOGS IN LATIN AMERICA
Phantom black dogs are a surprisingly frequent aspect of Latin American folklore. They are called by widely differing names, although often known simply as the Perro Negro, the Black Dog. Almost always considered either an incarnation of the Devil or a shape-changing sorcerer, such Black Dogs are invariably regarded as evil. However this rich tradition of phantom black dogs in Latin America has not been available in English until now.
Although phantom black dogs have until now been thought of as a British or north European phenomenon, they exist across the entire length and breadth of the Americas. Much has been written upon the presumed European origin of the legend but such ideas do not explain how a highland Maya girl can meet a typical shape-changing black dog at a Guatemalan crossroads. Phantom Black Dogs in Latin America reveals that these apparitions, much like poltergeists, are a global phenomenon. In this short work Simon Burchell raises some profound questions about paranormal experiences and the origins of the folklore which supposedly 'explains' them.
Originally published as a booklet in 2007. Since September 2012 available as a free PDF download only.
Download Phantom Black Dogs in Latin America for FREE (2.3 megabyte PDF)
See also Simon Burchell's update to Phantom Black Dogs in Latin America: Phantom Black Dogs in Prehispanic Mexico (free PDF download}
HOW TO WRITE AND PUBLISH LOCAL AND FAMILY HISTORY SUCCESSFULLY
How to Write and Publish Local and Family History Successfully guides even complete novices through all the stages needed to produce and promote books, booklets, magazines, CD-ROMs and Web sites on local and family history. For those who are not novices the information will also act as a checklist for producing professional-looking publications.
Topics include:
It all adds up to 280 large format (245 x 175 mm) pages of advice, references, useful addresses, tips and hints.
All the information is based on Bob Trubshaw's fifteen years of experience publishing local and family history books, booklets, magazines, CD-ROMs and Web sites. In the last 15 years he has written and self-published 16 books and booklets; compiled and published two local history CD-ROMs; edited and published over 60 books, booklets and electronic publications for other authors; and edited nearly 50 issues of quarterly and annual magazines.
This book supersedes the well-received 1999 book How to Write and Publish Local History.
'This should be on the desk of all carrying out local research, so that they know what to do with it once it has been written up.'
'Here's a book that satisfies a real need, magnificently. [… ] a well-organised guide, using simple language [… ] I have often fielded phone calls from would-be authors and publishers and wished that I could recommend just one book capable of answering all their queries. Now I can.'
'For any would-be publisher of a family history this book would be invaluable.'
'An invaluable work which deserves to be bought by any local or family historian who shares his research and opinions with others.'
Download the How to Write and Publish Local History for free (2.4 Mbyte PDF)
Note that some addresses – such as for the Agency for the Legal Deposit Libraries – have changed since original publication. Always check online for current addresses!
GLAD FOR GOD
John Hamilton
Glad for God is the history of the Bousfield families of Newark and Bedford from the late eighteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth. It first traces the origins of the Newark families they married into and then tells the story of two brothers, Edward and Thomas Bousfield, and their descendants. Charting their triumphs and disasters, their loves and losses, their jobs and good works reveals how some of these descendants found a new religious ideal which transformed their lives, while others stayed with the faith of their fathers. As the years passed, their differing beliefs and lifestyles led to a widening gap between the two families. In Newark one family remained Anglican and became publicans. The other converted to Methodism, moved to Bedford and became energetic Temperance campaigners. By the early twentieth century all contact between the two had been lost. Glad for God This is the story of nineteenth century England in microcosm, showing how the lives of both ordinary and extraordinary people were fundamentally reshaped by the new society that emerged and by the new opportunities and new beliefs that helped to form it.
First published 2003. The text was extensively revised for the 2022 PDF edition.
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THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A RAIL FAN
James Alan Bousfield Hamilton and John Brooke Hamilton
As a boy at the start of the twentieth century, Jim Hamilton grew up in the heyday of railways. By the age of three he was in love with steam locomotives. He enthusiastically compared the different competing rail companies that flourished around his home in Nottingham: the Great Central, Great Northern, North Western and his favourite because its engines were painted red the Midland. His interest was greatly aided and abetted by The Railway Magazine, which rapidly became his preferred reading. Holidays in his father's native Scotland soon added the Caledonian line to his store of knowledge. Then boarding school in Yorkshire meant travelling on the trains of the 'cold, unfriendly' North Western line. In a sometimes turbulent working life Jim ensured that either holidays or the job gave him occasion for extensive travel by train throughout Britain. But not only Britain: as a soldier in both World Wars he made the most of the opportunity to study trains in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. He also made several trips to Denmark and became enchanted with the country but not its trains! The author of several railway books, Jim Hamilton brings a wide-ranging knowledge of railways and an exceptional memory to his story. He recounts his varied life in a lively style that intrigues and entertains. His autobiography is augmented by his son John Hamilton, in an introduction which covers Jim's life when not on a train, and by 57 photographs of relevant locomotives, key places and family members. The author's detailed recollections of locomotives and their specifications when steam ruled the rails brings life to a subject often dismissed as 'train spotting'.
First published 2005.
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SIGN OF GOOD BIRTH: A history of the Tates
John Hamilton
Sign of Good Birthis the story of modest people, going about their daily lives like millions of others the world over, as modest in their expectations as in their achievements, but each unique and each worthy of some memorial. The story starts in the wild Border country where Scotland meets England just north of Carlisle, the scene of many battles and other violent happenings over the centuries, yet also where the local people struggled to make a living in good times and in bad. The wildness in fact was made by humans. The actual countryside where the people lived and farmed was much of it undramatic, and the weather mild if rather wet. Over time the bad men, both high and low, were brought under control. But life remained hard and, while the industrial revolution brought new kinds of jobs to this rural area, there was no real prosperity. But it did offer better prospects elsewhere. Liverpool was the great magnet for these northern folk, and it was here the Tates moved in the 1870s to start a new life. From then on the story mainly follows the lives of George Joseph Tate and his wife Edith Watts, their tale of success and suffering taking them briefly to Australia and then Nottingham, before finally ending once again back in Cumbria via Germany. The story is backed up by substantial extracts from family letters, which allow the various individuals to speak for themselves.
First published 2015.
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NOBLE PROSPECTS: A History of the Hamiltons
John Hamilton
Noble Prospects tells the story of a Scottish family's move from its home village to the wider world. It starts by the River Tweed in the beautiful Border country of southern Scotland and covers the family of handloom weavers in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, as they find the comparative comfort of an acknowledged status in village society turned to increasing poverty in the newly industrialised world of mid-nineteenth century Britain. As a result the family, like so many others at this time, left its historic home and scattered. Some moved just a few miles and prospered in Melrose, but many sailed away to Australia or America. The varied fortunes of the American branch of the family are explored, before the story returns to Scotland. In Glasgow William Hamilton's unavailing struggles to look after his family end in his leaving his young son William Robert with his in-laws to bring up. The third part covers the life of William Robert and his family in England. Their story is in many ways typical of a prosperous middle class family either side of 1900, but also very individual. Following his early difficulties, and eventual success, it describes his marriage to Hattie Bousfield and their life together in Nottingham, and the close involvement of Hattie's parents and her wider family. It relates the pleasures this brought and the stresses it engendered particularly for their children. Finally the momentous changes brought about by the First World War, William Robert's early death and just the passing of time lead to the family experiencing very different circumstances thereafter. A description of life in Lowland Scotland from 1650 to 1880 is appended to give some background to the family story.
First published in 2018
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EVER ROLLING STREAM: A history of the Watts family and its connections
John Hamilton
In the first part of Ever Rolling Stream the members of the Watts family leave their Hampshire origins to move around southern England before making a decisive relocation to the flourishing metropolis of Liverpool. Here William Henry Watts senior, self-made businessman and leading local politician, has triumphs and disasters, great and small, during his unusually long life. This part ends with a summary of the lives of his children and grandchildren. The second part explores the families whom the Watts married into, weaving together their very different backgrounds in widely scattered parts of England. The oldest of these ancestors have been traced back to the Isle of Thanet and the neighbouring part of Kent, with many generations of interrelated farmers and seamen descending down the centuries from the high Middle Ages to around 1800. From the rural origins of several of these families emerge three successful businessmen in early nineteenth century Greenwich who, between them, construct many of the buildings for which Greenwich is now famous.
First published in 2019.
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WINE AND ROSES: The Astonishing Rise and Sad Fall of Caroline Hamilton Lorillard of Tuxedo Park
John Hamilton
This is a story of the American dream with a twist, a tale of one Scottish family's rise from rags to riches only to end in tragedy. It tells of Scott Fitzgerald's super-rich set a generation before he wrote The Great Gatsby.
George Hamilton, fleeing the poverty of his handloom-weaver parents, arrived in New York in 1835 at the age of fifteen penniless. Having achieved some success in business, he married into a leading New York family of Dutch origin. He and his wife Frances had one child Caroline, who through her mother's connections was able to marry the eldest son of Pierre Lorillard IV, a tobacco magnate of huge wealth and massive ambition.
A life of luxury followed, spent between New York's bright lights, Tuxedo Park (the exclusive up-state enclave built by her father-in-law), Washington DC and Europe. Here she hobnobbed not only with the super-rich whose names still reverberate to this day – the Astors, the Vanderbilts, the Harrimans and the J.P.Morgans – but also with the East Coast's elite – senators, ambassadors, even the President's daughter.
All seemed fine until one evening after a party she turned on the gas for her bathroom lights and was found the next morning still wearing her diamond tiara. Suicide was the coroner's verdict and her death made the front pages of newspapers throughout the English-speaking world.
First published in 2015.
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ISAAC WATTS AND HIS FAMILY
John Hamilton
Isaac Watts vies with John Wesley as the most important English-speaking religious leader of the eighteenth century. He wrote prolifically on a wide variety of subjects, though he is now best remembered for his hymns. Much has been written about him and his writings and continues to be right up to the present day. But this has come from those who shared his faith and his religious fervour.
This short biography looks at him as a man of his times and, while giving due weight to his religion, examines him and especially his family – both parents and siblings – in the light of the political, social and economic circumstances of his life. In particular it corrects the false picture previous biographers have given about his businessman father and the family's position as leading citizens of their home town of Southampton.
The author also looks at Watts's longer term legacy and the celebrity that outlasted him for a hundred years and more.
First published in 2022.
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MY EARLY LIFE: The story of my childhood and young adult life
Vibeke Sode Hamilton
My Early Life starts with my childhood on the beautiful island of Bornholm. It describes my parents' farming background and my growing up at home in a village typical of rural Denmark, made special by being on a small island. Idyllic summer holidays by the sea were a welcome contrast to the hard work of everyday life. The Second World War brought successive German and Russian occupations, making life difficult for everyone on Bornholm. As a teenager I spent two years at a unique domestic science school outside Copenhagen. This was followed by a year in England, where I cleaned and cooked in a Quaker hostel. Here I met John, and after a seemingly endless wait while I trained as a nurse back at home, he became my husband. The very different circumstances of my first years of married life in England presented their own joys and challenges.
First published in 2020.
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SIR JULIEN CAHN AT STANFORD HALL AND A VIEW FROM THE CO-OPERATIVE COLLEGE
David Lazell
One of Heart of Albion's earliest booklets, first published in 1993, is now available as a free PDF.
When this booklet was first published in 1993 Stanford Hall (the one on the Leicestershire-Nottinghamshire border, not the one on the Leicestershire-Northamptonshire border!) was still in use as the International Co-operative College. And Sir Julien Kahn's impressive 'makeover' had been merely fifty years before. Now, after a £300 million transformation Stanford Hall has become the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre.
The idyllic grounds of Stanford Hall look out over the Soar valley near Loughborough (although the Hall is just over the Nottinghamshire county border between Rempstone and East Leake). Bought by the furnishing trade magnate and philanthropist, Sir Julien Cahn, before the War and transformed into a showplace home, the Hall subsequently became the home of the Co-operative College. The contrast between these two owners makes the history of this building full of interest.
David Lazell describes both these eras, drawing upon his own experiences as a student at the College in the 1950s, combined with accounts from various members of staff who helped establish the standards for work and pleasure which went hand-in-hand. He describes Sir Julien's elaborate taste in interior decoration, his fondness for staging conjuring tricks, the names of the long-gone sealions – although their pool still survives – and above all his devotion to cricket.
The early years of the Co-operative College, in its transition from Manchester to Stanford Hall, are brought to life with personal reminiscences and previously-unpublished photographs from the collections of the College and the author. They portray a vivid picture of an era of education that, to a great extent, has already been lost.
This booklet will appeal to all those with an interest in the history of the Co-operative Movement as well as past and present students of the International Co-operative College. It also provides a perspective on a unique chapter in the county's history and good deeds!
Download Sir Julien Cahn at Stanford Hall and a View from the Co-operative College for FREE (25 megabyte PDF)
SPECTACULAR AT STANFORD HALL
David Lazell
This PDF 'booklet' is based on an undated A5 booklet published 1991–2 in which the East Leake-based historian David Lazell recalls some aspects of the Hall's history.
Spectacular at Stanford Hall was a precursor to Sir Julien Kahn and a View from the Co-operative College, published 1993, which contains additional information – although not all the recollections from this publication.
Download Spectacular at Stanford Hall for FREE (3 megabyte PDF)
SOUND OF THE SHAWM
David Lazell
This PDF 'booklet' is based on an undated A5 booklet published 1990–2 in which the East Leake-based historians David Lazell and Charlie Firth recall some aspects of the village's history.
Download Sound of the Shawm for FREE (6 megabyte PDF)
THE FAIRY GIFT AND OTHER WAYS TO FIND LOST LAUGHTER
David Lazell
This PDF 'booklet' is based on an A5 booklet published Midsummer 2001 by the East Leake-based historian David Lazell.
David discusses such writers as G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, Harry Jeffs, Athur Machen, Washinton Irving, J.W. Dunne, A. Clutton Brock and Rose Fyleman.
Download The Fairy Gift for FREE (7 megabyte PDF)
ROSE FYLEMAN: Nottingham's ambassador from Fairyland
David Lazell
This PDF 'booklet' is based on an A5 booklet published Midsummer 2001 by the East Leake-based historian David Lazell.
Born 'Rose Fellman' in 1877, her first story was published when she was just nine years old. Failing her exams to become a teacher she readily found a career as a singer no less than the still up-and-coming Henry Wood arranging a concert at the Queen's Hall in London. Not long afterwards she began submiting fairy stories to Punch and an illustrious writing career developed. Rose died in 1957 at the age of 80.
Download Rose Fyleman for FREE (4 megabyte PDF)
AROUND FOXTON Sarah Dallaston
One of Heart of Albion's earliest booklets, first published in 1991, is now available as a free PDF.
Anyone who knows Foxton Locks in south Leicestershire will be intrigued by this account of life there a century ago. Sarah grew up at the Bottom Lock Cottage, later the shop and now part of the Foxton Locks Inn. She later worked on farms in nearby villages, such as Clipston, and moved to Stoneygate and then Braunstone.
Originally published 1991. Now available as a free PDF download only. Note that the original edition only had black and white illustrations whereas in this PDF version they have been replaced by full-colour versions, where possible.
Download Around Foxton for FREE (12.5 megabyte PDF)
ISBN 978 1 872883 946. 2006.
demy 8vo (215 x 138 mm), 212 + x pages, 109 b&w photographs, 8 line drawings, 1 map, paperback
£12.95
Professor Ronald Hutton
Paul Sieveking Fortean Times
Aeronwy Dafies Monomyth Supplement
Andrew Bates Silver Wheel
Michael Howard The Cauldron
ISBN 978 1872 883 786. 2005.
demy 8vo (215 x 138 mm), 152 + viii pages, 10 b&w half-tones, paperback
£12.95
Folklore Society's
Katharine Briggs Award
2005
'Beach' Top Ten Fairy Books
John Billingsley Northern Earth
Paul Sieveking Fortean Times
Paul Mason Silver Wheel
Francis Cameron Pentacle
D J Tyrer Monomyth
Alternative Albion imprint
Francis Cameron Pentacle
"And now, in 2005, there is a powerful new voice from outside American
culture to motivate the old symbol and myth chasing posse. This time it
comes from England and author Simon Danser in his short but brilliant
book Myths of Reality.
John Fraim Jung Pages
Nigel Pennick Silver Wheel
''This liberal author's knowledge of contemporary society is
amazingly broad. He exposits the mythic depths (and
appearances) of everything from 'the myth of science' to
superhero attitudes of contemporary American nationalism.
''Along the way he challenges many superficial trivialities about
myths functioning in culture. He regards the mythic as a primary,
highly effective agent of social ideology, and is never hesitant
about demanding that the garments of our truly mythological
capitalism are ill-fitting and socially harmful.
''This is the best book I know in terms of disclosing the
pragmatic functioning of myth in society.''
William Doty
Professor Emeritus, The University of Alabama and author of
Mythography: The study of myths and rituals
'... an interesting and informative book.'
D.J. Tyrer Monomyth Supplement
'Erudite and broad-ranging look at a tricky nexus.'
Fortean Times
Published by Alternative Albion, an imprint of Heart of Albion Press.
ISBN 978 1872 883 809. 2005.
215 x 138 mm, 205 + xiv pages, paperback
£12.95
CELEBRATION AND SUBVERSION
John Michell Fortean Times
Professor Ronald Hutton Blood and Mistletoe
Mike Pitts History Today
"Andy Worthington has written what is likely to remain the definitive work
on the subject, simply because of the depth of coverage and range of
viewpoints that it incorporates. If it is impossible to write most political
history in such a way that it will achieve universal acceptance, then to
write 'contemporary' history about controversial events involving colourful
and clashing personalities requires an exceptionally high degree of
courage and dedication, and Andy has provided it."
Ronald Hutton Professor of History, University of Bristol
"The strange events that swirled around Stonehenge in the last couple of decades – the Festival, the Convoy, the annual summer solstice ritual of confrontation between forces of order and of disorder – were so bizarre there needs to be record of them. In his wonderful and often funny book, Andy Worthington tells this, the oddest tale ever told about the most famous ancient place of them all."
Christopher Chippindale, Reader in Archaeology at Cambridge University and author of Stonehenge Complete
'[A] readable and well-researched cultural history.'
Antiquity
'It's by far the best bit of modern British social history I've seen.'
John Hodge SchNEWS
'This is a well-written and well-researched study of a fascinating subject and is highly recommended.'
Mike Howard The Cauldron
'... an honest, fastidious and heartfelt contribution... pointing towards a freer, glorious Albion.'
Paul Screeton Folklore Frontiers
Published by Alternative Albion, an imprint of Heart of Albion Press.
ISBN 978 1872 883 762. 2004.
245 x 175 mm, 281 + xviii pages, 147 illustrations, paperback
£14.95
Weird tales, ghosts, folklore and legends from East Anglia's Waveney valley
255 x 155 mm, 199 + xiv pages, 13 colour photographs, 8 black and white photographs; 6 line drawings, 8 maps. Paperback.
£12.95
A study in Somerset stone carving
A5 (210 x 148 mm), 156 + x pages, 76 black and white photographs; 3 line drawings, paperback. (new edition with revised photographs)
£9.95
245 x 175 mm, 60 + iv pages, 10 colour photos, 50 b&w photos; 2 maps, paperback.
£7.95
245 x 175 mm, 97 + iv pages, 5 colour photos, 174 b&w photos; 6 maps, paperback.
£9.95
245 x 175 mm, 82 + iv pages, 5 colour photos, 124 b&w photos; 14 maps, paperback.
£9.95
245 x 175 mm, 113 + iv pages, 19 colour photos, 84 b&w photos; 2 maps, paperback.
£9.95
245 x 175 mm, 100 + iv pages, 28 colour photos, 79 b&w photos; 9 line drawings, 2 maps, paperback.
£9.95
The story of the lost sons of Wymeswold
245 x 175 mm, 201 + viii pages, 62 b&w photos; 10 maps, paperback.
£12.95
second edition
Francis Cameron Pentacle
Anna Franklin Silver Wheel
D J Tyrer Monomyth
John Billingsley Northern Earth
Demy 8vo (215 x 138 mm), 99 + xiv pages, 10 line drawings, paperback.
£6.95
Medieval Carvings of Leicestershire and Rutland
John Hinks Leicestershire Historian
Demy 8vo (215 x 138 mm), 100 + xii pages, 151 b&w photographs, paperback.
£6.95
John Hinks Leicestershire Historian
Veronica Smart Nomina
Demy 8vo (215 x 138 mm), 145 + viii pages. 5 maps, paperback.
£6.95
John Hinks Leicestershire Historian
Demy 8vo (215 x 138 mm), 73 + x pages, 53 b&w photos, paperback
£7.95
free to download Heart of Albion PDFs
The life and times of the Whittlecreek and Eaton St Torpid Heritage Railway and the Queen Alexandra Arts Centre
The life and times of the Whittlecreek and Eaton St Torpid
Heritage Railway and Sal T. Marsh's Emporium
Although I've always enjoyed history (even the dull, dry stuff – and some of it can be drier than an Egyptian mummy's wrappings) what really intrigues me are those weird, almost surreal moments that leave you shaking your head in disbelief wondering "Whatever were they thinking?"
Published jointly by Urban Fantasist and Heart of Albion. First published April 2020. Available as a free PDF download only.
For this brief publication, I have collected five tales taking us from misty years following the collapse of Roman rule in England – a time when it is hard to distinguish between history, myth and legend – through until the arrival of the Normans when, after over 600 years of almost constant instability, some kind of normality returned to English life.
So climb on board as we set off to explore five of the more weird, obscure and WTF corners of English history.
Research in Geomancy – Readings in Sacred Space 1990–1994
Research in Geomancy – Readings in Sacred Space 1995–1999
CONTINUITY OF WORLDVIEWS IN ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND
Continuity from paganism in early Christianity
A topographical comparison of seventh and eighth century land use in Leicestershire and Wiltshire
A cosmological and topographical view of hohs and hlaws
Six Hills and Vernemetum, Leicestershire
A concise overview
An introduction to Beowulf's adversary
Francis Cameron Pentacle
"And now, in 2005, there is a powerful new voice from outside American
culture to motivate the old symbol and myth chasing posse. This time it
comes from England and author Simon Danser in his short but brilliant
book Myths of Reality.
John Fraim Jung Pages
Nigel Pennick Silver Wheel
''This liberal author's knowledge of contemporary society is
amazingly broad. He exposits the mythic depths (and
appearances) of everything from 'the myth of science' to
superhero attitudes of contemporary American nationalism.
''Along the way he challenges many superficial trivialities about
myths functioning in culture. He regards the mythic as a primary,
highly effective agent of social ideology, and is never hesitant
about demanding that the garments of our truly mythological
capitalism are ill-fitting and socially harmful.
''This is the best book I know in terms of disclosing the
pragmatic functioning of myth in society.''
William Doty
Professor Emeritus, The University of Alabama and author of
Mythography: The study of myths and rituals
'... an interesting and informative book.'
D.J. Tyrer Monomyth Supplement
'Erudite and broad-ranging look at a tricky nexus.'
Fortean Times
Published by Alternative Albion, an imprint of Heart of Albion Press 2005.
Ros Briagha Northern Earth
Professor Ronald Hutton
ISBN 978 1872 883 601. 2002.
demy 8vo (215 x 138 mm), 196 xii pages, 4 b&w photos, 4 line drawings, paperback
£12.95
Folklore and myth in the age of blogs
Prehistory and popular imagination
Nigel Pennick Silver Wheel
D J Tyrer Monomyth Supplement read more of this review
Jerry Bird Merry Meet
Richard Alexander Fortean Times
Five pentacles
Francis Cameron Pentacle
Michael Howard The Cauldron
Mike Haigh Northern Earth
Jerry Bird Merry Meet
The Hedgewytch
Steve Marshall Fortean Times
Runemage The Megalithic Portal.
Hobgoblin The Ancient Art of Enchanting the Landscape.
Geoff Ward Suite 101 reviews
The metaphysical relocation of self in ritual narratives
The curious continuity between
early Chinese Taoism and early Greek philosophy
second edition
Aubrey Stevenson Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Newsletter
Peter Watson Family Tree Magazine
Monica Mukherji Family History Monthly
Robert Howard Local History Magazine
Recollections of East Leake and other kindly places nearby
Faith in Fairies and other discoveries of green spirituality
A salute to her verse and stories about fairies and remarkable circumstances
Memories of an Edwardian childhood