Folklore and customs by Dr Peter Millington

Printed

As with all other local history topics, information on Nottinghamshire folklore may be gleaned from the usual range of printed media – books, magazines and newspapers. Much of the information may be second hand, third hand, or even further removed from the source, and unfortunately often relayed without reference to the original. This causes a number of problems of misattribution, unchecked extrapolation of facts from one location or district to another, and so on. This is probably more of a problem with folklore than with other subjects where the focus is more on named places and individuals, and specific historical events.

As with all other local history topics, information on Nottinghamshire folklore may be gleaned from the usual range of printed media – books, magazines and newspapers. Much of the information may be second hand, third hand, or even further removed from the source, and unfortunately often relayed without reference to the original. This causes a number of problems of misattribution, unchecked extrapolation of facts from one location or district to another, and so on. This is probably more of a problem with folklore than with other subjects where the focus is more on named places and individuals, and specific historical events.

As an example, many articles and book chapters relating to Plough Monday in Nottinghamshire mention ‘Plough Lights’ having been maintained in churches before the Reformation, the implication being that this is what happened in Nottinghamshire. In fact, virtually all these references ultimately derive from records from just three Norfolk villages, and although some corroborative accounts have since been found from Lincolnshire, there is no evidence for Plough Lights in our own county.

Evidently, it is particularly important to try and verify any folklore information found in printed media. In some cases it may be clear that the account is first hand from a participant or eye witness. If other sources are quoted, it is often advisable to follow these up and check they have not been rephrased or misinterpreted. There may also be assertions that require corroborative evidence.

As mentioned in the Subject Overview, there are no comprehensive books relating specifically to Nottinghamshire folklore. There are, however, a few smaller books and booklets that give an overview or cover specific aspects. Setting aside the special cases of Robin Hood and the Wise Men of Gotham, there are booklets covering maypoles, ghosts, the carolling tradition in Beeston, etc. While these are very welcome, more often one has to rely on general books and articles, which might be local history works or autobiographical pieces. The folklore content may be hard to find, however. If you are lucky enough to find an index or a detailed list of contents, these mostly tend to list place names, personal names, and historical events - not recurring events, customs, and superstitions. General headings or index entries such as ‘folklore’ or ‘customs’ are unusual, and specific topics may be difficult to guess, unless you are searching for something particular. Headings such as ‘Sports and Pastimes’, ‘Leisure’, and similar are often worthy of closer inspection.

Primary

A wealth of primary information on folklore-related matters can be found in local newspapers and county magazines such as Nottinghamshire Countryside. Apart from the news reporting of seasonal customs discussed under Graphic Resources, the Local Notes and Queries columns that appeared in the weeklies until the mid-20th century, and readers’ letters columns are particularly good places to look. However, such is the size of the haystack within which one has to search for the folklore needle, it can be a very labour-intensive task. For calendar customs, one approach is to scan through all the issues around the relevant time of year, which I have known to be done for Plough Monday. This is a good way of becoming familiar with the workings of microfilm readers! Obviously, this approach is not feasible for non-calendar-related folklore.

Fortunately, some help is available. All the Local Notes and Queries columns, and a good many general news items and books were indexed by William Elliott Doubleday, giving us the core of the massive card index that sits in the Nottingham Local Studies Library. This has general subject headings for ‘Customs’ and ‘Folklore’ as well more specific headings for particular subjects such as Plough Monday, Ghosts, etc., with appropriate cross-references under the names of individual villages. Additionally, the Nottinghamshire Library Service took advantage of the Youth Opportunities Schemes in the 1970s and 80s to create indexes of many of the outlying local newspapers. The quality of these card indexes can be patchy, but in this case, half a loaf is better than none. Where they exist, these newspaper indexes are held in the local studies sections of the relevant branch library. With the advent of the new millennium, most local newspapers now have an online presence, sometimes with the option to search through back issues, albeit usually without the photographs.

In addition to the popular press, the more academic county journals may contain primary information relating to folklore. Notts & Derbyshire Notes & Queries, which ran from 1892 to 1898 has some useful folklore information. The local historical journals Nottinghamshire Historian and the Transactions of the Thoroton Society also occasionally include articles of interest to folklorists.

Primary information can sometimes be found in books – usually autobiographies, although single-village local histories may also include original material. One useful resource, but one you need to be wary of, are the county books about village life published periodically by the Federation of Women’s Institutes (WI). The chapters for each village are prepared by the relevant local WI, each using their own approach. In some cases the chapter will be a compilation of the personal memories of the members, which is very useful. In other cases, the chapter will have been prepared by someone with an interest in local history and may mainly be a digest of existing published sources, with all the potential pitfalls that have been discussed above.

Secondary

The arrangement of secondary sources in the following bibliography mirrors the arrangement of the Subject Overview although it has not been possible to provide Nottinghamshire sources for all the subject headings.

General folklore

Compiled by two prominent members of the Folklore Society, this dictionary contains a few entries specific to Nottinghamshire. However, the chief merit lies in its authoritative no-nonsense overviews of the complete range of English folklore topics, along with follow-up references.

This erudite book focuses on the history and development of British customs, in particular sorting out the wheat from the chaff regarding the various theories of origin for specific customs. Hutton shows that many English customs are comparatively recent, having arisen or been reinvented since the hiatus of the Commonwealth period.

This is a compilation of material that first appeared the previous year in the ‘Notes & Queries’ column of the Nottinghamshire Guardian. It contains a significant number of folklore items, many of which are effectively primary sources.

To some degree, this popular booklet replicates material in Brown’s Notes about Notts.

It seems probable that much of Jewitt’s material was second or third hand, and in some cases he may have extrapolated inappropriately from information from neighbouring counties.

This compilation includes many Nottinghamshire items, mostly taken directly from primary sources.

Seasonal or Calendar Customs

See also below under Folk Drama for seasonal folk plays and for Plough Monday customs

Folk song

Folk tales - general

The most prominent collector of English folk tales was Katherine Briggs (1898-1980), whose four-volume magnum opus contains a number of tales from or relating to Nottinghamshire:

Folk tales - Robin Hood

Publishing books and articles on Robin Hood is quite an industry with several volumes appearing most years, especially when there is a new movie or TV series out. They vary from high quality academic works to downright modern fiction. What follows is therefore of necessity only a selection, and no doubt could be improved upon.

The prime source for the Robin Hood ballads is:

Other academic publications that cover the history of Robin Hood and his legends include:

Folk tales - The Wise Men of Gotham

Again, this is a selective bibliography that no doubt could be improved upon.

Available at www.thebookofdays.com/months/april/1.htm, Accessed 15th Jan.2008

Folk drama

Further information on Nottinghamshire folk drama and the related Plough Monday customs can be found using:

While focusing on folk drama and Plough Monday, this online database also indexes other incidental folklore items encountered in the sources it covers.

…this bibliography updated the earlier…

Twenty or so Nottinghamshire folk play scripts are available online - follow the links in the list at:

Child-lore

The books by the Opies while national in scope include numerous items from Nottinghamshire. Blue Bell Hill Games includes much playground material from the Blue Bell Hill Primary & Nursery School, Nottingham. Willughby’s Book of Games may also have some Notts focus.

Beliefs and the supernatural

The above website replicates much of David Haslam's book. It has sections entitled: “Newstead Abbey's ghostly goings on”, “'SpookCam' of Newstead Abbey”, “Creepy encounters in the Castle”, “Tales from the Trip”, “Highway Legends” and “Your Ghost Stories”.