Lancashire Folk-lore

Lancashire Folk-lore gathers the beliefs, legends, customs, charms, proverbial sayings, and seasonal observances of a county rich in vernacular memory. Moving between anecdote, antiquarian record, oral tale, ritual description, and local history, the volume captures a world of boggarts, witches, omens, healing practices, household rites, and calendar festivities. Situated within the nineteenth-century impulse to preserve regional traditions before industrial modernity effaced them, it presents folklore as both literary inheritance and social document. Thomas Turner Wilkinson and John Harland write from the standpoint of Victorian antiquarian scholarship, combining local knowledge with a broader interest in popular tradition. Their work aligns with the emerging folklore movement, in which oral culture, dialect, superstition, and communal practice became subjects worthy of systematic attention. Together, their collected materials illuminate Lancashires cultural landscape: rural and urban, sacred and secular, comic and uncanny, shaped by memory, class, labor, religion, and place. This volume is ideal for readers interested in folklore, regional history, Victorian studies, or the imaginative life of everyday communities. It offers a rare opportunity to encounter many forms of popular expression in one carefully assembled collection, encouraging comparison between belief, narrative, and custom. Educational, atmospheric, and richly varied, Lancashire Folk-lore invites readers into a continuing dialogue between local tradition and literary culture.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance.