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Legends
Here Is The Story Of Llud And Llevelys
The Story of Llud and Llevelys appears in the The Mabinogion and here is the translation published by Lady Charlotte Guest (1877). Read More »
The Hexham Heads
It was 1972, and at the Robson family home in Hexham, only ten minutes walk away from where the legendary Wolf of Allendale had roamed the woods, the two young Robson brothers dug up two small, carved stone heads whilst they w Read More »
The Hill of Tara
The Hill of Tara – ancient seat of the Kings of Ireland – is the focal point in a complex landscape of ancient monuments dating from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. It is a stirring setting where mythology and history fuse together, and has been revered as a holy site for thousands of years. Read More »
Hollow Demon Oak
A tree known as Derwen Ceubren yr Ellyl (hollow tree of the demons/spirits) used to stand in Nannau Park and it had a reputation of being haunted and evil, for this is the tree in which Owain Glyndwr was, according to legend, supposed to have hidden the body of his cousin Hywel Sele, 8th Lord of Nannau after he had killed him in 1404. Read More »
The Hurlers
The Hurlers are three stone circles situated on moorland to the Northwest of Minions. The circles are aligned Southwest to Northeast and consist of low granite blocks of varying shapes and sizes. They date back to the Bronze Age period. According to legend they are reputed to be the petrified remains of men who were hurling on the Sabbath. Read More »
Icknield Way
This ancient trackway, believed to date to the Neolithic period, is said to be haunted by Roman legionaries and Black dogs.
At one time, before modern transport allowed freedom of movement, it was believed to lead directly to hell.
In Search of British Dragons
The dragon is the great, great grandfather of all monsters. Before the daemon, before the vampire, before the werewolf, before the giant. Before them all was the original uber-monster the dragon. The dragon's image has crawled across cave paintings 25,000 years old, dwarfing mammoths. It has slithered across Chinese rock art in Shanxi province 8000 years before Christ. Read More »
Irish Folklore
From Newgrange - a reminder of a great age of monument building and ritual - through to natural wonders such as the Giant's Causeway, Ireland is a land of legend and mystery. The landscape is full of echoes of history interwoven with a rich mythology that forms an impressive and colourful heritage. Read More »
Jabberwocky
From 'Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There' 1872
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe. Read More »
Jan Tregeagle
The legend of the torments of Jan Tregeagle stretch from the bleak moors of Bodmin, to the lonely beaches of Land's End. He has been identified by some as a forgotten Celtic god who still haunts the landscape. Read More »
Jersey Devil –The Origins
Over the last 250 years there have been several sightings of a creature that has become known as the Jersey Devil (or Leeds Devil). Described as being bipedal with hooves and wings, the Jersey Devil would apparently dry up the milk within cows by breathing upon them. Read More »
Jiang Shi: The Hopping Vampire
In Mian county, in China's Shaanxi province, rural folk never venture out of doors after dark. The reason for this is that they fear the Jiang Shi: the hopping vampire. Read More »
Kilgram Bridge
The site of Kilgram Bridge has been used for thousands of years to cross the River Ure. This Norman bridge prossibly dates from 1145AD (certainly standing by 1301 AD) and was built by the monks from the Cistercian Jervaulx Abbey. It was built upon the remains of an early Roman paved ford, the well preserved remains of which were used as the bridge's foundations. Read More »
Kilhwch and Olwen or the Twrch Trwyth
The following is the tale of Kilhwch and Olwen or the Twrch Trwyth as told by Lady Charlotte Guest in her 1877 translation of The Mabinogion. Read More »
King Arthur
The legend of Arthur is one of the most popular and well known of British legends. From early brief passages to the mythic epic we know today, the story of Arthur has long been a source of inspiration to writers, poets and artists. He has become associated with hundreds of places in the British Isles and France, some of which will be listed in the gazetteer section in the coming months. Read More »
King Lud & Ludgate
Ludgate is commonly accepted as having been named after the mythical King Lud, who according to legend founded London. King Lud who is said to have been buried at Ludgate appeared in texts such as Geoffrey of Monmouths (born circa 1100 – died circa 1155) Historia Regum Britanniae (The History of the Kings of Britain). Read More »
King's Caves
Along the Western shore of Arran, are a series of natural caves in the sandstone rock. One of the caves is said to have been the refuge in which Robert the Bruce had his famed encounter with a spider. Read More »
Kingston St Mary Dragon
A savage fire-breathing dragon terrorized this area until a champion came forth to tackle it. The hero rolled a boulder up a hill opposite to the dragon’s lair and shouted out to the monster. As the dragon emerged, jaws agape, the champion rolled the boulder down into its open maw, choking it before it could roast him with a jet of flame. Read More »
Knaresborough
Knaresborough is most famous for its connections with the prophetess Mother Shipton. She is said to have been born in a cave now known as Mother Shipton's cave, now a popular tourist attraction. Read More »
Knucker Of Lyminster
Lyminster has a dragon legend of which three different versions exist. The dragon was known as the Knucker and inhabited a supposedly bottomless pool known as the Knucker Hole and is situated just to the north of Lyminster. Read More »
La Hogue Bie
La Hogue Bie is a major Neolitic ritual site dating back to 3500BC and one of the best preserved cruciform passage graves in Europe. Its passage is twenty meters long and is covered by a 12.2 meter high earth mound. The mound istelf is 58 meters in diameter and covers an area of 2400 square meters. Read More »
Lake Bala
Llyn Tegid is Wales’s largest lake being nearly four miles long. It lies in a rift valley running north east to south west, extending down to the sea at Tywyn. The lake is 529 feet above sea level, has a maximum depth of 136 feet and covers an area of 1084 acres. Read More »
Lake Ronkonkoma
Legend has it that Ronkonkoma Lake on Long Island is haunted by a female ghost who takes a male life every year. Read More »
The Lambton Worm and Penshaw Hill
Around the time of the crusades (in some accounts) in the area around the river Wear, there is a tale told about a fearsome dragon, which terrorised the area and was dispatched with cunning by a brave warrior. Read More »
Land's End
Beyond Land's End stretching to the Isles of Scilly, the lost land of Lyonnesse is reputed to lie. The land is said to have been engulfed by the sea over 900 years ago.
According to tradition the only survivor of the sinking was a man called Trevilian, who rode a white horse before the waves. The family crest shows the image of this white horse. Read More »
