Tales of Northern Folk and Folklore
Welcome to issue four of Fwolk!
Sarah Hall’s novel Helm was one of my favourite reads of the year – a millennia-spanning tale of Britain’s only named wind. Will Parry spoke to the writer about history, folklore and climate change.
What links the Lake District to a ghost story competition in Switzerland and the birth of modern horror? Hannah Catterall reveals the links between the Romantic and the Gothic.
From prehistoric cave drawings to graffiti scrawled on toilet cubicle doors, Josh Hanson explores the ancient impulse to scratch your name.
Water is a major theme in myth, religion and folklore. In an extract from his new book, Liquid Faith, Ian Bradley uncovers the legends and rituals of holy wells.
Staying on the theme, Jack O’Connor dives into the murky depths to discover three watery folktales.
Plus, hike along the Cleveland Way from Whitby to Robin Hood’s Bay and discover the inspiration behind Bram Stoker’s Dracula and a whole host of other folktales.
Enjoy the issue!
What links 1980s pop star Tiffany to medieval hermit St Cuthbert?
Were Coronation Street’s Deirdre Barlow’s glasses a portal to another dimension?
What are boggarts and boggles?
All this and more of your essential folklore questions are answered in issue three of Fwolk.
From legends of fell runners to tall tales of big hands and a possessed calf, delve into a treasure trove of contemporary and ancient Cumbrian folk tales curated by Hannah Fox.
Meander from medieval Lindisfarne to a smoky cave above Borrowdale in the Lake District, as we profile four northern hermits. Plus, follow Guy Parsons’ beautiful map to visit the Professor of Adventure’s cave.
What lies beneath? Our short story this issue is a chilling tale by Luke Brown about medieval corpse roads.
Elsewhere, Pete Nixon takes us on a folk-horror journey from his childhood to present-day northwest England, where Pete is very glad not to be burnt in a wicker effigy.
Don’t waste words, jump to conclusions!
Welcome to issue two of fwolk, a jaunt around the north with a mixture of folklore, history, interviews, natural history, magic, megaliths, music and literature, original artwork, photography and ghost stories.
This issue we take a deep dive into the dark side – an issue devoted to the underworld, death and religion, light and dark.
We look back at the 90s underground rave scene, meet a real-life mythological merman, follow the roads of the dead – and have a psychosexual adventure in a Lake District cave.
Plus, an underground horror story from Luke Brown, we celebrate the return of the sun, and banish the dark from Penrith.
We hope you enjoy this issue’s meander around the dark side.
The history of the Lake District is more than Wordsworth, the Romantic poets and Beatrix Potter. More than 70 Neolithic sites and stone circles ring the central fells of the region. We spoke to archaeologist Steve Dickinson to find out more about the hidden history of the fells.
Other hidden things are revealed in this issue. Freediver Angus Hosking is on a mission to clear up the underwater places of the Lake District. As well as collecting submerged trash, the treasures he finds – from lost mobile phones to Victorian coins – tell the social history of the Lakes.
We celebrate the summer solstice and commune with our pagan ancestors (and some modern-day pagans) at Castlerigg Stone Circle. And we take a psychogeographic deep dive into the ebb and flow of human history with writer Gareth Rees.
Plus, screaming skulls! And we ask deep questions, like if an island doesn’t exist, can you swim around it?
Oh, and what does fwolk mean? It is Cumbrian dialect for ‘folk’. And it is pronounced ‘fwolk’.