Lincolnshire Folk Tales Project

Society for Lincolnshire History & Archaeology Promoting Lincolnshire's Heritage

We're proud to announce that the Lincolnshire Folk Tales Project has been shortlisted for the Flora Murray Award, run by the Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology.

Check out the SLHA's website, slha.org.uk, and subscribe to Lincolnshire Past and Present.

Excellent! And what else do we see here? Two books by fellow contributor Robert Etty, a Candlestick Press pamphlet edited by another, Alison Brackenbury...

The Lincoln Imp's Day Off YouTube video by Ruairidh Greig

The outstanding folk musician Ruairidh Grieg has recorded this new rendition of the legend of the Lincoln Imp. See his notes below the video to learn more!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2I7...

The Farmer and the Boggart Tales abound in which the Devil, or a boggart, are duped in competitions involving the harvesting of crops. The farmer suggests one takes what grows above ground and the other what grows beneath. T…

A tale for harvest time:

lincolnshirefolktalesproject.com/2024/02/20/t...

sepia image of a teenage girl, she has her hair up, rolled around the aside of her head. She is wearing a white blouse with a wide collar.

#ThrowbackThursday
Folklorist Ethel Rudkin as a young woman, c.1910. Rudkin dedicated her life to preserving and promoting Lincolnshire folklore, folk music, archaeology and social history.

#throwbackmemories #Throwback #Rudkin #Scunthorpe #Museum #Folk #Folklore #History #LocalHistory

big grey boat

#Makers
Today the group went to visit the Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre it looks like they had a great time.

Have you ever tried giving a boggart kombucha? We did!
Rory and Anna ceremonially close off the AHRC-funded Lincolnshire Folk Tales project at NTU by thanking Tiddy Mun, the spirit of flooded landscapes, on River Glen in Surfleet. Watch & read in full on our IG: www.instagram.com/reel/DMLvern...

Fabulous Coffee What happens when folk tales and coffee come together? Rory Waterman finds out by talking to Seven Districts Coffee founder Ben Southall.

7 Districts Coffee offers a brew with a side of #folklore. Read Rory's interview with owner Ben Southall: lincolnshirefolktalesproject.com/2025/07/16/f...

Want to hear more about @lincsfolk.bsky.social ? Come to our free online #storytelling workshop Wed 16 July 12-1.30 with Anna Milon @hexnhart.bsky.social and @rorywaterman.bsky.social plus @sabinelittle.bsky.social from Traditional Tales, Untraditionally Told: www.eventbrite.com/e/cfrc-story...

The Village Behind the Folklore A young girl running into a kitchen with an armful of ‘may’ blossom so terrifies her grandmother that the old woman would hurl her back across the threshold, if she were not so lame. Is this in the…

Superb poet and Lincs native @abrackenbury.bsky.social discusses VILLAGE, her new prose book about Willoughton, on our guest writers' page:

lincolnshirefolktalesproject.com/2025/06/30/t...

Cadeby Hall This unobtrusive stone marker on the verge of Barton Road (A18 between Wyham and Cadeby) could be mistaken for a milestone. Instead, it is a memorial for a young man called George Nelson, who died …

See our folk tale map entry for considerably more information. lincolnshirefolktalesproject.com/2024/03/18/c...

There are no fewer than four deserted medieval villages in the immediate vicinity, the easiest of which to visit is Beesby. Whatever stories were told in these mysterious places full of foundations and holloways is not recorded, but they fire the imagination.

Take GREAT care if you go to look at it: this is a thin and busy A road. 2/3

This unassuming marker in roadside meadowsweet, hogweed, thistles and nettles near Cadeby marks the location of a Victorian tragedy, long connected to a ghost story. 1/3

@abrackenbury.bsky.social wrote us an evocative guest post about her nonfiction book 'Village', now available to buy! Alison gives space to some of Lincolnshire's choicest tales and their tellers: lincolnshirefolktalesproject.com/2025/06/30/t...

To what did the monks of Crowland Abbey owe their good fortune? To a bridge across a ghost river, of course. More Crowland stories, including where to find an alleged Saint's skull are on our website.
www.instagram.com/reel/DLhRAad...

A wild man of the woods, or wodewose, on the tomb of Katherine Baroness Willoughby D’Eresby (d.1580) and Richard Bertie in St James’s church, Spilsby. Another Lincolnshire wild man has stories attached to him, and perhaps another carving on a tomb:

lincolnshirefolktalesproject.com/2024/02/12/t...

Lincolnshire Folk Tales Project

To all our new followers, a warm WELCOME! Check out lincolnshirefolktalesproject.com for folk tales, events, and storied places to visit. And a quick request, please tell us what you think so we can keep doing what we do: forms.office.com/pages/respon...

Rantanning Ran-tan-ning or Ran-tan-tan, an onomatopoeically named custom of delivering folk justice to disproportionately violent members of a community (here, a domestic abuser). Ethel Rudkin records it Holt…

Last year Anna explored the custom of rantanning - a form of social censure known across Europe, that persisted in Lincolnshire longer than elsewhere. Take up your pots and pans, ready your clogs and a straw dummy, and follow us to learn all about it: lincolnshirefolktalesproject.com/2024/04/25/r...

FREE CFRC online storytelling workshop 16 July led by Anna Milon @hexnhart.bsky.social and Rory Waterman @rorywaterman.bsky.social of the @lincsfolk.bsky.social study and Sabine Little @sabinelittle.bsky.social of Traditional Tales, Untraditionally Told! Details👇
www.eventbrite.com/e/cfrc-story...

Events & Workshops Scroll through! All project events are free. Click individual event links to read more information about forthcoming events, and to book your tickets. More events TBC! Check back again soon. Calend…

We have two new events for JULY up on our website - check them out: lincolnshirefolktalesproject.com/events-works...

With the stunning weather we're having, why not revisit some walking routes that take you through Lincolnshire's folk tale locations? lincolnshirefolktalesproject.com/2024/07/06/w... Have a favourite folklore route of your own? Get in touch lincolnshirefolktales@gmail.com

At night, and just occasionally, do candles appear to flicker inside the All Saints', Holbeach? Eh?

See our folk tale map to learn about an alleged incident that spawned a flurry of poems in the nineteenth century, and another just this year:

lincolnshirefolktalesproject.com/2024/02/20/t...

Three Kings Threekingham is an unusual name, and an incorrect etymology has long been attached to it, as is not uncommon with place names that are unusual – especially when those names so obviously seem …

Threekingham: a beautiful village nestled under an ancient crossroads. But what’s in a name? lincolnshirefolktalesproject.com/2025/05/02/t...

Former RAF Metheringham.

lincolnshirefolktalesproject.com/2024/02/20/t...

That's a fun game! Yours is a superb story, Juliet.

Yes, its essentially the same legend, repeated all over Europe with often localised variations! I love your nice proud ruddy chap, though. Fearsome.

The legend of the Wild Man of Stainfield is discussed by project lead @rorywaterman.bsky.social (who accidentally says fifteenth, not sixteenth, century – but never mind!)
in this episode of BBC Secret Lincolnshire.

bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Manwar Ings (aka Manwar Rings), near Swineshead: an intriguing, easily-visited earthwork that is at least medieval and, well…

lincolnshirefolktalesproject.com/2024/02/06/c...

Title card for the episode

THE SEVEN COUNTY WITCH HUNTS

A new 6-part mini-series from the Folklore Podcast, with @witchesetc.bsky.social and @magicnotwitches.bsky.social

EPISODE 1: METHODS AND STORIES

Listen free, and learn more, at

www.thefolklorepodcast.com/seven-county...

Follow the project @witches7hunt.bsky.social