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There are many legends and folktales from around the world that tell of sunken bells that have either been sunk in the sea or in a lake inland. This folktale comes from Boscastle, Cornwall in England, which is a fishing village and harbor and part of the civil parish of Forrabury and Minster and tells how the bells of Forrabury Church were lost to the sea. According to the legend there was once a degree of rivalry between the church of Forrabury and the nearby church of Tintagel whose bells were said to have pealed merrily at the marriage of King Arthur and most solemnly when he died. Read More ...
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Cheshire Legends: Sir Reginald and the Fair Lady Isabel and the Floating Island of Redesmere10/7/2017 Sir Reginald There was once a bold and loyal knight named Sir Reginald who had fought bravely and ferociously for King Henry V and distinguished himself at the Battle of Agincourt. It is said he always fought hard, asking for no quarter and gave none in return. His pennant could be seen fluttering wherever the fighting was the hardest and the fiercest. His deeds upon the battlefield were held in high esteem and he was a man of good and impeccable character, a stalwart friend, and a fierce enemy. Indeed, he may well be seen as a good and honest knight and the best of his order, yet he had a flaw in his character that was often troublesome. You see, he had a terrible quick temper which when things were not going his way would come to the fore leading him to make rash decisions he would later regret. Then, he was prone to sulking alone and brooding upon what might have been. Still, despite these faults, he was always a man of his word, even though it may have been too hastily given. The Fair Lady Isabel In a cottage quite near to Redesmere, there lived a very fair and beautiful lady whose name was Isabel. For Sir Reginald, she was as lovely as sunlight and as mysterious as moonlight. Indeed, all who knew her agreed her sweet and good-natured mien was a delight to behold. Sadly, she lived a solitary life in virtual social isolation, her family and friends strangely absent. Alas, for poor Sir Reginald for his heart was quite taken by her and he dreamed of marriage to her one day. Now there was a mystery as to why the fair Isabel lived alone in poverty in a humble cottage when she had been born of a noble line and was, in fact, the heiress of vast and valuable estates. Read More Bomere Pool Bomere Pool is situated in the English county of Shropshire about 4.7 miles (7.5 km) south of Shrewsbury between Condover and Bayston Hill. The pool has several legends attached to it and presented here is a version of a tale that tells how a monster fish acquired the sword of Wild Eadric, an Anglo-Saxon war leader who had fought against the Norman Conquest of Britain. The Fish and the Sword The story tells how the squire of Condover was out with his friends in a boat on Bomere Pool enjoying a day of fishing. One of them hooked an enormous fish and it took the help of all of the party to pull it into the boat. The squire and his friends were astounded by the sheer size of the fish and a heated discussion arose concerning the girth of the monster. A wager was then placed betting that the fish was bigger around the waist than the squire. In a bid to compare the diameter of the fish to himself the squire took off his belt and with a lot of squeezing managed to fasten it around the girth of the fish. Read More The Legend of Saint Kenelm The earliest known account of the legend of Saint Kenelm was given by a monk from Worcester named Wilfin a derivative of which was found in a manuscript from the 12th century at Winchcombe Abbey. The legend tells how Kenelm inherited the throne of the English kingdom of Mercia as a young boy and fell victim to the jealousy of his sister and was murdered by his guardian and became venerated throughout Anglo-Saxon England. Quenhendra When Coenwulf, King of Mercia died in AD 819 he left behind two daughters, Quendryda and Dornemilde and a seven-year-old son, named Kenelm who was his heir. His sister, Dornemilde, loved him greatly and he loved her but Quendryda was jealous of her brother and wanted to be Queen and reign instead of him. To this end, she brewed a poison and tricked her brother into taking it but the poison proved to have no effect on him at all and he remained hale and hearty. Frustrated by her failure but still determined to bring about her desire she hatched a plot with her brother’s guardian. She gave him money and made him her lover and told him, “Slay my brother for me, that I may reign," and he being an evil man he agreed. That night Kenelm had a strange dream ... Read more Fair Rosamund Clifford The legend of Fair Rosamund tells the story of the beautiful Rosamund Clifford who was the mistress of Henry II the king of England and who controlled large parts of Wales, the eastern half of Ireland and the western half of France. Rosamund was a young woman who became caught up in an illicit love affair with the ruler of this empire. As well as Rosamund, Henry had a long list of mistresses but it was Rosamund that entered into legend. Who was Rosamund? Rosamund’s date of birth is uncertain but she was thought to have been born about 1150 and to have been the daughter of Walter de Clifford, a marcher lord, and his wife Margaret. Their main estate was thought to be Clifford Castle in Herefordshire, on the banks of the River Wye. Rosamund was believed to have been born at the Manor at Frampton-on-Severn where the village green is still known as Rosamund’s Green. She grew up to be a typical English rose and her beauty was to become the subject of many poems, ballads, stories and works of art all of which added to the legend and mystery of her life. Read More Petrification Myths: The Rollright Stones Complex - from Under the influence! On the borders of the English counties of Warwickshire and Oxfordshire, not far from the village of Long Compton, lies a mysterious complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age megaliths known as the Rollright Stones. Presented here is a brief description of the stone complex followed by a look at the petrification myth associated with it that fancifully attempts to explain its origin. The presentation concludes by briefly mentioning other stone circles and monoliths that also have petrification myths associated with them. The Rollright StonesThe Rollright Stones complex consists of three sets of monuments; the King Stone, the Whispering Knights and the King’s Men. The King Stone is a single standing stone set some 50 yards outside the stone ring which is separated from it by a road. The Whispering Knights was a burial chamber also outside the stone ring. The final set is a circle of stones called the King’s Men. The sets are not the same age as each other and all appear to have had different purposes. This leads scholars to think that the site had a strong tradition of ritual over a long period of time and had some kind of special significance during that time. With the timescale involved and the sheer mystery of their purpose perhaps it’s not surprising that a number of intriguing myths and legends have evolved as people throughout the ages attempted to explain their existence. Read More According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, the legendary Queen Cordelia was the youngest daughter of King Leir, of the Britons. She was unfairly rejected by her father for telling him a truth he should have known. Instead, he bestowed his favor upon her two sisters who falsely proclaimed their love for him for personal gain. It’s a story of how love, loyalty and forgiveness triumph over lies, deceit and greed and how a woman took up arms to fight in support of the father she loved and became one of the legendary warrior women of the Britons. The daughters of Leir Geoffrey tells us that King Leir had three daughters, Goneril, Regan and the youngest was Cordelia who was his favorite. As he approached old age he decided he would marry off his daughters and divide his kingdom up between them. Calling his advisors to him he asked for their advice and they told him to give his kingdom to those who loved him the most. Leir called his daughters to him and asked how much they loved him. Goneril and Regan fawned before him and flattered him greatly exaggerating their love for him. Read More Mitchell’s Fold Today, Mitchell’s Fold is the remains of a stone circle standing on a bleak heath in South West Shropshire. A local folktale tells of how the stone circle was originated. It tells that there was once a time of great and grievous famine that fell upon the country thereabouts. Many were faced with starvation and the people had to endure the most terrible struggle to survive. Fortunately for them there was a Good Witch who sent them a most wonderful cow that grazed upon the heath. Read More The British Isles are rich in history and tradition and there are many strange and wonderful legends gathered from folklore whose origins are lost in the mists of time. From these mists there have emerged many folk tales of spectral animals with strange and terrible powers that are said to haunt the forests, hills and remote byways of this ancient land. Perhaps one of the most terrifying of these is the legend of the Black Dog. Sightings of phantom Black Dogs have been recorded from many parts of Britain for many centuries, with encounters in England seeming to be the most prevalent. Most of the English counties report incidents and sighting of these mysterious beasts which are known by many names, depending on location. In East Anglia the beast is often known as Black Shuck where it has haunted the countryside even before the arrival of the Vikings. In Scotland there is the Cu Sith and in Tring, Hertfordshire, the Lean Dog and in other parts of England there is the Church, or Kirk, Grim and many other names. Read More The popular legend of how Lady Godiva rode naked on horse back through the streets of Coventry to save the people from a crippling and unjust tax known as the Heregild, is one of the most renowned stories in British folklore. The Heregild was a tax imposed on the English by the Danish King Canute to pay for his body guard. According to the legend the event happened on a market day and had profoundly beneficial consequences for the people of Coventry. The problem with legends is that there are often more than one versions of the same story and events that happened in the distant past get changed and exaggerated until it is difficult to discern the accuracy of accounts. This article presents a version of the popular legend of Lady Godiva as it exists today and has been put together from a number of other versions. It is the first of a planned series on the subject each of which will present different view points on the legend, such as the historical and pagan contexts of the story. Read more |
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