Returning with a splash, this episode I'm telling one of my favourite Irish tales. We're on the west coast and knives are out, the waves are rolling in, there's weird women and weddings, strange things lurk in deep waters and perhaps by the end of the story we'll finally answer the age old question: is everything really better down where it's wetter? Musical credits, sources and more at: https://talesofbritainandireland.com/episode-54-the-knife-against-the-wave/ #Folklore #Myths #Legends #IrishFolklore ..read more

A bonus Halloween episode featuring a very well known terrifying tale of a supernatural encounter in Cumbria. Featuring: Victorians!  A perfectly named gothic villain, who is not a villain! A surprising Irish detour! Unnecessary speculation and intimation on my behalf! And an image which has haunted the nightmares of generations of English children. Or at the very least... mine. Have a great Halloween and Samhain everyone, hope you enjoy this trip to the incredibly pleasing to say... Croglin Grange. Musical credits and sources at: Tales of Britain and Ireland: Croglin Grange #Folklore #My ..read more

This time we've an appropriately huge episode of tales about British Giants - all stuck together with a vague framing narrative involving the surprising return of one of the podcasts greatest villains/misunderstood just getting on with his life dudes to date. On the way we'll take in tiny elephants, wulvers, a mermaid, simps, cobblers, tall tales, unfortunate seagulls and slave driving saints in an episode suitably scaled for the topic. For sources and more visit the episode page on the website: https://talesofbritainandireland.com/episode-52-Giants/ #mythology #folkore #legends #folktales # L ..read more

A very special episode - the podcast's first ever expert discussion section! An interview with the world's leading boggart expert Dr Simon Young answering questions like what are boggarts, where would you find them, why do they look nothing like what we think of as Boggarts today? Followed by a very short story section about a boggart that isn't really a boggart. Just to round things off. Sources, musical credits and boggart artwork on the website https://talesofbritainandireland.com/episode-50-boggarts/   #Folklore #Mythology ..read more

The 50th episode! A huge milestone for me and I'm using it to concentrate on one of my favourite topics I've only touched on so far: Boggarts.  Boggarts abound in this selection of accounts featuring a surprising variety of supernatural sights - shrieking spectres, ghostly geese, inflatable sheep, ineffective graves and much much more.  Come to Boggartdom, meet the feeorin and found out more synonyms for terror than you ever thought you'd need!  Sources, musical credits and boggart artwork on the website https://talesofbritainandireland.com/episode-50-boggarts/ #folklore #story ..read more

This episode we've a nice normal fairy story about Elves, and one boy's bloody Tarantino-esque quest to get his ball back. For sources and more visit the episode page on the website: https://talesofbritainandireland.com/episode-49-Childe-Rowland/   #mythology #folkore #legends #folktales ..read more

This episode we're off to Glasgow - the largest city in Scotland, for stories about Saints and Monsters set along the river, by turns in a Dear Green Place and a gritty, deadly urban sprawl. Hear stories involving necromantic powers, cuckolding, fish, school children, dental operations gone wrong and all the other usual suspects. For sources and more visit the episode page on the website: https://talesofbritainandireland.com/episode-48-glasgow-gold-green-and-iron/   #mythology #folkore #legends #folktales ..read more

This episode we have a tale featuring Lancashire Witches, phenomenal cosmic power, a sort of gap year/nature documentary, an unexpected promotion and a story mash up that almost works if you squint, coming from the pen of Lancashire folklore's most unreliable narrator,  For musical credits, sources and more visit the website: https://talesofbritainandireland.com/episode-47-the-witch-of-eagles-crag/  #Myths #Legends #Folklore #Witches #Lacanshirefolklore ..read more

Branch Three of the Mabinogi(on) featuring marrying mothers, misty magic, market disruption, mice, milquetoast Manawydan and much much more! For musical credits, sources and more visit the website: https://talesofbritainandireland.com/episode-45-third-branch-of-the-mabinogion-manawydan/ #WelshMythology #Mabinogion #Mabinogi #Folklore #Myth ..read more

A tale of Fionn and the Fianna featuring heroism (maybe), murder (definitely), theft, even more animal transformations and other laddish pursuits. Stick around for the post credit sequence! For musical credits, sources and more visit the website: https://talesofbritainandireland.com/episode-43-fionn-pt-5-the-lad-of-the-skins/https://talesofbritainandireland.com/ #myth #mythology #folklore #Feniancycle #IrishMythology #FionnMacCumhaill ..read more