Courtship and Marriage; Death and Funerals

Description

This file contains items on marriage customs, death and funeral customs and beliefs, and ghosts. This includes ms. and typed correspondence between R. W. Crosland and Tony Green on the custom of bidding to funerals (January - February 1961); Mary Corbett Harris's article on funeral customs in Wales, extracted from 'Country Life' (31 May 1973), p. 1558; an ms. account of the custom of placing salt on the breast of the deceased, collected from Miss M. Bown of Clayton Magna (Leicestershire) by John Daniell (29 December 1962); Elizabeth P. Taylor's article, 'The Victorian Way of Death', extracted from 'Country Life' (30 April 1970), pp. 1016 and 1019; Frank Sykes' article on the ghost of Grey Dougal, extracted from 'Country Life' (31 December 1970), p. 1293; a typed account of the legend of the Green Lady at Woodrow High House, near Amersham, collected from Mrs. Lewis by Judith Higgs (ca. November 1972?); James Wentworth Day's article on hauntings at Chingle Hall, Lancashire, extracted from
'Country Life' (7 December 1967), pp. 1460-1461; and mounted magazine and newspaper cuttings from 'Country Life', the 'Yorkshire Post', the 'Yorkshire Evening Post', the 'Northern Echo', the 'Bradford Telegraph and Argus', the 'Colne Times' and 'Old Cornwall', on wedding anniversaries, Sunday parades in Leeds, bridal customs, the Cleveland custom of firing a gun on wedding days to ward off airborne evil spirits, a marriage custom from Dunmow (Essex), wife-selling, funeral customs (including ringing the passing bell, the placing of cresheens in Cong (County Mayo), and coffin garlands), the ghost of Grafton Street in Bradford, ghosts in Colne (Lancashire), the haunted bal carpenters' at Towednack (Cornwall), and a sighting of ghost horsemen in Tatsfield (Kent).


The files are retained in original classification order, and chronologically within this.

Access and usage

Reproduction

Access

There are no access restrictions on items in the Folk Life File.

Material in this collection is in copyright. Photocopies or digital images can only be supplied by the Library for research or private study within the terms of copyright legislation. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain the copyright holder's permission to reproduce for any other purpose. Guidance is available on tracing copyright status and ownership.

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