Folklore: A Journey Through the Past and Present

by Owen Davies, Ceri Houlbrook

A gripping guide to the weird yet everyday world of British folklore.

In this ground-breaking book, two leading experts provide the definitive guide to British folklore past and present.

Owen Davies and Ceri Houlbrook explore folklore in all its remarkable variations, from village rituals and fairy tales to UFO legends and internet fanfiction. Travelling through a landscape of witches, wizards and wicker men, they reveal how folklore has been researched and written about in the past and show how it continues to be lived in the present. At the same time, they provide the reader with a valuable toolkit for understanding how to interpret the diverse examples given.

The book’s key message is that folklore is much more than the fossilised remains of a distant, rural past. Folklore is and always has been ubiquitous, dynamic and political. It is a living tradition that draws from many sources, including migrant communities, and is forever being renewed and updated.

Genres: Nonfiction, Folklore, History

336 pages, Hardcover

First published September 23, 2025

About the author

This is the disambiguation profile for authors publishing as Owen Davies.

For the historian see Owen Davies

Reviews

[Finch · Rating 3 out of 5]

We as a society have got to stop pretending that Rowling was the bestest most specialist smartest ever person to ever use folklore in her fantasy books. Did she have to be brought up so often can we move on already

Anyway this was Fine. Bit dry bit list-y and I am obsessed with calling roleplay "digital ostentive play" but being fine with using fan fiction as a term in the very next sentence. Simply very funny to me

[milo in the woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish that this book had problematised folklore a bit more. It often touched on the issues of nationalism, exclusion and appropriation by fascist movements, but I wish that it had delved a bit deeper into these issues a bit more. I think it would have been really interesting to have a chapter diving into the history of folklore relating to these issues, and colonialism - this is touched on a little when the authors discuss the construction of a british identity, but I just think there could have been more to it.

I also would have liked a little more explanation of some of the jargon used in this book. As one of the other reviewers points out, the authors use the term 'ostensive play' when I'm pretty sure they are talking about role play - so I would have been interested to hear about why certain subject specific terms were used, when sometimes accessible terms like 'fan fiction' were used.

Overall, I think that this is a really well written and interesting exploration into British folklore, and I think the thematic organisation of the book worked really well for me. I was also glad to see the authors recognise and acknowledge the overlap in some of the themes, noddings backwards and forwards throughout the book when relevant. I enjoyed the inclusion of some images (although with non-fiction books like this, I am always of the belief that you could include more illustrative images) and I thought that the writing was good and accessible to someone with only a limited knowledge of the study of folklore.

[History Today]

Britain is witnessing a prolonged spell of folklore-related publications. They clutter bookshops with jackets boasting old-style lettering set against linocut illustrations of toads and finches. The contents range from nature and the environment to standing stones and contemporary art, but boast ‘folklore’ as a connective tissue. This publishing trend grew out of British nature writing and contemporary concerns over climate change and sustainability, but was tipped towards folklore by the groundswell of nationalist sentiment that surged following Brexit. Folklore has become a means by which people express ‘coming from somewhere’. To some, it has provided a way of talking about place and identity that feels more authentic than the strident certainties of traditional nationalism. As a result, being interested and participating in folklore has become a quiet form of nationalism.

Owen Davies and Ceri Houlbrook’s Folklore: A Journey Through the Past and Present is a product of this trend. Its big message is that folklore is not just curiosities to be dug out of the past, but lives among us in both new and familiar forms. This is a good message, and I am pleased to see it, though not surprised: while Davies is a historian and Houlbrook an archaeologist, both have served time with the Folklore Society, where Davies is a former president and Houlbrook edits its justly cherished newsletter, FLS News, which has collected curious snippets of folklore, past and present, for many years. Both teach on the only folklore MA offered in England, at the University of Hertfordshire.

Read the rest of the review at https://www.historytoday.com/archive/...

Matthew Cheeseman is Professor of Writing and Folklore at the University of Derby.

[Lucia Graziano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concordo con chi ha scritto che sarebbe stato bello avere in certo punti qualche approfondimento in più. All'atto pratico, credo che questo sia quanto di più completo possa esistere nella categoria del saggio divulgativo sulla storiografia del folklore, senza scivolare in testi accademici decisamente più pesanti (o senza iscriversi al loro master, di cui questo libro è eccellente biglietto da visita per inciso).

Gli avrei anche dato cinque stelline, se non fosse per un paio di "meh", attribuibili però più all'editore che agli autori. L'apparato critico (in fondo al libro e non a più di pagina) non è facilissimo da consultare (e io avrei comunque gradito delle note un po' più approfondite, che non si limitassero al mero rimando). E nel titolo sarebbe stato opportuno mettere un BRITISH grosso come una casa, visto che l'intero libro verte *solo ed esclusivamente* sul folklore britannico: per chi non è interessato a questa nicchia molto specifica è quasi completamente inutile, se non nella misura in cui può aiutare a dedurre un metodo di ricerca. Visto che la ricerca accademica degli autori non si esaurice in sé sul territorio britannico, che questo libro avesse un focus così ristretto era tutto fuorché scontato.

Per il resto, bellissimo, originale nell'approccio, attualissimo (cita ricerche aggiornate fino al 2024) e stimolante nel modo in cui - giustamente - fa rientrare nel folklore, e accomuna al folklore antico, fenomeni recentissimi come la paura del 5G, i lucchetti dell'amore (e la loro rilettura in seno al conflitto israeliano-palestinese), i giochi dei bambini durante il COVID e quant'altro. Il folklore è ovunque.

[Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read some of Davies' articles but this was the first full-length work I've read from him; the experience was a delight. Davies co-wrote this with university colleague Ceri Houlbrook, and both are clearly highly experienced when it comes to the study and teaching of folklore beliefs. FOLKLORE: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE PAST AND PRESENT is a broad overview of British folklore, a guide divided into chapters which begins with its ancient origins and progress through an exhaustive list of pretty much every type of folklore custom you can imagine. There are sections devoted to calendar dates, stories, legends, oral histories, magical beliefs, you name it; truly a no-stone-left-unturned reading experience, this. What makes it bang up to date is its refusal to stay in the past but instead chart the growth of new folklores (such as those in the Covid era) and dissemination on the Internet. This guide treads the fine line between a scholarly approach (with extensive references) and a popular tone, making it both intellectual and fun to read at the same time. Recommended.

[Sir Robbiethehoo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does not have the feel of a book you would read for pleasure. A bit too dry and a bit too academic in writing style. A fair number of interesting insights but a whole load of information seems just rather crammed in.

I was not blown away by this offering and would not be quick to recommend. The Reader’s Digest folklore book however, I would recommend hugely for anyone with an interest in folklore.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars