Product Description

Where can you find the 'Devil's footprints'? What happened at the 'hangman's stone'? Did Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street, ever really exist? Where was King Arthur laid to rest? Bringing together tales of hauntings, highwaymen, family curses and lovers' leaps, this magnificent guide will take you on a magical journey through England's legendary past. 'A fascinating county-by county guidebook to the headless horsemen, bottomless pools, immured adulteresses and talking animals that make up the hidden landscape of the country.' - "London Review of Books". 'Evokes an England terrified by screaming skulls, tantalized by hidden treasure, spooked by the unearthly clanging of bells, bewitched by fairies and hobgoblins' - "Country Life". 'Wonderful...Contains almost every myth, legend and ghost story ever told in England' - Simon Hoggart, "Guardian".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16546 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 928 pages

Simon Hoggart, The Guardian, 12 November, 2005
It appears to contain almost every myth, legend and ghost story ever told in England...a wonderful dipping book.

Philip Pullman. 6th November, 2005
A real treasury...I'm sure I shall plunder it for years to come.

From the Author
Dear Readers,

Most people, when they read a book like this, are reminded of stories they know, about the places they live(d) in. We would love to hear these. Please send them to me*, telling me who you are, how long you lived in the place you are talking about, and who told you the tradition or where you read it. Send as much information as you can. It helps us build up background history. We can’t tell a lot from ‘our pub is haunted’ but we can from ‘my grandfather used to say …’ especially if you put in your grandad’s dates.

And if you’ve spotted anything we’ve got wrong please tell me that too.

Jennifer Westwood

Customer Reviews

Excellent....
Lore of the Land does exactly what it claims - it is a comprehensive A-Z of folklore, legends and ghost / paranormal tales organised by County. It's not in the right format to read in bulk, but is absolutely fascinating for local interest and research purposes.

Highly recommended - this is the most accurate and thorough book I have seen on the subject. Not cheap but worth it.

Beautiful and thorough
This book is not only perfectly designed for browsing, but clearly very well researched.

It works on various levels too. If you are touring or visiting England, or if you live here and want to delve into the legendary and curious aspects of England then just buy this book. It is also thorough enough to be an important source for researchers.

It's also dedicated to the wonderful Katharine Briggs.

Beautiful and fascinating!
I bought this as a birthday present for my mum but I'm going to have to get her another copy as I can't bring myself to part with it! The pictures are just fantastic: makes you realise just how many ghostly stories have built up around really famous places like Hampton Court and the Tower of London. But it's not just famous places that get a mention - really tiny villages like East Bergholt in Suffolk are in there too (the chirch was deprived of a steeple by the machinations of the devil, apparently). Highly recommended!