With its pretty thatched cottages, ancient church and walls of warm Cotswold stone, it seems an idyllic spot. Yet in 1875 the picturesque village of Long Compton made national headlines as ...
It dawned on me that I hadn’t seen the traditional Morris dancers in the village where I grew up lately – funny the things you miss that you took for ...
Most of this has been told to me by my Dad who lived in Stockton, and has been passed down via his parents, grandparents and other ancestors. My uncle (Mr. Syd ...
The Stockton boulder is outside Braunston House in Stockton (24 High Street). It had railings around it (as shown in the photograph) and these were removed for the war effort ...
So I decided it would be a good idea to go forth into the dark, and experience the wroth silver ceremony for the first time.
Coming from Stretton on Dunsmore, it’s ...
Dick Turpin, the infamous 18th century highwayman, is more commonly associated with York and London than with North Warwickshire. However, his ghost riding a phantom horse is reputed to travel ...
On 3 December 1867 John Davis was sentenced at the Warwickshire Assizes to 18 months’ hard labour for ‘wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm’ (HO 27/148). His victim ...
(continued from part one)
It is not just the word ‘witch’ that is still stigmatised, black cats have been tainted too. They are often depicted in popular culture as being a ...
Guy of Warwick is one of those figures, like Robin Hood and King Arthur, whose existence is more legend than history. His story has been told and re-told over the ...
In 2008 Living TV’s Most Haunted came to film a special episode at Warwick Castle. Whilst filming in the Watergate Tower celebrity ‘Spirit Medium’ Derek Acorah recounted in his memoir ...
Earlier, I set the background to Sir Fulke Greville’s murder, but it may be surprising to hear that the tale of Sir Fulke’s ghost is actually less than one hundred ...
Myth and history can sometimes be uneasy bedfellows, yet the mythic past can often be just as key as anything rooted in historical ‘fact’ when forging a community’s identity. Myth ...
Leamington Spa Courier – February 13th 1959
Harbury is mourning the loss of Mrs. Eleanor Overton, a noted village character, whose funeral was reported in our last issue. “Old Mother Overton,” ...
The name Newton Regis commemorates the ownership by King Henry II (reigned 1154-1189). From the 17th century, possibly because at the time royalty was out of favour under the Commonwealth, ...
A number of accounts of Warwickshire folklore include tales of a strange booming sound heard in the vicinity of the village of Mickleton. The source of this noise was reputed ...
A very ancient ceremony takes place each year on November 11th just before dawn at Knightlow Cross in Ryton on Dunsmore (see photo). The collection of Wroth Silver dates back ...
Archives are full of unexpected things. Century old secrets can be read in countless bundles of personal letters, and evidence for all sorts of events pieced together using various accounts ...
St Fremund
St Fremund was reputedly a relative of King Offa of Mercia. He became a hermit and lived at Prescote near Cropredy (or Caerlon on Wye, or on an island ...
I was recently introduced to the modern folk song ‘One Day’ by Martin Simpson, based on a poem by Martin Taylor, which was written on the loss of his son1. ...