The Three Ravens Podcast

Cover your faces and wield your flintlocks with care, as on this month's Forgotten Melodies bonus episode we're talking all about Villain Songs - in particular, Van Diemen's Land, The Female Highwayman, and The Lincolnshire Poacher! As ever, the episode contains new takes on all three of these songs from Eleanor and Ben, as well as plenty of chat about the history behind each song, and the English...

On the week's episode of Three Ravens we're mining out the black gold of history and folklore of Staffordshire - a county with some pretty dark parts, and some very silly ones, too. We start off discussing the tradition of Rogationtide, a week-long celebration that would have started today, which basically involved smacking the ghosts out of your village, all before we sally forth to Staffordshire...

On this week's episode of Local Legends, Martin is joined around the campfire by Dr Rory Waterman and Dr Anna Milon of the Lincolnshire Folk Tales Project! Rory leads the Lincolnshire Folk Tales project, and is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing and Modern & Contemporary Literature at Nottingham Trent University. Anna, meanwhile, is a postdoctoral research fellow on the Lincolnshire Fo...

For this week's Bonus Episode we're padding through mists on silent paws and peering, with eyes of flame, at the history and folklore of Hellhounds! With so much to talk about, there's no mucking around: we dive straight into prehistory, discussing how humankind's domestication of the dog set the stage for conceptions of the Hellhound. From our earliest rock art through to the very first toys and...

On the week's episode we're digging into the history and folklore of Lincolnshire, and disturbing a monster in the woods that lives beside a half-forgotten well... We start off discussing St Dunstan's Day, including Dunstan's life as an English folk hero, and what the historical record tells us he actually did, all before we advance to Lincolnshire. Once there, we chat about the some county trivia...

On this week's episode of Local Legends, Martin is joined around the campfire by Emma Heard, the creator of perhaps the country's preeminent folklore blog, Weird Wiltshire ! As Emma and Martin discuss during this conversation, Emma launched Weird Wiltshire during the pandemic. Originally intended as a means for Emma to explore her interests in folklore and paranormal activity, it then took off, wi...

On this month's episode of Magic and Medicines , Eleanor is guiding us through the history of Alchemy, from turning base metals into gold to the truth behind the Philosopher's Stone to much more besides! We start off talking about how several traditions we might recognise as 'Alchemy' grew up in isolation in the ancient world, including in Ancient China, Ancient Greece, and across the Middle East....

This week, on the first of the 'Final Five' episodes in our second lap around England's 39 historic counties, we're digging into the sacred ritual landscape of Wiltshire, and getting weird! We start off discussing St Pancras Day, including Pancras' martyrdom in 4th century Rome when he was a mere teenager, before his bones went on tour with St Augustine, all before we wander to Wiltshire in Englan...

We’re on a break at the moment to get married and enjoy a bit of time either side of our wedding, but, to fill the gap, this is the second of two new compilation episodes containing a trio of stories from across our earlier series. We have entitled this episode Three Tragedies , because these stories all involve the impacts of loss – be that the loss of an idea, the loss of a way of living, or the...

In the fourth episode of our "Fairy Book Project," Martin tells The Yellow Dwarf - a picaresque adventure about fire-breathing basilisks, how mermaids champion the course of true love, and the dangers of indulging children... If you are unfamiliar with the Lang Fairy Tales, these seminal collections were assembled between 1889 and 1913 by a married couple, folklorists and translators Nora and Andr...

In the third episode of our "Fairy Book Project," Eleanor tells The Tale Of A Youth Who Set Out To Learn What Fear Was - a surprisingly macabre ghost story about stampeding beds, how older people can often be quite rotten to younger ones, and the benefits of bravery... If you are unfamiliar with the Lang Fairy Tales, these seminal collections were assembled between 1889 and 1913 by a married coupl...

We’re on a break at the moment to get married and enjoy a bit of time either side of our wedding, but, to fill the gap, this is the first of two new compilation episodes containing a trio of stories from across our earlier series. We have entitled this episode Three Weird Tales because these are tales about such strange folkloric concepts, there’s no easy to just explain them away. They include ou...

In the second episode of our "Fairy Book Project," Eleanor tells Prince Hyacinth And The Dear Little Princess - a story about the bliss of ignorance, dubious fairy wisdom, and about how truly enormous noses can obstruct the path of true love... If you are unfamiliar with the Lang Fairy Tales, these seminal collections were assembled between 1889 and 1913 by a married couple, folklorists and transl...

In this first episode in what we have been calling our "Fairy Book Project," Martin tells The Bronze Ring - a story about the nature of nobility, talking mice, evil sorcerers, and why you should always be nice to old ladies... If you are unfamiliar with the Lang Fairy Tales, these seminal collections were assembled between 1889 and 1913 by a married couple, folklorists and translators Nora and And...

On this week's episode of Local Legends, Martin is joined by folk musician, editor of Facts & Fiction magazine, and author of books including Derbyshire Folk Tales , Pete Castle. If you’re part of the storytelling world then you will likely know of Pete already. Likewise, if you are an English folk musician, as, after a career spanning almost 50 years, including the release of literally dozens...

On this month's episode of Magus we are travelling all about Renaissance Europe and up through the layers of the heavens to undertake divine revelations into the life, times, and accomplishments of Giordano Bruno! From Bruno's early life as a Dominican priest, forced to flee one of six popes he thoroughly annoyed, right up to his horrid execution in the Campo de' Fiori, we're running through a wil...

On this week's episode of Three Ravens we're off to the land of the Dark Peak and the White, exploring to history and folklore of Derbyshire! We start off by chatting through traditions associated with Easter Monday festivities, and the live of St Anselm, who we conclude ought to be the Patron Saint of Jerks, all before we depart for Derbyshire in England's East Midlands. With Martin having absolu...

On this week's episode of Local Legends, Martin is joined by blogger, museum worker, tour guide, and all-round champion for Herefordshire, The Herefordian Historian. Real name Tom Quinsey, The Herefordian Historian was born in Swansea and is an identical twin. His parents, who are both from Herefordshire, eventually settled back there before Tom turned 10 years old - but even before then he had de...

For this month's Forgotten Melodies bonus episode we're talking all about Fair Songs - in particular, Scarborough Fair, Brigg Fair and Widecombe Fair - and the histories behind these iconic tunes. The episode of course features new takes on all three of these songs, 'Scarborough Fair,' 'Brigg Fair' and 'Widecombe Fair,' and this time it's not just Eleanor and Ben singing, but our friend and collab...

On this week's episode of Three Ravens we're heading into disputed territory: Herefordshire in the Welsh Marches, which is a county with so much history and folklore! We start off by going over all Queer Eye and giving April 14th a makeover, concluding that, while we could make this 'Nothing Day' about gardening, or ice skating on bone-bladed skates, it really ought to be a day devoted to the cele...

On this week's episode of Local Legends, Martin is joined by storyteller, library manager, and Secretary of the Leicestershire and Rutland Guild of Storytelling, Matthew Vaughan. Matt has been a storyteller for well over a decade. Since 2011 he has also worked in East Midlands’ Public Library Services, and, in addition to working as a storyteller in Early Years, Primary Schools, Secondary Schools,...

For this week's Bonus Episode we're basking on slippery rocks, swishing our tails, and looking into the magic mirror of Mermaid history and folklore, combing our hair all the while! We start off chatting about the plethora of 19th century Mermaid-themed media, from paintings and plays to poems and songs, all of which paved the way for our modern perception of merfolk. Then though, we swim against...

On this week's episode of Three Ravens we're off to Rutland to explore the history and folklore of England's smallest county - on the back of a dinosaur! We start off chatting about a couple of beautifully obscure traditions that take place around this time each year, including one involving a jacket on a flagpole and another relating to a Secret Society in Somerset, after which we ramble on to Ru...

On this week's episode of Local Legends, Martin is joined by the hosts of the Eerie Essex podcast, Ailsa Clarke and Bethan Briggs-Miller! Ailsa and Bethan have been at this here podcasting malarkey since the pandemic, and it’s highly likely that you are already familiar with Eerie Essex. If you’ve never had the pleasure to listening to them though, well, you’re in for a treat! In this episode Ails...

On this week's Bonus Episode, Eleanor leads us through the libraries of early medical history to guide us through Leech Books and early medical texts! We start off talking about the book generally thought to be the oldest 'English' medical text, Bald's Leech Book, discussing how the Medieval mind perceived of ailments - namely as issues interlinked with spiritual and supernatural problems, not jus...