This is a cracking book with which to end 2022.
As the blurb says: 'According to legend, the English landscape - so calm on the surface - is really the Devil's work. Cloven Country tells of rocks hurled into place and valleys carved out by infernal labour. The Devil's hideous strength laid down great roads in one night, and left scars everywhere as the hard stone melted like wax under those burning feet. With roots in medieval folklore, this is not the Satan of prayer, but a clumsy ogre, easily fooled by humankind. When a smart cobbler or cunning young wife outwitted him, they struck a blow for the underdog. Only the wicked squire and grasping merchant were beyond redemption, carried off by a black huntsman in the storm.'
It's a fantastic, well-researched and passionately written travelogue of all the sites in the UK where the Devil is supposed to have conducted some sort of business or where festivals, rituals and events are still held today to keep Old Nick away. It certainly resonates with me as I spent much of my childhood taking part in the Hal-An-Tow mumming play in which St Michael defeats the Devil and supposedly gave my Cornish hometown of Helston its name (see here).
Jeremy Harte's books include Explore Fairy Traditions, which won the Katharine Briggs Award in 2005. He is co-editor of the journal Time and Mind, and in 2006 was elected to the Committee of the Folklore Society. He is curator of Bourne Hall Museum in Surrey.
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