Adam Batchelor
I was inspired to create an object that I imagined was held and kept safe by a Suffolk ploughman, a member of the Society of the Horseman’s Word. Hidden inside an old matchbox contains a rare spell involving a toad thrown into a river at midnight, this was performed by East Anglian ploughmen who wished to sell their soul to the devil in order to obtain power and control over horses.
During my research I found a letter from a man who obtained this knowledge from an old ploughman from Shadingfield in Suffolk, the neighbouring village to where I live and grew up.
I stumbled across this myth in the “horse in the furrow” by George Ewart Evans, a book all about the history of our plough horses and most importantly the Suffolk punch.
I’ve included an additional link here if you wish to read more, it’s fascinating:
https://daily.jstor.org/the-toadmen-masters-of-equine-magic/
Aedamer Long
Based on the Hikey Sprites of Norfolk, picturing them messing around when everyone is gone.
Alan Rutter
One of the most notable reports of Black Shuck is of his appearance at the churches of Bungay and Blythburgh in Suffolk. On 4 August 1577, at Blythburgh, Black Shuck is said to have burst in through the doors of Holy Trinity Church to a clap of thunder. He ran up the nave, past a large congregation, killing a man and boy and causing the church steeple to collapse through the roof. As the dog left, he left scorch marks on the north door which can be seen at th‘Green Man Bellarmine’ .
Alison Croucher
Owd Rugman a Norfolk legend.
The devil dog of Lyng, Lenwade and Attlebridge.
A little known fiend who roamed these few Norfolk villages in the 1890s.
On a dark night this spectral hound padded in the shadows, along the lanes and byways terrorizing the locals….grrrrrrr
Amy Silburn-Slater
I am fascinated with Witch bottles and in turn, the Bellarmines that were often used as the vessel. Bellarmines are beautiful, salt glazed, stoneware jugs, made mostly in Germany in the 17th Century. They were made in all shapes and sizes, earthy salt glazes and each one with a bearded man’s face on the neck/top of the body of the bottle. Sometimes grizzly, sometimes happy and sometimes a little odd, this face is the bit I love the most. Back in the good ol’ days, these bottles were sometimes used as ‘Witch Bottles’ which would ward off evil or banish a curse or witch from a person. The bottle may be filled with hair, urine, nails, bits of felt and copper, among other things and then either buried under the entrance/floor of a property or there are some tales of them being put on the fire to heat the contents as a way of harming the witch they were targeting. Of the confirmed Witch Bottles that have been discovered, a huge proportion of them have been found in East Anglia, leading people to believe that there may have been an East Anglian cunning woman or man in the area who was traveling village to village, advising the folk to use this method… for a price of course…
Bryony Diamond
Lost Soul Stories is a collection of folk tale-inspired stories told by the passengers of disappearing ghostly carriage. This first chapter features a re-adaptation of the folk ballad known as ‘The Suffolk Miracle’. Versions of the ballad, also sometimes called ’The Holland Handkerchief’, have been recorded in print dating back to the late 1600’s. This version of the classic tale asks the question of what the aftermath of such an extraordinary event might be.
Calyx Allerton-Bullard
The name of this piece is “Black Shuck in the Cathedral of the Marshes”, and it references the local story of Black Shuck’s invasion of the Holy Trinity Church in Blythburgh on August 4th, 1577 CE. It was specifically inspired by the oft told detail of Shuck leaving behind scorch marks on the North Door, and in this piece it is upon doors (modelled on those of the church) that Black Shuck stands, prowling, menacing.
Claire Oxley
Under the light of a benevolent, full Sturgeon Moon the Black Shuck flees Blythburgh Church, red eyes burning a path through the reeds and foliage as he gallops. Moonlight spills onto the church, and glitters on the flooded mud-flats. Beautiful now, but deadly hereafter, for “if you meet the Black Dog once it shall be for joy, if twice it shall be for sorrow, and the third time it will bring death.”
Claire Partington
My suitably folk horror version of Gainsborough’s Suffolk landowners Mr and Mrs Carter shows Mr Carter as a rifle wielding Toby jug and his diminutive wife as a cheese dish. The 1748 Thomas Gainsborough painting is in the collection of Tate Britain.
“…one of Gainsborough’s earliest works. William and Frances Carter were wealthy landowners who lived near Sudbury in south-east England where Gainsborough was born. This painting was made while Gainsborough was living in London, but returning to Sudbury regularly to visit family. Critics disagree about why the difference in William and Frances’s size appears exaggerated. Some argue that as an early work, this indicates a painter still developing his skills. Others suggest that the marked contrast in their size is intended to be comical.” Tate Gallery.
The exaggerated scale of the figures are emphasised in my version with Mr Carter as an oversized grotesque Toby jug and Mrs Carter represented as a diminutive cheese dish cover and saucer. I consider Gainsborough’s 18th Century portraits of Mr and Mrs Carter and the equally unnerving and better known portrait on their daughter and her husband in Mr and Mrs Andrews, to be an iconic part of Suffolk’s folk heritage.
Cynthia Penn
I imagine the horse is the river, the river the horse – running through the landscape, through the villages, white with light, or ice.Did she throw herself in? Did he take her? Was the child, a baby in a basket, left in the reeds , or a toddler, arms flailing, a small mill on the waters edge?
The first big funeral I did , working in a flower shop in Edinburgh, was for a woman who drowned while her children watched from the bank. She went in to save their dog.
The white horse regrets the pain caused to children, whose mothers cannot resist his pull. He weeps for them.
Dom Theobald
The story of the Black Shuck and its appearances and sightings amongst human beings are well-told. Less considered is the Black Shuck as solitary being, at one with surroundings, sustained by forest and river, unobserved and undefined.
Ella Goodwin
Serena is based on the Norfolk folklore about singing mice, mice with sweet voices to rival even that of the nightingale. This one is a quiet soul, unless roused from her nest and then a short jingle of her bells will precede a delicate and serene mousical tune. She is hand embroidered and made from organic cotton fabrics that have been buried and imbibed with the forest for an earthy aged softness. She also has particularly joyful knees. 🙂 She is to feel like a lost heirloom found in the attic, as with these glorious tales of folklore that pass down through generations.
Elsa Habben
Martyrdom of Saint Osyth
Born a Mercian princess, St Osyth defied the conventions of her birth to become a nun, founding a priory near Colchester. In 700 AD she had the misfortune to encounter a raiding party of Vikings whilst out walking near her convent. Likely fresh from pillaging and burning local villages and churches, they ordered she renounce her Christian faith by praying to their gods. When she refused to comply, the raiders beheaded her with a single blow. To their horror, Osyth’s body stood up, before bending to retrieve her head. Walking for three miles she reached a church, knocking three times to warn of the danger before she fell down dead. It’s said that on the same day each year St Osyth’s spirit undertakes this same walk through Nun’s Wood, still clutching her severed head.
Emily Tomasi
Three handmade vessels
Finn Folk Vase
‘Play not, my dear boys, near the pond in the meadow, the mermaid is waiting to pull you beneath….’ ( Daniel Cobb)
Cambridgeshire folklore talks of mermaids that were marooned and unable to escape the fens after it was drained. The tales went so far as to suggest that some fen folk were descended from these poor creatures.
( maybe where the webbed feet myth came from?)
Black Shuck Party
Black Shuck ( the name given to the ghostly black dog which is said to roam the coastline and countryside of East Anglia) here with the Shug monkey who has made time from haunted Slough Hill Lane ( which leads from the village of West Wratting to nearby Balsham).
Straw bear has escapes his hometown Whittlesey and his invertible burning in a bonfire.
The hare takes a break from his side kick the witch and has bought along his friend the ominous crow.
Escape the Toadman
The wild horses have escaped the control of the toadman!
A toadman is someone, in fenland folklore who has made a deal with the devil to give them control over horses. This was done by catching a male toad, hanging it from a thorn bush or pegging it to an anthill until its bones had been picked clean, and then carrying the bones on their person until dried. The bones were then thrown into a running stream on a full moon at midnight and all except one would be swept downstream. The remaining small fork-shaped bone would grant its holder psychic control over horses.
Emma Elliot Bloom
A black dog slumbers deep in the forest, an aurora plays on the nights sky above. He’s waiting patiently to stalk people that foolishly step out into the hazy night. That dog is Black Shuck, a legendary creature from Norfolk folklore, a ghostly black dog said to haunt the coastline and countryside of East Anglia. Described as a large, spectral hound with glowing eyes, Black Shuck’s appearance is often considered an omen of death. Tales of this eerie canine date back to the 16th century, with the most famous account being the attack on Bungay and Blythburgh churches in 1577, where the beast is said to have killed worshippers and left scorch marks that can still be seen today. Despite its fearsome reputation, Black Shuck has become a fascinating symbol of local heritage and mystery.
Haychley Webb
‘Solstice’ is a hand printed linocut based on the bronze lamppost that sits atop the market square in Norwich. It depicts the changing seasons in four women and the traditional ways we interact with the land. It is a limited edition print, carved and printed in the Artist’s studio in Norwich, Norfolk.
Helen Derbyshire
My submission to the Black Shuck and Friends exhibition was inspired by the fact that our family dog looks so like all of the classic images of Black Shuck, but is not at all aggressive or remotely frightening. My image depicts a dog looking very like Black Shuck in the vicinity of Blythborough church as night falls – but who is it really?
Hilary Barry
I knew nothing of the Black Shuck until I read a small article in the local paper whilst at the Bell Gallery:
I quote: “All down the church in midst of fire, the hellish monster flew, and, passing onward to the quire, he many people slew”.
According to folklore, the ‘Bungay Black Dog’ prowls along the dark lanes and lonesome field and footpaths of the Suffolk Coast, where, although his howling makes the hearer’s blood run cold, his footfalls make no sound. If you are unfortunate enough to encounter him it is said that you will soon be extremely ill-fated!
The power of the image of the black dog entered my dreams and I read more about the mythology and psychology.
The black dog will appear, seeking your attention and reminding you of your troubles, causing you to feel restless and irritable. As the dog requires more of your attention, you may feel angry, anxious, unfocused and empty. He may grow so big that the only thing you will feel is hopelessness. The black dog acts as a symbol to externalise moods and thoughts that are difficult to communicate.
When I picked up my paintbrush, the black dog arrived on the canvas whole, complete. I now know where he lives.
James Mayhew
Black Shuck 1577
An image of Black Shuck above St Mary’s Church in Bungay on August 4th 1577, surrounded by fire and thunder, inspired by medieval carvings.
Before the Storm: A Dream of Duwich
An imaginary vision of 13th Century Dunwich, once a great city port, before being swallowed up by the sea.
Jason Wick
Babes in the wood.
A dark, uncompromising tale first told by Thomas Millington in Norwich in 1595.
A pair of stoneware ceramic pieces featuring the ill-fated children who, as the tale tells, wandered the woods alone until they died.
Witch/Charm Bottles.
Between 1645 and 1647, fear of witchcraft hit a peak with 250 accusations of witchcraft made by the authorities in East Anglia. This area became a focal point for fear and scapegoating. This is not folklore but indeed fact.
However, in folklore –
Witch bottles were a popular way to guard against curses or witches entering your home. Stoneware Bellarmine bottles manufactured for liquids such as wine and gin were a popular choice for a witch bottle because of their strength and characterful design, but any ceramic or glass bottle could and can be used. Bottles were also used to capture witches and spirits and for creating charms and curses.
Here I have created a pair of ‘found 17th century’ stoneware vessels for just these purposes. Included is a tiny, mutilated stoneware figure placed upon a pyre ready for burning.
The Haunted Pool.
In the early 19th century, a pool close to what is now Barley House Farm in Winston, deepest darkest Suffolk, was known to be haunted by the figure of a man who circled the pond at night. Presumably, he doesn’t haunt there now, as a Mrs. H, who had once lived there, recalled that “a clergyman he come with a rushlight, and put that into the pond, and he say the spirit were not to come out until the rushlight were burnt out. So he could never come out, for a rushlight could never burn out in a pond”.
My interpretation of this little known tale is a pair of stoneware ceramic vessels. One depicts the unknown man night after night, now unable to escape the pond, trying to emerge from its waters. The other, the man’s face bound by the clergyman’s incantation.
Juliette Harrison
Margaret Read, also know as Shady Meg, was burnt at the stake in King’s Lynn Norfolk in 1590, for being a “Witch”.
Legend has it that whilst being consumed by flames, her beating heart exploded from her body and hit the wall opposite, leaving a permanent burn on the brick. This is still marked today at 17 Tuesday Market Place.
It is said that her heart then made it’s own way to the, nearby, River Ouse where the waters bubbled like a cauldron as Margaret’s heart sank beneath.
Karen Binney
The Weeping White Horse of Trowse is supposedly the spirit of a woman who lost her life in the river Yare, she appears in the guise of a protective weeping horse especially to fair haired children.
King Edmund was bound to a tree shot with arrows and decapitated by invading Danes as he would not denounce his Christian faith. The Kings men heard a wolf call to them and they found the animal guarding the king’s head, where upon they were able to re-unite body and head and miraculously he became whole.
The Suffolk fishing village of Orford caught the wild man in their nets. He was a strange creature of hair and shell kept captive and tortured in Orford Castle in the 12C, the merman eventually escaped and returned back to the sea.
Kasia Posen
Brewing and selling ale (also known as tippling or tapping) enabled women to work for and achieve “good profits, social power, and some measure of independence from men” that other trades at the time did not.
This artwork is in remembrance of all the Alewives and Brewsters that were scapegoated, marginalised and outcast.
‘Following the Black Plague of 1347–50, the brewing trade underwent significant changes that made it a commercialized and specialized trade. Medieval society underwent many changes following the Plague. Changes that had significant effects on the ale trade include the consolidation of urban markets, rising standards of living, greater access to capital, cheaper access to grain, greater demand for ale as a staple of medieval diet, and the centralization and rising popularity of alehouses, all of which made the ale market ripe for capital investment and commercialization.[27][25]Due to these changes, the ale market transformed from an industry dominated by occasional, home-brewing married and non-married women to a commercialized, professionalized, and male-governed mainstream trade.
Brewsters became the scapegoat for the brewing community as a whole for the vices that the Medieval world feared from the production of alcohol. In 1540, the city of Chester ordered that no women between the ages of 14 and 40 would be permitted to sell ale, in the hopes of limiting the trade to only women above or below an age of sexual desirability.[49]
As a result, female brewers and alewives in the late 14th and 15th centuries faced one of two fates: greater profit, or marginalization within the trade.[28] ‘
Text above taken from : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alewife_(trade)
Kate Green
‘The Warrior’s Dog’ is based on an idea about the Sutton Hoo Burials. I felt that the warrior’s faithful and mighty hound deserved his own burial, in a more diminutive ship with plenty of Anglo Saxon treasure and swirling decoration. You can still see him roaming over his burial mound on a dark starry night, remembering the great battles he fought in and howling at the moon.
Shuck and The Blythburgh Angel
Everyone knows about Black Shuck’s association with Blythburgh church but what they don’t know is Shuck’s fascination with the Blythburgh Angel. She was the only kind and benign presence in his lonely outcast life, as she starred down on him from the heights of the roof. She had the ability to calm and cool his chaotic mind and he loved her above all things.
Keeley Chapman
My work is referencing the Legend of the Black Dog of Bungay. Although I have added a little twist to this legend giving a reason as to why we might still see the wild beast today!
The Black Shuck has roamed the East Anglian countryside for centuries and catching sight of his beastly form has cast a bad omen over those whose eyes gazed upon him. Have you ever wondered how this beastly legend is still seen today?
He was never a lover of humans but was he a lover of our canine best friends, wooing our four-legged fury friends by night and producing offspring who gaze at us adoringly by day, taking its ghostly ancestor’s form under the light of the full moon, transforming into the monstrous beast from long ago, allowing his spirit to once more terrorise us and keep the famous legend alive?
The Black Shuck staring through a time portal (created in metal) to one of his descendants who keeps his legend alive, who by day is a four-legged mild-mannered golden retriever, man’s best friend. From wild haggard beast to domesticated dog.
Kerina Strevens
Shuck Shock
I’ve always been fascinated by the Black Shuck story and the fact there is a written history of it happening. He appeared in the church at Bungay and also in Blythburgh and seems to have been a big black dog, often described as having red eyes. I have imagined him as more of a spirit, moving with the intensity of the storm. I imagine him coming from one church and being carried by the storm, across the reed beds to the next church.
Suffolk Witch
This is my stereotypical Suffolk Witch and her familiar, as hunted by Matthew Hopkins in Suffolk history. I think it is far more likely that Hopkins prayed upon little old ladies who lived on the edges of society and who didn’t look like this at all. Someone who looked like this would have made too much of an obvious target for the likes of Matthew Hopkins. Maybe, she would have turned him into a frog? There are also the Witches Stones in Lowestoft, Suffolk.
Kirstin Barrett
“Terror in Ludham” depicts the folklore about a fearsome dragon that would terrorise the village of Ludham every night, and slept below the church in its own lair. Eventually, whilst the dragon was basking in the sun, one brave man was able to cover the dragon’s lair entrance with a huge boulder, sealing it shut. Enraged, the dragon used its whipping tail to destroy several buildings in the village before flying away, never to be seen again. From this, I used different collage techniques to resemble a burning image, as though debris is raining from above. The dragon itself is based on typical depictions from English folklore.
Lauren Sharples
In ‘Shadows of the Shuck’ I delve into the haunting tales of the Black Shuck’s presence in East Anglia, particularly its sightings roaming through ancient woodlands. Using the Tetra Pak printing technique – where I engrave and sculpt recycled Tetra Pak milk cartons – I have carved out my interpretation of the legendary Black Shuck weaving its way through the woods by physically weaving the Tetra Pak trees over and under the cutout figure of the Shuck.
‘New Beginnings’ Is a print inspired by the mysterious tale of the Green Children of Woolpit. This artwork captures the initial shyness and disorientation of the brother and sister duo upon their discovery in Woolpit, Suffolk. Positioned in the composition’s top left corner, the children’s glimpse symbolises their tentative entry into an unfamiliar world.
‘Curious Catch’ is a piece based on the tale of the Wildman of Orford. This print features the face of the wild man, drawn in relief monoprint, embellished with engraved Tetra Pak fish that have been layered over each other to form the distinctive features of the man, such as his long shaggy beard. The interwoven fish symbolises his mysterious connection to the sea and the moment of his capture by fishermen.
Libby Leftwich
A tale from Dunwich, dating back to the 12th century. Eva, a local girl, fell in love with a sailor who deserted her. In her grief she cut out her heart and threw it out to sea for him to find. Her ghost still walks the shores waiting for him to return, and sometimes her heart will wash up. But it’s only for her sailor, she’ll curse you if you take it.
Lizzie Ault
The Tiddy Munn looked after the people of the fens. When the waters got too high they would call out to him and he would send them back. You knew when he was near because you heard the cry of the peewit and the sound of rushing water.
Lucinda Cheshire
The painting is inspired by the tale of Mother Chergrave (pronounced Chergriff) the Witch of Loddon. The Witch had a daughter Mara, or Mary in other accounts, whom she brought back with her from one of her frequent and mysterious long journeys away. Mother Chergrave claimed that Mara was already ‘bound over to Satan’, but Mara proved her wrong. It was said that Mother Chergrave had two imps that she kept in a box, who if let out, would bite you and turn you into a Witch.
Lyndsay Knight
This piece was inspired by the story of a rat infestation in Beccles many years ago, around the time of the Black Death. The people of Beccles were plagued for months in every part of their lives. Eventually, the rats were made to disappear thanks to the work of 3 witches that were said to live in a small hut by a haunted tree next to the River Waveney. The number of rats in the illustration represents the month of August, which is the month it is said Beccles were finally rid of their rat problem.
Mae Warner
Thought to have taken place in Wayland Wood, near the Norfolk village of Watton, and first recorded as a broadside ballad in 1595, Babes in the Wood tells the tale of an evil uncle who plans to murder his orphaned niece and nephew to steal their inheritance. The assassins sent to kill them take pity on the children and abandon them in the wood. Cold, alone, and hungry, the children die. This print shows the closing scene of a robin covering the children’s bodies with leaves.
Malcolm Cudmore
“A Jackalope’s Tale”
The younger Jackalopes recalled that GrandJack would tell them a tale of the old times. Somewhere in the Garden of Eden in the Eastern counties, Adam and Eve heard an old man’s voice warning them not to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. Immediately understanding that this was a plot to control their behaviour, they found the apples delicious and felt it their responsibility to share this knowledge far and wide. They set up shop right here in the Eden Valley in a building that had, perhaps, been previously used for commerce or punishment – selling apples and pips to all who passed by. Local people loved these enlightening fruits and the whole valley turned green. Justice saw this enterprise and, descending from her perch with Shuck by her side, helped to supervise fair distribution to all. Jackalopes are seldom seen these days – except occasionally by the East Folk.
Marie van Berkel-Chargois
Taking the two most famous stories of the Suffolk folklore, I staged an encounter of the children of Woolpit and Black Shuck, creating a kind of reenactment of the eternal battle of Good and Evil, the beastly nature of Black Shuck opposing the innocent countenance of the green children. Although lost in this environment, the children have a fearless demeanour and brandish a green bean as a peace offering.
Marjoke Henrichs
The folk tale which influenced my painting is ’The Lantern Man’ which is a ghostly light seen around Wicken Fen and other areas. According to the legend, the lights are believed to be evil spirits who attempt to draw victims to their death in the reed beds.
If you are lost and follow the light you never come back.
Mark Copeland
Black Shuck
The inspiration for my painting of Black Shuck was found on an old poster discovered amidst a cache of mid 20th century ephemera, advertising local events and services in and around Great Livermere, Suffolk. It announced what was once an annual event – Livermere Parva Village Revel.
Livermere Parva was a small village adjacent to Livermere Magna (now known as Great Livermere). It ceased to exist in the mid 18th century when it was emparked by the landowner to improve the view from his mansion.
Annually, on All Fool’s Day, in and around the church (the only building left standing in the village), the inhabitants and their descendants would hold a celebration in memory of their forebears. As attested to on the poster, a major part of the event was the compulsory wearing of fancy dress. The fact that no photographic evidence of any of the revels held in Livermere Parva can be found in local records has not held me back from imagining what might have been.
Molly Wallis
The Toadman
A deal with the devil could be struck by a humble ploughman who wanted to control his horses with supernatural powers. A male toad was caught and hung from a thorn bush until it was pecked to pure bone. The skeleton was then hung onto the ploughman’s coat to dry.
By a full moon at midnight, the rattling bones were flung into a river. Only one would remain. This bone would be the one which held the power to control the horses. The ceremony was complete and the Ploughman became the Toadman.
The Wolf
On the 20th November 869 AD East Anglia was invaded by the Great Heathen Army. King Edmund was beaten, tied to a tree and shot with arrows for refusing to denounce Christianity. In frustration at his faith, the invaders severed his head and tossed it into a thicket. Later, supporters of the King heard a voice shout “Here, here, here!”. They parted the undergrowth and discovered a huge and beautiful wolf, protecting the glassy-eyed head.
It was removed with care and reunited with the body. Brought back together, the Martyr King’s head fused immediately onto his body. This miracle resulted in the medieval cult of Saint Edmund.
Morag Bassingthwaighte
Black Shuck appears wandering through woodland where trees stand tall and roots resembling snakes slither into the dark, damp, stoney soil. As she reaches the coastline a sea mist engulfs the landscape and suddenly she is gone.
Nancy Bevington
I am intrigued with the idea of a large black dog wandering the highways and byways of the area. I walk my little dog across the fields and encounter many hares on our travels. I thought it would be interesting to depict how a confrontation between The Black Shuck and a hare would pan out. I have placed the two in a fictional landscape but one that takes some reference from the fields around Blythburgh, a notorious spot for The Black Shuck.
Nicola Eastell
This ghost horse can be encountered around the village of Trowse, on the outskirts of Norwich. She is benevolent and particularly fond of boys with fair hair (so the story goes), nudging their faces with her nose so that they stroke her, all the while crying bitter tears. Her appearance lines up with the tragic death of a woman in the river Yare one winter. The woman slipped and fell under the ice, drowning, whilst her son watched helplessly. It is thought that the ghost horse is the spirit of the woman still wandering the place where she died, looking for her son.
Paul Zawadzki
Based on the legend of the church bells from the ruins of submerged Dunwich that have been heard from beneath the waves…
Penny Taylor
While living in Bury St Edmunds I was inspired to paint the statue of St Edmund by Elizabeth Frink many times. It stands in the Great Churchyard beside St Edmundsbury cathedral along with a wolf on guard.
Sally Jones
My piece is called ‘Demon to some, Guardian to others’, and is based on the Black Shuck legend. In a different telling of the story I read, the beast is cast as a protector of a lone woman in peril at the hands of an attacker in the East Anglian wilds, rather than a malevolent demon, as he is traditionally portrayed.
Sally Watson
My piece shows the devil dog, that ‘Straunge and Terrible Wunder’ Black Shuck, roaming through the East Anglian countryside on the night of the 4th August 1577 on his way to St Mary’s. In the violent storms, the sheer fear, trepidation and horror experienced by the God-fearing townsfolk of Bungay is revealed within Shuck’s form itself – he is composed of their very terrors. Take a closer look. In his demon body I bring together text to embody their disbelieving dread, their despair, their panic in those moments. Read their minds, their souls. But I have a question for you, here in Bungay today – do you believe??? Imagine, ….perhaps something wicked this way comes…
Suzie Porter
King Gurgunt is the name of the king who supposedly sleeps under Norwich castle until he is needed, sort of like an East Anglian King Arthur. However, unlike King Arthur, he supposedly had a huge and loyal snow-white hound which was buried with him (later theorised to be a polar bear). There is some debate over whether he is a ‘real’ folk tale, or a story made up to impress Queen Elizabeth I, but a legend is a legend, and I think this detail just makes him all the more interesting!
Tom Browning
Trawled
Folklore influence: The Orford Dragon
The Orford Dragon, in 1749 a pair of fishermen trawling for fish landed an unidentifiable sea creature in their nets, off the Orford coast. The creature was described to be 4ft in length with a crocodilian body, two wings or possibly fins either to aid in flying or swimming, and two legs ending in cloven hooves. The creature promptly attacked one man and disabled another before it was killed. The surviving fisherman travelled the country displaying the creatures remains, where the creature ended up is not known.
Tulane Richards
Britain’s Atlantis: Dunwich, the sunken city of Suffolk. Back in Medieval Britain, Dunwich was a large city and was one of the richest in the 13th century, rivalling London and profiting from trade and fishing. Towards the end of the 1200s and early 1300s Dunwich was hit time and again by difficulties such as harsh storms and eventually a plague resulting in the decline of the city. The ferocious storms apparently swallowed Dunwich where the settlements still remain under the sea and it’s said you can still hear the frantic church bells toll from under the waves.
Tym Lawrence
The Black Dog of Bungay
The tale of a wild black dog that entered Bungay’s St Mary’s church during a violent storm on 4th August 1577. The beast terrorised the residents then moved on to Blythburgh church where it’s claw marks, burned into the door – are still visible today.
The Green Children of Woolpit
The 12th century story of two children with green coloured skin, arriving lost in the Suffolk village of Woolpit (know as Wulf-Pytt at that time).
I chose this folklore because I’ve worked in Woolpit for the last 8 years and it’s a story I feel invested in as it’s been discussed so often over the years.
Inspired from a Witch Bottle discovered in Stradbroke in 1944, dated from the 17th century.
These Bellamine bottles were used as talismans to protect against Witches.
The Stradbroke Witch Bottle
Thought to reflect any unfriendly bewitchment, this bottle contained nails, pins and a heart shaped piece of cloth and was discovered 3 feet under the hearth of an old cottage in Stradbroke, Suffolk.
The use of Witch bottles was commonplace across East Anglia and the UK in the 17th century and beyond…
(I have included a tiny booklet of historic details, attached to the back of this mosaic – so that if it were to sell, the story is with the piece).