Folklore of Yorkshire

by Kai Roberts

The beautiful county of Yorkshire is the largest in Britain, and yet still possesses a strong and cohesive regional identity. Built on centuries of shared tradition, a characteristic body of folklore has thrived and endured well into the present day. Folklore of Yorkshire chronicles such beliefs throughout the whole county, identifying distinctive common themes, placing them in their historical context, and considering their social and psychological function. You’ll discover Yorkshire’s holy wells and buried treasure, its boggarts, Black Dogs and fairies, and the legends behind the county’s stunning landscape. This fully illustrated book shows how the customs of the past have influenced the ways of today, while also revealing something about the nature of folklore itself, both for the tradition-bearers and those who collect it.

Genres: Nonfiction, Folklore

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2013

Reviews

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well I know the author, and the book was a gift because I contributed a photo to it, but I would have bought it anyway! This was wonderful to read - it really looked at a lot of the beliefs and legends of Yorkshire, but probably didn't cover them all - such a large county would need a large volume perhaps!

Keeping folklore and legend stories of your ancestral home reminds us where we come from. What beliefs our ancestors held dear. This book mentioned the Peninnes village I live in, as well as a supposed haunted house that a friend's sister actually owns.
The Robin Hood chapter was great to read - his association with Yorkshire is far more regular than Nottingham, even if he didn't exist. I have to agree that Robin is a Yorkshire lad, real or not.

I bought this for a Tasmanian friend (brother from another mother) recently, as his family hails from Yorkshire like mine. He was very excited to receive it and when we told other Yorkshire friends from Tassie, they too got quite excited by it, wanting to also purchase Kai's other books.

Must read Kai's 'Haunted Huddersfield' soon, I've had that one longer than this one.

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A perfectly decent book.

I did have a much longer review written for this, but I have finally deleted it out of fear it will one day come back and bite me in the ass. I wrote it during my angsty early-twenties when I fancied myself a comedian, and this was the one where I went too far.

[Ape · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am glad this was finally released as an actual book rather than just an e book. I don't have the patience for digital reading, but I was keen to read this, so it had left me I an annoying situation. I have actually had it on the go for a few months. Mostly because it got put down and a couple of things put on top and I forgot I was part way through. Never mind, I have finished it this evening.

Yorkshire as a whole is a massive county, so there's no way a book could be a definitive guide to every scrap of folklore from the region. It's a good selection, even if it sometimes felt as if there was a slight lean to the west. I also liked how he had broken it up thematically and gave some thought to what was going on, how such beliefs might have come to be, rather than being just another regurgitation of local wives tales and customs. There are also a nice variety of photographs, but where are the maps??? This is a common gripe for me. I have learned some new tales from here, such as how the Devils Arrows came to be where they are. By happy coincidence I read this just before we were doing a walk that actually went to the hill where he had stood when firing off his arrows.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in an accademic form, Folklore of Yorkshire is an interesting and varied introduction to the field. It is written with an eye more to folklore research than to entertainment but is still entertaining and compelling. It covers all the areas you might expect in the more popular texts on this kind of thing, Robin Hood and witches and such, but also talk about things like well worship and callendar customs that are not as extensively covered in popular forklore literature.

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF as I didn't like the writing style. I flicked through a couple of chapters. The information and anecdotes were interesting but the delivery wasn't engaging. I might return to this book in the future.

[Daniel Hooley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic local folklore book that does a great job of delving into the historiography of each of the tales. If you're looking for the tales themselves then this is not the right book but if you're after more of an analysis on the folklore and how it came about then this is a fantastic example.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it hard to get into. Its not what I thought when I got it from the library. I didn't think the chapters flowed right. It just went from one story to another and there were so many that I found it hard to follow and not get bored. There were definitely some interesting parts.