Folklore of the Lake District by artist and film maker Stephen G. Rae, offering stories of ghosts, goblins and more, is now available from Folk Lore Press.
The book offers bitesize tales of elves and giants, faeries and goblins; of dragons, King Arthur and Merlin the magician; witches and wizards; gods, goddesses and sinners; poetry, song and dance; from mighty trees to hairy fish.
Come on a magical journey in folklore through the Lake District and its surrounding counties.
“I’ve written sixty articles on Cumbrian folklore over the past few years,” says Stephen, who lives in Cumbria, “So I’ve chosen my favourite tales from all this research.”
The stories include the tale of the White Dobbie, a wandering spirit said to travel between Bardsea and Rampside with a white hare, and the Esthwaite Boggart, a shape-shifting goblin that appears in both animal and human form.
Buy it here from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
Boggarts, Brownies, Hobs and their Goblin Kin; and Encyclopedia of World Folklore, also by Stephen, is due for release in September.
Born in Scotland, Stephen G. Rae’s first degree led him into a career in science and agronomy, both in the UK and in Developing Countries. Upon returning from overseas he studied performance art, filmmaking and contemporary costume design, then a BA with Honours in Fine Art at Cumbria Institute of the Arts.
He was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts in 2016, and founded Bardsea-Green Films as a group of filmmakers, folklorists and performance artists making sketch series, short films, and documentary.
In 2018, he began sharing folk tales and Druid mythology as the Bard of Cumberland; and exploring folklore through the medium of short film. Land of Lore Films was founded in 2020.
His Bardsea-Green projects include a documentary on the abandoned Jaws-style thriller, The Pike, based on the novel of the same name by the Mancunian actor, film screenwriter, producer, composer and novelist Cliff Twemlow, starring Joan Collins, with filming planned around Lake Windermere.
Sadly, due to technical problems with the performance of the mechanical pike and despite the author diving in to help the pike along filming never progressed and, unable to secure funding, the film was abandoned.
(Anglers the world over still hope it might happen, while dismissive of claims from Twemlow that “the largest pike ever caught was nineteen foot.”).
Little is known of the whereabouts of the mechanical pike made by Ulverston-based Ulvertek, featured in contemporary news reports, but however Low Wood Bay Watersports Centre are the proud owners of the life-size fibreglass model of ‘The Pike’ that was produced at the same time as the mechanical version. It is can be seen displayed nose down as their “catch of the day”, outside the Watersports Centre.
Cliff Twemlow, who died in 1993 wrote, produced and starred in G.B.H. Grievous Bodily Harm, one of the earliest British films to be shot on video, which sold over 10,000 copies in its first month of release
• Folklore of the Lake District by Stephen G. Rae is available in print and ebook; online or can be ordered at your local bookshop | ISBN: 978-1068263804 | Buy it from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
If you are a bookshop, Folklore of the Lake District will be available from most wholesale suppliers, or contact Stephen direct about ordering copies via thefolklorepressATgmail.com
Head downthetubes for…
• Bard of Cumberland | Bardsea-Green Films on YouTube |
• English Lakes: Joan Collins was set to star in film ‘The Pike’ shot on Lake Windermere
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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