New Forest Myths and Folklore

by Brice Stratford

The New Forest is an old, old forest. The stories, like the forest which defines them, are at once fresh and blossoming with each telling, but ever rooted in the deep, dark soil of our history and our heritage. From King Arthur and Robin Hood, to Rufus the Red and Bevis of Hampton, award-winning storyteller Brice Stratford guides you through the folk heritage and mythological past of Britain's most haunted national park, taking in five headed dragons, giant ettins, and shape-shifting pixies along the way.

326 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 25, 2022

Reviews

[Sian Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book, my friend lent this to me and I was not disappointed. Some of the tales I have heard from locals before but I’ve also learnt so much about my home. I liked that it has two halves and personally I really enjoyed the ghost stories.

[Jessicabookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection, from an award-winning storyteller, that guides readers through the folk heritage and mythological past of Britain’s ‘most haunted’ national park. From the famous King Arthur and Robin Hood, to local heroes Rufus the Red and Bevis of Hampton, and taking in five-headed dragons, giant ettins, local witches, shapeshifting pixies, and numerous ghosts. This was a wonderfully eclectic and comprehensive treasure hoard of tales, that I enjoyed dipping in and out of, over several months.
My Rating: Great ❤❤❤

Read my full review here: https://thebookwormchronicles.wordpre...

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book of two halves. The first half is arguably old wives tales told to the writer in the pub by locals willing to chat for a pint. The second half is better: we have attributable sources, and dates that are backed up to events rather than hearsay.
I would have liked a bibliography at the back of the book, as well as an index to find the stories again, but perhaps this was not within the author’s intention.
The stories themselves are the usual mash up of mythology and wishful thinking, for the first half, with various historical characters finding themselves drawn into fanciful accounts fuelled by perhaps too much cider. The second half is a more interesting collection of murder, ghost, amusing tales (that of the bell ringers being spooked by the deputy surveyor is delightful) and sad suicides.
In terms of buying this book…. Well… probably an idea to borrow a friend’s copy first (or your father in law’s copy…) read it, and then decide if it can stay to grace your bookshelves. It must be said that having chatted to my FiL, who has been in the forest for at least half a century, very few of the stories in this book have been heard by him…. which might indicate the strength of the provenance of some of these tall tales.
Alternatively, it might be fun to make up your own, using these as a basis and inspiration! Who knows, if you tell a story enough times, it becomes folklore itself, and might end up in book 2….!!

[Jonathan Gurney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book badly needs it's sources clarified and referenced.

Some of the first parts contain materials presented as factual (although inherently implausible) but with no clue to their provenance unless the reader happens to recognise it. I could recognise the materials drawn from part of Geoffrey of Monmouth's fictitious 'History of the Britons' and from the less reliable parts of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, but a reader without that previous knowledge was not given any clues that the content came from there.

Some of the later parts consist of commonplace ghost stories and some distinctly dubious claims, such as the notorious Gerald Gardner's absurd assertions about magic rituals preventing Luftwaffe bombs from detonating. (According to other sources it is quite true that on 14th Aug 1940 a Ju-88 being pursued by the RAF unloaded seven bombs over Lyndhurst and all failed to detonate, but the more prosaic explanation given at the time was that was because they had been released at a lower altitude than designed for, while the Ju-88 made evasive manoeuvres).

Some of the content is interesting, but I have read much better and more apparently trustworthy studies of folklore.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is described as a comprehensive guide of folklore and myths of the forest. I would describe it as the authora pet project and a book of two halves - 1 is about myths/legends and supported with some research, the 2nd seems to be the author finding out about various ghost stories they have heard from people in pubs. I personally enjoyed the myth section and was disappointed with the amount of the book dedicated to ghost stories. One positive I will say is that the author clearly loves the New Forest and wants others to as well. He has tried to research and support the stories they are describing particularly in regards to smugglers but I would struggle to recommend this book.

[Simone Smith]

Got about 40% through this, but it's felt like a chore to read, and I keep forgetting what I've read almost immediately, so it feels pointless to continue.