Icy Sedgwick's Blog, page 11
August 19, 2023
Cardiff Folklore: Ghosts, Tunnels, and Creatures in the Taff
Cardiff, capital of Wales, has a history that dates back some 6000 years. Naturally, it’s amassed a lot of legends in all that time. Cardiff folklore isn’t just about ancient stories either. According to Reddit, there’s a legend of the Beast of Leckwith. In the story, the beast is a panther, released by its owner […]
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August 12, 2023
The Mysterious Miniature Coffins found on Edinburgh’s Arthur’s Seat
Arthur’s Seat is the ancient, extinct volcano that lies just a mile to the east of Edinburgh Castle. Myths cling to its peak like mist in the autumn, but one particular mystery is far from ancient. In 1836, some boys hunting rabbits on the hill found a strange hoard of miniature coffins hidden in a […]
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August 5, 2023
Exploring the myths of the Charterhouse Plague Pit
Watching the progress of the Crossrail construction project was fascinating in terms of what was unearthed. The Charterhouse Plague Pit was one such buried secret, first uncovered in March 2013. Charterhouse lies between Clerkenwell and Smithfield, just north of the City of London. The area is allegedly rife with plague pits, although if you believe […]
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July 29, 2023
Meet Minerva, Goddess of Intellect, Inspiration & the Arts
Minerva is one of the most recognisable Roman goddesses, with her shield and helmet. She continues to gaze at us whenever we see depictions of Britannia. But she’s also one of my favourite goddesses because she completely defies the contemporary tendency to consider all goddesses as either mother figures or love deities. Instead, Minerva is […]
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July 22, 2023
Meet Vulcan, Roman God of Fire, Volcanoes and Blacksmiths
For some among you, Vulcan conjures mental images of Star Trek, with the name being that of the planet Spock calls home. For others, you’ll know Vulcan as the Roman god of fire, volcanoes, and blacksmiths. That’s the incarnation of Vulcan we’ll be looking at in this article. He’s the equivalent of the Greek Hephaestus. […]
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July 15, 2023
Meet Juno, Queen of the Gods and Protector of the Roman State
Depending on who you ask, Juno is either a NASA space probe studying Jupiter, or she’s the Roman queen of the gods, wife of Jupiter, god of thunder. As the Roman counterpart of Hera, the wife of Zeus in Greek mythology, she’s often characterised as a jealous, bitter, and vindictive wife, often punishing the nymphs […]
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July 8, 2023
Meet Silvanus, Roman god of the wild and nature
Roman mythology offers plenty of gods associated with the natural world – just look at Neptune and his dominion over the sea, or Luna’s role as goddess of the moon. Yet it also offers a god of nature itself in the form of Silvanus. But he was also so much more than a nature god. […]
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June 24, 2023
What Are Redcaps And Why Should You Avoid Their Lair?
For the unwary visitor to their lair, redcaps can be deeply dangerous creatures. These malevolent little folk are classified ‘goblins’ and that’s a word that’s rarely attached to anything positive. While they do appear in northern European folklore, they’re most often found in Border folklore. In many ways, it’s hardly surprising. The Border region is […]
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June 17, 2023
What is the legend of the Brinkburn Bells in Northumberland?
Church bells appear in a range of ways within folklore. Sometimes they continue to ring far beneath the waves in a church under the sea. Or perhaps their peeling in the darkness guided a lost traveller back to the path and away from danger. In some tales, they’re stolen by the Devil, or by mermaids. […]
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June 10, 2023
Tales of Northern Vampires: Ancient Revenants in the Borders and Cumbria
A lot of northern folklore includes the figures you’d expect to see – fairies, ghosts, brownies, and black dogs. But you might not expect to see northern vampires among the folk tales and legends. Yet three tales about vampires in the north, most notably in Berwick, Alnwick, and Melrose, occur in the historical record Canon […]
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