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What if a county's ghost stories, healing charms and yearly feasts could reveal the texture of ordinary life?
In Lancashire Folk-lore, John Harland and Thomas Turner Wilkinson explore the beliefs and customs of a county facing rapid change. Railways, factories and schools reshape Lancashire life, while witches, household spirits and healing charms fill its local lore. The county's old dialect also appears, bringing you closer to the words people use for their world.
This collection moves from witches and wizards to boggarts, fairies and ghosts, then into charms, holy wells and calendar customs. The Pendle witches stand among its best-known subjects. Local legends also bind stories to places, including Mab's Cross near Wigan. Rather than follow one plot, you explore the many ways people explain illness, mark the year and remember their landscape.
What you’ll discover
- Witches of Pendle Hill Explore the county's witchcraft lore, including the people tried at Lancaster in 1612.
- Unseen household company Meet boggarts, fairies and ghosts in some of the collection's liveliest accounts.
- Charms and holy wells Discover remedies and beliefs people turn to when doctors are hard to reach.
- A year of customs Enter the world of wakes, where local festivals bring feasting, sport and family reunions.
- Stories rooted in place Follow legends such as Mab's Cross, where tradition links a landmark with penance.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who love ghost stories, local legends, old customs and odd corners of English history, and anyone curious about witches, charms, haunted halls and the roots of habits we still keep.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Ordinary people carry a shared memory
- Old beliefs survive under new names
- Royal hopes rest on promised gold
- True knowledge can support false conclusions
- Daily events become signs of tomorrow
- Boggarts give local fears a home
- Devil tales reveal wit and fear
- Fear turns poor neighbours into witches
- Small habits hold a deeper past
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Lancashire Folk-lore
by John Harland; Thomas Turner Wilkinson · 1867
A schoolmaster in Cockerham sets the devil three tasks, and a rope of sand ends it.
Challenging5–10 hours to read20 languages
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“Clayton Hall Boggart shall no more be seen.”
In short
What do you do when your bread will not rise? In old Lancashire, you mark the dough with a cross, because a heavy loaf means a witch has been at work.
Lancashire Folk-lore at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 55 min4 h 40 min fast, 7 h slow
- Length
- 84,100 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1867by John Harland; Thomas Turner Wilkinson
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Folklore is the learning of ordinary people
Folk-lore joins two Old English roots, folc for the people and lar for teaching. The editors use it for the beliefs of ordinary people, passed down through tales, rhymes, sayings and habits rather than books.
Why Lancashire? The county had no collected record, though it is rich in lore. Celts, Angles, Scandinavians and Normans each settled here and left beliefs behind. One editor remembers customs from his rural childhood. The other can compare them with East Yorkshire and spot the same belief wearing different clothes.
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Details
- First published
- 1867
- Language
- English
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Harland, John, and Thomas Turner Wilkinson. Lancashire Folk-lore. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/lancashire-folk-lore.
Harland, J., & Wilkinson, T. T. (2026). Lancashire folk-lore. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/lancashire-folk-lore (Original work published 1867)
Harland, John, and Thomas Turner Wilkinson. Lancashire Folk-lore. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/lancashire-folk-lore.
@book{harland2026lancashire,
author = {Harland, John and Wilkinson, Thomas Turner},
title = {Lancashire Folk-lore},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/lancashire-folk-lore},
note = {First published 1867}
}
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What is Lancashire Folk-lore about?
It collects the superstitions, charms, ghosts, witch tales and seasonal customs of Lancashire, from alchemy and boggarts to Easter pace-egging, wedding and funeral habits, and old manor duties, with the editors tracing where each belief began.
What is a boggart?
A boggart is a Lancashire sprite or ghost. Some haunt lonely lanes and gates, while house boggarts help or spoil the farm work, and the editors link the name to an old word for a gate ghost.
What were the Pendle witch trials?
In 1612 twenty people from Pendle Forest and Samlesbury were committed for trial at Lancaster. The book names Old Demdike, Chattox and Alice Nutter, and ten people were hanged on 20 August 1612.
The author
John Harland
1806–1868 · British journalist and historian
John Harland (1806–1868) was a British journalist and historian. He was born in Hull and later lived in Manchester, where he worked for the Manchester Guardian. He wrote about Lancashire’s history and traditions. With Thomas Turner Wilkinson, he published Lancashire Folk-lore in 1867. He died in Manchester in 1868.
“Clayton Hall Boggart shall no more be seen.”
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