I see there’s another playlist of free videos, kindly released to YouTube by Byron Machin. Peak District History 2 is in addition to the playlist I previously noted on this blog.
The new videos offer another entertaining 120 minutes or so of roving the Staffordshire Moorlands and the Peak. In this case the viewer encounters: Sywthamley & The Roaches; the fisherman Izaak Walton & Dovedale; Springtime Wildlife & Wildflowers; The Eyam Plague; Croxden Abbey; and The Normans & Robin Hood.
In the Sywthamley section Byron gives a spirited full recounting of the plot of Sir Gawain, while standing in Lud’s Church. Definitely worth a listen, but skip this long section if you don’t want plot-spoilers for Gawain. If you do listen to his recounting of the tale, note that he misleadingly implies something that’s not in the original…
19:08: “Gawain heads down into the […] gigantic chasm covered in mosses and lichens and foliage [and] looking towards the very end of the chasm he sees there — taller than life — the [spoiler removed]”.
This tweaking serves to align the tale with popular local notions about Lud’s Church. But to do this Byron’s narration of the tale here conflates, distorts and also slightly invents, compared to the original text.
One also has to be cautious about his occasional sprinklings of seasonal ‘fairy lore’, as it sounds very dubious to me. I wonder where he’s picking it up?
Hi, thanks for mentioning my free uploads of my gigantic eight-hour series Stories in Stone. Unfortunately the first set of uploads, for an unknown reason, contained glitches — they have since all been re-uploaded in much better quality, but that unfortunately means your older links may not work. Three of four episodes are now on-line, with the fourth due next week.
I totally take on board your comments on my embellishing of Sir Gawain (Lud’s Church has that effect on you!).
But should add that all the fairy lore on which I comment is from 19th and early 20th century published documentation, not from neo-paganism. I myself am an atheist and do not believe in any paranormal stories. Though I find them a fascinating cultural past and an effort to explain the all imposing impression of the cycles of the year and the landscape, from people less removed from their roots.
Super, many thanks for the clarifications, Byron. I’ll hope to fix the broken links once you have the full set of videos back up on YouTube.