Book description
Pirates and smugglers, ghost ships and sea-serpents, fishermen's
prayers and sailors' rituals - the coastline of the British Isles
plays host to an astonishingly rich variety of local legends, customs,
and superstitions.
In The Fabled Coast, renowned folklorists Sophia Kingshill
and Jennifer Westwood gather together the most enthralling tales and
traditions, tracing their origins and examining the facts behind the
legends. Was there ever such a beast as the monstrous Kraken? Did a
Welsh prince discover America, centuries before Columbus? What
happened to the missing crew of the Mary Celeste? Along the
way, they recount the stories that are an integral part of our coastal
heritage, such as the tale of Drake's Drum, said to be heard when
England was in peril, and the mythical island of Hy Brazil, which for
centuries appeared on sea charts and maps to the west of Ireland. The
result is an endlessly fascinating, often surprising journey through
our island history.
SOPHIA KINGSHILL is the author of a previous book with Jennifer
Westwood, The Lore of Scotland, which was published by Random
House in 2009. She also writes for the theatre, and her plays have
been performed in Scotland, England, and Norway.
JENNIFER WESTWOOD was born in 1940 and studied English Language at
Oxford, followed by Medieval Icelandic at Cambridge. A long-time
member of the Folklore Society, she served as editor of FLS Books and
also the journal Folklore. Her books include Albion: A Guide
to Legendary Britain (1985), Gothick Cornwall (1992),
Lost Atlantis (1997), On Pilgrimage (2003), The
Lore of the Land (2005, with Jacqueline Simpson), and The
Lore of Scotland (2009, with Sophia Kingshill). When she died in
2008, she left a wealth of material for her most cherished project, a
collection of British sea and coastal legend, which is embodied in
this book.
