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Tag: #welshmarches

Bailiffs & Boundaries: History in the Landscape

Bailiffs & Boundaries: History in the Landscape

This is a blog about how a18th century map, a 7th century abbess and folklore collection on the 19th century may hold clues about an old processional route across the South Shropshire hills. The ‘Map of the Wastes of Earnstrey’ was made back in 1712 and shows a number of ‘gospel places’ marked at intervals across the top of Brown Clee, the tallest of the Clee Hills in Shropshire. Gospel places are where gospels were read, often local landmarks, to…

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Morris & Mari’s: The Fragility & Strength of Tradition & the Ritual Year

Morris & Mari’s: The Fragility & Strength of Tradition & the Ritual Year

A hot day in August. I am thinking. I am sitting high upon the Hill with my dog, Dan. Dragonflies and swifts dart over bracken. The gorse is snapping and cracking in the heat. I’m thinking about the fragility, and strength, of ‘tradition’ and the ritual year: how we practice it, how many are aware of it and what importance does it have in todays society? Should we differentiate between ‘quiet’ local customs carried out by families and grand ‘statement’…

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Hal-an tow, Jolly Rumbalow – Making Merry in the May !

Hal-an tow, Jolly Rumbalow – Making Merry in the May !

Hal-an-tow, jolly rumbalow!We were up long before the day-oTo welcome in the summerTo welcome in the May-o.The summer is a-coming inAnd winter’s gone away-o. Robin Hood and Little JohnHave both gone to the fair-o.And we will go to the merry greenwood, to see what they do there-o ~ Welcome to the merry and magical month of May! Out comes Jack, Robin Hood, the maypole and all the flowers in the greenwood, some with a ‘hey nonny -no’ and some without,…

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Eadric Silvaticus: Legend of the Wildwood & Shropshire Folk Hero…

Eadric Silvaticus: Legend of the Wildwood & Shropshire Folk Hero…

The Eleventh-Century Saxon Thegn Who Became A Nineteenth Century Folk Hero Eadric the Wild was one of the richest thegns (high ranking Saxon noblemen) in pre-Conquest Shropshire. He held land throughout the Welsh Marches and had much to lose following the Norman conquest. We know little about Eadric. Today his deeds are largely forgotten but his name survives through legend and folklore. In 1067 Eadric submitted to William swearing fealty to him along with other Saxon noblemen, including Harold Godwinson’s…

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